ID: some days I miss Twin Falls

From the Times-News:

Goat on the lam nabbed in downtown TF - Animal was missing since Saturday

A goat is in custody after a harrowing escape from a Twin Falls livestock yard and three days on the lam, police said Tuesday... (T)he goat had finally been captured. "Yeah, they got it," said Sgt. Anthony Barnhart with city police. Barnhart did not say if the goat would be charged with a crime or if it was being held for questioning. But the goat is unlikely to face serious punishment.

After all, it's just a kid.

IN: copygoat crime

It seems that the recent goat - at - large arrested in Twin Falls, Idaho was not the first, just the latest, of a wave of hooved delinquents. Last month's most wanted, from the Herald Argus:

They got their goat! - Animal that wandered across highway Wednesday taken in by Howmet employees

Billy was apprehended by police shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday outside Howmet. According to La Porte City Police Officer Nate Thode, no charges will be filed against the goat. He was taken away without incident, he said.

“He’s in custody,” Thode said with a smile. “We’re not charging him with anything.” The goat incident even resulted in a police report. No word on whether the goat got a copy, and if so, whether he ate it...

A day off at Northwest Trek

Getting to be a Martin Luther King Jr. day tradition:

Bonus link greetings of the day go to The Mountain Goat Report, In The Moment, and Feminist Mormon Housewife.

ID: wolf-slayer in chief

If Butch Otter is determined to drive the wolves out of Idaho, perhaps they could do as I did and find refuge in Washington. From the AP:

State forms committee to plan for wolf's possible return

Idaho's new governor may want to shoot wolves, but a diverse Washington state group will meet to determine what type of welcome mat will be laid out for any wolves that take up housekeeping here...

Here are some Idaho Wolves - Myths and Facts for the new governor, who declared "I'm going to bid for the first ticket to shoot a wolf," at a rally on the Statehouse steps last week. To give you a flavor of the fervor of the eliminationist overlap on display there, one picketer's sign said, "Wolves are Illegal Immigrants."

Here are a few good Idahoans who don't think that way - maybe they can redeem the beautiful but dumb state we love:

The Mountain Goat: Otter's Wolf Plan Takes a Page from Bush

The Hot Springs Guy: Anti-Wolf Rally in Boise Huge Embarrassment, Supported by Governor Butch Otter and Wolf Myth Busting - The Truth About Wolves

Bill Schneider: Idaho Governor Declares Wolf Public Enemy Number One

A. K. Linehart: Could it be our reputation?

Finally, the dean: Ralph Maughan's Wildlife News

P.S.: 43rd State Blues reports that the wolf-haters are rallying again this week.

Sunday mountain goat blogging

An afternoon at Northwest Trek - a fine outing with the kid.

ID: Judge Burdick, how could you?

From Tara Rowe of The Political Game:

Still don't think Zeb Bell's voice is an influence outside of his direct broadcast range in the Magic Valley? Zeb's guest this morning, a regular guest Senator Denton Darrington (R-Declo) brought on a guest of his own: Justice Roger S. Burdick. Yep, a justice of the Idaho Supreme Court. All of this after the bigoted comments of Rep. John A. "Bert" Stevenson (R-Rupert). Amazing.

I'm ashamed and embarrassed for a judge I liked.

(Your Honor, it wouldn't have been hard to google Zeb Bell in advance to see why you wouldn't want to appear on this hateful man's show - the Mountain Goat could've told you all you needed to know. At least I'm hoping you didn't know; the alternative doesn't jibe with my respect for you.)

ID: my people

I'm going back to Idaho for a week, so posting may be scatter-shot.

Bonus links and courage under fire citations go out to fellow Idahoans IdaBlue, Idaho - Hum, Idaho Rocks, the Mountain Goat, F-Words, and the indispensible 43rd State Blues.

Update: more about the photo above from Rob's Idaho Perspective -

I originally thought this was an April Fools joke, but it does not appear to be. The story has a picture of a person sitting behind a "no shooting" sign with a rifle shooting ground squirrels (not surprising). The story goes on to explain that numerous endangered birds have been killed in the area (also not surprising), some private cattle that are still allowed to roam in the area have been shot (somewhat surprising), but the most amazing of all - that national guard vehicles are regularly hit with gunfire in the area.

ID & TX: Idaho dollars for Texas squalor

Very big expatriate - Idahoan thanks to Scott Henson of Grits for Breakfast for his watchdog work in general, and for his concern for some benighted Idahoans languishing in Texas private prisons:

The blog Texas Prison Bidness has updates on what's happening with Idaho prisoners who were pulled out of the Geo Group facility in Dickens County after a suicide prompted an investigation of poor conditions:

• Idaho moving inmates yet again in Geo prison shell game

• Idaho to send inmates to scandal-ridden Geo Val Verde Prison

• While Geo scandals continue, executives get rich

• Idaho planning to send more prisoners to Geo Group; what is Reinke thinking?

It's a shame when a blogger in Austin cares more about the welfare of some Idahoans than the governor in Boise, but as Scott noted last week:

I guess corrections officials in Idaho figured, "out of sight, out of mind." I often think that's how a lot of folks feel about people in prison, generally...

Bonus link goes to this news item: Prison firms give cash to pols to spur Idaho privatization

Update 07/15/07: fellow Idahoan The Mountain Goat is raising the alarm back home: The Growing Idaho Inmate Scandal

Cute animal pictures: the highest and best use of the blawgosphere

As if to validate the point of the previously - linked post, here is an adorable goat in a holding cell (a Toggenburg, I believe):
Via West Seattle Blog by way of Slog.

"Dude, where's my fire engine?"

From KTVB - Boise:

Fire truck joy ride lands man in jail

The large green truck had its lights and sirens on, so deputies called dispatchers to see if they knew what the truck was responding to. Canyon County dispatchers were unaware of any emergency situation...

Deputies found out the truck belonged to the Murphy Reynolds Wilson Volunteer Fire Department in Owyhee County. Deputies stopped the vehicle around 1 a.m. on Highway 45 at Stage Coach Road. The only occupant in the truck was... Winston Keith Goering III, of Murphy, Idaho... His blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit according to deputies...

Via The Mountain Goat, who says:

Dude, where's the fire?... I have to think this tops the Boise Zamboni guys.

Now for something happy

By the Seat of My Skirt: cartoons from a colleague newly graduated from law school and about to take the bar.


(in medieval iconography, I think the billy goat symbolizes a bar examiner or bar grader, or possibly the devil)

Friday (or late Thursday) random 11

My wife and son are spending the weekend back in Twin Falls, Idaho (motto: Don't Jump!). Therefore, you my regular readers - now numbering in the double digits - are in for more posts from me than you know what to do with (clicking away quickly to someplace more worthwhile or fun is always an option).

Sugarlight - X
Mercury - Kathleen Edwards
Incense and Peppermints - The Strawberry Alarm Clock
You'll Never Know - Kim Richey
Tomorrow is Such a Long Time - Nick Drake
President of What - Death Cab for Cutie
The Goat - The Williams Brothers
The Night Descending - Iron and Wine
Mimi on the Beach - Jane Siberry
Me and That Train - Patty Larkin
Why Can't We Be Friends - War