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Take the money and run

HOOD RIVER—Bill Neal has no problem explaining what the state should do with David Ryan and his juice company.

“They need to come up here and shut his ass down,” Neal said. “This has been a problem for 15 years.”

Ryan, the founder and CEO of Hood River Juice Company, was charged in late October with two misdemeanor counts of water pollution. This came as no surprise to Neal and a number of other farmers, ranchers and homeowners who reside near the business. After all, Ryan is already awaiting trial for six alleged felony acts of pollution tied to 16 separate charges. In addition, Ryan, 46, faces penalties for two felony counts of supplying false information to a regulatory agent, according to documents obtained by employees of this publication.

Deputy District Attorney Kate Stebbins is representing the state of Oregon in the case. Although she declined to comment specifically about Ryan and the charges, Stebbins did say it is unique for the D.A. office to become involved in an issue such as this. Stebbins is also working with the state Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department on the case.

Bob Wire Has a Point (It's Under His Cowboy Hat)

For most of us functioning adults, we just can’t start the day without that steaming mug of joe. It’s not just the caffeine, but it’s also the ritual, the comfort of the warm cup between the hands, the jolt of heat and aromatic bitterness with every sip. There’s also the communal aspect, taking a little time between work crises to slurp a little mud with your coworkers and talk about who got beat up and/or lucky over the weekend.

So when there’s no coffee, there’s no life. There’s no light. There’s no liftoff. I’ve run out of coffee before, but there’s always been some backup plan, some forgotten stash, some workable alternative. Run out of filters? Use a paper towel. Sugar’s gone? Honey will do in a pinch. Last time I ran out of coffee beans, I rooted through the camping box until I found a packet of instant. The kids were asking their mother why daddy was swearing at the camping box.

From the Panhandle

The Beardmore Block in Priest River continues its phoenix-like rise from metaphorical ashes in garnering another award—this time the Grow Smart Award from Idaho Smart Growth. The award language says the Beardmore “incorporates historic preservation, downtown revitalization, and sustainable green building practices in an existing town center” and “illustrates that communities can adapt to new demands and preserve their historic treasures while providing sustainable economic revitalization.” The building also received the Grand Award for Adaptive Re-Use at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference last summer.

The Beardmore Block was commissioned in 1922 by Charles Beardmore, Bonner County’s largest employer at the time and owner of the St. Elmo Hotel, the local lumber mill, and the stage line. 

CHEAP & CLOSE

What does Gerald Petitt know about the ski industry that other ski resort owners should learn?

In a year when resorts across the country watched their visitor numbers tumble, the Aspen resident who owns tiny Echo Mountain near Idaho Springs saw its numbers rise 30 percent, one of just three ski areas in the state to post gains.

What’s his secret? Partly it’s timing. Opened in March 2006, Echo Mountain is Colorado’s newest resort and it’s on the upswing. Partly it’s snow. At 10,500 feet, it gets plenty. Partly, it’s formula. Echo Mountain boasts being Denver’s “closest, cheapest and freshest ski and snowboard area,” a winning combination in a struggling economy.

Rugged Stuff

Before they are too far into the past, I had a few comments on this year’s Country Music Association awards, which were presented earlier this month in Nashville.

Entertainer of the Year went to Taylor Swift.  While this young phenom might be just a bit too young and bubbly for my taste, I have to admit that I like her music.  A lot.  If even half of the official press material on her is true, Swift is a talent the likes of which only comes around once in a while, and she has earned her meteoric success.

News Analysis

For U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Ralph B. Kirscher, the opening hearing in the Moonlight Basin bankruptcy case, scheduled for this Tuesday in Butte, promises more than a little bit of deja vu: it was just a year ago that some of the same lawyers appeared in the same courtroom to begin arguments in the Yellowstone Club bankruptcy case, and there are certainly plenty of parallels in the two situations.

Like the Yellowstone Club, Moonlight is a new ski-and-golf resort in Big Sky that got caught out with an unsustainable debt load when the mountain real estate market crashed. Like the Yellowstone Club, Moonlight is an important economic engine for Big Sky and greater Bozeman, and the outcome of the bankruptcy will have a big impact on the community. And as in the Yellowstone Club case, the opening chapter of the bankruptcy will likely feature a battle between management and a Wall Street lender over who controls the property while a broader solution is found.

Unfortunately for Big Sky, though, the closer analogy is the case of Tamarack Resort in Idaho. Like Moonlight, Tamarack was conceived by a charismatic businessman as a public four-season resort with high-end real estate sales at the heart of the business model. Like Moonlight, Tamarack found itself in the position of relying on an angry lender to continue funding the operation after the meltdown hit. Like Moonlight, Tamarack has been unable to find a new owner to save the day, with many questioning whether the resort is fundamentally viable. Tamarack is now closed, with a foreclosure trial scheduled for February.

Generation Recreation

The West Tensleep Trailhead in the Bighorn National Forest ­-- the most popular access to the Cloud Peak Wilderness ­­-- will have a $10 parking fee next summer. I can’t fault forest managers for searching for an additional revenue stream after years of funding shortfalls, but this user fee unfairly targets certain user groups to pay the costs of a larger problem.

The Fiscal Health of States

Heavy use of citizen initiatives is one of the clearest predictions of states that are in danger of following California “to the brink of insolvency,” according to an extensive survey of state financial problems by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States. Oregon, looking toward a critical vote in January, is perhaps the next state in danger of insolvency; if voters reject a $733 million tax increase on upper incomes and corporations, the state will face a huge budget deficit even after cutting state spending by $2 billion in the 2009 legislative session.

Among the states with the most serious financial problems, the top seven all have a super-majority requirement for their legislatures to pass taxes without a popular vote, allowing a minority to deadlock revenue measures; and six of the seven endangered states make use of citizen initiatives and referendums. Across the country, the two work hand in hand; nearly every state with a super-majority got there via citizen initiative.

Washington falls into that category. A stronger economy and sounder state financial management keep it from the “endangered” list, although it still ranks 14th among the 50 states in terms of fiscal trouble.

Congress

Saturday, Idaho Senator Mike Crapo delivered a national address on the health care legislation expected to be considered by the U.S. Senate Saturday evening.  Crapo was chosen by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to offer the Republican response to the President’s weekly radio address. 

A vote in the Senate on whether or not to allow debate on the bill is expected Saturday night.

New West Book Review

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt & The Fire That Saved America
by Timothy Egan
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 324 pages, $27

In August of 1910, the largest fire ever to sweep across forests in the United States claimed trees, buildings, and lives across a stretch of three million acres in the Rocky Mountains.  Timothy Egan writes in his follow-up to The Worst Hard Time, his National Book Award-winning exploration of the Dustbowl, that this blaze was known as “The Big Burn,” and it stretched “from central Idaho, east into Montana, west into Washington, north into British Columbia.” The smoke drifted as far away as Chicago.  “It was as if a volcanic blast had disgorged the airborne remains of the forested northern Rockies into disparate parts of the United States.” Besides destroying several towns in the region, this fire had a lasting effect on the course of the country’s conservation movement, initiated by Theodore Roosevelt and his close confidant Gifford Pinchot, first head of the United States Forest Service.

Egan shows that many of the lessons derived from the Great Fire of 1910 were still followed by foresters a century later.  People on both sides of the conservation movement tried to use it to achieve their political ends.  To demonstrate the larger set of circumstances in which this fire played out, after a vivid opening chapter set in the midst of the fire, Egan steps back to February of 1899, when the 34-year-old Gifford Pinchot visits the Governor of New York, Teddy Roosevelt, who invited him to engage in a wrestling match and a boxing bout.  This afternoon of roughhousing cemented their friendship. 

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