r e i r u o C s a m a C the
12 0 2 , 9 1 December
couriernews.webs.com
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36 Volume 51 Number News from the Heart of Idaho: Camas, Lincoln, and Gooding County
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America the Great America the Terrible This past week, a small town in Connecticut experienced a great tragedy when a mentally disturbed man killed his mother, stole her gun, then drove to an elementary school where he killed twenty children and six adults. In the face of this awful event, much of America proved itself to be great in that we shared the sorrow of this small community with our prayers and our outpouring of support for those who lost friends and family. We also shared in this grief as a nation with the lowering of our flags to half-mast in respect for those who died. Sadly, many in America proved themselves to be despicable, evil individuals as well. The blood of these innocent children (some as young as six-years-old) was hardly dry on the ground when politicians started spewing forth their ideological nonsense in an effort to promote their political agenda of gun control. The subject of gun control should be discussed by our politicians because there are clearly times when individuals (such as those with mental problems or criminal records) should be limited in their access to firearms. What is going on right now, however, is not a reasonable, adult conversation about this issue. It is an attempt to dishonor the memory of these Connecticut students and their teachers with a lie. How far does this ignorance go? A day or so after this event, Twitter logged a number of comments (including one from a prominent Texas Democrat) calling for the murder of NRA members. For its part, the National Rifle Association has remained silent on this issue. The truth is that, no amount of gun control would have prevented this tragedy because this event was not about a gun, it was about young man with mental problems and the missed and/or ignored warnings that he might be dangerous to himself or others. If you believe, as I do, that America is great, then we must all stand up in days like this and feel the sorrow of our fellow Americans, and reject the lies of those would deceive us with emotional calls to abandon the truth.
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A Magic Carpet Ride at Soldier Mountain It all started accidentally with a request from a daycare. A child care facility in Colorado had a small hill behind their building that the children played on. The managers thought it would be nice if there was an easy, safe way to help these kids climb the hill. Rocky Mountain Conveyor & Equipment (RMCE) in Denver was asked if they could make something that would accomplish this goal. RMCE had been building and supplying material transport equipment for industrial uses since 1982 and this sounded like a fun project. In 1990, they built the first Magic Carpet速 lift utilizing a long rubber mat similar to the people movers you see in airports. The result was a way of helping novice skiers and snowboarders up a hill without an intimidating rope or towbar. In 1996, Magic Carpet Ski Lifts, Inc. became its own company to focus exclusively on the winter sports market. Today these lifts are found at ski resorts across America, as well as water and amusement parks. This last week, Soldier Mountain Ski Area, Inc, replaced their old rope-tow on the beginner hill and became the newest place in Idaho to find a Magic Carpet lift. As part of their ongoing effort to become the best place in area to learn to ski, the folks at Soldier Mountain are excited to offer this safer and easier way to help teach kids and adults how to have fun on the snow. With the addition of nearly a foot of new snow this last weekend and more on the way, the installation of this new lift was right on time. Soldier Mountain Ski Area announced today that they will be opening up the Fairfield ski resort on Wednesday, Dec. 26th and will be open thru January 6th before going to a Thurs-Sun schedule.