Letters to the editor: Idaho Power, wildfires, food culture, Marv Hagedorn

Idaho Power

I was stunned to learn that the Idaho Power CEO’s total compensation rose from $1.2 million in 2006 to almost $4 million in 2017. Two other officers received compensation of over $1.25 million in 2017.

The average Idahoan made $38,800 in 2016. These Idahoans will be asked to pay for a gold-plated $35-50 million transmission project in Blaine County that does not provide redundancy as the lines are sited within yards of each other, both in a corridor that has received at least three fire evacuation orders in the past 12 years. And $12.5 million of the cost is undergrounding lines in Ketchum, one of the most affluent towns in Idaho.

However, it is easy to see why the executive compensation has exponentially grown; there is a lack of diversity on the IdaCorp Board. A 10-person board; looks like all white, only three women. Almost 30 percent of folks in Idaho these days are of a different race other than just white. Fifty percent of Idahoans are women. A diverse board makes better decisions. A board representative of the ratepayer population in Idaho, in terms of diversity and nonelite compensation, will make better decisions on projects that ratepayers have to shoulder.

Wildfires

The fires we are allowing to burn in the U.S. and Canada by using “modern” techniques are not only destroying our forests, limiting our construction supplies of wood, killing the underbrush that feeds our deer, elk, grouse etc., causing 20 premature deaths per 500K population due to smoke, but are adding 3 percent more CO2 in the U.S. to our industrial output per year. Let alone this bit of shocking news is the fact that when one acre of forest burns, 2.94 tons of carbon dioxide is left in the atmosphere each year; that is the estimate of how much CO2 is absorbed by 1 acre of forest. Interagency Fire’s technique for fighting fire is to flank the fire rather than to head the fire. The excuse for these fires is due to global warming, the fires are worse today. NOAA’s records show that since 1900 the global temperatures have increased only 2 degrees. Their precipitation records record nearly the same amount of rainfall annually. I fought fire in the 1950s for the Forest Service and we put out the fires with only a shovel and an ax. Data source: http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=28312.

Food culture

Tastes and food culture are different across the states, despite our homogenization in many ways. When I lived in the Midwest for a while I almost gagged over food preparation there. Wasn’t used to it.

Generally I prefer ethnic foods prepared in California better than elsewhere. There is a reason for this. California, particularly SoCal and the greater Los Angeles region, is a mirror reflection of almost every country in the entire world. People from all countries and ethnicities settle there, open restaurants and serve very authentic food. It’s delicious. It’s just not the same as when a non-native obtains the recipe and ingredients, and tries to prepare it themselves.

So is ethnic cuisine better in California? Probably. Just my opinion. For the above-stated reasons.

But I’ve never made a point to share this opinion until your article opened up the topic. I try not to throw my opinions on dietary culture in people’s face. I don’t think it’s that important and don’t think it’s a major reason why most people move here.

So Californians, you moved here because it is different from California. In many ways. Why don’t y’all just chill and keep some of those complaints among yourselves?

Hagedorn

Regarding Marv Hagedorn’s insensitive comments about sexual assault: As head of Idaho’s Division of Veterans Services, he needs to step down. Every year, thousands of men and women put on a uniform to serve this country. And every year many of those men and women are raped, sexually assaulted, sexually harassed and subjected to punishment for reporting it.

I served in both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force, and I know because I am one of them.

His insulting and demeaning comments aren’t going to be washed away by an apology and sensitivity training. Hagedorn is a foul stench to those of us who had the courage to serve our country, be violated and demeaned, denied benefits, punished by superiors, and still fulfill the mission we signed up for.

Hagedorn’s resignation and retirement from all politics is the only reasonable solution. He is a stain on Idaho and an affront to its veterans.