Topic: Politics

It's Election Day 2008 and excitement is in the air across the Wood River Valley, and across the country. A wet morning didn't seem to keep people from the polls and Plum's own Justin Ross sent in this report and these pictures of the scenes at Ernest Hemingway Elementary and the American Legion Hall in Ketchum.

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Why Proposition 1 Should Have Your YES Vote by Len Harlig

On May 27, unless you vote earlier at the County Courthouse in Hailey [which you can do any weekday up until May 23rd] or ask for an Absentee ballot, you will have the opportunity to vote YES to continue the current level of paramedic ambulance service in our county. Your YES vote will ensure that there will continue to be enough functioning ambulances and enough skilled paramedics to respond to your E-911 medical calls, 24-hours a day/365 days a year. In a medical emergency, the last thing you want to hear the E-911 dispatcher say is, “I’m sorry, we can’t send anyone to you at this time.”

Although Idaho State Senate Minority Leader, Clint Stennett, recently began undergoing treatment for cancer, he continues to serve the state and announced that he is seeking a 10th term in the Legislature.

Stennett is the state’s longest serving Minority Leader and serves on the Agricultural Affairs, Resources and Environment, State Affairs and Legislative Councils. He is also a strong advocate for Idaho’s clean air and water, renewable energy and education.

After years of building up media businesses in the Wood River Valley, Senator Stennett is now retired and focused on serving the Senate full time. We wish Senator Stennett a speedy and full recovery.

Mount Rushmore in South Dakota memorializes past U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

Today, we celebrate our nation’s presidents. What began as a celebration of George Washington’s Birthday has morphed into a holiday where we honor all of the leaders of our country, mostly due to a push from advertisers and retail businesses who pleaded for the change in the name from Washington’s Birthday to President’s Day; their change has made a pay-off.

While most businesses shut their doors and take the day off on federal holidays, Presidents’ Day is a different story in Sun Valley. With the throngs of visitors in town for the holiday weekend, businesses will be having sales galore. Town as has been packed all weekend, with plenty of people getting up on the mountain as well.

Shopping and skiing aside, Sun Valley does have a bit of history when it comes to U.S. presidents, and politicians in general. Former President Gerald Ford often brought his family out to hit the slopes on Baldy, former presidential nominee John Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz often frequent the valley, members of the Kennedy clan where known to take ski vacations here, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a part-time resident for years.

While we agree you should take advantage of the long weekend, remember what we are really celebrating, the past and present leaders of our country. And come November, we will have a new leader to honor next year.

Last Tuesday, Blaine County democrats got a taste of democracy in action at the Democratic Caucus. For three hours, democrats came together at the Community Campus to rally behind the presidential candidate of their choice and to make their votes count. The winner in Idaho was Sen. Barack Obama, the only democratic candidate to form a committee and campaign in the state of Idaho. And it definitely paid off; according to the Associated Press, Obama won 34 of the 35 counties in the state