Boise Guardian » Media

Shameless Panhandling For GUARDIAN

dave — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:59:13 +0000

Mr. Guardian:
I have once again renewed my annual voluntary subscription (donation) to the Boise Guardian. I appreciate your efforts, while I do not have the time to do much research for you, I can support your efforts through my contribution and encourage others to do the same. Please readers of the Guardian support the great thing we call BG not only through your comments but also through a donation, doing so shows the BG our true commitment to supporting holding government accountable and supporting those who step out on a limb on our behalf. Thank you…JJ

For those so inclined, push the green DONATE button on our PayPal account. The GUARDIAN is NOT a tax deductible organization. We don’t run any advertising and the donations help defray costs for things like parking, mileage, copies, website fees, public records requests, etc. We offer a “thanks” to JJ for his unsolicited endorsement.

City Councilor And Mayor Create “Conflict Of Interest”

dave — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:27:09 +0000

Ever since TJ Thomson got elected he has kept a low profile with regard to his city council position–until now.

The GUARDIAN has learned the quiet councilor will be featured in a local version of “Dancing With The Stars” Saturday at the Boise Centre on The Grove, but one of the judges is Mayor Dave Bieter. We know politics makes strange bedfellows, but having a judge who needs to suck up to a councilor for funding pet projects seems “irregular” at best–and probably a conflict.

Since it is a fund raiser for MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY, we can give them a pass on the obvious conflict. The legacy media needs to investigate who his dance partner is.

A Dirty Little Boise Secret?

dave — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:17:37 +0000

A reader sent us a story he found in a national magazine about Boise. “We didn’t read it ma, the big boys showed it to us.”

We haven’t had a press release from city hall– or even heard of one being sent to the legacy media–about another “National Magazine Poll,” but MEN’S HEALTH rated Boise just one slot off the TOP TEN rank for smuttiest cities in the USA.

If they get us up there with “most livable” and “bike friendly,” there may be some socially redeeming value.

Coppers Cooperate To Buy Bike Parts

dave — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:46:02 +0000

When the GUARDIAN made a call Tuesday urging coppers to get together with a bike mechanic and fix the special three wheeler which was stolen and recovered in pieces, they were ahead of the curve.

We talked to the union prez who reports the copper on the case had already contacted the manufacturer in England as well as a Boise Bike mechanic. Both are donating their services and parts to “gitterdone.”

It all started when a bad guy stole an expensive trike from a special needs victim. The trike was stolen Sunday afternoon from in front of the man’s residence. It was his only means of transportation. It was recovered at two locations Monday after the news media highlighted the story.

GUARDIAN kudos go to the media, the public, the coppers, the manufacturer, and the bike mechanic for doing the right thing and helping a fellow citizen in need. No doubt the “real media” will have an official report from the coppers public relations dept. We just wanted to make sure the story gets out now.

Politico Takes Dynamis And Beer Seller Payments

dave — Sat, 05 May 2012 17:23:32 +0000

Looks like freshman Congressman Raul Labrador has taken money from Lloyd Mahaffey, the controversial CEO of Dynamis. Interesting to note back taxes in Boise County go unpaid while political payments are made.

Betsy Russell of the SPOKESMAN-Review lists Mahaffey as a contributor to Labrador–who happens to live in Eagle where Dynamis is based–to the the tune of $3,500.

Russell also noted the Mormon Congressman was paid $5,000 by the National Beer Wholesalers PAC.

Sparks Fly As Dynamis Deal Short Circuits

dave — Fri, 04 May 2012 23:48:36 +0000

Several interesting developments today in the saga of Dynamis Energy’s proposed waste-to-energy project at the Ada County landfill.

Commissioner Sharon Ullman has publicly claimed Ada County spent $2 million for design plans for the waste-to-energy facility and the money will be repaid once construction begins or is approved. Today after long consideration the GUARDIAN has determined there was no legitimate reason for the county to pay for design plans, drawings, or blueprints. The county has no business paying for plans to a facility it will never own, hold interest in, or otherwise operate.

The facility–if it is ever built–will be privately owned and operated by Dynamis on land it will lease for $1 a year from Ada County. The deal is akin to someone paying for architectural drawings for a home to be built, owned, and occupied by someone else! Any way you cut it, the best the county can claim is they made a loan and loans of public funds are illegal.

In another development, The STATESMAN linked two officers of the firm to the failed DBSI real estate development outfit that is subject of federal investigations and a bankruptcy. No sooner had the story been posted, it was removed from the DAILY PAPER website.

SATURDAY UPDATE–Statesman posted THE STORY.

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Thoughts From The Road

dave — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 04:53:47 +0000

The day job has the GUARDIAN on the road making photographs and observing the “American Condition.” We share some random observations.

–The new bridge across the Coloorado River below Hoover Dam is a great time saver if you are headed south of Las Vegas, but you can’t see it (or the dam) as you drive across. Thee is a parking lot and pedestrian access on the north end of the bridge.

–Arizona entrepreneurs have figured a way to sign up residents to buy solar panels for their rooftops. The the deals amount to obligations to purchase, but are to be repaid with the money earned by selling power back to the electric company that is forced to purchase the power. The real money is in the “Renewalable Energy Credits”–a mini version of the windmills lumped into thousands of invididual homeowners.

–Old semi-trailers are used along the freeways as billboards. Either to skirt a billboard law or just because they can be moved easily.
–Trucks outnumber cars by at least two to one on I-10 from Phoenix to El Paso, Texas.

–From El Paso to San Antonio you really have to WANT a speeding ticket…the speed limit is 80 mph. Some of the trucks actually go that fast, but the 585 miles stilll go slow, even at 80!

–Amazed at the number of people who choose not to watch news or read papers. A friend in boise gave up news for Lent and liked it so much he has adopted the practive permanently.

–Motorhome culture in Arizona provides lots of jobs. The big ones are everywhere–even with gas at $4 per gallon.

–Border Patrol seems to be everywhere. The inspection station at Sierra Blanca, Texas permanently blocks I-10 just like at a border crossing. Dogs sniff vehicles and the armed agents check everyone passing through…both reassuring and disconcerting.

Coppers Cap Canine, Same Old Story

dave — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:32:53 +0000

It’s like watching cable TV–same story over and over. Such was the case with a local event reported Tuesday by KTVB.

Police approach a house, dog appears (usually a pit bull) “the officer says the dog ran at him growling, with his teeth bared, and the officer actually feared because of the actions and the attitude of the dog that he was about to get bit.”

Neighbors say the dog is friendly, cops justify the shooting. No reason to doubt any of the players. From what we can gather, the dog was owned by a party not involved in the original incident. No doubt the matter of a license and allowing the dog to roam will be part of the various reports that will follow.

But the GUARDIAN asks once again, how come mail carriers, meter readers, and delivery drivers never have to use deadly force to kill dogs? Surely these people come into contact with dogs more often than coppers.

By his own account, the copper was scared and that’s why he shot the dog three times. Turns out this is a long standing trend nationwide. A reader sent us a link to a site called PUPPYCIDE which details the national trend in police killing dogs out of fear.

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Daily Paper Promotes On Line Neighbor Site

dave — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 23:29:28 +0000

DISCLAIMER–The GUARDIAN has never been to an ATM machine, rarely uses the drive up teller at a bank, fakes confusion for automated “check in” at the airlines, has never sent an electronic birthday card, and generally prefers to talk face-to-face with tellers, agents, friends, and other humans.

When we saw the majority of Monday’s front page (they call it the cover these days) of the Daily Paper devoted to yet another on-line phishing expedition aimed at gathering information, we just chalked it up to a “sign of the times.”

The site they promoted is called NEXTDOOR and it professes to provide a forum for neighbors. However it collects information about folks and here is what it says in the fine print agreement:

“In the future, we may create a section of the site to present offers for goods and services we think you’d like. If you decide to participate with an offer, you may be presented with an opportunity to share information with the merchant. If you accept the offer, then we’ll send the information you requested to share with the merchant. We won’t transmit information to the merchant until you explicitly ask us to do so. At that point, the data we deliver to the merchant will be governed by the merchant’s privacy policy, not ours.”

Which means “once the genie is out of the bottle, your personal data is no longer private.”

In our neighborhood, we actually TALK to each other. If a trash can is at the curb, one of us will return it to the garage. If someone doesn’t get home in a timely fashion, a quick call will get the dog let out because we all have keys to each other’s house. And you can bet there won’t be an ad on your doorstep if you talk about insurance, dog groomers, restaurants, or movies either.

First Dope Reporter Award Of 2012 Goes To Jennifer McGraw

dave — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:07:55 +0000

With the high rate of turnover in the TV news business, KBOI-TV’s Jennifer McGraw can get a partial pass for not knowing, but when she got caught wading in the spring runoff in her cute plastic boots she won the first DOPE REPORTER award of the water year.

Not only did she appear on air standing in the water, she even posted a picture of her boots on her Twitter page! The caption said, “Guess what? spring has sprung and the greenbelt is flooding. Even with my boots the water is too deep.” Which begs the question, was it an inch, a foot, or a yard over your boots? If she had stayed on high ground, boots wouldn’t be needed.

As usual, the GUARDIAN will present DOPE REPORTER awards to reporters who appear on camera standing in flood water. Boots are permitted to get a good camera angle, but wading in water is for children on their way to school.

Note to Jennifer: Check past DOPE REPORTER awards and you will see it isn’t personal and really is all in good fun.

Reader nominations accepted at the CONTACT button on the home page.

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