Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part two, with part one having appeared in Saturday’s Tribune.
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KAMIAH — The 2019 Crime in Idaho Report recently released by the Idaho State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification has good news for residents of Lewis and Idaho counties: Crime is down.
In fact, the crime rate across the state is the lowest it has been in the past five years, with a 7.36 percent drop since 2018 for Group A offenses. Crimes in this category include murder, rape, kidnapping, robbery, fraud, vehicle theft, drug violations, aggravated assault and so on.
Additionally, for the first six months of 2020, early indications are that the trend downward should continue throughout the year.
In Idaho County, reported Group A offenses are down by 29.85 percent for 2019 when compared to 2018. In Lewis County, the numbers are a bit jumbled because of a reporting error for 2018, but the first six months of 2020 show a drop of 43.94 percent when compared to the same period last year.
A number of factors have contributed to the continuing downward trend in crime. For one thing, the respective sheriff’s departments have improved their policing efforts and capability. Secondly, the economy started to grow in 2016, after President Donald Trump took office. When the economy is growing, more people have jobs and more have money in their pockets, which leads to less stress and fewer reasons to commit a felony. There is also the coronavirus to consider, which Lewis County Sheriff Jason Davis believes has had an effect on the numbers for the first half of the current year.
“I believe that a lot of the lower crime numbers for 2020 so far are because we had shelter-in-place orders, so the virus may actually have had a positive effect in helping to reduce crime,” Davis said. “A lot of the crimes we’ve been having in the county have been in the rural areas, where there is not an immense amount of patrol. Our deputies tend to focus a lot of their time on the populated areas. We patrol the more rural areas as much as we can, but it is not as much as we would like. The lockdown, I think, has helped us a bit.”
Idaho County Sheriff Doug Giddings isn’t quite as sure that the virus has played a part in keeping crime down.
“I haven’t paid any attention to the difference between lockdown and no lockdown, so I can’t comment on that with any validity,” said Giddings, “but we’re doing pretty good overall. Of course, there are always domestic disputes to handle and drinking problems persist, but it is not that terrible.”
Giddings says that in crimes against society — drugs/narcotics, gambling, prostitution, pornography, weapons violations and animal cruelty — crime is down 23 percent for 2019. Crimes against persons, which include murder, manslaughter, sex crimes, assault, kidnapping and human trafficking, have seen an almost 17 percent reduction. Property crimes, which include robbery, burglary, larceny, vehicle theft, larceny, fraud, arson and similar crimes, are down 6 percent. All of this makes Giddings quite happy, as this is his last term in office.
“When I first started as sheriff, we had a lot of complaints. My phone was always ringing. These days we don’t get many complaints and my phone hardly rings at all,” Giddings said. “You know, Idaho County is a great place to live. We’ve got a lot of good people here, and a lot of good deputies who are doing a great job.”
— Peter DuPre, The Clearwater Progress (Kamiah), Thursday
MVSD moves ahead with school opening plans
GRANGEVILLE — “The whole process is very complicated,” Mountain View School District 244 Superintendent Todd Fiske told the board at its meeting Monday.
Fiske spoke about the green, yellow and red light plan, similar to that of other state and federal entities, that, in the world of COVID-19, allows for decision-making flexibility along the way as needed.
After talking to principals and other district leaders this week, plans are to let the community know more details of the fluid school-opening plans.
“I believe school staff, kids and parents want to know there’s a plan in place and put some of their fears to rest,” about what the school year might look like, trustee Melissa Kaschmitter said.
“We do have a plan and we’re working toward the best interests of everyone,” Fiske stated.
Currently, this plan includes opening the district’s schools for the 2020-21 academic year. It will also include continued physical distancing practices and stringent hygiene guidelines. It may include masks, at some point, if mandated or needed.
“It could very well be a hybrid plan that could include alternate days of attendance for various population groups, online instruction, take-home packets, working in pods,” and other ideas to help keep students learning and healthy, Fiske said.
“As long as people know this is all a moving target, subject to change,” said trustee Pam Reidlen.
— Lorie Palmer, Idaho County Free Press (Grangeville), Wednesday
MVSD board votes for eight furlough days for some employees
GRANGEVILLE — After nearly 90 minutes in executive session Monday night, the MVSD school board voted on furlough days for some of its employees.
The board elected to enact eight furlough days for noncertified staff and administrators.
The reason for the decision is to help make up for part of the $3.9 million in the budget that is lacking because of the May maintenance and operations levy failing.
No public discussion occurred after this decision, and the meeting was adjourned.
— Idaho County Free Press (Grangeville), Thursday
