Candidate Position Statements Welcome to Post On Guardian

Candidates for all State and local offices are welcome to post their position statements on the Caldwell Guardian.  I would ask you to keep your statementsto less than 500 words.  Most elected offices are decided in the primary in Idaho given the RED v. BLUE state of the State.  We hope voters will take the time and effort to learn about candidates and participate in the election process.
Early voting started on Monday, April 23 and will continue to May 11th, 2012.Primary Election is on May 15th......You can vote early at County Elections Office at 1102 Chicago St.

 Sometimes it is unclear where you should actually vote given changes in districts and polling places.

California to Vote on Death Penalty

The people of California are looking under rocks for ways to save taxpayer cash.  A group in California has figured out the high costs of enforcing the death penalty.  They gathered 800,000 signatures and the measure to remove the death penalty will go to voters in November of this year. 

The death penalty was put back on the books in California in 1978 and since then 13 people have been executed.  The LA Times has reported it has cost the State of California $4 Billion to carry out these executions at a cost of about $308 Million per execution. 

The ballot measure would replace the death penalty with life in prison w/o the possibility of parole.  And inmates currently on death row would live out life in prison instead of execution. 

The United States is one of the few countries with the death penalty and very few people understand the costs involved with administering this penalty.  Most people in the criminal justice system would agree life in prison w/o possibility of parole is a far cheaper alterantive.  This would include judges, prison administrators, lawyers and others who know what is involved in death penalty cases.
  Here's a link  http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/23/11360216-california-voters-to-consider-ending-capital-punishment?lite

Time to Check Tires All Around

Nice weather makes me want to go for a ride on my old Schwinn Sierra.  (I bought it new in 1985 at Cafferety's in Nampa.)  I have replaced just about every part on in over the years but the frame is 4130 Chrom moly steel and will last a lifetime.  First order of business was to inflate the tires and check all the nuts and blots for tightness.
The bike tires were almost flat and while checking the bike I decided to check the car tires as well.  The cars looked fine but they were in fact well below the recommended inflation pressure.  I was angry with myself for not staying on top of this given the price of gasoline and the negative impact of low tire pressure in gas mileage.  Low bike tires make a bike hard to pedal and ditto for cars and trucks, the engine has to work harder and uses more fuel.  Add to this the expense of a good set of tires for a pickup can hit the $1k mark with ease. They will wear out in short order if you don't stay on top of tire air pressure.

I knew my gas mileage had fallen off a bit but chalked it up to colder weather and ethanol added to the gas.  Duh... tire pressure is critical and can take several MPG off in a hurry.  Air is free at most tire dealers and can save you $0.40/gallon or more if you are rolling around on low tire pressure.

DEA Wants More Authorty Over Private Medical Records

We learned today in the Wall Street Journal the Drug Enforcement Administration is going after doctors, patients and pill mills in Kentucky.
They call it "Ground Zero" in their ever expanding war on drugs.  They now have prescription pain killers in their cross hairs and want politicos to craft legislation to snoop into patient medical records. 

Right now  doctors are walking a fine line between over prescribing and facing a DEA inquiry and under-prescribing to adequately treat patients with chronic pain.  The whole exercise is just nutty.  People in constant pain want relief and  doctors don't want trouble from law enforcement.

People in pain go shopping from doctor to doctor getting all manner of pain killers at great expense and effort.  The doctors feel like the government has no business in their efforts to help patients.  The DEA and narco Nazi's are looking for new ways to put people in jail and prison.

The reality is about 1/10th-2/10ths of one percent of each 100,000 people manage to kill themselves each year from pain killer overdoses.  Primarily because they go out looking for as doctors who will give them pain meds and they can get.  Instead of giving doctors the rights to administer pain meds, the system is screwing with both doctors and patients. 

There is a registry for pain meds in just about every state.  Now law enforcement personnel and the DEA want access to these registries so they can go out looking for people who buy what they deem as too many pain meds.  The medical community is fighting back to keep patient medical records private and the law enforcement and DEA want Carte-Blanche access to patient medical records when the involve pain meds.

The article is on page A3 of the Wall Street Journal... POLICE, PILL MILLS AND PRIVACY,  Prosecutors, Doctors in Kentucky Spar Over Bill to Curb Prescription Drug Abuse. Friday, April 20th, 2012 by Timothy W. Martin

The reality of all this is live births ultimately lead to death at some point in time.  Why should doctors be intimidated by the government and law enforcement and why should patients have to live in constant pain?  It's common knowledge most doctors do not die the death of most people.   

Passport Office Closed Week of May 14th

Canyon County Passport Office will be closed the week of May 14th.  The clerks for this office will be busy during this week getting ready for the May primary election. 

If you need a passport or the services of this office you will have to get to another county offering that service. 

THE GUARDIAN plucked this off the Canyon County website and is trying to give everyone a heads-up so you can go in early if you are in need of a passport.

Does AG Need Satalite Office In Canyon County?

Business is booming for the Idaho Attorney General in Canyon County and so much so he might want to set up an office in the Canyon County Courthouse.  Our friend and colleague Dave Frazier of the Boise Guardian offers the following:

We have had the John Bujak  embezzlement case, another prosecutor's son with kiddie porn, the DMV clerks making off with hundreds of thousands of dollars, a sheriff's pose clerk charged with embezzlement, an today former maintenance supervisor has has plead guilty in a plea bargain deal to "false accounts" for work he never did.

Each time we learn of another crook in 2/C government it begs three questions:


1.  Is Canyon County more corrupt than other counties?
2.  Do they have a better auditing and investigation controls and methods than other counties?
3.  Or is it a case of employees exploiting holes in the system and they think they won't get caught?

According to the AG, former Canyon County maintenance supervisor Andrew Eveland pleaded guilty today to four counts of presentation of false accounts, a felony, one count of grand theft, also a felony. Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said Eveland entered his pleas during a hearing before Third District Judge Susan Wiebe in Canyon County.

The Canyon County Grand Jury returned an indictment on December 7th, 2011, charging Eveland with 40 counts of presentation of false accounts and one count of grand theft.  Pursuant to the plea agreement, the state dismissed the remaining counts.

The indictment issued by the grand jury alleges Eveland submitted false invoices and claims to the Canyon County Commissioners for cleaning services that were never rendered at the County Juvenile Detention Facility.  It also alleged Eveland wrongfully appropriated various items of county property to his own use.

AG's Special Prosecutions Unit investigated and prosecuted the case at the request of Canyon County Prosecutor Brian Taylor because it involved allegations of criminal misconduct by a former county employee.

Judge Susan Wiebe ordered a pre-sentence report and set a sentencing hearing for June 28th, 2012.

Prescription Pain Killers Next In War on Drugs?

In today's Wall Street Journal, front page above fold Pain-Pill Crackdown Spreads is the latest in the war on drugs.  THE GUARDIAN is suspect of all this fuss by government snooping into Walgreen's, CVS and Cardinal Health.  People in chronic pain don't take pain killers to get high, they take them to try and feel normal.  Chronic pain is endemic yet the government is zeroing in on pharmacies and doctors who prescribe these drugs to patients.

THE GUARDIAN is suspect of the statistics cited in the article of 1.5 million people addicted and 15,000 deaths each year from pain killers.  What is not known are the underlying circumstances of the need to use these drugs in the first place.  Chronic pain due to back injuries, arthritis, stenosis of vertebrae in the back, deteriorated joints due to old age and any number of things will lead people to use these medications just to get some relief down to a manageable level.  And now the Federal Government is looking to expand the war on drugs to this?

Doctors who work with terminally ill patients walk a fine line with government snooping in trying to help people manage their chronic pain and put a modicum of quality back into their daily lives.  How many people in the above statistics were terminally ill or who had put up with years and years of chronic pain and simply decided to put a stop to their suffering?

At some point in the last few years of life we start unraveling like a cheap sweater and all manner of pain and health issues beset the elderly.  I see this latest war on prescription pain killers no help the the elderly and those who are terminally ill.
These patients should be allowed to take whatever is deemed necessary to put some quality back into their lives.

Time For Feedback on County Master Plan

 Canyon County Commishes have availed themselves via four public meetings last  week and this week to present the plan developed by their paid consultant, Carter, Gobel, Lee.  It is now time for residents and taxpayers to weigh in on what was presented.  THE GUARDIAN put together the photo in this post for consideration and has submitted it to the Commishes for their comment and review.

Caldwell East Urban Renewal will not take on any new projects after 2014 and will be totally shut down in 2022 when all outstanding revenue bonds are paid off. Money from the "increment" (aka property taxes) will continue to flow to the URA but they will return that revenue to the taxing districts.  It is apparent the money will not go back to taxing districts and be used to lower taxes, it will get spent.  The only question is will it go for capital improvement projects or payroll and other current and recurring costs of government. None of the governmental districts can raise taxes as they are under a legislative cap on taxation and it appears we will be in this mode for a good long while unless the economy makes a dramatic recovery.

One of the comments that came out in the public meetings was why we don't have night court.  Another comment overheard was why don't they run the courts 7-days a week along with adding night court.  M-F operations of the courts has been the norm for years and other cites faced with court efficiency issues have at least gone to night court.  Yet another was to shut down the Nampa Courthouse, the DMV operation and pull the Public Defender's offices into the existing courthouse complex if the new structure actually gets built.  The county could sell off all this real estate in addition to the property out on 20/6 and I-84 and use the funds toward consolidating operations back to the Caldwell Courthouse Campus.

I am happy to forward constructive comments to the Commishes. And now is your opportunity to get your thoughts and ideas out for consideration.