Free Republic

Welcome! I'm running for Idaho State Senate seat 22 against the Republican incumbent, who I don't see as conservative enough for our district. This was something of a last minute decision for me, and it was not an easy one. As this web page demonstrates, I am not spending money on campaign consultants and web developers. Please look around, and if you think I am a bit more of what you think your representative in the upper house of the Idaho legislature should be, then please vote for me in the May primary.

Clinton and her campaign know that the road to victory for her must include a resolution to the Florida and Michigan votes, something that has been dragging on since both states voted in January in violation of Democratic Party rules. Later this month the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the DNC will meet to discuss the matter... The fund-raiser was interrupted briefly at the beginning when a protestor stood on his chair with a large sign that read "Obliterate Iran? Apologize." The sign referred to some comments Clinton made in regards to bombing Iran if they attacked Israel with a...

A ten year old rape victim has given birth to a baby in eastern Idaho while the suspect, Guadalupe Gutierrez-Juarez, 37, of St. Anthony, has been arrested. The girl purportedly gave birth to a baby less than 2 weeks ago at a hospital in Fremont County. It wasn’t until the hospital reported the girl and the birth to authorities that Gutierrez-Juarez, an illegal immigrant, was arrested and charged with one count of rape. He remains in jail with a $250,000 bail, the next scheduled hearing is May 13. Precocious Puberty Precocious Puberty is the onset of puberty before age 7...

ST. ANTHONY, Idaho -- A man has been charged with raping a 10-year-old girl who later gave birth in eastern Idaho. The girl gave birth less than two weeks ago by caesarian section at Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg, Fremont County Sheriff Ralph C. Davis and other authorities said. Officials would not disclose the gender, date of birth or paternity of the baby. "I wouldn't have believed a 10-year-old could conceive in the first place," Davis said. A hospital spokeswoman would not discuss the condition of the girl or the baby and would not say whether either was still in...

We broke the unbelievable story last night of a 10-year old girl in St. Anthony who gave birth to a baby. She's now one of the youngest kids in the country to become a mother. Residents both on and off camera were shocked and in dismay over the situation, today this is what they had to say about our story. Jim Ker, shocked resident: "I think there's a lot of sick people out there." Holly Theisen, upset resident: "Somebody would end up getting hurt by me if that was my kid and I'd probably go to jail." Kaity Dolezal, shocked...

Press Release By John Foster - May 06, 2008 Walt Minnick today offered Idaho drivers low-cost gasoline to call attention to the abject failure of Washington, D.C. to address our nation’s energy crisis. He also slammed Bill Sali for his cozy relationship with “big oil.” “For one hour today, while I’m talking to Idahoans about the high cost of gasoline, Bill Sali will sit down to lunch at a fundraiser and ask for money from oil lobbyists,” Minnick said. “In 18 months he’s become a true Washington insider. What Idaho needs is a new approach and some simple fairness.” Oil...

Nearly 80 rail cars loaded with contaminated sand from Kuwait are headed toward a dump in southwestern Idaho. American Ecology Corp. is shipping about 6,700 tons of sand containing traces of depleted uranium and lead to a hazardous waste disposal site 70 miles southeast of Boise. The sand arrived by ship at Longview, Wash., this week and company officials say loads are scheduled to begin arriving in Idaho by rail in two weeks. Transfer of the sand to the United States was first reported this week by The Daily News in Longview. The company has previously disposed of low-level radioactive...

BOISE — U.S. Rep. Bill Sali of Idaho has asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to delay opening a Mexican consulate in Boise until the government can assure Idahoans that the office will not foster the continued presence of illegal immigrants in Idaho. The request came in a letter sent Wednesday following a meeting Sali had with senior State Department officials. In the meeting, department officials expressed considerably more concern about whether the consular office would follow local zoning laws than whether it would aid people in breaking federal immigration laws, according to a prepared statement from Sali’s office. The...

More than two dozen prospective jurors were waiting to be questioned, Joseph Duncan was in court, and attorneys and the judge were assembled. But Tuesday’s jury selection proceedings were delayed after the defense objected to proceeding without a ruling on whether Duncan will serve as his own attorney in his death penalty hearings — and the government concurred. Pending is a mental evaluation to verify Duncan’s competency. “We believe that it would be an infringement on Mr. Duncan’s right to continue pro se (representing himself) if we were to continue questioning of jurors,” defense attorney Mark Larranaga told the court....

Hard work, determination and a love of freedom are foundational principles that make Idaho “The Great State.” In the past, Idaho has been an ideal place to raise families and produce solid citizens. As we grow, keeping Idaho true to our legacy of conservative family values and ideals will be the ongoing challenge. I am not living in the Treasure Valley just because of outstanding recreation or budding opportunities. I am living here because I want my kids to call Idaho their home. I am committed to preserving “The Great State of Idaho” for our children and their children. I...

What are the characteristics that set one presidential candidate apart from the others? Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or John McCain ain't got nothing on Keith Russell Judd: He's the only candidate locked up in federal prison. But you, lucky Idaho, can vote for him. The—dare we say—longshot candidate filed to be on Idaho's ballot for the nation's top office on March 17, paying the $1,000 fee required if a candidate is not of national prominence. His name is now listed alongside Clinton and Obama as the state's official Democratic presidential candidates. Judd has also filed as a write-in candidate in...

LOS CABOS, Mexico — Gunmen held up a family of U.S. tourists in Mexico on Tuesday and made off with their small plane, police said. The robbers attacked the plane as the American couple and their two daughters, ages 6 and 8, were about to take off from a hotel airstrip in the Baja California beach town of Mulege. Detective Juan Carlos de Jesus Jimenez said the thieves pulled a car in front of the six-seat Cessna Stationair, knocked out one of its windows and forced the tourists out at gunpoint. They then set fire to the car and flew...

A group of 325 potential jurors - some from as far away as Hailey and Twin Falls - filled a room Monday in the Boise Centre on The Grove and got a glimpse of the man whose fate will be decided by a dozen Idahoans. Federal court officials commandeered the convention center to find 12 people and three alternates who can do a fair job of deciding whether confessed killer Joseph Duncan III should be executed for kidnapping two Coeur d'Alene children and killing one of them - a nine-year-old boy. Duncan sat unshackled and dressed in an orange prison...

Map showing Williston Basin Province boundary (in red), Bakken-Lodgepole Total Petroleum System (TPS) (in blue), and major structural features in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota North Dakota and Montana have an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation of the Williston Basin, according to a just-released assessment by the US Geological Survey (USGS). This latest assessment shows a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered compared to the agency’s 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil. The assessment also identified 1.85...

** EXCERPT ** WASHINGTON — He shot his hunting partner, but Vice President Dick Cheney apparently doesn't fly fish with naked women. Since Wednesday, the blogosphere has been atwitter over a photograph on the White House Web site of Cheney with a caption that said he was fly-fishing on the Snake River in Idaho. The photo is a tight shot of Cheney's face sporting dark sunglasses and his trademark grin. What's stirring all the buzz is the reflection in the vice president's dark glasses. Some thought that the reflection looked like a naked woman and, this being Cheney and this...

Former Micron executive Larry Grant said Thursday morning that he will not run for the U.S. House in Idaho's 1st congressional district. Instead, Grant endorsed Walt Minnick, a former timber executive who ran for the U.S. Senate in 1996.

Charlton Heston played one of his most effective cameo roles in Idaho - and it wasn't in a film. Heston...was a critical figure in Idaho's Right to Work law, approved by voters in 1986 after the most expensive ballot-measure campaign in state history. Heston's TV ad in support of (the) law...ran for five months. "It really did get people's attention," said Lorna Auld, co-chairwoman of the campaign. "His voice was so memorable and for him to stand there like Moses and say, 'This is what I believe,' was good for us and good for Idaho." ...Gary Glenn, who ran the...

The Idaho Statesman was named a 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalist in Breaking News Reporting for its coverage of the Larry Craig scandal that began with his arrest and guilty plea in an airport restroom last August. This is the first time the Statesman has been a finalist in its 141-year history. The McClatchy Co. has won more than 50 of journalism's most prestigious prize. The Washington Post won the 2008 Breaking News Reporting award for its coverage of the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech. The New York Times was also named a Pulitzer finalist in this category. The Pulitzers have...

Charlton Heston in a TV ad supporting voter approval of a state Right to Work law on Idaho's 1986 general election ballot: "I've played men like Tom Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln, all of them heroes defending American freedom. There are Americans still carrying on that fight in Idaho, where citizens want the Right to Work without being forced to join a union. Now, as a former union president, I believe Americans should be free to choose. We're all watching, Idaho. Strike a blow for freedom. Vote YES on Referendum One."

BOISE, Idaho, March 31 (UPI) -- Boise, Idaho, ranked by others as the second- best city for jobs and first for adventure, is the 10th most vulnerable to terrorists, a threat analysis suggests. The threat study, funded by the U.S. Homeland Security Department, placed landlocked Boise at No. 10 on the list of most vulnerable U.S. urban centers, making it the only Western city in the top tier, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. The determination of vulnerability used a mathematical calculation derived from cancer research that takes demographics, natural hazards and infrastructure vulnerability into consideration in determining the rank....

Officials from Planned Parenthood of Idaho have apologized about an employee's phone conversation regarding a potential donation from a caller who specified that the funds be used for black women seeking abortions, FoxNews.com reports. However, Planned Parenthood criticized The Advocate, an antiabortion magazine at the University of California-Los Angeles that was responsible for the call. The magazine had an actor pose as a potential donor in an effort to discredit the group, according to FoxNews.com (FoxNews.com, 3/17). The actor spoke with Autumn Kersey, vice president of development and marketing at PPI, and said he wanted his donation to be used...

A booming energy industry has helped Wyoming's average income double over the past decade. In 1996, the average Wyomingite earned $21,875 a year and the state ranked 33rd for average income. Last year, Wyoming's average income was $43,226 and the state ranked sixth... No other state's personal income increased as much over the same period. Wyoming is an anomaly in the region. The top five states for personal income in 2007 -- Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York and Maryland -- are on the East Coast. Colorado, at 10th, is the only other Rocky Mountain state in the top 10....

LETHA, Idaho — A Senate candidate has legally changed his name to Pro-Life and will appear on the ballot that way this year, state election officials say. As Marvin Pro-Life Richardson, the organic strawberry farmer from Letha, 30 miles northwest of Boise, was denied the use of his middle name when he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006 because the state's policy bars the use of slogans on the ballot. Now, though, officials in the Idaho secretary of state's office say they have no choice because Pro-Life is his full and only name. He says he will run for the...

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), encumbered by a scandal since last summer, did not file for reelection by his state’s deadline Friday, keeping a promise he made and officially marking the end of his congressional career. Craig’s political future has been in doubt since his arrest and guilty plea on disorderly conduct charges filed after an incident in a men’s restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last June. The three-term senator, who previously served five terms in the House, denied the charges that he solicited sex from an undercover police officer conducting a sting operation to crack down on alleged gay...

A Senate candidate has legally changed his name to Pro-Life and will appear on the ballot that way this year, state election officials say. As Marvin Pro-Life Richardson, the organic strawberry farmer from Letha, 30 miles northwest of Boise, was denied the use of his middle name when he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006 because the state's policy bars the use of slogans on the ballot. Now, though, officials in the Idaho secretary of state's office say they have no choice because Pro-Life is his full and only name. He says he will run for the highest state office...

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho gun enthusiasts won another victory when the Senate State Affairs Committee unanimously backed a bill that protects outdoor shooting ranges from neighbors who complain about the noise. The measure, which has passed the House, forbids local governments from setting noise standards that are more restrictive than standards for state outdoor shooting ranges. As Idaho grows, more and more residents are moving into areas where shooting ranges have long been a staple of rural life. Conflicts are on the rise. Brian Judy, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, told the Senate panel Wednesday that nothing about...

1976 Teton Dam disaster is just one hurdle facing any project to store more water and make more electricity. While Gov. Butch Otter and the Idaho Legislature talk about ways to build new dams and enlarge existing ones, the discussions are framed by two floods - one that some fear could happen at any minute, and another more than three decades ago that still hangs over the part of the state once devastated by its power. Weiser residents are watching the weather closely as above-average snowpack threatens to swell the Weiser River, which has no dam, to flood stage this...

Montana’s wolf population increased 34 percent over the past year, to an estimated 422 wolves in 73 packs... The wolves are nearly equally distributed between northern and southern Montana...although the bulk of the population growth was in northwestern and far western Montana... Wolves are still listed under the Endangered Species Act. Delisting was set for late March, but lawsuits are expected to delay that. As for conflicts with ranchers, the FWP reported an increase in the number of confirmed cattle deaths due to wolves, from 32 to 75, and an increase in the number of sheep deaths, from four to...

They also criticized The Advocate for trying to discredit employees with recorded phone calls Planned Parenthood of Idaho officials apologized Wednesday for what they called an employee's "serious mistake" in encouraging a donation aimed at aborting black babies. They also criticized The Advocate, a right-to-life student magazine at the University of California-Los Angeles, for trying to discredit Planned Parenthood employees in seven states in a series of tape-recorded phone calls last summer. The call to Idaho came in July to Autumn Kersey, vice president of development and marketing for Planned Parenthood of Idaho. On the recording provided by The Advocate,...

Alan Keyes Leaving Republican Party By John Lofton, Editor, TheAmericanView.com JLof@aol.com After 20 or so years of working within the GOP to try and reform it into a more Christian/conservative Party, Dr. Alan Keyes is leaving the Republican Party. He will soon make this announcement and explain why he can no longer, in good conscience, remain a Republican. Many things over the past two decades or so have contributed to Alan’s decision to leave the GOP. One recent example: A secret meeting of some conservative “leaders” discussing not how to oppose John McCain but what promises McCain might make to...

BUHL, Idaho — Two guys and a four-door sedan. That's all it took for cattle rustlers to relieve dairy owner Pete Wiersma of three valuable calves. Once the province of outlaws and the bane of hardscrabble ranchers who grazed their cattle on the open range, cattle rustling never has gone away. Like the livestock industry, it's only gotten more efficient. In general, cattle rustling tends to increase whenever beef prices are high, said Larry Hayhurst, head of the Idaho State Police Division of Brands. Because the price of cattle feed has been relatively high this year — making the cattle...

DRIGGS, Idaho — Perhaps they should have called her Mary Jane. A surprise birthday party for Dawn Wells, the actress who played Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island," ended with a nearly three-hour tour of the Teton County sheriff's office and jail when the 69-year-old was caught with marijuana in her vehicle while driving home. Wells is now serving six months' unsupervised probation for the crime. She was sentenced Feb. 29 to five days in jail, fined $410.50 and placed on probation after pleading guilty to one count of reckless driving. The guilty plea came as part of an agreement with...

SPOKANE — The era of massive dam construction in the West — which tamed rivers, swallowed towns and created irrigated agriculture, cheap hydropower and persistent environmental problems — effectively ended in 1966 with the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona. But a booming population and growing fears about climate change have governments once again studying dams, this time to create huge reservoirs to capture more winter rain and spring snowmelt for use in dry summer months. New dams are being studied in Washington, California, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada and other states, even as dams are being torn down across...

On the map of American cities most vulnerable to terrorism, just one Western city blazed red with the rank of "high risk" - and it surprised even the man who led the study. "Everyone has been asking, 'What happened to Boise?' We were wondering when you were going to call," said University of Arizona mathematics professor Walter W. Piegorsch. The researchers didn't expect to see Boise pop out as No. 10 among 132 urban areas studied, he said. They triple-checked the numbers. "As we look at the data, we realize that you seem like an exception," he said. Most other...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Idaho lawmakers are pushing measures to restrict the use of stun guns by the general public. The House State Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to take testimony on a bill that would require citizens to have concealed weapon permits to carry the devices, such as Tasers. The measure would also ban sales to minors. The Senate is amending a second bill that would restrict felons, drug addicts and those charged with or convicted of a crime with a prison sentence of at least a year from carrying the weapons. The guns have been under scrutiny because of...

A seven-state investigation conducted last summer by a student magazine at UCLA, The Advocate, revealed the presence of an ugly strain of racism in Planned Parenthood affiliates, including Planned Parenthood of Idaho.   An actor, posing as a racist donor, called Planned Parenthood development centers and asked that his donation be used to abort African-American babies in order to “lower the number of black people.” According to the magazine, every branch – including Idaho’s - agreed to process the racially earmarked donations, and none expressed concern about the racist reasoning for the donation.   Said IVA Executive Director Bryan...

Boise, ID (LifeNews.com) -- After news surfaced earlier this week that Planned Parenthood of Idaho had accepted a donation from someone pretending to want it to go towards abortions on black babies, the abortion business initially apologized. Now, its main spokeswoman is criticizing the pro-life students that organized the investigation.As LifeNews.com initially reported, pro-life students at UCLA organized a probe to find out if Planned Parenthood offices in seven states would accept racist donations.PPI was one of the affiliates to accept it and Autumn Kersey, Vice-President of Marketing and Development for the pro-abortion group, laughed at the racist intent...

Wolves in Salmon, Idaho Decimate Elk Hunting This is something I received from an Idaho outfitter regarding the impact on elk in the Salmon, Idaho area. Although it is about Idaho, the same things hold true for Wyoming. There are some in the G&F who like wolves and will go out of their way to skew their studies to let the wolves off the hook. On the other hand, there are some in our Wyoming G&F who hate the wolves for what they are doing to our big game herds. Name withheld.

A Senate committee approved Wednesday a bill that would strengthen state control over firearms regulations, despite concerns from the city of Boise. The bill essentially reinforces current state law, which prevents local governments from regulating anyone's right to bear arms. Speaking in favor of the bill, National Rifle Association official Brian Judy said the bill ensures the law will be the same for gun owners throughout the state. The bill does allow cities and counties to regulate the discharge of firearms. An earlier version of the bill was withdrawn after concerns that it would hamper colleges and universities from regulating...

Craig Accepting Applications for Summer Interns Deadline Quickly Approaching WASHINGTON, D.C. - Idaho Senator Larry Craig is currently seeking intern applications for the summer term, which runs from May to August. The application deadline is March 15, however if more time is needed for the application process, please contact Senator Craig's office for an extension. Craig offers paid internships within the Washington, D.C., office. Preference is given to Idaho applicants attending Idaho schools who are in their junior or senior years of college (including graduating seniors). '"Interns have the chance to be an essential part of a working congressional office,"...

The removal of the Rocky Mountain gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act is behing hailed by Idaho agricultural interests. "Wolves have been a major, major fundraiser for the environmentalists over the years. They hate to let it go. They want to keep the issue alive," said Stan Boyd, executive director of the Idaho Wool Growers Association. "Idaho met the 10 breeding pair standard many, many years ago, and so did our neighboring states. Technically, this delisting could have come three or four years ago." Livestock producers recognize the wolf is back and here to stay, Boyd said. "It's time...

The Popo Agie Ranch, just four miles south of town, has a 70-acre hay meadow which rises from an aspen- and cottonwood-sheltered river basin, rolling east and empty into the foot of Table Mountain. The meadow, and the adjacent 4,000-acre pasture, was once used for a modest but profitable cow-calf operation. Today, if visitors roll over the wooden platform bridge across the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River, they'll notice a few corralled llamas, a handful of horses, but no cows. When wolves moved into the area, rancher Dave Vaughan got out of the cow-calf business... "As soon as...

A jackrabbit found throughout much of the West has disappeared from the Yellowstone area, although the reason why remains a mystery, a new study concludes. Whatever the cause, the study suggests the white-tailed jackrabbit's disappearance has wrought major changes to Yellowstone's food chain. Coyotes and wolves, which could have depended on the rabbit as a significant food source, apparently turned their attention instead to larger prey including young elk, pronghorn antelope -- even domestic livestock. However, because the rabbit's decline went relatively unnoticed until now, quantifying that shift is virtually impossible, said the study's lead author, Joel Berger with the...

BOISE - A man has filed a $5 million lawsuit against the Boy Scouts and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, contending they didn't do enough to stop a Scout troop leader from sexually abusing children. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Malheur County Circuit Court in Vale, Ore., by a 53-year-old man identified only as Tom Doe. Doe alleges that Larren Arnold, a leader of his Nampa, Idaho, Boy Scout troop, sexually abused him for about three years, starting in 1967, and that the abuse left him with debilitating physical, emotional and mental injuries. Arnold could not...

Interior Department Removes Northern Rocky Mountain Wolves from Endangered Species List Contacts Ed Bangs (406) 449-5225, x 204 Joan Jewett (503) 231-6211 Sharon Rose (303) 236-4580 Joshua Winchell (703) 358-2279 The gray wolf population in the Northern Rocky Mountains is thriving and no longer requires the protection of the Endangered Species Act, Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett announced today. As a result, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will remove the species from the federal list of threatened and endangered species. "The wolf population in the Northern Rockies has far exceeded its recovery goal and continues to expand...

Legislators are holding up a proposed gun bill, and that's just fine with the University of Idaho administration. A provision in the bill would have forbid local governments and college administrators from banning guns on Idaho college campuses. UI President Tim White said Friday if the bill had passed as written, they'd have a potentially dangerous situation on their hands. "It would have allowed concealed weapons, loaded weapons, on the University of Idaho campus, and all the campuses in the state of Idaho," said White. "We just found that to be unacceptable." Senate Bill 1381 was officially pulled for revision....

On Feb. 6 a new piece of state legislation was introduced which would further our Second Amendment right. Senate bill 1381 would allow individuals with a concealed weapons permit to carry a gun on campus. Utah is currently the only state in which the state board of education is not allowed to set rules or provisions which would be contrary to the rules set forth by state legislation concerning firearm regulation. Idaho is about to be the next. We live in a time where there is always that threat of having another Columbine, Virginia Tech or something equally horrifying, and...

Meridian, Idaho -- A man is facing felony charges for impersonating a police officer and attempting to pull over a young woman. His target was Fox 12 This Morning anchor Shayne Wells. Wells was heading into work around 2 a.m. when she happened to notice that a car she'd passed kept following her too closely. "That's when he actually turned off his headlights and suddenly, up in the front of his car, red, white and blue lights started flashing at me," said Wells.

The confirmation of US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was thrown into further doubt yesterday, when a Republican senator who is blocking the nomination renewed complaints that Sullivan has refused to loosen licensing rules for guns. The development means that the future leadership of the US attorney's office in Boston will remain cloudy for the foreseeable future, because the Bush administration has been unable to nominate a replacement. For now, Sullivan is performing both roles while his nomination is caught in a crossfire over gun policy. Senator David Vitter of...

WASHINGTON - The Senate Ethics Committee said Wednesday that Idaho Sen. Larry Craig acted improperly in connection with a men's room sex sting last year. In a letter to the Republican senator, the ethics panel said Craig's attempt to withdraw his guilty plea after his June arrest at a Minneapolis airport was an effort to evade legal consequences of his own actions. Craig's actions brought discredit on the Senate, the letter said.