The Lava Fire did not increase in size over the past week, as crews increased containment to 67% as of Tuesday.The areas of the fire yet to be contained included the perimeter closest to homes along West Mountain Road.Heavy rains from Sept.
The 1st annual McCall Community Center Oktoberfest fundraiser will be held on Thursday, Oct.
A collaborative of local governments will seek private funding to build a regional public high-speed internet network, the McCall City Council was told earlier this month.The group, known as the West Central Mountains Fiber Network, is seeking approval from each of its members to submit a letter of inquiry for private financing to fund the network.“We are basically reaching out to see what a project like that would look like,” said McCall Information Systems Director Chris Curtin, who represents the city in the collaborative.Any proposal would not be binding and would be subject to review and approval by members of the group, which includes Valley County and the cities of Cascade, Donnelly, McCall and New Meadows.Curtin estimated it could cost up to $30 million to build a network of miles of underground fiber internet lines, an expense the group cannot independently fund.Federal grant funding is available for broadband projects, but usually requires a match that could be difficult for local governments to raise, Curtin said.“We would need to come up with about $6 million to $8 million,” he said.The letter of inquiry is addressed to Jeff Christensen, president of EntryPoint Networks, a Salt Lake City consulting firm hired by the collaborative to help develop a regional public fiber network.EntryPoint is expected to reply with a proposal for funding a network of fiber lines linking homes and businesses from Cascade to New Meadows to high-speed internet service.McCall, Cascade and Valley County have approved submitting the letter, while Donnelly and New Meadows are expected to consider the topic soon.Building a public fiber network to serve the region would improve internet speeds, broaden access, increase reliability and lower monthly service costs, according to the collaborative.Once built, existing internet service providers, like Ziply Fiber and Sparklight, would be able to offer their service packages to customers using the group’s public network.That would increase competition between providers and lower monthly service costs, according to the group.Participation in the regional network is expected to be on a voluntary, opt-in basis for local residents and businesses.
The McCall-Donnelly boys soccer team capped off a challenging week of games by rolling past Grangeville, 6-0, during a non-conference tilt played Saturday at the Richard Sabala Athletic Complex.It was a get-right performance – following a tie and a loss to Snake River Valley Conference opponents in days prior – and featured regular starting goalkeeper Michael Foster playing another position during the second half and finding the net to the delight of those in attendance.Caleb Anderson scored a pair of goals to lead M-D on Saturday while Sebastian Carheden, Jose Manuel and Bogdan Monahan also finished chances.Vandal coach Forrest Stanley deemed the performance a good one, and noted his players regularly strung passes together.The days leading up to Saturday proved challenging.
It took a village as the McCall-Donnelly volleyball team closed out Cole Valley in three sets, 25-19, 25-9, 25-23, last week in Meridian to stay undefeated on the season.Lexi Arnold, Genevieve Kertz and Shilah Arnold combined for 27 kills during the Snake River Valley Conference game, helping the Vandals run their record to 15-0-1 overall and 5-0 in league play.“We were expecting the Cole Valley game to be super tough and our players rose to the occasion,” M-D coach Amber Green said.Kertz came through with some late heroics – five blocks and four kills – as the Vandals rallied from a 18-12 deficit to pull out a third set victory and shut the door on a feisty Chargers side.M-D gathered 10 total blocks during the match while Bisbee Henderson delivered a team-high 22 digs and fueled a strong defensive effort with her communication.“She really directs traffic on the court, which helps everyone,” Green said.The Vandals spread the wealth among their hitters, with Lexi Arnold leading the way with 11 kills.
The Payette Lakes Ski Swap will be held over the weekend of October 18 to 20 at Payette Lakes Middle School.Skiers and Snowboarders can drop off unneeded gear on Friday, Oct.
A McCall man was sentenced to 30 years in prison last week for shooting and killing his wife amid a domestic violence incident in February 2023.Mark Dooley, 56, will be eligible to seek parole after 22 years in prison, under the sentence handed down by Third Judicial District Judge Jason Scott last Friday at the Valley County Courthouse in Cascade.“This is the kind of crime that calls for a serious punishment,” Scott said before reading the sentence to Dooley and about two dozen people observing the hearing.Lynne Dooley, 42, was shot in the back and the chest amid Mark Dooley’s drunken rage at the couple’s home in McCall’s Rio Vista Neighborhood on the afternoon of Feb.
Correction: An article in last week’s edition incorrectly said that charges against Micah and Dania Haselton were investigated by the Ada County Sheriff’s Office.
Corporal Roger Picard of the McCall Police Department was filing reports at the police station early Sunday morning when a message about a man unconscious and not breathing blared through his dispatch radio.The man, in his late 50s, collapsed at about 7:24 a.m.