Free Republic

Gillett police are investigating the alleged poisoning of a staff member at the district’s secondary school. Two students told investigators they placed cleaning solution into the staff member’s soda bottle as “a prank.” On Oct. 20, an ambulance and officers responded to a call that a staff member at Gillett Secondary School had been “possibly poisoned,” according to police.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is preparing its response to a congressional subpoena for documents related to Project Gunrunner, and questions from the office of the Inspector General, and sources confirm that Phoenix Special Agent In Charge (SAC) William Newell is in Washington, D.C. this week, involved in that effort. Now that a major whistleblower has come forward in the investigation, ATF better not hold anything back. Newell’s name has been prominent in various reports about the Gunrunner project and its off-shoot, Operation Fast and Furious. It was the Phoenix office that ran Fast and Furious, and...

Speculation is rampant since Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley revealed in a letter to ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson that Phoenix Assistant Special Agent in Charge George Gillett was, through and in conjunction with his attorney, “cooperating with” Grassley’s investigation of ATF’s Project Gunrunner. Earlier, when Gillett was not invited to a Gunrunner confab at ATF headquarters, there was speculation that ATF higher-ups were planning to throw Gillett under the bus. It was a question about not being at that meeting that caused Gillette to quickly terminate a telephone conversation with this column early last month. This weekend’s speculation is whether...

George Gillett Jr. is expected to reveal crucial information about how a federal operation allowed weapons from the U.S. to pass into the hands of Mexican drug gangs.

The plan that is causing so much controversy would not only impact teachers, but also people like your local city workers. Friday one area city council took action on behalf of its employees. While thousands upon thousands in Madison have reacted to Governor Walker's plans, six people who make up the Gillett city council have also reacted. The council called a special meeting, and approved a resolution regarding its city workers: people like police officers and members of the public works department. The resolution itself is a bit complicated, but all the percentages and legal language result in this bottom...

Residents in Bingham County have started a local chapter of the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition, which is collecting signatures to once again try to get an initiative to ban gray wolves from Idaho on the ballot. The group failed to gather enough signatures to get a similar initiative on the ballot last year. Coalition Chairman Ron Gillett of Stanley said the group's new goal is to gather 100,000 signatures. He also has instructed petition carriers to make certain that everyone who signs is a registered voter. In 2006, the group collected more than 40,000 signatures in six weeks before running out...

The dispute between dominant species over shared habitat in the West is escalating. The proposal emphasizes continued protections for endangered species, and it states that such measures "shall be directed at the offending animal" while not jeopardizing the "viability of predator populations." The "offending animal" is the one perceived as a threat to people and livestock. There now are more than 1,000 wolves in the Northern Rockies region. In Idaho alone, the offspring of 35 Canadian wolves now number more than 500. Their main prey are...deer and elk. But they have attacked domestic animals as well...through 2005...( at least )...

Next week, Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton are expected to sign an agreement that would place management of an estimated 500 grey wolves into state, rather than federal, hands. The agreement would give ranchers permission to eliminate wolves that harass livestock. It also would empower state wildlife managers to pick off wolf packs that make a dent in the state's deer and elk populations. The wolf's revival in Idaho started a decade ago when officials released 35 wolves into central Idaho. Their numbers have grown steadily since then. Federal rules have carefully prescribed when ranchers...