Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part one, with part two set to appear in Sunday’s Tribune.
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KAMIAH — At the Jan. 27 meeting of the Kamiah City Council, member Stephen Rowe proposed a Second Amendment sanctuary city resolution for the city of Kamiah.
Rowe said that he is concerned that the new presidential administration will restrict guns and he wants to protect people’s gun rights in Kamiah. The examples he used were potential limits on magazine size and putting red flag laws in place. In the case of red flag laws, Rowe said they allow for “taking guns away from people who have not committed a crime.”
Rowe explained he wants Kamiah to prohibit restrictions on Second Amendment rights. He got the idea from the city of Kuna, which recently enacted a Second Amendment sanctuary city resolution. The language of the proposed resolution was not available from the city of Kamiah, pending legal review. A review of the Jan. 5 Kuna City Council meeting minutes found they passed a resolution “declaring the city of Kuna, Idaho, to be a Second Amendment sanctuary city.”
Council President Dan Millward, council member Genese Simler and Mayor Betty Heater all expressed their support of guns and Second Amendment rights.
“We’ve got to be really careful before we do anything like this,” Millward said.
Heater said she had spoken at length to Lewis County Sheriff Jason Davis about this earlier in the day. Regarding a resolution like this, Davis told her, “It doesn’t change any laws.”
The council agreed to have the city attorney review the language in the resolution before taking any action on it.
— Norma Staaf, The Clearwater Progress (Kamiah), Thursday
Primary election filing period open through Feb. 16
LAPWAI — The Nez Perce Tribe primary election candidate filing period is open through Feb. 16 for three Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee positions that are up for election in 2021.
Nez Perce Tribal spokeswoman Kayeloni Scott said a candidate “must be an enrolled Nez Perce Tribal member, 18 years or older, living on the Nez Perce Reservation.”
The nonpartisan primary election is planned for April 3. Scott said that the two leading candidates for each seat will then be placed on the ballot for the general election, which is planned for May 8. Scott also said the timing of both elections is subject to change, based on COVID-19 public health considerations.
There are no geographic subdivisions for NPTEC members within the reservation.
“All NPTEC members represent the entire Nez Perce reservation; members can reside anywhere on the Nez Perce reservation,” Scott said.
There are nine total NPTEC members, each serving a three-year term. Three of the nine seats are up for election each year. Mary Jane Miles, Ferris Paisano III and Shirley Allman are the three incumbents whose terms expire this year. (Allman was recently appointed to fill the vacant seat after the resignation of Chantel Greene.)
Scott said a filing fee of $100 is required to get on the ballot, but there is no requirement to obtain signatures. Candidates may request an application package from NPTEC executive assistant Marie Baheza at (208) 843-2253.
— Norma Staaf, The Clearwater Progress (Kamiah), Thursday
Snow sculpture keeps McCall carnival spirit alive
MCCALL — Gary and Stacey Kucy grinned as a carload of people stopped to admire a giant cherry-capped cupcake occupying two parking spaces in front of Stacey Cakes in downtown McCall.
The snow-carved cupcake was one of two snow sculptures built at local businesses in the spirit of the McCall Winter Carnival, which normally dots the city with about 30 snow sculptures for the annual contest.
This year’s carnival was scheduled to start last weekend and end this weekend, but was canceled in December because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To me, the spirit of the carnival is the sculptures and it’s neat to be part of keeping that spirit alive,” Gary Kucy said.
The Best Western Plus McCall Lodge and Suites also sponsored a snow sculpture depicting two faces on a head with a window into the head showing gears and cogs.
The Kucys supported the McCall Chamber of Commerce’s decision to cancel the carnival, but not building a snow sculpture was never an option.
“We were both extremely bummed,” said Stacey Kucy, who owns Stacey Cakes, located at 136 E. Lake St. “I was just like, ‘You know, I think we still do one anyway.’”
This year marked Gary Kucy’s seventh year carving a snow sculpture in front of his wife’s bakery.
He has experience in creating delicacies, as his regular job is chef at Rupert’s at Hotel McCall and the Jug Mountain Ranch Clubhouse.
The frigid cupcake stands more than 10 feet tall, spans about 8 feet across and, like most of Kucy’s previous sculptures, took about two weeks to build.
An old light fixture from the couple’s house serves as a cherry on top of the cupcake and is lit at night by a cord running through a pipe in the sculpture.
Meanwhile, Stacey Kucy gets a front-row seat from her bakery to the procession of cars and pedestrians who stop to take pictures with the sculpture and, in some cases, lick the cupcake.
“As locals, we probably forget how awesome the sculptures really are,” Kucy said. “If you see it through the eyes of people who’ve never seen them, it’s pretty amazing.
“For me, it’s all about seeing the joy on people’s faces and, honestly, this year we probably need that more than ever,” she said.
— Drew Dodson, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday.
