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INSIDE

The Times-News

Tuesday, February 4,2003

Obltuartes...........B2

Idaho/west ........84

Momlng break.......B5

Section B

r Around

THE YALLEY

Lawmakers consider audits

§ House panel looks at *- ęxpandlng dental care

•: BOISE - A subcommittee to the House Health and Welfare Comraittcc is recommending ii ópanded dental carc to MedicaJd patier.ts considered to be at high risk, said Rep. Sharon Błock, R-Twin Falls, chairwoman of the sub-cbnuninee.

: As a result of the State budget cri-^ sis last ycar, Cov. Dirk Kerapthome •reduced dental care onder hfcdicaid to children, pregnant Womcn and adults needlng emer-gency care. Since tlien, the gover-_ nor and the Leglslature have becn ^'criddzed by advocates for the poor and sonie dentists for exduding adult Mcdicald patients from main-•V. tenance dental care.

?i; The subconunittee’s recommen-^■darion would provide dental care for some of those cxduded adults, k! though Błock said she’s not yet surę $■- what would qualify someone to bc U % considered high risk.

^ l “That would be up to the (Health K and Welfare) department,’’ Błock said, “but the money to pay for łt C- will havc to eonie from the Health gZ and Welfare budget, not the gener-'T al fund. They will hove to kecp (the

>    z definition) in linę enough to stay jw ; within their budget."

Błock emphasized the House * * Health and Welfare Cotrunittee will £ have to approve the recommcnda-;• . non before it can go to the Housc C.; floor for debatę.

£:Ball bondsman pleads -l Innocent to theft charge

TWIN FALLS - A Twin Falls bail - J bondsman and business owner who was arrested Thursday pleadcd T; Innocent Monday to a grand theft ; "charge.

>    i—Dlstrict Judgo Nathan Higor te:

a trial datę of May 28 for Charles ?• Legg, 43. A pre trial conference was set for May 12.

~~ A grand jury on Wcdnesday Slhanded down an indietment charg-• Ing Lcgg with grand theft by decep--2 • tion, accordlng to court records. 5; -Police wlth search warrants early _^IThursday.cQ.i.vcrged on Lcgg’.'. busl-

•    • ness, home and other łocarions, and i Legg was arrested. Hc later posted

*    • bail and was released.

b* Competltlon will be tough b for spots on shelter board

TWIN FALLS-A totalof 37Twin

1    Falls and Twin Falls County resi-r 'dents turned łn opplicaiions for ‘ spots on a scvcn-mcmbcr animal _s shelter advisory committee to be

formed by the dty of Twin Falls.

. The deadline for the appUcadons + .was Friday, but-there was no woni U • Monday as to when the City Council >.?planned to stan interviewing candi-dates or how soon the animal shel*

*    ter committee will be up an run* ning. The coundl recently autho-

' rized the formation of the commit--..tee, which will operate in same X mann er as the dty*s other advisory ; boards, such as the parks and reere* £. >adon conunlssion.

The applłcants: Donna Bohrn, fffCindy Broome, Corol Broi, Richard

2    -Cooke, Karla Cordova, Debbłc 9 ‘Currier, Kenneth Donson, Beverly f Danvers, Mariłyn Day, Ralph Day, ‘ Ban Gibbons, Marjorie Hansen, Z Joseph. Hawkins, Sandie ^••Hemingway, Anita Henna, yiStephanie Hillius, Robin Hunt, j^Carol Kaufman, Frań Komblum, tCharles Langley, James LaRue, t^Charles Lenkner, Tara Martens, *-2Dave Montgomery, Jan Peters, Bob •iPowers, Debra Preece, Edward I;Reckolenwald, Bemicc Richardson, l-^Judy Ruprecht, Carric Shelton, I-Louis Sitton, Donna Stalley, Karen Z -Stroder, Cyrus Warren, Emie Wills •land Carolyn Wolter.

•

£-*    Compflod from Staff report*

ii Snourpacjk

evels

Watonhtd	X %o/A»g*	ST-
U*p«r SaaIc* Rlw	$4%	61%
lAlmon Ftllt	02%	3t%
fUlmon	92%	55%
OckWy	53%	34%
Big Wood	94%	51%
LW# Wood	113%	59%
	79% .	61%
BigLoct	101%	60%
UttteLoM	77%	45%
	A»o«fet.3.

Kep. Newcomb wants to track school spending

The Associated Pr—a_■ ■

BOISE - House Speaker Bruce Newcomb plans to ask the State Office of Performance Evaluanons to conduct an audit on how effecdvely schocls spend their dollors.

He hopes to track how well school districts us« their money for cverything from running bus Systems to improving student achievement.

A performance audit looks ot how wisely money is spent ón

firograms, nstead of how an orga-n i z o t i o n accounts for the money. Newcomb, R-Burley, is expcct-ed to ask for audits on three of Idaho’* 114 school dlstrict* to help legislator* better under-stand how education dollors are spent. Those districts havc not becnehosen.

Rakesh Moham, director of the Office of Performance Evaluations, said his eight-per-son office could handle In-depth audits on one smali, one medium and one large district. Add any morę, Moham said, and the audits would be affcctcd by a lack of man power.

Newcomb will take Kii rcąuest to the Joint Legi$lativc

Rop. Btuco Noweocib

O v e r s i g h t Committee, which directs the work of the performance e valuation office.

_The.request comes as Gov. Dłrk Kemp-thome Is push-ing for a 1.5* ccnt-per-dollar sales tax inerease to elose a S200 million gap between statc revenues and the cdst of running State govcm-ment.

Newcomb said the State could not adequately address budget Lssues without mole Information on how school dis tri as operate.

Darrel Deidc, Kempthome’s newly named education adriser

Looklng for fraud - Al

and former Caldwell School District superintendent, backs the audits.

“We have to look at how every dollar is being used ln ihe dass* room and what pcrccnt gets to the dassroom tcacher,” he said.

Newcomb sald he is not surę lawmakers would get suffident Information on school* this ycar to help them with the immcdi-atc budget crisis. But he pre-dicts Idano*s economic recovery will bc slow in coming, and law-makers could face tough budget issues during the next five years.

Half the money Idahoans pay in sales and incoroc tax goes to

Please sec AUDITS. Page 83

Prepare to pump

iłm Wobb Jokoi with Rod Crooo nurt o Lou iohnoon whllo h*vln| hlo 20Dth unit of blood drawm In Twfn Folio on Monday. Wabb, who hoo bocomo a famllior olght •t Wood drew*, wt* honored fw riKhlng a llfottmo total of 25 galion* dooatod. A blood driro continua* from noon to 6 pjn. foday and from 9 am. to 1 p.m. Wodnoiday at tha Rrat Pmbytorlan CJiurch, 209 Flfth Avo. N. For an appolntmont or mor* Informotfon, cali Sharta Worron at 734-4566.

T.F. grain silos will get expert inspection

By Mark Heliu Tlmoo-Nowo wrllor

TWIN FALLS - An expart’a eye might soon detcrmlne If historie grain silos in Old Townc are worth soving.

The City Council Monday agreed to pur S1.900 toward bringing that expert to tovm.

The council unanimously approved a request by the Twin Falls Historie Preservation Commisslon to pay half the cost of bringing, a concrete and' cement expert to town to lnspea the silos.

Historie Preservotlon Commission Chairman Paul Smith said the silos don‘t seem to be in any immediate danger of falling down or suffering

other major failure. But the years are starting to tel! on the structures, which werc built .around 1915, he said.

The . Twin Falls Urban Renewal Agency has agreed to pitch in half the price of haring the expen do o thorough assess-ment of the silos and proridc an esdmate of what it might cost to repoir them, Smith sald. With the city’* 51.9G0 approved, the. inspection can probably soon bc scheduled.

The silos’ futurę beyond that isn’t elear, he sald. But the Historie    Preservation

Commission would like to sec them turned into some sort.of landmark - possibly by having them painted with murals or a sign commemorating the city’s

centennial in 2004, Smith said.

In another matter, the coundl agreed to waivc the building and water and sewer tap fees on a new complcx the South Central Community Action Agency wants to build soon on property along South Washington Street.

The agency is now working out of four buildings near Old ..Towne, and the structures are all but dilapidated,    agency

spokesman Ken Robinette told the coundl. The hope is to get all the agency’* operations under one, new roof, he said.

South Central Community Action has its hands in a yariety of charity and aid programs, induding heating bill assistonce for low*income familics, aid to

homeless people and helping to secure community development błock grants, Robinette said.

The council also:

• Agreed to give o 1948 fire engine owned by the dty to the Twin Falls Optimist Club. The dub hopes to repair and restore the engine and use it for parades and other community cvents.

.. • Agreed to extend unńl June 20ÓS the city’s agreement to share facilities - such as gymna-siums, parks and baseball fields - with the Twin Falls School District.

Timcs-Sews reporter Mark Heim can be rwehed at 73S-3238 ar bp e-mail at mhcinz®magicval-lep.com.

Officials: County

hospitals hołd benefits

By Sandy Miller Thne*N«wa wrlter

TWIN FALLS - County hospitals do have some advantages.

There’s łocal control. Thcrc’s morę accountability; and resources stay in the community. And the decision making is futer, said Pat Hermanscn, pres-ident and dtief exccutive olfia-r Of Portncuf Medical Center, a county-owned hospital in Pocatcllo.

Hermanscn and Portncuf Board Chairman Paul Yokum fielded questions from Magie Valley Rcgional Medical Ccnter‘s Hospital Board Monday.

Last ycar. Twin Falls County commissioncrs and Hospital Board members agreed to edu-cate thcmsclvcs on how other county hospitals, os wcll as non-profit and for-profit hospitals operate. Hospital leaders prcvi-ously hod pushed to convert the county-owned hospital tu a “community-based” nonprofit organization. At the same limę, county commissioncrs in 2001 appointed an adyisory commit-tce to establish critcria for lease proposals from for-profit and nonprofit organizations interest-ed in operatlng Magie Vallcy Regional,

Those efforts were put on hołd after Magie Vallcy Rcgional bought the Twin FaUs Clinic and Hospital, but now board mcm-bers and commissioncrs utc tak-ihg another look at hospital gov-cmance.

County Commissioncrs Gary Crindstaff, Bill Brockman and Tom Mikesell wercn’t present Monday, as they were attending the Idaho Associatinn «»f COunties Legislarive Confcrcncc in Boise. _

"Board members and commis-sioners want to have all the facts "so we would make a decision on an educational basis and not on a political basis," said Hospital Board Chairwoman VcstJ Maughan.

Do county hospitals, whose meetings are opon to lite poblic, have a disudvantiigc when it comcs to strategie planning?

“Not at all." Hermanscn said.

Although hc agreed that non-profit hospitals, whose meetings are closcd to the public, “don't hove the same scrutiny," the open mecting law docs allow county hospitals to do some strategie planning bchind closcd doors. (Howevcr, decisións musi be madę in open ses-sions.)

And when it comes to reeruit-

ing, all hospitals, whether county, nonprofit or for-profit, must offer competitivc rates in order to attract employces. Hermanscn said.

Hermanscn and Yokum said one of the most importom things hospitals can do is to maintain strong relationships with their physicians and include them in the decision making.

“A county hospital gives you a leg up when it comes tu rnain-taining relationships with pliysi* dans,’^T Yokum said.

Hermansen said the biggest challenges facing county hospitals today are a shrinking State budget, meeting indigent care needs and a growing dependence on mandated

PJcase see HOSPfTAL Pap 83

Gooding council OKs Glanbia reąuest

City will allow byproduct to be sent to sewer system

Th# Tlm#*N#w*

GOODING - While waiting for a statc permit to inerease the amount of wastewater it puts on farmland, Glanbia Foods Inc. may send the untreated cheese-processing byprodua to the dty of Gooding’s sewer system.

After learaing the dty sewer system wouldn’t be hanoed by the llquid, the City Council voted unanimously Monday to entdr an agreement to accept up T.OOO gallons of Glanbia iwater daily for threo

to 100.C wasrew mon iks,

The decision carne on the same day the Idaho Department

of Envłronmental Quality announced that it had denied a Glanbia request for a waiver to allow the company to cxceed its wimer land applicadon limit for wastewater. Glanbia has asked

.the_stale._Board-of—

Environmenta! Q u a I i t y to review the department'* deci-sion.

City offidals said samplcs of Clanbia wastewater showed that it would not produce morę sludge than the dty can accom-modate. The amount of sludge was the dty's primary conccm in the coropany’s request, as there is plenty of capacjty for the wastewater itself; the city

sewer plam is now operadng ut just a third of its /00,000-gal-lonsperduy capacity.

City officials expcct Glanbia to send 50.000 to 100.000 gallons of wastewater per day to the sewer plant during the 90-day agreement. It will be trucked from.the chcesc plant to the sewer plant. The proposed agreement calls for Glanbia to pay the dty at a ratę of GO cent* per 1,000 gallons; Processing of 100.000 gallons would generale SGOOper day.

City officials said they attempted to set a ratę that would be fair to boih the company and to taxpaycrs. The proposed ratę for Glanbia is slighily Piease see 0 LASKA. Pago 83

Craters of Moon planners identify monument options

By Nate Johnson Tlmeałłow* wrłtor

ARCO - Managers of the Craters of the Moon National Monument want to know if pco* pic wam ro.uls bnd'explanaiory signs or untouchcd wildemess.

Lmd managers have como up with four broad management plans based on comments received this past summer. They now plan three workshops to collea comments and sct*k morc spcdfic dircction. The planning will erentually lead to an envl-ronmental impact statement.

“Weil be asking. 'What do

you like or dislike about any one of the altemativcs and why?"' Craters Superintendent Jim Morris said.

Three things cannot change. Grazing and hunting will contio-ue on the monumentrand off ~ road vchide use will bc prohib-ited.

The monument managers have comc up with four differ-ent altematiyes. each proposing a different management style for the arca:

• Altcrnative 1 - Take no action and continue manage-

Piease see CRATERS. Page 83

i