The Courier
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Celebrate Mother’s Day and Support FFA
This Sunday, May 12th, is Mother’s Day. It’s time to get out and do all those things in the yard to make her happy - pick up trash, mow the lawn, and plant flowers! This Thursday, May 9th, the Shoshone FFA will have almost everything you need at their annual greenhouse plant sale. Sale begins at 4:00 p.m. on the southeast corner of the high school building. Hagerman High School will host their annual plant sale on May 10th and 11th. On Friday, from 5 to 7, come enjoy the Plant Sale Party with music, an art show, a silent auction, door prizes, and appetizers provided by Chef Kirt Martin of the Snake River Grill and the Academy of Food Culture & Science. This is a great way to treat the special mother in your life to a night out. Tickets for the Plant Party are $10 and can be purchased at the door. The regular plant sale is Saturday from 8 to 3: admission is free. Check out the flower selection on Facebook - Hagerman Greenhouse - or visit their Instagram page - @Hagermanffa2. This fundraiser helps support the Agriculture classes and FFA chapter at Hagerman High school.
DEQ Seeks Comments on Water Reuse Permit for City of Hagerman
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is seeking public comment on a draft water reuse permit for the City of Hagerman in Gooding County. The permit authorizes the city to operate a wastewater collection and treatment facility for five years. It allows recycled water to be used to irrigate field crops during the growing season. As part of the permitting process, the city is required to show how it will address health and environmental concerns, including methods of preventing surface and ground water contamination. The draft permit specifies loading rate limits, and monitoring requirements established by DEQ to protect public health and the environment. Written comments on the draft permit will be accepted through May 16, 2019, at 5 p.m. MDT. The draft permit and staff analysis are available for public review at DEQ’s Twin Falls Regional Office and on DEQ’s website. Submit comments electronically on DEQ’s website or by mail or email to: Jerimiah Fenton DEQ Twin Falls Regional Office 650 Addison Avenue West, Suite 110 or jerimiah.fenton@deq.idaho.gov Twin Falls, ID 83301
News from the Heart of Idaho Camas • Lincoln • Gooding
May 8, 2019
Vol 43 ~ Num 19
Trafficking Children
In 2008, Emily Cablek faced an event that every parent fears - her two children were abducted. To make matters worse, the children were taken to Mexico. Not only is it difficult to locate such children in Mexico, law enforcement resources in Mexico are often stretched thin. This, combined with government corruption, makes it nearly impossible to return these children to their homes. Mrs. Cablek was lucky. Four years after her son and daughter were kidnapped by their father, he was sent to jail and she was reunited with her children. The U.S. State Department estimates that 2000 U.S. children each year are abducted across international borders with a third of them going to Mexico. In fact, the U.S./Mexico border is the number one destination for international child abductions. Sadly, this is not a one-way street. The number of abducted children coming into the U.S. is ten times higher, and ridiculously easy to do. Human trafficker are using undocumented migrants from Central America to bring children, thousands of children, into the United States. Since 2017, there has been a 314% increase in migrants claiming to be the parents of children that are not their own. In a recent report, the Department of Homeland Security estimated that 20,000 children were illegally smuggled into U.S. just during the month of December 2018. Over 350 of these children were discovered at Points of Entry while almost 4800 were found at barrier-less sections of the border. Where are these children headed? The United States is one of the highest consumers of child sex abuse content (i.e. child pornography) in the world. According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), 18% of this content is produced by a parent or guardian, 25% is produced by a neighbor or family friend, and 18% from online enticement. That means a third of this content is being produced by abusing children abducted from other countries. In 2013, Tim Ballard started Operation Underground Railroad, a non-profit organization that assists governments fight human smuggling and rescue people from sex trafficking. As a former anti-trafficking operator with the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Ballard was recently invited to address the Congressional... continued on page 6...