Meet the new boss; same as the old boss

Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group announced Thursday it had closed on its previously announced acquisition of Fisher Communications, but KIDK and KXPI, the Idaho Falls-Pocatello stations, apparently won't be part of the $373.3 million sale.

Shortly before the deal, it was announced that KIDK (a CBS/Fox affiliate) and KXPI (a Fox affiliate) were to be sold to VistaWest Media, LLC, a company based in St. Joseph, Mo. The sale is pending, but it means that if the Federal Communications Commission approves the stations will most likely remain operated by News Press & Gazette Co., also based in St. Joseph.

NPG was the company that bought KIFI Local News 8 from the Post Company in 2005. In December 2010, Fisher Communications announced it had entered into a shared services arrangement with NPG, which moved KIDK's operations out of its longtime home on 17th Street and into KIFI's shop on North Yellowstone and also brought about the layoff of more than two-dozen KIDK staffers. That arrangement was finalized Jan. 1, 2011.

Checking in from the East Coast

Dunkin' Donuts in the background. Concord Pike was the 17th Street of Brandywine Hundred when I was growing up in the '60s and '70s. Now it's a superhighway. Also in the background is the Charcoal Pit, a place that dates back to the '50s and was the place to come after football games, dances, movies, etc. Real Archie and Jughead stuff, I know, but those were the days.

Heaven knows I hate to see visits to this blog slow down because of something as trivial as a trip to see my mother, but faithful readers deserve to know I am writing this from muggy Wilmington, Delaware, the city of my youth.

I found this at ShopRite, grocery shopping with my mom. It felt like a letter from home.

I left Idaho Falls Sunday morning at 2:45 a.m. aboard the Salt Lake Express, arriving at SLC International shortly before 7. My first flight, on Frontier Air, was to Denver, leaving at 10:17 a.m. My flight from Denver to Wilmington was at 3:50 p.m., which meant I had a lot of time to kill.

Frontier flies big Airbus jets from Denver to Wilmington three days a week. I sat next to a woman from Bala Cynwd, Pa., who said she was flying in and out of Wilmington because of a.) the cheap fare and b.) that ease of getting in and out of the New Castle County Airport.

This airport, people is, right out of the '60s. No jetways, no baggage carousels, no waiting area to speak of, just a lobby. The last time I'd set foot in it was 1980, when a friend and I went to the lounge to hear saxophone great Dexter Gordon play with a trio. Being quite drunk, Dexter was not "on his game" that night. I don't doubt he was wondering how he had come to the sad state of affairs he was in (this was before Clint Eastwood resurrected his career by involving him in the Charlie Parker biopic "Bird").

Anyway, I don't want any of you regulars to stop coming to BizMojo, so I will be posting notes and letters in the next nine or ten days. If you have any pictures or news to contribute, fire them to me at bizmojoidaho@gmail.com. It has long been my goal to involve readers more in the content of this program, and I will be checking every day.

And if you haven't already, join BizMojoIdaho on Instagram. I will be posting photos of Trader Joe's and Dunkin' Donuts to torment you.

Casapulla's, a sub shop and deli. I would favor bringing a place like this to Idaho Falls for economic development reasons.

BizMojo Idaho branches out into Instagram

Want your BizMojo Idaho in your Instagram feed? We're ready to give you what you expect from us!

In my relentless quest to embrace all social media -- I eventually hope to learn about 20 percent of what anyone in their 20s probably knows already -- I have turned to Instagram (but I have to admit I've kind of cooled on Twitter).

There are days when all it seems like I'm doing is riding around shooting pictures of construction sites, and I'm not complaining. At a certain point, however, it dawned on me that Instagram might be the natural way to go. You can basically shoot anything that catches your eye -- a squirrel on the lawn, a cat in the windowsill -- and post it to the world as "wild art." Not sure I'm going to get that carried away, but for bread-and-butter construction photos I thought it looked like a natural.

Up top I've posted two shots from yesterday. I invite you to subscribe to BizMojoIdaho on Instagram if this is the kind of thing that turns you on. I am also learning about hashtags. Considering the random way my mind works with free association, I think it could be fun.

Any comments or suggestions I would greatly appreciate. I'm the first to admit I am fumbling my way toward understanding social media. This morning I heard about Vine clips going viral. I want to try that soon, too.

E cigarette store, The Vapor Door, opens on West Broadway

Norm Christensen, owner of The Vapor Door

Norm Christensen has never smoked a day in his life, but three sisters who smoked led him to discover e cigarettes -- tubes that deliver water vapor and nicotine but not all the tar and carcinogens of a Marlboro or Winston.

After a year of looking into it, and seeing his sisters switch, Christensen decided there would be a market for a store selling e cigarettes and e juice. In late July, he opened the Vapor Door at 1733 West Broadway.

"Here in Idaho Falls it's not that big yet," he said. But in three weeks, he has seen people who smoked for 45 years no longer smoking.

In addition to what they sell, the Vapor Room offers free wi-fi, games and a Sunday ping-pong tournament.

For Christensen, it is a switch from the construction he was doing for years. "I wanted to do something that was fun," he said.

Here's the link to the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheVaporDoor

And for an in-depth look into e cigarettes, here's a link from Thursday's New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/fashion/smoking-is-back-without-the-stigma.html?hp&_r=0

Idaho's WinCo Foods gets write-up in Time

The self-checkout line at WinCo in Idaho Falls

It's not really a David vs. Goliath battle. Idaho's WinCo Foods is simply doing what it has done since it became employee owned in 1985 and changed its name from Waremart  in 1999.

But it seems that after a writeup in the Idaho Statesman, Time magazine is paying attention. Here's the link to the piece in which the no-frills chain is called "Wal-Mart's worst nightmare": http://business.time.com/2013/08/07/meet-the-low-key-low-cost-grocery-chain-being-called-wal-marts-worst-nightmare/.

You can read it yourself, but here's the paragraph that caught my attention: In sharp contrast to Wal-Mart, which regularly comes under fire for practices like understaffing stores to keep costs down and hiring tons as a means to avoid paying full-time worker benefits, WinCo has a reputation for doing right by employees. It provides health benefits to all staffers who work at least 24 hours per week. The company also has a pension, with employees getting an amount equal to 20 percent of their annual salary put in a plan that’s paid for by WinCo; a company spokesperson told the Idaho Statesman that more than 400 non-executive workers (cashiers, produce clerks, and such) currently have pensions worth over $1 million apiece. 

 

Volunteers seek funds to get Moon Pavilion built in Pedersen Sportsmans Park by 2014

The Dragon's Path and deck in the Friendship Garden at Pedersen Sportsmans Park, south of the Broadway Bridge. All this work has been done by volunteers since 2011. The deck is built over the decrepit concrete fish runs that date back to 1930s. (Photo by Paul Menser)

As a master gardener, Judy Seydel has never had a problem with jobs starting small and getting bigger, but she admits she wasn't prepared for how much work would be involved in building a pagoda at Pedersen Sportsmans Park.

Located on an island just south of the Broadway bridge, the park has been home to one of the Japanese lanterns donated by Tokai-Mura, Japan, which has been Idaho Falls' sister city since 1981.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the Sister-Cities relationship, Clarke Kido, a member of the steering committee, suggested it would be nice to build a friendship garden around the lantern. The city of Idaho Falls gave its permission, with the caveats that work could only be done north of the Taylor Toll Bridge replica and no public money would be spent.

Gloria Miller-Allen's painting of what the Moon Pavilion will look like.

Through donations, both cash and in-kind, and volunteer work (about 250 people were involved, many of them Idaho Falls Civitans), they removed old plants and brush removed and got a deck built in 2012.

As for the city, "Once they saw what we were doing they got all excited about it," Seydel said.

In 2012, the volunteers were allowed into the south end of the island, clearing out volunteer day lilies, landscaping a "dragon path" across the settling pond, planting Japanese irises and cattails. Volunteers Ed Zaladonis and his brother Mike Zaladonis suggested the crowning touch would be a "Moon Pavilion" open-air pagoda, built in time for the July 2014 visit of the Sister Cities delegation from Tokai-Mura.

They discovered challenges right away. First of all, it had to be earthquake proof, but with no walls and nearly 8,000 pounds of tile on the roof. While the original plan was to drill into the bedrock and anchor six 12-inch posts, they discovered the bedrock was too uneven. Then they found the culvert underneath the site was compromised by rust and needed to be replaced.

They have since designed larger footings that do not need to tie into bedrock. The design and structural calculations were approved in May by the City of Idaho Falls Building Department.

Seydel estimates they have collected $56,000 in donations and grants, from the CHC Foundation, Idaho Cities Foundation and Japanese American Citizens League. Corporate support has come from Wal-Mart, Kohl's, CAL Ranch stores and other sources.

The professional team that has helped with the project includes:

• Mark Andrus, G&S Engineering (structural design and certification)
• Mike Bowcutt, DAFAB Construction (construction adviser/liaison)
• Steve Dick, BMC Building Materials (scaffolding materials)
• Kurt Karst, Alderson Karst & Mitro Architects (architectural review)
• Mark Andrew, Alpine Timber (timber frame adviser)

Still, to get the job done she estimated they need another $5,000.

"This town really needs to know what has been going on down there for three years now," said Gloria Miller-Allen, a well-known Idaho Falls painter. "Many people do know it is there, but few know who is doing it, and fewer still know they are trying to build a pavilion. They are sand-blasting bricks with the names of contributors sometime soon. It sure would be nice to include a few more names on those bricks."

"I like how they're redoing it," said Cheri Okelberry of Idaho Falls, who was in Pedersen Sportsmans Park today taking pictures of her friends Daniel and Katie Paulson at the Japanese lantern statue. "It's really beautiful. I remember when there really wasn't much." (Photo by Paul Menser)

"One thing leads to another then leads to another," said Seydel. "Someone will say, 'The deck looks too bare.' Or the meadow stream, it would look cool if there was a cement bridge."

One thing there is no shortage of is water, a necessity for any Japanese garden but a problem at Pedersen Sportsman's Park because of the crumbling fish runs that date back to the 1930s, when the local Sportsmans Association founded by Peder Pedersen hatched fingerlings there.

"Some of them are leaking into the shady, grassy areas," Seydel said.

The island's importance to the city is not lost on Seydel and her fellow volunteers. In 1865, it was where the toll bridge and stage stop were built. Eagle Rock grew from there, becoming Idaho Falls in 1891.

"It's a big part of the city's history," Seydel said. "When we started this we had no idea."

Anyone interested in contributing can contact Seydel at (208) 529-3144 or by e-mail at jcsjas@yahoo.com, or Ed Zaladonis at (208) 243-1920.

Drag boat drivers roar in for Saturday's Duck Race

Steve Anderson putting his drag boat through the paces on the Snake River late Monday afternoon. That's me in the passenger seat, not hanging on for dear life but close. (Photo by Melissa Bristol)

With a 620-horsepower Chevy V8 engine roaring at 160 decibels two feet behind you and the tachometer reading 6,800 rpm, it's hard to be anywhere but in the moment in a drag-racing speedboat.
Nevertheless, there came a moment of calm when I noticed Keefer's Island from an angle I'd never seen before. Neat! Then it was over, gone in the wake.

Yes, Monday was demonstration day for reporters interested in the speedboats coming to the Idaho Falls Rotary's Great Snake River Greenbelt Duck Race, which takes place Saturday. Steve Anderson was on hand with his machine, and rides were made available to those brave enough to take one.

Since 1991, this event has been raising money to help develop the Greenbelt along the river. In its first 12 years, the race raised over $750,000, which has been led to more than $2 million being spent on Greenbelt development -- trail paving the replica of the Taylor Toll Bridge on the spot where Idaho Falls was founded in 1865.

The speedboats, which can reach speeds of over 100 miles per hour, were introduced 12 years ago to make the day more exciting and to raise more money.

"Most of the ducks are sold the day of the race, and people were coming at 4 o'clock," said Mark Baronian, who oversees the boat racing. "They figured if they put on something earlier they might sell more ducks." As a result, sales jumped 25 percent, from $60,000 to $80,000.

For the dragboat race, the field is split evenly between amateurs and pros. The course is 3/16-mile long, a compromise between the amateurs, who wanted 1/4-mile and the pros who wanted 1/8-mile. All races will be straightaway, Baronian said.

A full schedule of Duck Race events can be found here: http://www.duckrace.com/Default.aspx?alias=www.duckrace.com/idahofalls.