Enterprise The Idaho
Oneida County's News Since 1879 Malad City, Idaho
January 29, 2026 | Vol. 146 No. 5
$1.50
NEWS INSevere BRIEF Storm blankets country
This is the point below the summit where Bannock and Oneida Counties meet. The striping ends at the open range sign. The commissioners heard from the public on a striping project that was linked to rumble strips.
Highway headaches rumble residents A meeting of the County Commissioners for Oneida County was held on Friday last week, due to this week’s scheduled Idaho Association of Counties meetings in Boise. The meeting was for the most part a standard one, but hit a roadblock, so to speak, on the issue of a road project scheduled for Old Highway 191. There were two primary issues under discussion, which revolved around the safety of the road—speed and striping. The first issue was addressed directly by the Commissioners at the meeting, while the second is on pause while the granting agency considers what it is willing to do going forward. Anyone who drives the highway route through Oneida County has likely observed that while the road surface itself is in good shape, the narrow shoulders are somewhat torn up at the edges, and there is no center line striping. There are a few sections where the posted speed—55 mph— can feel somewhat fast in certain driving conditions, especially at night or in icy weather. The combination of the two certainly has the potential for unsafe conditions, although only a couple of recent accidents have resulted from them. Anecdotally, there
have been a number of near misses. The meeting room at the Event Center was filled with Oneida County residents who live along both the north and south stretches of the highway who had come to express their opinions and concerns to the commissioners about an LHTAC (Local Highway Technical Assistance Council) grant that has been sought to address some of these safety issues, and was scheduled to go out for bid this week. The first issue, of the speed limit on the north stretch of the highway—the road from Devil Creek to the County line just below the summit—was heard by the commissioners. There are a number of residents along the route, who shared their feeling that the speed limit did lead to unsafe driving conditions, which created both noise and the potential for personal or property injury. The county attorney advised that the commissioners had the authority to change the road speeds on county roads, as long as there was a reasonable justification for doing so. After further discussion between the parties involved, the commissioners offered a resolution to lower the speed limit on the old highway from the Devil
Creek exit to the county line from 55 mph to 50 mph. The motion passed unanimously, and the commissioners stated that they would track the results and be open to feedback on the effectiveness of the change. The meeting then turned to the much larger issue of striping, and along with it the placement of rumble strips. Striping a section of road the length of the highway is a massively expensive undertaking, and in order to potentially secure the funds to do so, the county had pursued a safety grant offered through the LHTAC program. Safety grants are awarded on the basis of accidents and potential accidents that could be prevented through construction improvements. A fatality on the southern portion of the old highway was used to apply for the grant, which led to its being awarded. The county was required to pay its portion, around $150,000 for the engineering study and plans, which would ultimately add striping to the length of the highway, as well as reflectors and rumble strips. As a result of the narrow width of the road, and the condition of the RUMBLE STRIPS On Page 3
Red Riding Hood this Saturday! Auditions were held on Monday, and during the course of the week, students at Malad Elementary School participated in a series of workshops designed to introduce them to a range of valuable skills. Saturday, the results of that busy week will hit the stage at Malad Elementary for an entertaining afternoon of storytelling. Life is no picnic when you stray from the trail! Join Red Riding Hood and her friends on a forest adventure Saturday, January 31 when the Missoula Children’s Theatre and over 50 local students present an original musical adaptation of this classic tale. The play is directed by Mandi Fielding from the Missoula Children’s Theatre. She is joined by Emma Walther, who will be playing the Big Bad Wolf. The pair have been working with the student actors over the week, and are excited to show the community what they’ve learned. The local cast features Piper Lewis as Red Riding Hood; and Olivia Briscoe, Camilla Anderson, and Liberty Charles as her three Girl Friends. Mikayla Thorpe is Little Loveable Wolf while Bea Chipman, Alivia Seamons, Wynn Werk, Kiya Crowther, Camden Crowther are featured as the Hood Family. Also featured are The Three Little Pigs played by Piper Reel, Paisley Hamilton, Emerie Mackey; Charlie Blackner as The Woodsman; Cooper Smith as The Locksmith; Cora Conger as Ranger Roonye; and Porter Allen as The Boy Who Cries Wolf. To complete the ensemble, Autumn Donnan, Nathan Fonnesbeck, Jackson Hannum, Hunter Clark, Kinzley Hamilton, Khalistan Winward, Tristan Hodgkin, Will Johnson, Victoria Anderson, Emery Diderickson, Rowie Malm, and Addie Smith will appear as the Forest Shadows; Maylee Hanks, Tate Curtis, Gunner Clark, Weston Goeckeritz, Claire
Hornecker, Madeline Shandrew as the Wolfgang; and Jet Thorpe, Kleah Gregory, Lucy Clark, Lilly Clark, Mitchell Hornicker, Kyvor Smith, Vira Rio, Willow Hubbard, Daniel Fonnesbeck, Julie Clark, Trinity Hodgkin, Genesis Holmmondolla, Karissa Nimer as the rascally Raccoons. Performances will be at 3:00 p.m. and at 5:30 p.m. at the Malad Elementary School auditorium. Tickets are $7.00 at the door, with kids 5 and under Free. Doors will open 30 minutes before the show. The Missoula Children’s Theatre residency in Malad is presented locally by Hess Pumice and the MES PTO with support from Malad Elementary and many volunteers. For more information, contact the school office.
The directors welcomed their new batch of student actors to auditions on Monday evening.
INSIDE THE ENTERPRISE FFA Updates........................................Pg. 2 Stake Conference Report....................Pg. 4 Puzzles................................................Pg. 6
Looking Back.......................................Pg. 7 Obituaries...................................... Pg. 9, 11 Sports........................................... Pg. 11-12
One of January’s most reliable features is a “storm of the century” that creates havoc across the country. The weekend saw just such a storm descend across much of the eastern half of the U.S., with temperature and precipitation effects reaching the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. The most serious conditions involve those along a path from east Texas to West Viriginia, where power outages affected more than a million customers. Combined with the heavy snowfall and windy conditions, repair work on infrastructure has been at a standstill in some locations, causing continued strain on powergrids. At least 12 deaths had been reported as of press time, from Tennessee to Kansas, with causes ranging from hypothermia to accidents caused by snowfall. The most frigid temperatures are being seen in the Great Lakes region, with sustained lows of 20 below, and much lower with wind chill added in. Heavy snowfall of over a foot in many places unaccustomed to winter conditions is creating chaos on roads. 33 states are under severe cold warnings and alerts, with ice advisories remaining in effect, despite the bulk of the storm itself having passed through.
MN crackdown in focus
The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, the second protestor in Minnesota to be killed by DHS actions in three weeks, has caused widespread ripple effects throughout both the federal agencies involved and the justice system at large. Greg Bovino, the administration official who has been most visibly associated with the ICE actions in the state, will effectively be sidelined and the “border czar” Tom Homan is taking over command of the scene. A wide range of voices, including increasing numbers of GOP politicians— including Trump administration officials from his first term—have called for an urgent review of the situation in Minnesota, and a potential halt to the crackdown until the situation has de-escalated. A Trump-appointed federal judge issued an order prohibiting DHS from hiding or destroying evidence related to Pretti’s shooting. Videos of the killing have circulated widely online and in reporting, calling into question the claims made by officials.
Wolf Reward increased
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced this week that the reward for information about a wolf killed out-of-season has increased by $30,000. FWP originally announced a $1,000 reward for information on a wolf killed in wolf management unit 313, just north of Yellowstone National Park. The three-wolf quota for the unit was reached by hunters in mid-November, but wildlife officials found a wolf collar cut off an animal and thrown into a tree in late December. Game wardens believe the collared wolf was killed around 10 p.m., on Christmas Day. The Large Carnivore Fund and Wolves of the Rockies together offered the additional $30,000 reward for information to help wildlife officials. Anyone with possible information is encouraged to contact Gardiner game warden Kameron Rauser at (406) 224-5207 or visit tipmont.mt.gov to provide details.