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13 0 2 , 6 February
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37 Volume 6 Number News from the Heart of Idaho: Camas, Lincoln, and Gooding County
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Camas County Lawsuit Comes to an End On Friday of last week, the Idaho Supreme Court issued a ruling in Martin vs. Smith/Camas County. The ruling was a mixed bag for both parties. The case, which started in 2007, ended up with an injunction against Camas County and an award of over $72,000 in attorney fees and costs to George Martin. The district court held that Camas County, on multiple occasions, acted without a reasonable basis in fact or law when it approved changes to its Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance. The Supreme Court reversed the injunction and the award purely on the basis of “standing.” This was partly because of subsequent changes in the law, and partly because Mr. Martin conceded that last year’s ruling by the court (Martin vs. Camas County) was controlling in regards to standing in this case. In its appeal, Camas County tried to argue that the district court erred in not awarding attorney fees to the county and also asked for attorney fees on appeal, on the basis that Mr. Martin did not have a reasonable basis in law for bringing his complaint against the county. The Supreme Court rejected those requests because Camas County failed to support its assertion that the district court erred. The court also found no evidence to support the assertion that Mr. Martin pursued this claim merely to harass Camas County. The court stated, “We conclude that Martin has acted reasonably on appeal, by conceding arguments and not making frivolous arguments.” The court further clarify this issue by saying that Camas County erred in assuming that losing a case on the issue of “standing” is the same thing as making an unreasonable argument without basis in the law. This ruling by the Supreme Court did not change any of the conclusions made by the district court regarding procedural shortcomings, conflict of interest, or deficiencies in public records. It did, however, make those findings of facts irrelevant in this particular lawsuit.
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1A-D2 Girls Basketball Tournament Tonight the Camas Musher Ladies will be playing the Richfield Tigers for third place in the District Tournament in Gooding. After that game, the Championship game will be played between Carey and Dietrich. The first game should be at 6 p.m., but check with your school.
Fairfield to Hold Downtown Workshop Over the last few year, the City of Fairfield has made a number of improvements to its downtown area. While the City Council would like to continue working on those projects, they need feedback from the community on what the business community and the residents want to see, and what is the best way of acheiving the goal of making the downtown area the best it can be. To that end, the Fairfield Downtown Committee will hold a public workshop on Tuesday, February 19th, to review the goals to move forward with a Downtown Revitalization Plan. The workshop will consist of a brief overview of the business survey results from June 2012. The majority of the workshop will be an open discussion on the Downtown Committee’s top 5 goals. Refreshments will be provided. Please contact Megan Stelma with questions (208) 481-1358 or email to: pandzfairfield@frontier.com. The workshop will be held at the Senior Center on February 19, 2013 at 7:00 p.m.
Project Graduation Coming up soon to a School near you! If you would like to donated to this yearly celebration,.. please contact the school office.