2010 Emmett Scene Magazine

Wednesday, March 10 Scene 2010 SCENE 1

Welcome to the 2010 edition of Scene magazine. The theme — “A Day in the Life of Gem County” — was inspired by the many people in our community who keep the cogs turning. It’s our tribute to you, the county’s businesses owners, elected officials, employees, students, assistants, volunteers and neighbors.

We selected the cover photograph because a flowing river ties in with what we were trying to convey with the time-line format we used. Like the Payette River that runs through Gem County, time does not stop flowing, but we have

taken snapshots of the moments that make up our days and presented them here for your enjoyment.

We thank all of our many contribu-tors, listed on page 12, for offering us a look into their daily lives. All of the information in Scene magazine comes from the community at large — gener-ous, everyday folks who live here among us. In keeping with the tradition of Scene magazine, this is a Gem County publication, by Gem County and for Gem County. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

A Day in the Life of Gem CountyFreezeout Hill Memorial overlooks a rich Emmett Valley below.

Midnightn It’s midnight and the warm breeze

coming off the desert is starting to pick up. The mosquito fogging crews are re-turning to the Gem County Mosquito Abatement District facility. Director Jason Kinley and the crews go over the evening’s operations before buttoning up the shop and heading home after another long summer day.

n Eighteen hours after it started, the day is done at Albertsons in Emmett. Doors are locked and most of the em-

ployees go home. About 2,500 to 3,000 customers come through the store each day. Milk and bananas are the most popular items purchased. But now it’s time for the store janitor to clean and sweep and mop the floors. Every few days, the floors are also deep cleaned.

n A deputy at the Gem County Jail walks through the individual cells, then he finishes putting away files in book-ing. Many inmates are still awake, writ-ing letters or playing board games. The deputy will make another walk-through in a half-hour.

Messenger Index3981nidehsilbatsE)08143.oN.S.P.S.U(

Scene DesignersRandy Lavorante - Design Editor, Cover Design

Jenessa Farnsworth - Design Layout

Visit us online 24/7 atwww.messenger-index.com

RICK V. WEAVERPresident and Publisher

208-467-9251

VICKIE HOLBROOKSupervising Editor

[email protected]

TONJA HYDERGeneral Manager

208-365-6066 (Ex 11)

See us on Facebook

Proudly Reporting the News and Events of Gem County and the surrounding area since 1893.

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StaffTonja Hyder (ex 11) - General Manager

Erika Harmon (ex 17) - Managing Editor

Janet Monti (ex 14) - Reporter

Kelly Taylor (ex 12) - Reporter

Shantell Draper (ex 10) - Classi?eds

Jamie Moorhead (ex 15) - Circulation Manager

A Special Thanks to Christopher Hodgekiss

Contact Us120 N Washington Ave., Emmett • P.O. Box 577 Emmett, ID 83617

(208) 365-6066 Fax (208) 365-6068

An Annual Publication by the Messenger Index and Idaho-Press Tribune

Wednesday, March 10Scene 20102 SCENE

1 a.m.n On Highway 52 at Letha, there are fewer drivers on the road at this

time than any other hour of the day.

1:15 a.m.n A Gem County Jail deputy checks the medicine room for things to

file and empties the trash bucket. Deputies spend the next half-hour walk-ing through cells and checking rooms for security.

n A call goes out over the Gem County Emergency dispatch that an automobile accident has occurred on Ola Road in the upper county. EMS crews race to the scene. The staff at Walter Knox Memorial Hospital moni-tor the frequency and get ready to spring into action.

The EMS crew soon arrives on scene and alerts the hospital that there is one serious injury involved. The hospital alerts the physician, lab techni-cian and radiology technician on call.

2 a.m.n Gem County Jail deputies continue their all-night security walk-

throughs.n It’s very early in the morning, but for Gem County dairyman Terry

Jones, his day is already beginning. It starts with a quick check of his cows to make sure everything is OK. Fortunately, all is well, so Terry heads back to bed.

Since it’s early July, there is other activity on the dairy at this hour. The second cutting of hay is ready for bailing. That means Steve Thayn, Terry’s custom hay bailer, is getting ready to get started. Steve is out this early be-cause there has to be the right amount of dew on the hay to prevent it from crumbling in the bailer. He’ll be in the field until he is finished or the dew will be off later in the morning.

n The doctor and technicians in the lab and radiology have arrived at Walter Knox Memorial Hospital and wait for the ambulance to bring the critically injured patient from the accident in the upper county. The ambu-lance arrives at the emergency room entrance and the hospital team begins treating the injured motorist.

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2:10 a.m.n “Hello?” I say as I pull myself out

of a deep sleep. I glance at the clock. It’s 2:10 a.m. Who could be calling? “Is there something wrong?” I ask. “This is police dispatch,” she says. “The door to your building was left unlocked. How long will it take you to get down here?” A downtown merchant is on her way to her place of business to lock up.

2:40 a.m.n “As I pull up downtown, a city

police officer and county deputy meet me. We look over the shop, check inside and find everything to be OK. I lock the door and thank them for their call.” The business owner notices a friendly group of people leaving a local bar. She grabs a sandwich at the deli before heading home.

3 a.m. n A second deputy walks through

the cells at the Gem County Jail.n The process for deciding whether

to declare a snow day for the Emmett School District started last night at 10:06 p.m. That’s when ESD Transpor-tation Director Kim Webb watched the Channel 6 weather report with Scott Dorval. The report turned out to be ac-curate — heavy snow and high winds. Kim heads down to the bus garage and checks the weather radar on the com-puter. It looks bad, so he heads out to drive some of the routes and check on the road conditions.

n Lab work and radiology have been completed on the patient from the upper-county accident. A radiologist at St. Al’s in Boise has examined a digital image of the CAT scan. Suddenly the condition of the patient worsens. The physician at Walter Knox wants a neu-rologist to examine the patient. With the video capabilities of the robot in the Walter Knox E.R., the neurologist at St. Al’s examines the patient and decides to transport him to the St. Al’s trauma center by air ambulance. Twenty min-

utes later, the patient is being loaded into the Lifeflight helicopter at the Wal-ter Knox landing pad and flown to St. Al’s.

3:30 a.m.n “While the police leave after I lock

up my business, the truck delivering the weekly edition of the Messenger In-dex drives up and drops off a bundle of papers. I’d better get home now; I need to work later today.”

4 a.m.n A Gem County Jail deputy walks

through the jail cells and prints out the daily report, tool list and other lists needed for the day. A few minutes later, deputies sound a wake-up call for in-mate workers and fax daily reports. The in-custody list is printed out and court papers are taken to dispatch. Deputies then check the electrical room and con-tinue their walk through the jail cells.

n School district Transportation Director Kim Webb has made a drive to areas above Sweet to check the roads. It’s not looking good anywhere he has

been. It doesn’t happen very often in the Emmett School District, but he has decided it’s too hazardous to run the buses. He decides it’s going to be a snow day for Gem County schools.

n It’s Monday — deadline day — at the Messenger Index. Alarm clocks begin to sound at the homes of edito-rial staff members. Snooze buttons are

pressed. Fifteen more minutes.n Things are starting to get under

way at Terry Jones’ dairy when his milking crew arrives. They’ll spend the next three hours milking the dairy’s 100 cows.


Gem County jailThe average population in the Gem

County jail at any given time is nine men to one woman.

On an average day, 95 percent of Gem County Jail inmates get up to eat break-fast then go back to bed and sleep until noon.

On average, 38 to 40 inmates at the Gem County Jail eat three meals a day. The inmates themselves cook all the meals; they also clean the kitchen after each meal, including washing the plastic dishes.

Seven out of 10 of those charged with a misdemeanor crime do not stay at the Gem County Jail; they post bail or are re-leased on their own recognizance.

School busesThe Emmett School District transports

1,340 kids twice each day on its 33 buses.

The Emmett School District’s buses traveled 362,517 miles during the 2008-2009 school year.

It has been more than 15 years since an Emmett School District bus has been involved in a serious accident. That means the ESD buses have traveled more than 5.4 million miles without a serious accident.

The safety record of the Emmett School District bus garage is impressive. Six years ago, they were ranked in the top 10 of the nation in safety. After several years of ranking in the high 90s on their safety inspections, this year they scored a 100. That means there was not a single item wrong with any bus that was inspected.

Law enforcement in Gem County includes the Emmett Police Department, Gem County Sheriff’s Office and the Idaho State Police.

5 a.m. n The lights come on at the Gem County Jail. A

DUI suspect’s blood alcohol content is checked on the breathalyzer.

n Workers who commute over the hill begin wak-ing up. They’re up early to accommodate a half-hour to hour-long trip.

n The alarm goes off and Terry Jones is out of bed. He’ll grab a quick bite to eat and head out to check on the milking and other operations around the barn. Since it’s January, he walks through the corrals and makes sure the cows have dry bedding and plenty of water.

5:15 a.m.n Inmates wake up and for the next half-hour are

served breakfast and receive razors and medications as needed. They are supervised by the night shift dep-uties until a shift change at 7 a.m.

5:30 a.m.n The first employees begin arriving at the Em-

mett Post Office to meet the mail trucks that are ar-riving with local mail. They begin sorting the mail so that it can be ready for the carriers.

n Kim Webb is back at the bus shop and on the phone with the Emmett School District superinten-dent. The superintendent will deliver the snow day message to the news media.

n It’s Monday morning and Lt. Gov. Brad Little is driving to the state house in Boise to begin his week.

5:45 a.m.n For those who work over the hill, alarm clocks

continue to sound.

5:30 a.m.n On a rotating basis, at least one Gem County

commissioner is available in the office on Fridays. Hoping to get an early start on the day, Commis-sioner Lan Smith gets to the office and reviews 72 grant applications for the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council. He downloads 146 e-mails, gets contact information from his voice mail and starts reading reports left on his desk. Today it’s an Idaho Fish and Game report on the sensitivity of curlews and the need for an Area of Critical Environmental Concern in the county.

6 a.m. n It’s July and the Gem County Mosquito Abate-

ment District season is in full swing. The larval control teams are preparing to head out for the day. You’ll see them in pastures throughout the district on ATVs, treating known problem areas and addressing spots that citizens have alerted the district about.

n The message that school has been canceled because of snow is arriving in the e-mail inboxes of parents through the Emmett School District’s mass communication system. Maggie O’Mara is also de-livering the good news on the Channel 7. Soon, thou-sands of text messages will be flying all over Gem County from kids making plans for the rare and joy-ous event.

n Breakfast trays and razors are collected at the jail. More paperwork is handled.

n Albertsons of Emmett opens its doors, ready for another 18 hours of filling the grocery needs of an ever-changing public. Throughout the day, the floor in each of the 13 departments is swept. If it’s a Mon-day or Friday, employees prepare for a busy day.

n The first couple of days of the month are also busy at the grocery store. A lot of people get paid at the end or start of the month. Many senior citizens get their Social Security at the beginning of the month, and food stamps and Women, Infants and Children supplements come in at the first of the month. Other busy days are the ones just before a major holiday — the Saturday before Easter; July 3; the Wednesday of Thanksgiving week; Dec. 24; or Dec. 31.

n Many over-the-hill commuters are out the door on Highway 16, heading to Ada and Canyon counties for the work day.

6:15 a.m.n Parents who work over the hill begin prepar-

ing breakfast for school-age kids. The cat needs to go out. The dog needs to be fed. Something is taken out of the freezer to defrost for dinner. The kids grab what’s left of their breakfast and get to the car. They’re dropped off at the sitter’s and commuting parents start out of town, stopping by the post office first to mail the bills.

6:30 a.m. n On normal school days, Ola’s secondary stu-

dents begin boarding buses destined for the Triangle Restaurant. From there, another bus will pick them up and take them to Emmett or Horseshoe Bend schools.


Commuter triviaAbout 1,500 people live and work in Gem County. A

total of 2,792 people, or 63.4 percent, of Gem County workers commuted out of the county in 2006. About 40 percent of those went to Ada County, 15 percent to Canyon County and 3 percent Payette County. More Gem County residents work in Boise than in Emmett.

In 2006, there were 2,971 primary jobs in Gem County; 1,591 were filled by Gem County residents. This means about 1,380, workers commuted into Gem County. Ada County residents filled 20.8 percent of the primary jobs in Gem County with Canyon County accounting for 10.7 percent and Payette County another 3 percent.

It is estimated that those leaving the county to work make more money than those coming into the county.

Gem County has lagged behind Idaho and the rest of the country in job formation during the 1980s. Job for-mation here began rising in 1992 but has not caught up to state or national averages.

Between 1970 and 2000, 1,961 new jobs were creat-ed in Gem County: 78.5 percent were in services and 10 percent in manufacturing. Farm and agriculture services declined by 10 percent to 18 percent of the employment opportunities. Prior to the recent bust in the construction industry, construction jobs rose from 2 percent to about 12.5 percent in Gem County in 2006. Preliminary data between 2001 and 2006 reveals the same pattern of job growth, mostly in retail trade and services.

Highway 52 at LethaIn May 2009, there was an average of 2,091 vehicle

trips each day, with a high on Friday of 2,326 and a low on Sunday of 1,828.

In 2002, there were a few more trips on that stretch of road, with an average of 2,103, a high on Friday of 2,305 and a low on Tuesday of 2,015.

Highway 16 and Firebird RacewayIn May 2009, there was an average of 8,674 vehicle

trips each day. The busiest day was Friday at 11,003 ve-hicle trips; the fewest trips were on Sunday at 6,519.

In 2005, there was an average of 9,189 vehicle trips each day. The busiest day was Friday with 10,523 vehicle trips and the fewest were made on Sunday with 7,272.

Firebird Raceway provides a good forum for Emmett police to interact with young people from the community.


7 a.m.n Emmett Superintendent of Pub-

lic Works Bruce Evans meets with city staff at the city’s waste water treatment plant for a five-minute safety meeting every morning. Staff also addresses concerns and questions.

n Downtown, delivery trucks begin arriving with fabrics, food supplies, pop, beer and miscellaneous merchandise.

n Terry Jones has made his way back in the house and to his office. He’s reading the quality control reports of his milk from his producer, checking the commodity prices and reading his e-mail. The Idaho Legislature is in ses-sion and Terry is due to testify for the Gem County Farm Bureau on an issue before the House agriculture commit-tee. It’s a quick shower, into a suit and tie and off to Boise for the morning.

n Emmett Mayor Bill Butticci meets with the Gem County commissioners and the Emmett schools superinten-dent for breakfast. On the agenda is a

discussion of what the groups can do to benefit the community by working to-gether on current and future needs.

n It’s Monday and the Gem County Commissioners are in the office to start their week. They meet to conduct busi-ness on Monday and Tuesday. Today, Commissioner Michele Sherrer is in and starts downloading 178 e-mails from the last three days.

n Several times during the day at Albertsons, money is taken from cash register drawers and put in a safe. In addition to cash, safe drops include gift certificates and credit/debit receipts.

n The last of the commuters start up Highway 16. One notices the gas gauge is hovering near empty. He turns around, drives back to town and puts in $10 worth, just enough to get to work and home again. He makes a mental note to fill up this evening.

7:30 a.m.A local contractor is headed to the

job site for a remodel and addition to an existing house. The painters fin-ished their work at the house the day before, so several sub-contractors are scheduled to show up on this particu-lar day.

n The lights come on at Ola School and the first students at the K-6 school begin arriving for the school day.

n It’s a Wednesday morning and Gem County Commissioner Sharon Pratt is arriving at the office. She’s checked her e-mail and is respond-ing to her voicemail. There is a 10 a.m. meeting in Caldwell with the Health and Welfare Region III Mental Health Board, on which she sits. She starts reviewing the minutes from the last meeting and revisits today’s agenda. She also reviews the minutes and agenda for a meeting of the West Cen-tral Highlands Resource Conserva-tion and Development group that she is attending this afternoon.

n Lt. Gov. Little arrives at his of-fice at the capital. He reviews the news

clips of the day to stay on top of cur-rent events, reviews his calendar to see what his assistants have lined up for the day and gets organized for the week ahead. The phone starts ringing immediately.

7:45 a.m.n Emmett city clerks arrive at City

Hall and open the building. City Clerk Marge Lawrence has picked up the payments from the drop box and the day officially begins. Turn-off lists are completed and penalties are added, usually by about 8:15 a.m.

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8 a.m.n City public works crews spend

the next two and a half hours video-taping the sewer line on Murray Av-enue where line replacement is under way. It has been determined there are some roots growing into the line, but there’s not much damage between West Main and West Second streets. In another portion, the camera can-not get through because of gravel. A meeting with staff is scheduled to establish a game plan to replace the sewer line. This particular day is a federal holiday, and most city em-ployees have the day off. But not this crew.

n It’s early May and Terry Jones is headed out to his farm to spend the day planting corn. He is fueling his tractor, checking the equipment and getting ready to plant. If a problem with a cow in the barn or some other issue on the farm doesn’t interrupt him, he can spend the rest of the day planting. He’s hoping to get 20 to 30 acres done today so that he can have all the corn planted on his 300 irrigat-ed acres by the middle of the month. If he makes that deadline, he’ll be right on schedule to start knocking down his first cutting of hay.

n Gem County Mosquito Abate-ment District Director Jason Kinley’s day begins. Kinley checks his voice-mail for reports from citizens about mosquito problems. He reviews the previous day’s activities with his as-sistant manager and makes plans to address trouble areas. He also checks with the State of Idaho for new cases of West Nile Virus overnight.

n Mayor Butticci arrives at city offices and begins checking his e-mails and reviewing the day’s cal-endar. He makes up his schedule for the day. He balances his time with his full-time job at Micron.

n The school day begins in Ola. Students gather in their classes and spend the next two hours on their

studies.n Lt. Gov. Little heads to the gov-

ernor’s office to meet with staff and check on the day’s events.

8:30 a.m.n The skylight installer arrives.

He and the contractor go over the ex-act locations for the installation with the homeowners.

n Public Works Superintendent Bruce Evans has a meeting with the local emergency planning committee at the Gem County Ambulance build-ing. Also involved are the Gem Coun-ty Sheriff’s Department, Emmett City Police Department, Gem County Fire Department, City Fire Department, EMS staff, CERT Planning Com-mittee, planning director, the Gem County planning teams from Sweet and Ola, Gem County commission-ers and Mayor Bill Butticci. The group talks about updating their radios to a zero-bound radio system through grants and applications. The meeting lasts about an hour and a half.

On another day, Evans participates in a telephone conference with USDA Rural Development to discuss the re-mainder of the grant money from the 2004 sewer grant of $292,000.

n Gem County Treasurer Con-nie Goins and staff Patty Chapman and Jan Hughes arrive at the Gem County Courthouse to open the of-fice and begin the business day. To-day is Monday, Dec. 21, 2009. Since the deadline for collecting the first half of taxes fell on Saturday, Idaho Code states the treasurer’s office must accept payments today — the following workday. The telephone at the treasurer’s office starts ringing immediately and because there are three lines, both Patty and Jan are busy answering customers’ questions about their taxes. Some customers are checking to see if their mortgage company has paid their taxes. Others

are asking questions about how much they need to pay today.

n Emmett City Clerk Marge Law-rence prepares a deposit for the bank. Deposits are usually done daily, sometimes twice daily.

n Lt. Gov. Little is back in his of-fice, working through e-mails and other pressing matters.

n Some days it’s raining, some days it’s sleeting and some parts of the year it’s still almost dark out at 8:30 in

the morning. But that won’t stop Em-mett Postmaster Kevin Hill’s 17 letter carriers from leaving the post office to swiftly complete their appointed rounds.

n The treasurer’s office receives a telephone call from a disgruntled taxpayer concerning the 20 percent increase in his taxes. He is upset about his assessment, so the clerk transfers the call to the assessor’s office for an explanation.

Road crews work to keep traffic moving from downtown Emmett to the bench north of town.


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9 a.m. n The mailman arrives at the

treasurer’s office with a huge bundle of mail. It is policy to receipt all pay-ments on the same day received. Patty and Jan divide the mail while Connie keeps answering telephone calls and e-mails.

n Soon Patty and Jan give their first tax batch to Connie for reconcil-ing and depositing. Every tax deposit is balanced to the penny before it is

deposited at the bank.n Downtown, the mailman goes

by, picking up and dropping off mail as he says his good mornings. “As I un-lock the door, the street sweeper drives by. It makes me wonder who empties the garbage containers that line Main Street. I have never seen anyone do that. I hear the lawnmower out back as the park gets its weekly face-lift — all seems right in Emmett.”

n The milk truck is coming up

Sandy Avenue to Terry Jones’ dairy to empty the dairy’s milk tank. The truck comes every other day to pick up the milk, which has been stored in Terry’s 40-degree tank. Terry’s cows produce 5,000 pounds of milk each day. While the tank is being emptied, Terry is in Boise testifying before the Legislature.

n The heating contractor arrives and unpacks the heat pump for instal-lation. The contractor sees that the heat pump is freight damaged, so it must be

reloaded. He contacts the company to see when they will have a replacement.

n At Albertsons on Monday through Saturday, the pharmacy opens for the day. In addition to the in-store windows, there is a drive-up window that makes it easy for people to drop off or pick up a prescription. The phar-macy can take most insurance plans.

n Lt. Gov. Little begins his first meeting of the day regarding Idaho Education Network.B

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9 a.m. n City Clerk Marge Lawrence

meets with the mayor and depart-ment heads to work on updating the employee policy manual. Deputy clerk Chrystal Alsup also attends.

n Throughout the day at Albert-sons, the independent vendors arrive to stock the shelves. Items like bread, soda, chips, tortillas, beer, snack cakes or wine are brought in by a represen-tative from the manufacturer. Some come in five days a week, others only three times a week. They are each re-sponsible to rotate their product and stock their section of the shelves.

9:30 a.m.n The kitchen and bathroom cabi-

nets are delivered to the contract site and the installers for the cabinets ar-rive on time.

n Mayor Butticci goes back to City Hall to meet with a local business owner about giving support to a com-munity enhancement project.

10 a.m.n Public Works Superintendent

Evans returns telephone calls, e-mails, mail and works on the sewer line proj-ect for Murray. This takes him ap-proximately five to six hours.

n For all Gem County commis-sioners, the Monday meeting is well under way. Right now, they’re in ex-ecutive session on an indigent appeal hearing. Since 20.2 percent of Gem County residents under the Medi-care age of 65 lack health insurance, the county often is required to pay the bills of the uninsured through a process called medical indigence. In this case, the patient is asking the county to uphold an earlier decision and not declare them indigent, saying they would rather make payments to the hospital to cover the bill without county assistance. The hospital is ask-ing the commissioners for assistance.

The commissioners uphold the earlier decision. Before the morning is over, the commissioners will review nine medical indigent applications. Four are approved and five are denied.

n Ola students go to recess.n Lt. Gov. Brad Little goes to the

governor’s office to make opening re-marks and read a proclamation for the Japanese Day of Remembrance

n On Sunday, the Albertsons phar-macy opens for a short day.

n Gem County Treasurer Connie Goins receives an e-file payment from a major mortgage company. After us-ing a process to download the e-file payment, Connie reconciles and bal-ances the large tax payment, and it is ready for deposit.

n The contractor realizes that some cabinets were built incorrectly. He calls the manufacturers to see what happened. After talking to several people, they reload the incorrect cabi-nets. Then they line out the installers for the remaining cabinets.

n Traffic on Highway 16 has settled down to about 650 vehicles an hour from now until about 4 p.m. when people start coming home.

10:15 a.m. n Mayor Butticci meets with the

city building official/inspector to dis-cuss department needs and goals in the coming year.

10:30 a.m.n A Downtown Revitalization

meeting is held so business owners can stay knowledgeable about the down-town happenings and improvements. City Clerk Lawrence usually sits in on these meetings — today, deputy clerk Chrystal joins her. Other clerks Jan and Leslie receipt payments and deal with a steady stream of questions and complaints. Bills were mailed the 1st, are due the 10th and past due on the 15th, so the office is busy this week.

10:45 a.m.n Lt. Gov. Little heads upstairs at

the statehouse to make sure the Senate agenda is in order.

11 a.m.n Ola students break for lunch.

After they eat, students go outside for their mid-day break.

n City Clerk Lawrence finishes the bank deposits, returns phone calls and answer e-mail. Chrystal works on the changes made to the employee policy during the department head meeting.

n It’s been a slow morning on Terry Jones’ dairy, so Terry was able to take a couple of hours for a chore he really en-joys. Like most farmers, he is passion-ate about sharing his love for growing food with people who are not familiar with the rural life. He’s an adopted pen pal to a class of elementary students in the Seattle area. This morning, he’s been writing each student a personal-ized report about what’s been going on at the dairy. He’ll send them off, and the students will get an updated first hand account of life on a Gem County, Idaho dairy farm.

n It’s almost lunchtime at the coun-ty building, and Commissioner Lan Smith has had a busy Friday morning conducting the county’s business. He’s met with the county prosecutor about a contract; talked with the jail com-mander about the cost savings from switching pharmacies for inmate med-ications; met with the county building and grounds supervisor about install-ing new equipment at the courthouse; met with the county clerk to start formulating a calendar for hearings and workshops dealing with the 2011 budget; met with a reporter from the Messenger Index about county issues; talked to a Letha citizen about a sewer district matter; drove out to check on the Bishop Road bridge project with the county road supervisor; answered e-mails and returned phone messages.

Now it’s home for a quick lunch where he’ll review the hospital board min-utes and discuss an Eagle Scout proj-ect with a Boy Scout.

n Because some of the kitchen and bathroom cabinets were built incor-rectly and were returned to the manu-facturer, the contractor makes calls to reschedule countertops, flooring and electricity to the following week.

n Mayor Butticci meets with the Emmett chief of police to review and discuss policy.

n The deputy clerk from the coun-ty building brings in the Auditor’s Certificates (AC’s) to Treasurer Goins. Every department — driver’s license, auto license, magistrate court, plan-ning and zoning and others — in the courthouse bring their daily receipts to the clerk. The clerk’s office issues ACs for the money received and then takes it to the treasurer to be reconciled. The checks and balances of county gov-ernment is for the clerk and treasurer offices to balance with each other on monies received.

n Department managers at Alb-ertsons check the inventory on the shelves regularly during the day. De-pending on the product, items are or-dered. Fresh items such as service deli and meat are delivered three times a week. The department manager walks through the section and looks at the products on the shelves to determine what to order. Grocery items are or-dered four times a week. Inventory is based on the store size, by four-foot sections of shelving. More popular items receive more shelf space — 4-, 8-, 12-, 16- and 20-foot sections.

Emmett residents rely on a well-trained volunteer fire department.

Noonn Mayor Butticci stops off at home

for a quick lunch and to change into a suit.

n Downtown, lunch deliveries are well on their way. Pizza trucks drive by. The sandwiches go out. Women walk by carrying drinks and chips.

n Since it’s Thursday, dairyman Terry Jones is headed into town for the Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon. Even though it’s the middle of winter, the Rotary is busy planning for the Youth Auction and Youth Appreciation Day this spring.

n Normally, noon is lunchtime at the county treasurer’s office, but be-cause tax day is so busy, lunch is eaten in the office. The office staff try to grab a bite in between helping customers.

n For Kinley, lunch can be an im-portant time. Today is a Wednesday in July, and he’s at the weekly luncheon of the Kiwanis Club of Emmett. Kinley is briefing the Kiwanians on the mos-quito abatement season and explain-ing their tactics for controlling the pests. Kinley is a regular visitor to the Gem County service club luncheons such as the Lions and Rotary.

n Lt. Gov. Little is out of office for a quick lunch and personal errands.

n Commissioner Pratt attended the region III mental health meeting which adjourned and she heads back to Emmett. In addition to the regular business of mental health issues and legislation, the board also deals with a familiar problem in these times — budget cuts.

12:30 p.m.n The contractor meets with ho-

meowners to let them know about the schedule changes because of the incor-rect kitchen and bathroom cabinets.

n Mayor Butticci makes his way to Sweet to officiate a wedding. He meets with the couple and their families and helps to organize the ceremony.

1 p.m.n Treasurer Goins decides now is a

good time to do the banking. Everyone in the office needs change in their cash drawers, and there are several tax de-posits and the AC deposit to be made. The clerks continue to help customers who are making payments.

n Several customers are in shops downtown. Some grab a cup of coffee and work on laptops. Others who are visiting from out of town sit outside, enjoying the sights and sounds — es-pecially the sunshine — while they eat away at a piece of fudge they’re shar-ing.

n Another benefit of the weekly Ro-tary Club luncheon is the opportunity for Terry Jones to run some errands while he’s in town. He stops by the vet supply for some medical products and then drops in at the auto parts store to grab some oil filters for his equipment. On his way back to the dairy he’ll stop at Clyde Thayn’s repair shop. Terry has his large field tractor in the shop, and he’s checking on the progress and get-ting an estimate of the cost.

n City Clerk Lawrence works on a financial letter to the USDA for a grant and the minutes for the January joint City/County Planning Commis-sion. Office clerks continue to receipt payments while working on accounts payable and cemetery records. An-other clerk works on the city employee policy to get some proposed changes ready for the next day’s department head meeting with the mayor.

n Commissioner Pratt arrives at the Emmett USDA building for the RC and D meeting. Others include commissioners from Gem, Payette, Boise, Valley and Washington coun-ties as well as representatives from Soil Conservation Districts, the Em-mett and GEDA. After two hours, it’s off to the courthouse to review docu-ments and meet with various citizens and officials.

1:30 p.m.n The mosquito abatement larval

control teams are rolling into the dis-trict shop on Highway 52 after their morning’s work. It’s time to clean the equipment, fix anything that’s broken and get ready for the next morning.

n Lt. Gov. Little meets with an Idaho constituent who stopped by to see the new statehouse office and discuss government business. Fifteen minutes later, he has a brief discus-sion with the secretary of state.

2 p.m.n The school day comes to an end

in Ola, and most kids are on the bus by 2:15.

n A customer arrives at the county treasurer’s office who’s upset about paying taxes. He’s worried that he

won’t be able to pay the second half. Treasurer Goins tells him about the payment plan that works well for many. The tax amount is divided by the number of months remaining be-fore the second half is due — a month-ly payment. The treasurer’s office now also accepts electronic payments.

n Downtown, people get into their cars with their shopping bags. One struggles with a fairly large footstool — a treasured find from one of the many unique shops in Emmett.

n The contractor meets with a po-tential client about another job.

n City Public Works Superinten-dent Evans meets with an engineering firm that participated in the a street improvement grant. The firm didn’t make the selected list and wants to know how to make improvements next time to have a shot at it.

Above: Emmett High School soccer is a popular fall sport, taking advantage of those lingering summer days.

Left: At any given time, you will find volunteers doing some project to enhance Gem County life.



2:30 p.m.n Mayor Butticci returns to Emmett City Hall. He meets with a young man

looking for a community service project.n Lt. Gov. Little’s calendar indicates time for a meeting with an agency. It

turns out to be a surprise cake for his birthday.n With the larval control teams gone for the day, it’s time for Director Jason

Kinley to get ready for the day’s adult mosquito control program. His surveil-lance teams have been out in the field and they are ready to report on trouble spots that will need treatment with the district’s ground fogging equipment.

n Do you need your mail delivered overnight? You’ve still got time if you can get it to the post office before 2:30 p.m. The postal workers gather the mail that has been dropped off at the post office and send it on its way to the Boise mail processing center. Overnight delivery is available to most zip codes.

2:45 p.m.n Lt. Gov. Little meets with students for a picture for a high school project.

Thank you to our Scene contributors: Contractor Terry Gardner; Downtown merchant Cheryl Conrad; Gem County Jailer Jack Malkmus and Sgt.

Katie Rolland; Albertsons Store Director Kevin Kraft; Lt. Gov. Brad Little; Gem County Commissioners Lan Smith, Sharon Pratt and Michele Sherrer; Gem County Mosquito Abatement Director Jason Kinley; Dairy-man Terry Jones; Emmett Mayor Bill Butticci; Gem County Treasurer Connie Goins; Emmett City Clerk Marge Lawrence; U.S. Postmaster Kevin Hill; Ola teacher’s aide Judy McCaulou; Emmett Public Works Superin-tendent Bruce Evans; and Emmett School District bus garage Superintendent Kim Webb and dispatcher Shauna Davis. Trivia comes from these folks, plus updated U.S. Census information, the Idaho Department of Commerce profile of Gem County, Idaho Transportation Dept. and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

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3 p.m.n It’s definitely been an intense

day at the county treasurer’s of-fice, with no break of phone calls or customers. Another tax deposit is balanced and prepared for the bank.

n Children in Ola begin their after-school chores, waiting for older siblings to arrive from their school day in Emmett or Horse-shoe Bend.

n Treasurer Goins gets a call from the Gem County coroner. There is a possibility that a public administrator case will be turned over to the treasurer’s office. The Idaho Code addresses the treasur-er becoming a public administra-tor of someone who passes away in Gem County, and there is no one to take care of the person’s final expenses and personal belongings. Sometimes the deceased person

has a family, but they don’t want the responsibility of paying debt-ors, so the settling of the estate is turned over to the treasurer’s office as the public administrator.

n Downtown, a couple of kids walk by with their book bags and their first ice cream cones from the new candy shop.

n For over-the-hill commut-ers, traffic on Highway 16 is start-ing to pick up as people begin to make their way back home to Gem County.

n The contractor spends a little time in the office to prepare bids for jobs and look over the bills that must be paid.

3:30 p.m.n The mayor meets with the

city superintendent of public works to discuss the emergency repair of a collapsing sewer line. He also

gets an update on the city’s water project and improvements being made at the waste water treatment plant.

n At City Hall, the afternoon is spent reconciling the bank state-ment and working on reports and letters. Customer questions are also addressed. Each customer with a concern spends an aver-age of 30 minutes in the office. On average, there are four to five cus-tomer questions or concerns daily. Accounts payable is completed for the mayor and a councilman to sign.

n The lieutenant governor is meeting with staff to review tasks and the agenda for next few days.

n Public Works Superintendent Evans is working with student Der-rick Hundley on his senior project involving cleaning up the ball field and making improvements, last-ing 30 minutes to an hour.

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4 p.m.n At Terry Jones’ dairy, it’s time for the second

milking of the day. The crew gets the milk barn ready before herding the cows in to complete their year-round, twice-daily routine.

n It’s time to get the equipment ready for the night’s mosquito fogging patrol. Kinley is mixing the control product, filling the foggers and checking the fluids in the equipment to make sure everything is ready to roll when the fogging teams come in.

n The afternoon goes by quickly with local mer-chants answering questions, waiting on customers, paying bills and stocking inventory. The mayor stops by one establishment and gives an update on the Main Street construction project. “All of us shop owners look forward with dread to the next couple months while our street is torn up. But the payoff for the com-munity will be worth it, we keep telling ourselves.”

n The contractor checks on the progress of the re-maining sub-contractors at the remodel/addition job site. He lets the skylight installer know how to lock up the house as he will be working until he finishes, which will be late.

n The county commissioners’ regular Monday

meeting is wrapping up. After a long zoning ordi-nance discussion that focused on cluster develop-ment, Commissioner Sherrer is answering the 45 e-mails she received since 8:30 that morning. After that she’ll dash home for dinner and then it’s off to an open forum meeting that evening in Ola.

n On Highway 52 at Letha, commuters are mak-ing the most vehicle trips during this hour on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

n The lieutenant governor heads upstairs to preside over the afternoon Senate session.

4:30 p.m.n Mayor Butticci meets with a citi-

zen who has a city-related concern.The evening rush at Albertsons be-

gins with people stopping on their way home to get food and other needed items.

n Lt. Gov. Little meets with a visi-tor from Emmett — a neighbor.


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5 p.m.n Since the bank doesn’t close un-

til 6 p.m., there is time for the county treasurer to make one last tax deposit for the day.

n Postal workers collect the mail dropped off at the post office in the afternoon and get it ready to ship off to Boise. After visiting every home and every address in Gem County, the postal carriers have all returned to the post office.

n The public works superinten-dent is returning telephone calls and e-mails. Evans is also preparing for the evening’s city council meeting. It begins at 7 p.m. and is expected to go three or four hours.

n Downtown, “I get ready to leave for home. Just as I begin to lock up, four horses trot by followed by two police cars and several people carry-ing ropes and halters, followed by a truck with a large horse trailer. They all seem confused — the horses the people and the officers. Everyone is looking for a place to corner the loose horses so they can be caught safely and returned home. Finally surrounded, they are loaded into the trailer and off they go.”

n The mayor stops at home to change out of his suit, then he heads to the farm to do his chores.

n City and county officials pre-pare for a twice-monthly meeting. On this day, they finalize a chapter of the Community Comprehensive Plan.

n Commissioner Pratt is wrap-ping up her Wednesday at the of-fice. She makes an adjustment to her schedule tomorrow so she can take her mother to the doctor, and heads out the door. After a bite to eat, she’ll be off to a 7 p.m. meeting with a local economic development group.

5:30n Jason Kinley is having dinner

in the office while he creates the ap-plication routes for the evening’s mosquito fogging crews.

n Highway 16 to Emmett has its highest volume of commuters of the day at this time.

6 p.m.n Downtown — “I open the door

to the clothing store next door and say my good-byes, and walk down to the credit union and post office, pass-ing by the book store, fabric shop, antiques shops, computer store, gift shop, barber and beauty shops, hard-ware store, banks and auto parts. This is a great mix of shops we have. Looking back on my day I say, ‘Only in Emmett.’”

n Commissioner Smith is getting back to the Local Highway Technical Assistance grant applications.

n Lt. Gov. Little has dinner with a few senators and their spouses.

6:30 p.m.n Mayor Butticci arrives back

at City Hall for a public hearing on amendments to the Comprehensive Plan.

n If it’s wintertime, the evening

rush of customers at Albertsons has died down. Until closing time, em-ployees work to straighten and re-stock shelves.

n At the end of the work day, com-ing through the cut in Freezeout Hill and seeing the American flag waving over the Valley of Plenty, commuters can take a deep breath and say, “It’s good to be home.”

Post officeThe Emmett Post Office makes 6,422

deliveries every day: 3,405 rural deliver-ies to Gem County addresses and 3,017 Emmett deliveries.

The post office box section takes 800 deliveries daily, and there is room for an additional 700.

Emmett postal carriers drive over 400 miles every day delivering the mail in Gem County.

The Emmett Post Office delivers be-tween 20,000 and 30,000 pieces of mail daily.

Because every home and address is visited each day by a postal carrier, Em-mett Post Master Kevin Hill said postal carriers are an integral part of neighbor-hood watch programs. “Carriers alert emergency services when things are out of order and will continue to remain vigilant in watching out for customers property and safety.”

AlbertsonsThe Emmett Albertsons employs about 111 full- and part-time people.Gem County is a Pepsi community; the brand outsells any others on the shelves at the

Emmett Albertsons.The most popular cookie in the Albertsons bakery is chocolate chip.Except when there are specials — such as at Easter, Fourth of July or Christmas —

ground beef and chicken breasts are the most-sold meats at the Emmett Albertsons.Gem County is not picky when it comes to chips — we generally purchase whatever is

on sale that week, according to information provided by Albertsons of Emmett.Unlike some other Albertsons stores, the Emmett store does not need to do “cart

runs” in surrounding neighborhoods. In some other areas, people use grocery carts to take home groceries and don’t return them to the stores. That has not been the case in Gem County.

Postal workers are a big part of the community, from participating in food drives to sending letters to the North Pole to Santa.


7 p.m.n The adult mosquito control technicians are coming in

and the evening briefing is taking place at the GCMAD head-quarters. Jason Kinley goes over the evening’s routes and a safety briefing. Several requests for treatment have come into the district office from citizens, so the plan for tonight will incorporate those locations into the night’s route.

n The second milking is finished and the dairy chores are done for the day, so Terry Jones is off to Emmett for a Gem County zoning meeting. The zoning commissioners are con-tinuing the four-year-long discussion of a county ordinance to regulate Confined Animal Feeding Operations, like Terry’s dairy.

n A county commissioners forum in Ola is getting under way with 22 upper-county residents and all three commis-sioners attending. The meeting lasts two hours.

n Gem County Jail deputies start their nightly checks of the cells. Within the hour, one high-risk jail inmate will finish showering and be put in an isolated cell.

7:30 p.m.n The contractor spends more time in the office tonight,

getting ready for the next day and paying some bills. The dairy industry remains a strong part of Gem County life, including row crops for feed.


8 p.m.n At the Gem County Jail, deputies start on the daily re-

port. They let the men from Alcoholics Anonymous out of the building and do a walk through the cells.

8:30 p.m.n It has rained all day, so the contractor returns to the job

site to make sure water is not getting into the crawl space.

9 p.m.n After a hot day, it’s cooled off into a beautiful and calm

July evening, perfect for mosquito fogging. The adult control crews are heading out on their assigned routes.

9:10 p.m.n At the Gem County Jail, deputies go through the mail

and take an inmate to medical to check his blood pressure.

10 p.m.n It’s just past 10 and Commissioner Michele Sherrer is

getting home from the Ola meeting. She has two messages on her answering machine at home about fire district con-solidation and Gem County Recreation District boundaries. It’s too late to return calls tonight, so she’ll get back to them in the morning.

n Bedtime medications are distributed to county jail in-mates. Cell walk-throughs continue around the clock.

11 p.m.n It’s early July and with no moon out, it’s pitch black. So

why is that crop duster airplane spraying a field up on the bench? It’s an alfalfa seed field, and he has to spray it at night because the cutter bees that pollinate the alfalfa blooms are in the bee houses where the insecticide being applied won’t bother them.

n Commissioner Lan Smith just turned the lights out and headed for bed. But not before he read the Hospital Qual-ity Assurance Report and took notes to prepare for the next meeting.

n It’s just about bedtime on the dairy, and Terry Jones has one more chore for the day. One of the cows is ready to calve. He puts on his winter clothes, grabs a flashlight and heads outside into the cold January night. He’s happy to see the mother cow licking a healthy new heifer calf. There is a full moon shining down from a brilliantly clear Idaho winter sky. The moonlight reflecting off the snow on the hills surround-ing the dairy make him pause. He says a prayer of thanks for his many blessings and heads inside to bed. He’ll be back in a few hours to check on the dairy’s newest resident.

Gem CountyGem County was:n Established March 15, 1915, with its county seat

at Emmett. n Named for the state nickname, “Gem State.” Fur trappers were in the area as early as 1818 and

Alexander Ross explored Squaw Creek in 1824. Pros-pectors and miners moved through the county in 1862 in route to the gold rush in the Boise Basin, and by the next year irrigation began along the Payette River.

Gem County is a total of 564 square miles — 38 percent is owned by the federal government, 135,009 acres.

Gem County is bordered by seven counties — Ada, Ad-ams, Boise, Canyon, Payette, Valley and Washington.

Gem County is the fifth smallest geographically but the 19th most populated in the state.

In addition to one incorporated city — Emmett, also the county seat — Gem County has the unincorporated communities of Letha, Montour, Ola and Sweet.

Employment Major employers in Gem County are the county itself;

Emmett School District; Albertsons; Walter Knox Memo-rial Hospital; and the City of Emmett.

Twenty six percent of the jobs in Gem County are held by someone under 30 years of age; those between 31 and 54 hold 58.5 percent; and 15.5 percent are held by those over 55.

AgricultureAfter years of significant decline, agriculture somewhat

stabilized in 2008, making it the fourth highest paying industry in Gem County, employing about one quarter of

the workers in 822 farms.Beef cattle, sheep and alfalfa hay are the mainstays

of Gem County, with dairy, small grains and fruit also making contributions.

In 2007, there were 2,831 horses and 1,169 goats in Gem County.

PeopleThe estimated population for Gem County hovers

around 16,588 or 29.4 people per square mile. The median age is just over 38 years old. About 25 percent of the people are under 18; 60 percent are between 18 and 64 years of age; and nearly 16 percent are over 65.

There are over 16,000 cars and pickups registered in Gem County.

There are over 12,000 driver’s licenses in force in Gem County.

There are nearly twice as many women over 65 years of age as men in Gem County.

From 2000 to 2008, Gem County’s total population grew by 9 percent. During this same time the Hispanic population grew 30 percent, mostly concentrated in Em-mett, representing 11.6 percent of the population in the city, compared to 8.7 percent in the county at large.

About 20 percent of those under 65 years of age have no health insurance.

EducationOf those over 25 years old, just over 20 percent do

not have a high school diploma; 35 percent have a high school diploma; 33 percent have some college education; and 11 percent have a bachelor or gradu-ate degree.

Christmas brings out opportuni-ties to celebrate family, friends and traditions in a snow-covered community.

SCENE 19

The City of EmmettThe population of Emmett was 6,300 at last

count.Currently, City of Emmett Public Works De-

partment is staffed by 23 full-time employees is six different departments who take care of the differ-ent needs of the city.

Emmett’s public utility system consists of 2,443 meters; some meters have more than one user.

The City of Emmett Public Works Department Roadway System consist of:

n 38.334 miles of city road.n 4 traffic signals, all on a joint-cooperation

agreement with the Idaho Transportation Depart-ment for basic maintenance.

City of Emmett Public Works Department Sew-age Collection System consist of:

n 34 miles of sewage collection linesn 8 sewage lift stationsAverage daily sewage discharge is 2.14 million

gallons per day. Total sewage discharge for 2009 of 25.67 million gallons. During the summer months, discharge flows are quite a bit higher due to ground water increasing from the irrigation season.

City of Emmett Public Works Department Wa-ter Distribution System consist of three municipal wells:

n Well No. 6 located at East Park Street and North McKinley Avenue with a depth of 207 feet.

n Well No. 8 located at East 12th Street and South Hayes Avenue with a depth of 319 feet.

n Well No. 9 located at East 12th Street and Gem Stone Way with a depth of 485 feet.

The City of Emmett Public Works Department has active water rights with a combined total di-version rate of 23.17 cubic feet per second, equal to 10,399 gallons per minute of water.

Average daily water consumption in the city is 869,037 gallons. Total consumption in 2009 was 317,198,712 gallons.

The elevated water tower — built in May 1909 — holds 100,000 gallons, but the tower has been disconnected because the city has grown so large that the tower alone could not maintain pressure of 40 psi for the entire city. As of Sept. 1, 2009, the city is running totally as a “pressurized system,” meaning the booster pumps are maintaining the minimum required pressure for the entire city. The water tower has been drained. The tower will be used as a cell phone tower site.

The Emmett drinking water distribution system is approximately 214,000 feet in length — about 40.5 miles long. The city also has a separate drink-ing water distribution system located at the Shadow Butte Industrial Park.

There are 255 fire hydrants within Emmett city limits.

The City of Emmett Cemetery:n Includes 20.5 acres of ground with an average

of 100 burials annually.n Is maintained by a single, full-time city em-

ployee.n Hires part-time help from March to Novem-

ber, when budget funds are available.The City of Emmett parks system consists of:n Emmett City Park at 20.5 acres.n A second city park — Blaser Park — near the

Emmett Depot. It is approximately a half-acre in size.

n A third city park — the “12th Street Ball Fields” — is located near East 12th Street and South Hayes Avenue. It is approximately 3 to 4 acres in size.

All city parks are maintained by a full-time staff member. Part-time help is hired from March to November, when budget funds are available.

The City of Emmett maintains the Emmett Air-port with:

n New runway surface.n New taxiway surface.

Wednesday, March 10 Scene 2010

The community of OlaThe majority of people who live

in Ola make their living in Ola; it’s a community of about 100, and many are ranchers. It’s a 120-mile round trip to Boise and back.

Late winter/early spring is a busy time for Ola residents as calving sea-

son begins.Part of Gem County, Ola has its

own voter polling station and boasts a voter turnout of about 90 percent.

There is no governing board or council in Ola; there’s a community board, ladies club, cemetery board and church board. The church build-ing and community hall are major

gathering places and belong to the community. “It all works quite well,” Judy McCaulou, secretary/aide at Ola School said.

The Gem County Sheriff’s Of-fice is usually the first responder in an accident or emergency in Ola. It’s about 45 minutes to the nearest hos-pital in Emmett. It takes an ambu-

lance about 30 minutes to get to Ola and about the same amount of time to get back to Emmett.

When an Ola resident dies, every-one in the community knows about it. The ladies club prepares a meal and everyone in town comes out to help where they can.

Sports are varied in Gem County — from school to special events — bicycling, hiking and boating take advantage of the ever changing terrain.


The town of SweetThe town of Sweet was founded by

Ezekial Sweet in 1885.The population in Sweet at last

Census in 2000 was 377. “However, I believe that number is low.” Gem County Commissioner and Sweet resident Sharon Church-Pratt said. “The www.city-data.com Web site shows the Sweet zip code — 83670 — population in July 2007 to be 1,127 which is probably fairly close when taking into account Montour and Boise County/Brownlee area resi-dents with a Sweet zip code. Another page shows the population at 1,064, all rural residents.”

According to www.city-data.com, the percentage of Sweet residents working in the county is 29.5, which means 70.5 percent commute out of the county to work.

Folks who make their living in

Sweet do a variety of things: ranch-ing and farming, teaching and work-ing at the school, sawmill, cook and waitress at the Triangle Restaurant (Montour), post office, clerk at gro-cery store (Montour), real estate ap-praisal, house cleaning, real estate agents and more.

Top gathering places for Sweet residents are the Syringa Hall, for-merly the Grange Hall, and the Sweet/Montour School.

Sweet has a volunteer fire depart-ment — Gem County Fire District #2 — and a post office. There are three churches at Sweet providing a variety of services. They are the LDS Church, Methodist Church and The Payette River Vineyard Church, which wor-ships at the Sweet/Montour School.

Entertainment in Sweet consists of community dinners, school func-tions, community yard sales and

church functions. Residents can pick up needed

clothing items at the Sweet Closet, located at the Triangle Restaurant on Saturdays, where clothes are donated and free to anyone. Also located in the Sweet Closet is the Sweet Food Pantry, which works with the Idaho Foodbank and the Emmett Valley Friendship Coalition to make sure there is food assistance in the area.

The Sweet Community has a live nativity program with a hay ride, car-oling and hot chocolate every Christ-mas. The program takes place at the Sweet Park by the watering trough.

“The Sweet spring and watering trough is the local watering hole that draws local folks, those pass-ing through and people from the surrounding area, their cars loaded with containers of all types, shapes and sizes to fill with clear cold spring

water and take home to consume. The water trough came to be from an open spring, to a hollowed-out log. It was in danger of being wiped out when the road was widened. In 1930, Bill Talley took a tin cup door-to-door raising money to build a cement trough, recognizing the importance of the water source as a historical and necessary site. Talley was appointed by Gov. Alexander to fill the unex-pired term of Sam Connaughton on the first Board of County Commis-sioners when Gem County was cre-ated in 1915. Other members of that Commission were John McNish and Jim Kesgard,” Gem County Com-mission and Sweet resident Sharon Church-Pratt said.

Roystone Hotsprings began as a nursing home. People still come from near and far to soak and swim in the pool for the therapeutic and rejuve-nating effects of the hot water.

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2010 Emmett Scene Magazine

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