Correction:The presidential caucus for the Idaho Democratic Party will be held May 23 at the McCall-Donnelly High School commons area from 5 to 8 p.m.A previous version of this article listed the date incorrectly as April 23.Adams County voters will cast their ballots at the Council Valley Public Free Library at 104 California Ave.
Cascade Fire was called on to put out a three-acre grass fire on Saturday from a burn pile that grew out of control.Firefighters arrived at the site at 70 Atkin Ln.
The Valley County Planning and Zoning Commission has approved of the county’s plans to build a nearly 14,000 square foot building to house the Valley County Road and Bridge Department.Commissioners unanimously approved a conditional use permit at their April meeting for the facility to be built at 55 Gold Dust Road, about three miles south of Cascade.Plans include three repair bays for large equipment, storage space, and a separate welding shop walled off from the main work area.The facility will also include five offices, a small conference room, a lobby and reception room, a break room and three bathrooms.“This bigger shop will allow us to have the space to work without running into each other,” said Valley County Road and Bridge Superintendent Jeff McFadden.“We are pretty cramped up where we are now but we make do,” McFadden said.Constructing a new Road and Bridge headquarters was proposed to give the department more room to operate and also free up space in the Valley County Fairgrounds in Cascade, where the current shop is located.Relocating the facility means the department will no longer have to move vehicles from the parking lot during events at the Valley County Fairgrounds, or worry about children playing near the large machinery.“We have had basketballs come from the park and bounce across our lot with a child chasing it,” McFadden said.
A Washington man was sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier this month in connection to a methamphetamine trafficking bust in McCall last summer.Jon McGarrigan, 55, was arrested last year on July 12 after a months-long investigation by the Valley County Sheriff’s Office and the McCall Police Department.Officers obtained a search warrant and discovered over 12 ounces of methamphetamine in one of McGarrigan’s vehicles and over five ounces of marijuana in his McCall home.Third Judicial District Judge Jason Scott sentenced McGarrigan to 10 years in prison on April 12 at the Valley County Courthouse in Cascade.McGarrigan, who may seek parole after three years served, also must pay more than $10,000 in fines.McGarrigan agreed to plead guilty to the methamphetamine trafficking in exchange for Valley County Prosecutor Brian Naugle dismissing the marijuana charge.Naugle sought mandatory prison time for McGarrigan in part because he continued selling drugs after being warned and told to stop by Valley County detectives.“He disregarded their warnings and continued to obtain drugs from a supplier in Washington and sell the substances in the Valley County community on a regular basis,” Naugle said.“This fact made it unlikely that McGarrigan would stop dealing drugs without significant punishment,” he said.
A new Cascade Medical Center clinic is set to open tomorrow in Donnelly offering urgent care and regular family practice appointments.The Donnelly Urgent Care clinic will be open Friday through Sunday from 8 a.m.
Valley County residents can now receive free home safety evaluations on how to prepare their property for wildfires.The program is part of the Valley County Department of Wildfire Mitigation, a new department formed this year and has already completed 10 consultations in its first two months in operation.The department is funded by an agreement with the Payette National Forest and the Good Neighbor Authority, which allows for work across federal, state, local and private ownership boundaries, with the permission of each party.The department director is Mara Hlawatschek of McCall, who has 13 years of wildland firefighting experience, nine of which were with the Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association, where she earned the rank of Fire Operation Specialist.“Wildfire truly impacts everyone…we must work to protect communities and values at risk from wildfires,” Hlawatschek said.That work at the county includes administration of grants from the Idaho Department of Lands and U.S.
The presidential caucus for the Idaho Democratic Party will be held Tuesday at the McCall-Donnelly High School commons from 5 to 8 p.m.There are five candidates up for consideration in the Idaho Caucus alongside President Joe Biden, who has already secured the Democratic nomination by earning the necessary number of delegates in primary votes across the country.Participating in the primary is important as a show of support, more than it is contributing to a horse race to select a candidate, said Valley County Democrats Chairman Bill Thomas.“As Democrats, we want to show that we exist in Valley County, and we want to support a democratic candidate for president,” Thomas said.Registered Democrats and unaffiliated voters are welcome to participate, as long as they have not voted in another party’s caucus in 2024.Voting will be conducted as a “firehouse caucus,” where individuals cast their vote in a ballot as opposed to some caucuses, which include multiple rounds of voting and speeches.“This pivotal event allows community voices to shape the democratic process by selecting presidential preferences and electing state delegates,” said a statement from the group Valley County Democrats.The deadline to file as a state delegate is May 1, and can be done at idahodems.org/caucus.Also on the ballot are Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, who has officially suspended his campaign.Entrepreneur Jason Plamer has not officially suspended his campaign, but endorsed Biden this week.Author Marianne Williamson suspended her campaign in February, while lawyer David Olscamp and behavioral therapist Armando Perez-Serrato have remained in the race, despite having no chance of sealing the nomination.
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Bears are waking up from a winterlong hibernation with several overturned trash cans already reported in McCall this spring.People need to prepare for another spring in bear country, or careless trash handling could lead to bears dying.“Unfortunately, bears that have become too accustomed to human food sources cannot responsibly be relocated,” said Regan Berkley, a regional wildlife manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.“These bears can become dangerous, and in some cases IDFG needs to trap and lethally remove them,” Berkley said.
Plans for more than 100 long-term rental apartments in downtown McCall were approved last week by the McCall City Council.The proposal by Boise developer Michael Hormaechea will build four buildings containing 125 apartments on a 4.4-acre parcel across Third Street (Idaho 55) from Alpine Village.“It looks like a really well-planned project,” council member Julie Thrower said, citing the environmental benefits of downtown housing within walking distance of businesses.Hormaechea agreed to permanently restrict the use of 101 of the apartments as long-term rentals as part of the city’s approval for the project.That includes 31 apartments that will be under the city’s local housing program, which permanently deed restricts units for use by people who live and work in McCall.In exchange, Hormaechea is eligible for up to $310,000 in developer incentives offered by the city, like utility connection fee waivers.The project more than doubles the 14 units signed onto the city’s housing program since it was launched in 2018.The other 70 long-term rentals would be reserved through a development agreement with the city that would remain with the property no matter who owns it.Those rentals would not be subject to rental rate appreciation caps in place for the 31 apartments signed onto the city’s housing program after the council honored a request by Hormaechea to not impose the rental caps.“He needs to make enough money to maintain the buildings,” Thrower said.