Enterprise The Idaho
Oneida County's News Since 1879 Malad City, Idaho
October 27, 2022 |Vol. 142 No. 43
A Night at the Haunted Elementary? Readers may recall that last year’s Halloween edition of The Enterprise carried a story on a possible Bigfoot sighting near Weston canyon. In the year since, the story has been the most frequently asked about in our offices here, without question. In what we hope may become something of a yearly trend, we decided to seek out another seasonally appropriate story for this year. After asking around about possible supernatural stories people in town are familiar with, the resounding winner of the most commonly cited story was the haunted elementary school. There are other potentially haunted places around the valley, of course. Both two-mile and four-mile were mentioned as possible locations for the otherworldly, though we were strongly cautioned to avoid them after midnight. It has also become very cold outside at night, which affected our decision to try the city’s top claim for paranormal activity—Malad Elementary. Built in the early 50s, the school has seen a lot of history in its time. There are no recorded deaths at the school over the time that one might imagine would lead to a haunting, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of sto-
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NEWS IN BRIEF
Record Trout Caught Kelsey (Wise) Jones examines a mysterious wall in Malad Elementary School
ries about what people may have experienced there in the meantime. With the gracious permission of Principal McIntyre and Superintendent Abrams, a small group of us was allowed to spend the witching hours inside the school last week to see what we could see. “Are you going to stay and investigate with us?” I asked Principal McIntyre. “Absolutely not,” she said. “First, because I don’t like staying here at night. Second, this is basically my Friday. Have
fun, and watch out for the red-headed girl in a white dress!” Among our crew—owner and publisher of the Enterprise Bryan Scott, employees Cambrie Christophersen, Sherrie Wise, and her daughters Bailey and Kelsey—everyone but me was familiar with stories of this elusive girl in white. Throughout town, an informal survey of locals makes it clear that the story is very widespread. A number of current and former school employees who wished to remain off the
record reported hearing unexplainable noises, seeing unexplainable images on the school’s cameras, and even directly seeing shapes that may or may not have been ghostly. Some staff allegedly refuse to go in certain areas after dark, or stay in the building alone. There are also persistent rumors of an “old man” figure who walks the halls at night. The old man has reportedly been seen on the school’s security cameras HAUNTED ELEMENTARY On Page 10
ElderGrow program brings therapeutic horticulture to Longterm Care As the result of a three year grant from the Idaho Helath Care Association secured by Nell J Redfield employee Cindy Dawson, the Longterm Care facility officially kicked off a new ElderGrow program based on the principles of therapeutic horticulture for its residents. A representative of the organization, Customer Success Manager Jen Oliver, was on hand to help kickstart the program. The local program director will be Katy Maughan, who was not available for the initial opening of the program. “Therapeutic horticulture is an amazing idea,” Oliver said. “It engages all the senses, and it’s been found to help reduce a lot of the negative outcomes of aging. It’s been shown to reduce dementia, increase memory and fine motor skills, among other things.” The program essentially creates an indoor structure for culturing and raising a variety of plants, many of which were turned over to the residents for initial planting. The indoor planter box allows for the growing of herbs, vegetables, starts, and a whatever plants the residents are interested in growing. Other than the provision that the plants need to be non-toxic (which means unfortunately that tomatoes—a
One Idaho angler took the top place in the state record books for an astounding 36 inch rainbow trout pulled out of Henry’s Lake in east Idaho. Hailey Thomas of Rigby landed the monster fish on October 4 after a lengthy fight. Henry’s Lake is famous for its large rainbow and cutthroat trout, though this one surprised everyone. The catch beats the previous record for a 30-inch specimen caught by Ryan Ivy in the Snake River.
Search for habitable planets narrows
A recent study of an M dwarf star planet suggests that such stars may actually not be ideally suited for the conditions necessary for organic life, as had been previously thought. M dwarf stars are the most common in the universe. Scientists had theorized that such stars might allow for earth-sized planets to exist in a zone where they could be warmed by the sun, but kept free from atmosphere destroying radiation. New data shows that the areas in which that might be possible are fewer than they had previously suspected, lowering the number of potential life-sustaining planets to a number that is still in the billions, including 1,000 sunlike stars relatively near home.
Local mascot ranked second in national contest
Scorebook Live, a website devoted to high school sports news, recently started a poll to find the best mascot in America. After over 100,000 votes, Shelley’s mascot “Boomer” is rated 2nd in the nation, with 20,958 votes. Boomer, a proud anthropomorphic potato, is of course the face of the Shelley Russets. The voting will continue until Novermber 1, and can be found at news.scorebooklive.com.
Alligator found in Idaho
Jen Oliver from ElderGrow plants the first plant in the new indoor bed with Louise "Boo" Anderson
member of the nightshade family—are out), the residents are able to choose from a wide variety of plants to take on as projects. The Longterm Care facility, as Cindy Dawson explained, already has a vibrant outdoor garden, where the fruits of this summer’s labor are now
on full display. But for some of the residents, the ability to care for plants inside the comfort of the facility is a major bonus. The easy accessibility of the materials and the ability to watch ELDERGROW PROGRAM On Page 5
INSIDE THE ENTERPRISE THIS WEEK Food Drive............................................Pg.2 Elementary News ............................... Pg.4 Kids Scoop............................................Pg.7
Haunted Theater................................................Pg.9 Puzzles.............................................................Pg.10 Dragon Doings/Sports................................Pg.15-16
Someone walking their dog in New Plymouth Idaho (northwest of Boise) had a surprise when they encountered a three and a half foot long alligator. Idaho Fish and Game responded to the call and confirmed that the animal was indeed an alligator, raising some fairly obvious questions about how exactly it had come to be there. Alligators are not even remotely native to Idaho, and would not thrive here in the wild. F&G believes that the animal had broken loose from a private owner and made its way into the bush. They remind people that alligators are illegal to own in Idaho without a permit, and are hoping to locate where it may have originated.
