Enterprise The Idaho
Oneida County's News Since 1879 Malad City, Idaho
July 4, 2024 |Vol. 144 No. 26
Russ Wilson selected as Honored Veteran for the 4th of July Parade Russ Wilson found out that he was to be named the Honored Veteran for the 4th of July Parade at the last meeting of the Legion, when he was nominated by the leadership. “They said, ‘I’m nominating Russ Wilson for the Honored Veteran and I’m not hearing anything else,’” Wilson laughs, before adding “I’m going to get even with them.” Wilson has been and continues to be an active presence with the American Legion, both as an officer as well as the manager of the bar alongside his wife Chey. Over the last twenty years, he has also been an active participant in the parade on behalf of the Legion. “Oh yeah—I’m always there. Last year was the first year I was too old to march—my knees are giving out. That last climb up the hill back to the school…” he laughs. Russ was born in the fall of 1946, right at the leading edge of the much-maligned Baby Boomer generation, as he explains it. He was raised in Ogden, Utah and graduated high school in 1965. After high school he attended Utah State University for two years. He makes the interesting and wistful observation that tuition at that time was about 85 dollars per quarter. In 1967 he married his first wife and joined the Navy. Russ and his first wife were later divorced after having two children. A boy, Evan, and a girl, Heather. Russ joined the Navy under the Navy Nuclear Power program and was sent to two years of training all around the country, culminating at the Navy Reactor training center at the site west of Idaho Falls. After qualification as a Mechanical Operator and Engineering Lab Technician he was retained as a staff instructor at the site for two more years. After prototype training he was sent to Submarine School in Groton, Connecticut. And then on to serve aboard USS Seawolf SSN 575 at Mare Island Naval Shipyard located at Vallejo, California. After discharge from the Navy, Russ moved back to Ogden and took a job as a Building maintenance man for Weber County, Utah. It was at this time that he met Chey. (Someone known to a lot of you, Russ adds.) They were later married in June of 1975 and just celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary. Soon after they were married Russ was contacted by some friends at the Navy Reserve Center in Ogden and asked if he would consider joining the Reserves and going back on active duty as a Recruiter. It was an opportunity, so he did. Russ and Chey had a son, Dustin, who also lives in Malad. He stayed on recruiting duty for several years and recruited both for the Reserves and the Regular Navy. In 1982 Russ got out of the Navy and took a job as a contract operator helping the startup of Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in the desert west of Phoenix, Arizona. In 1984 he was offered a job as an in-house operator and went to work for Arizona Public Service Company. He worked his way up and earned his Reactor Operator license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He held this license for 17 years before
NEWS IN BRIEF
Supreme Court rules Presidents have broad immunity
Russ Wilson was named this year’s Honored Veteran for the Independence Day parade.
retiring in 2004. After retirement they built their home in Pleasant View and moved here. They are happy to live here in this valley and have never regretted coming here. Russ has been a member of the American Legion for over 50 years and holds the office of Adjutant with Post 65 here in Malad. Russ appreciates being honored for his service even though he considers it unremarkable. “We love it here,” Wilson says. “Absolutely have no regrets moving here. We thought a lot about it before I retired, about where we wanted to go. We grew up in Ogden, both of us,” Wilson explains, including his wife Chey. “And we came through this area a lot. And later on we’d come through on our way to Yellowstone and places like that. When I knew I was going to retire, both of our parents were still alive, and we wanted to be somewhere close enough that we could run down to help them when they needed.” “We lived in the country down in Arizona—we had two acres that we lived on, and we couldn’t see moving back into a city anywhere, so we moved out to a six acre place in Pleasantview. We love it out there. She wouldn’t even let me plant any trees, so we could still see the mountains,” Wilson says, talking about the area. More or less as soon as he moved in, he became active in the Legion, where he continues to be a fixture. “I’m an officer, and now that we’ve got this little bar started back up last summer, Chey and I kind of run it. So, every weekend we’re involved with that. And as an officer in the post, I get involved in a lot of aspects of charity events, and so on. I do all the finances for the post, so it’s a lot of responsibility,” Wilson says. “People maybe don’t realize some of the things we are involved in, and we’re always trying to get more and more involved with the community. For instance, we PARADE VETERAN On Page 2
A Wonderful Welsh Weekend As happens at the end of almost every June (Festival organizer Jean Thomas is clear to clarify that COVID caused some disruptions in the continuity of the event), the Malad Valley Welsh Festival brought a large number of people to town to celebrate or learn about the Welsh history of the area, and the culture of Wales in general. Over the course of the three day festival, many exciting things were on offer, including music, food, arts and crafts, history, and of course, poetry. A new Bard for 2024 was chaired at the commencement of Saturday’s events, moving last year’s bard Blaine Scott into the esteemed emerita company of Jan Crowther, Dotty Evanson, Cory Webster, and Lamonte John. By the end of the afternoon’s events, Candice Lemmon of Bountiful joined the previous bards on stage and was officially recognized as this year’s poet for her poem WELSH On Page 2
The Bards from previous years all presented their takes on this year’s theme-Dragons--during the Festival’s first ever Bard Circle. Blaine Scott, Lamonte John, Cory Webster, Jan Crowther, and Dotty Evanson.
INSIDE THE ENTERPRISE Independence Day Event Schedule....Pg. 3 Welsh Festival Poems.........................Pg. 4 Puzzles................................................Pg. 6
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Looking Back.......................................Pg. 7 Obituaries............................................Pg. 9 Dragon Marathon Results................. Pg. 11
It will take a while before the implications of the ruling are clear, either for the ongoing criminal trials involving former president Donald Trump or the current administration of president Joe Biden, but the Supreme Court’s ruling that “core” presidential activities are covered by immunity was a landmark decision in many ways. The lower courts will be sorting out the implications of what powers and actions fall into the routine and core categories as the process moves forward. The decision by the majority also makes clear that official acts, when they are deemed to be so by the courts, cannot be considered as evidence for the purposes of criminal trials, which will undoubtedly create a lot of chaos in the current trials as the election comes closer. The vote was 6-3, along conservative/liberal lines.
Redbox files for bankruptcy
The parent company of Redbox has filed for bankruptcy after enduring months of financial struggle. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (CSSE) revealed in a filing that it has nearly $1 billion in debt and owes millions of dollars to several entertainment companies including the BBC and Sony Pictures, plus to retailers ranging from Walmart to Walgreens. Filings show that the company took on about $325 million in debt following its purchase of Redbox in 2022 from private equity giant Apollo Global Management. The plan was to make it into an entertainment conglomerate, combining the DVD rental business with its free streaming services. It was reported that Redbox hadn’t paid employees for a week, and medical benefits have been suspended.
ID, UT, and WY opt out of lunch program
A new, permanent summer grocery program will help nearly 21 million kids across 37 states get enough to eat this year while school’s out, the Idaho Capital Sun reports. 13 states with Republican governors have opted out of the federal program, citing their opposition to what they deride as welfare and their unwillingness to cover administrative costs. Under the new $2.5 billion program created by Congress, eligible low-income households will receive a total of $120 per child over the three summer months when school-based free and reduced-price lunch programs aren’t available. Families making up to 185% of the federal poverty level, or $57,720 for a family of four, are eligible. Funds have already been distributed to families in many states. The money will be available on an electronic benefits transfer, or EBT, card. The states that chose not to participate in Summer EBT — Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming — could decide to opt in next year.