From My Perspective

Heat in Gem County not just the weather

By Joe Sova, managing editor

It’s hotter than the Fourth of July in Emmett. And I’m not just talking about the weather. A petition is being circulated to recall Mayor Marilyn Lorenzen.

The petition began last week after it was reported that two more City of Emmett deposits had disappeared. The most recent deposits totaled just more than $5,000, bring the total of the money missing — in cash and checks — to nearly $20,000.

During the June 26 City Council meeting, the mayor and City Clerk Marge Lawrence answered a series of questions listed in Roberta Ushman’s Community Concerns column in the June 27 issue (many people get their paper on Tuesday). Most of the questions were legitimate and addressed the missing money. One of them was not, and I should have “edited it out” of the column — since it did not pertain directly to the disappearance. That question was: Why does the city clerk have a city-financed car to drive?

If I would have called the mayor to ask if the city clerk does not have a city-financed car to drive, the answer would have been “no.” The mayor said in an e-mail to me late last week that City Clerk Marge Lawrence “uses her own car, makes her own payments on it, and she pays for her own car, gasoline and meals when on city business.” Lawrence could be compensated for mileage when driving on city business, but apparently she is not asking for reimbursement.

On page 1 of today’s newspaper is a story stating that a recall petition is being circulated. The recall process is explained in the story. I urge voters who are asked to sign the petition to do one thing: Read the detailed reason(s) for the recall. So often people sign their name when they really don’t know what the petition is about.

Safety issues in Emmett

Entities such as cities or counties are always concerned with the safety of its citizens. There are guidelines and policies that they follow to ensure, or at least promote, safety.

I read in what Messenger Index reporter Ruth Simerly wrote in a recap of the June 12 Emmett City Council meeting that Bigfoot, the famed monster truck, was going to do some car crushing last week at an Emmett tire store/shop. There was a request to close down Canal Street from North Washington Avenue to Commercial Avenue for a two-hour period to allow the demonstration.

As the time for the car crushing was pushed back from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., the crowd grew in size. It was a good turnout. People were lined up along the south side of Canal Street to watch Bigfoot in action. The four cars to be crushed by the truck were on the north side Canal, about 40 feet from the spectators. There was some crowd control by the Bigfoot people, but there were no barriers for spectators to stand behind. The crowd included a good number of kids, some in strollers.

I was about as close to the site of the crushing as anyone. After rolling over the cars, the driver turned Bigfoot sharply a couple of times — toward the crowd, on the way back to the starting point. The first time it happened, I was one of many who took a step back.

The chance of Bigfoot veering into the crowd was, in my opinion, slight. But what if a child ran out onto the street while Bigfoot was traveling?

Should there have been some type of barricade, even a rope, to keep the crowd off the street? In my opinion, yes. I’m not knocking the local tire company. It should have been the responsibility of the Bigfoot people to request for, or arrange, a barricade.

I took a call from the owner of a local repair shop the morning after the Bigfoot event. He told me that the event was allowed, but that he was denied permission by the city to hold his annual “burnout” during this year’s Cruise Night. The man said the reason for the reason for denial was spectator safety. He had the event for the previous four years and said there were no problems — in terms of the safety of spectators. He indicated that there appears to be a “double standard” in what the city will allow and what it will not.

We live in a very litigious society when it seems that someone is always suing someone else. Bizarre things happen. But effective safety precautions can eliminate injuries and even death. We should not stop popular events such as monster truck shows and burnouts as long as proper safety precautions are taken.

Kevin Sharp concert

Last Thursday night’s Kevin Sharp concert was a great entertainment event in Emmett. It was well planned by Melissa McDaniel and her Starfish Project Coalition people. Attendance was lower than expected, with about 400 going through the gate.

The Swing! For Project Starfish Golf Tournament scheduled for Friday was postponed and rescheduled for Sept. 15, according to Melissa.

Emmett 12-year-old David Alvarez delighted the Sharp concert crowd with several songs to open the evening. Wow, what a talent. Could American Idol be in his future?

I heard Straight Away, a Treasure Valley band, for the first time at Cherry Festival. The five-member group opened for Sharp and his band. Beau Bonds, Straight Away’s lead singer, is the most interactive performer in a band that I’ve ever seen. He was often in the crowd, once singing while hanging from the grandstand fence, and had a handshake or high five for hundreds of people Thursday night. My hat’s off to the drummer, who whaled away while sitting in the 90-degree sun.

Sharp is a great songwriter and presents his material well. And he appreciates the talents of his band members. He gave each of them the lead and spotlight during the show.

Credit goes to Ron and Terrie Jackson, who invested a lot of their own money in the Kevin Sharp concert. The heat may have kept some people away, but it was another good event for Starfish, which promotes Gem County youth in a big way.