[Vision2020] Legislative Newsletter IX, March 2-7, 2009

[Tom Hansen]

Rep. Trail -

 

Idaho is JUST NOW discontinuing death-sentence executions by firing squad????????

 

I thought that Idaho executions were by lethal injection, the closest thing to humane executions (now, there's an oxymoron for you).

 

Well . . .

 

I'll be a son of a Blagojevich!

 

Look for my first book, coming to a bookstore near you . . .

 

"County Jail Journal: Tom Hansen, the Early Years"

 

Seeya at the Intolerista Wingding, Moscow.

 

http://www.MoscowCares.com/Wingding

 

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

 

"For a lapsed Lutheran born-again Buddhist pan-Humanist Universalist Unitarian Wiccan Agnostic like myself there's really no reason ever to go to work."
 
- Roy Zimmerman


 

> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> From: ttrail at moscow.com
> Date: Sat, 7 Mar 2009 14:45:00 +0000
> Subject: [Vision2020] Legislative Newsletter IX, March 2-7, 2009
> 
> LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER IX--MARCH 2-7/2009
> 
> Constituents:
> 
> A sense of humor does keep one stable during these stressful economic 
> times. It is ironic that former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has now 
> signed a multi-million dollar contract to write a book on "The Dark Side 
> of Politics." I wonder what message that conveys to the general public. 
> It reminds me of a friend describing trout swimming in gin clear fishing 
> waters with hundreds of anglers trying to catch them. He said that the 
> trout were as nervous as a felon at a Sheriffs Convention. I doubt that 
> Ex-Governor Blagojevich is very nervous at this date. By the way the 
> Idaho House passed a bill today ending death by the firing squad.
> 
> l. Positive News--I thought it would be appropriate with all of the 
> travail and bad news out in the world to focus on at least one good piece 
> of news. Micron just announced laying off 2,000 employees, and then the 
> Idaho Statesmen front page featured an article on "Are Small Treasure 
> Valley Businesses the Answer?" The article featured a half page picture 
> of Moscow's own Tony Dupont who is the owner of small company that makes 
> Power Cordz, a synthetic cable stronger and lighter than steel for bikes 
> and possibly cars and planes. The Lance Armstrong cycling team and many 
> of the European professional bike riders used Tony's Power Cordz.
> 
> Tony is the son of Dr. Ron and Fran Dupont of Moscow. He graduated 
> from Moscow High School and Civil Engineering at the University of 
> Idaho. My wife, Jo Ann, and I had lunch with Tony several years ago and 
> his goal was to develop a small business to make useful and futuristic 
> products. The cables are just the beginning. DuPont plans to use revenue 
> from Power Cordz sales to pay for a prototype of the continually variable 
> transmission that he developed in college. The transmission can change 
> through an infinite number of gear ratios between maximum and minimum 
> values. Tony thinks his innovative design will make bikes and cars 15-20 
> percent more efficient. A consulting engineer says that it has the 
> potential to revolutionize energy transmission. A large Asian car 
> company indicates that if they can be shown a prototype that works in the 
> bike field that they will fund development for the auto industry
> 
> Three years ago Tony developed his business alone in his Boise 
> garage. Today he has five employees. Sales have doubled this past 
> quarter. We wish Tony all the success in the world, and what he is 
> doing in developing his small but innovative business may be a wave of 
> the future.
> 
> 2. Teaching More Kids On Less Money--Superintendent of Public 
> Instruction, Tom Luna has announced that the public education budget will 
> probably be cut for FY10 by at least $60 million. At the same time 
> public school enrollment is estimated to expand. Part of the expansion 
> is because some parents are moving their children from private to public 
> schools because they cannot afford tuition. In the case of both parents 
> having to work then home schooling is no longer an option. It appears 
> that Idaho Parents are voting with their feet.
> 
> SPI Luna indicates that he wants to restrict the amount of money 
> moving from rainy day accounts to beef up the budget shortfall, and in 
> essence the budget cutbacks will simply mean fewer teachers teaching more 
> students. The impact on local schools such as Genesee and Kendrick 
> indicates that they may go to a four day school week starting next fall. 
> Bruce Bradberry, the Superintendent at Troy indicates that his experience 
> shows you only save about 2% by going to a four day school week. It is 
> interesting that many of our competitors in the world economy in Europe 
> and Asia are actually increasing the number of school weeks. Are we 
> headed down to road to becoming a Third Class Nation?
> 
> 3. Transportation Issues--The Governor is still trying to move ahead 
> with his $200 million plus transportation package. He is calling each 
> individual member of the House Transportation Committee over to try and 
> convince them to vote for his package. Two of his proposals to increase 
> the tax on rental cars were defeated in committee. Frankly, there is 
> little enthusiasm among legislators to increase taxes of any kind on 
> their constituents in hard economic times. We have heard that money from 
> the stimulus package may be used to put in an additional passing lane on 
> Steakhouse Hill on Highway 95 north of Moscow.
> 
> Well, constituents, JFAC will start to set some budgets this next week as 
> we more clearly see the way that the stimulus funds fit into the Idaho 
> Budget. In any case, it appears that the Idaho Legislature will be 
> extending the session into early April. Again, I'd like to hear from you 
> concerning your observations, recommendation, and suggestions. My e mail 
> is ttrail at house.idaho.gov and phone 332-1184.
> 
> Representative Tom Trail
> 
> 
> 
> 
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