11/17/06 Breaching study; pack a weapon

A report just released says breaching four Snake River dams in eastern Washington will save Idaho salmon runs. Dam breaching on the four lower Snake dams would cost six billion dollars over a decade, says the report but restored river runs and improved salmon migration would save taxpayers and power customers five billion dollars. Several environmental groups commissioned that study and the Idaho congressional delegation and Governor-elect Butch Otter aren't buying the conclusions. They all still favor leaving the dams in place. All of this is going on at a time when federal agencies are rewriting their operational plans for the dams and salmon restoration because a federal judge in Portland threw out the previous biological opinions. Greenleaf, Idaho, is one of those towns you'd miss if the sign wasn't there. But times in the Boise Valley are changing and more people are moving toward Greenleaf. The small town founded by Quakers and surrounded by irrigated farm fields now requires each household to have a gun. Ordinance 208 passed by the Greenleaf City Council requires residents to keep a weapon unless they object on religious or other grounds. Councilman and former deputy sheriff Steve Jett proposed the ordinance and wants citizens to be armed if the day ever comes when the town is overrun by refugees from a natural disaster. He says what happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina could happen in Idaho with an earthquake or flood. As best anyone can remember the worst crime in Greenleaf was a fist fight two years ago. SAFE has made another court appeal to stop field burning in North Idaho. Safe Air For Everyone and the American Lung Association asked the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to ban the burning of Kentucky bluegrass fields after seed harvest. The Environmental Protection Agency approved a July 2005 clean air plan for Idaho that allows the burning of residue which farmers maintain helps them keep sustainable crops year in and year out. SAFE has been trying unsuccessfully for several years in several different courts to stop the burning. Attorneys say doctors see burning as a health hazard and they say other states have banned it, why shouldn't Idaho do the same. Northwest Report Bill Scott