The Times-News from Twin Falls, Idaho • 19

TF Monday, March 29, 1999 Tlmefrew, Twin FaiH, Idaho C-3 Magic ValleyAVest SLOG cinches its belt tighter Titanic boarding pass goes up for auction some job elimination, in order to yield $6 million in savings." That's supposed to happen in six months, meaning the committee has to save $1 million per month. The entire senior staff is scrutinizing open positions, determining if the jobs can be delayed or wiped out entirely. "Everybody's been very helpful and supportive, but with a lot of pain," Eynon said. "It means just that much more work for those who are already here." Right now 188 people work for SLOC, about 20 fewer than the committee expected to have. Under Romney's schedule, the staff will be 50 positions below until that money is assured, Romney has SALT LAKE 2002 Planned for lean limes, C5cP especially since the Olympic bribery scandal has put would-be sponsors in a wait-and-see posture.

Romney hoped to save $6 million from a so-called freeze. "This freeze does not mean we won't hire anybody for six months," said Ed Eynon, senior vice president for human resources. "It does mean we want to delay some hires, or perhaps do White Star Line poster advertising the ship's return voyage from New York brought $9,300. An original Titanic luncheon menu, pasted to the back of an oil painting of the ship, recently was appraised at $75,000 to $100,000. Inspection cards certified that third-class passengers had been checked for infectious diseases such as syphilis and tuberculosis.

"Those cards are incredibly rare," said Paul Louden-Brown, vice president of the Titanic Historical Society in Heme Bay, England. "To an immigrant, that was like an American Express gold card. Without it, they'd be sent right back." In Sjoblom's case, Gorsuch said, the card was also her ticket because she and three male friends were put aboard the Titanic at the last minute. They had been bumped from the Adriatic, another vessel owned and operated by the White Star Line, because of a coal strike. TACOMA, Wash.

(AP) A boarding pass for the Titanic is listed as the top item at an auction scheduled on the 87th anniversary of the start of the luxury liner's ill-fated voyage. The document, possibly the only complete one of its kind for the Titanic, is an immigrant inspection card that was issued to Anna Sofia Sjoblom of Finland, who pinned it to the inside of her jacket When the ship hit an iceberg and sank, the young woman survived. She later, settled in Tacoma with her uncle, the jacket and inspection card intact. The document, sold about six months ago by a man identified only as the widower of Sjoblom's grandniece, goes on the auction block April 10 at Sanford Son Antiques. Organizers expect it to bring at least $5,000.

A postcard from the Titanic, never mailed by the teenager who wrote it, was sold for $24,150 in a London auction last year. A handed them sod, they built houses Web site, makes its debut later this month. March, by the way, is celebrated nationally as Women's History Month. The Web site www.wowmu-seum.org will offer exhibits together by the network of roots that ran through them. The roofs were typically made of rough timber, covered with more sod.

Sometimes, the insides were plastered. But just as often, the residents simply hung up fabric or newspaper to cover the walls. Unwanted creatures were a on women expe- riences on the frontier. This 'The dirt and the bugs and sod houses1, will the snakes and the centipedes Wildlife officials catch up with roaming wolf, return it to Idaho were built right into the 'wall. present life as seen through the eyes of Oblinger, whose correspondence with family members about life on the prairie is preserved in the archives of the Nebraska State constant problem to the sod- Sarah A.

Leavitt, se dweller. "The dirt and museum public program the bugs and the manager, on sod houses centipedes were will delay jt'hirings to cut costs SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Tough restrictions on new hires at the Salt Lake Organizing Committee are aimed at cutting costs, but they are hitting SLOC managers where it hurts. Earlier this month, SLOC President Mitt Romney announced cost-cutting measures aimed at slashing $17 million 1 from the organization's $1.4 billion budget SLOC still awaits $288 million "in sponsorship contracts, and When life BOULDER, Colo. (AP) If Mattie Oblinger ever looked jvith dismay at her 14-by-16-foot sod house stuck in the middle of Nebraska prairie, she never let on. "I expect you think we live miserable because we are in a sod house, but I tell you in solid "earnest I never enjoyed my self better," she wrote her brother and sister in Indiana on June 16, 1873.

"It is because we are on our own and the thoughts of nioveing next spring does not bother me and every lick we strike is for ourselves and not half for some one else. I tell you this is quite a consolation to us who have been renters so long. Tjiere are no renters here." t)blinger and her husband, UJriah, were among the thousands of homesteaders who moved west in the late 1800s and set up housekeeping with the only natural resource the Great Plains had in abundance: sod. "There was nothing else to build houses with just grass and sky," says Sarah A. Leavitt, Jianager of public programs for of the West Museum in JThe museum will celebrate the tenacity and resilience of the women who raised their families in these "soddies" when its "Museum Without Walls," an online interactive Magic Continued from Cl for 14 years in it's waning days during the 1960s.

They said most of their guests were older people who would come to soothe their aches and pains. "An awful lot of people would swear by it," John Kuest said. Link, one of the former owners and a longtime Hansen resident, has been going to Magic since he was a child. He said when he there as a child it was owned by George and Blanch I Llllibridge. Link said the 3 Lillibridges were very spiritual and allowed no alcohol.

They i meant it as a health spa. "They made that thing blos-J som," Link said. He said during the 1930s a lot of 3 people didn't have jpbs but they man- 1 aged to find 3 enough money to 3 dome to Magic for few days in the summer. Shoshone Creek meanders through Magic and Link 2 said fishing was You will not herewith the face" executive Magic Valley projections at the end of the six-month moratorium, Eynon said. That is substantial for an organization expected to max out at 800 people within the next three years.

Shelley Thomas, senior vice president for communications and public affairs, said last week that she has delayed hiring a media coordinator and staff photographer. Thomas' staff was already strapped because of the demands resulting from the bribery scandaL "We were already lean, but now each hire will be considered on a case-by-case basis as to what deadlines well miss without that person," she said. "There are stories of the roof caving in when it rained or sometimes it would rain inside house because of the humidity." But sod houses were not without their advantages. They are said to have been warm in winter and cool in summer, Leavitt says. And, certainly, Oblinger was quite fond of hers.

"Some come here and put up temporary frame houses," she wrote her family. "(They) thought they could not live in a sod house. This fall, they are going to build sod houses so they can live comfortable this winter. A temporary frame house is a poor thing. A house that is not plastered the wind and dust goes right through and they are very cold.

A sod house can be built so they are real nice and comfortable." Oblinger looked forward to the day when she and Uriah would move into one of the "comfortable" sod houses one with plastered walls and something better than a dirt floor. Once they had the new house built, they intended to turn their old soddy into a stable. Unfortunately, Oblinger never lived to see that day. She lived in her little soddy with the dirt floors for seven years, then died in childbirth. though they couldn't salvage the old buildings, the new buildings will still be around 100 years from now.

Hutchings said he's proud of the job they're doing for the youth. He said the Filer School District has provided a teacher and there are programs in place to help young people with drug and alcohol problems. There is also a computer lab with a variety of hardware and software. Hutchings said the staff is dedicated to helping the young residents develop so they can make it in society when they leave. "You will not see counselors here with the 'get in your face' style," Hutchings said.

No, Magic is not what it used to be. Yes, it is sad that an era has passed and some old buildings are gone, but maybe 50 years from now a grandfather can take his grandson to Magic and say, "This is where I got my break in life. Without this place, I wouldn't be where I am today." Maybe what's new today will be someone else's magic memory. Times-News correspondent Sam Feltman can be reached in Jackpot at 755-2351. 1997 F150 fit I i PRAIRIE CITY, Ore.

(AP) After eluding wildlife officials for more than a month, a lone gray wolf that wandered into Oregon was captured and flown back to Idaho. "It was a safe and successful capture," said Roy Heberger, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's wolf reintro-duction program in Idaho. "They captured her with a net gun in an area of thin timber and small meadows about 1:30 and she is doing fine." The female wolf, know as B-45, was captured Friday in the headwaters of Huckleberry Creek, a tributary of the Middle Fork of the John Day River east of Highway 395. "She's a healthy young wolf.

She's gained a noticeable amount of weight since we collared her last year," Heberger said. "She was very calm after capture." Cook Continued from Cl sured ingredients for pizza sauce to dip bread sticks in. "I won't have to be a mama's said. Laboring with co-workers has taught Michael Melton teamwork. "No one person can do it alL" he said.

When the group prepared and served a meal for 100 people for a basketball banquet recently, it prepared large quantities. The class broke into groups, and each made a course for the meal. Thirteen students volunteered to serve at the banquet, Edgar said. "Everyone worked so hard. The payoff was to see the results," she said.

"Sometimes you may do more than your share. There are times everyone does more than their share," Sabrina Park said. "That's how it is in life." Times-News staff writer Lorraine Cavener can be reached in Barley at 677-4042. Historical Society. "One of the things we want for the Web site is to look at different spaces women have lived in the West and show how they adapted them to their needs," Leavitt says.

"We began with sod houses, which are unique to the plains." Visitors to the Web site can view the interior and exterior of a sod house and click on pets, household decorations, farm animals, people and other elements in and around the house to learn more. Soddies were built of stacked layers of cut turf. These "bricks" of sod were held bootlegging and moonshining were the popular things to do, Magic was a haven that was for the most part free from alcohol. It was a place to heal the body and the spirit. Brannen and his wife Vicki were married at Magic in 1980.

"It truly was a wonderful magical experience to live there and to leave was probably the hardest thing I did," Brannen said. "It saddens me that it no longer has that peaceful quality." Magic Hot Springs today Today Magic Hot Springs is closed to the public. Once it was a health resort where visitors could enjoy the hot water and a massage. Popular from the 1920s through the 1960s, it has gone through many different Officials say the wolf will be released as quickly as possible near the Continental Divide, inside the experimental population area which is home to 113 other gray wolves. She is likely to have better luck finding a mate there than she did in Oregon, where no other wolves have roamed since 1967.

The wolfs presence in Oregon heightened the long-running tension between ranchers who want to protect their livelihood and biologists and environmental groups intent on restoring the gray wolf to its historical range. The wolf, one of several missing for four months from a pack known to kill domestic livestock, reportedly crossed into Oregon on Feb. 11. Biologists using radio telemetry to monitor the wolf's movements were hampered by bad weather and rough terrain. Times-News Marketplace MONDAY, MARCH 29 Minidoka Community Auction -Now Taking Consignments Advertisement: March 25th MASTERS AUCTION SERVICE 208-431-7355 MONDAY, MARCH 29" 10:00 am Panfry Restaurant Auction -Restaurant Equipment Pocatello PRIME TIME AUCTIONS 208-232-4912 TUESDAY, MARCH 30 10:00 am Conrad Ranches Farm Machinery Murtaugh Advertisement: Ag Weekly March 20" Times-News March 28" MUSSER BROS.

AUCTIONEERS www.mbauction.com TUESDAY, MARCH 30 am Walt Donna Henry Farm Machinery -Pipe Boat Gooding Advertisement: March 28" MASTERS AUCTION SERVICE www.mastersauction.com TUESDAY, MARCH 30 -5 pm Household Tools Antiques Consignments Welcome Jerome KLAAS AUCTION BARN 208-324-5521 FRIDAY, APRIL 2" 1999 Wayne Crown Estate Farm Machinery -Masonry Tools Filer Advertisement: March 31" MASTERS AUCTION SERVICE www.mastersauction.com SATURDAY, APRIL 3" 1999 Cox Brothers Shop Equipment -Pickup Kimberly Advertisement: April 1" MASTERS AUCTION SERVICE www.mastersauction.co WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7n-6 pm ANTIQUES and COLLECTIBLES SALE Taking Consignments Daily Twin Falls HUNT (MOTHERS AUUIIUN3 208-734-2548 SATURDAY, APRIL 10 Donald Sandy and Neighbors Tractors Bale wagon Misc. harm tquip. Consignments Welcome! Shoshone Advertisement: April 8 SILVER GAVEL AUCTION SERVICE 208-837-4589 SATURDAY, APRIL 10 -11 Am Bernie Craig Small Tractors Industrial Equipment Farm Machinery Twin Falls Advertisement: April 8" JMA AUCTIONEERS jmaauctnmagiclink.com built right into the wall," Leavitt says. Oblinger was particularly unhappy about the snakes. "There is more rattlesnakes here than there are garter snakes in Indiana," she wrote.

"Uriah has killed two on our place. There are not so (plentiful) right in our neighborhood as they are three miles east of here near a prairie dog town. Some men over there have killed as high as 18 and 20." Still, she noted, "hardly anyone gets bit." Few sod houses were built to withstand the ravages of time, though some remain to this day. "The sturdiness varied, depending on the house," Leavitt says. When the present owners took possession, so many of the buildings had fallen into ruin and' were so out of compliance with any kind of building code there was nothing left but to tear them down.

It is now Magic Valley Hot Springs Youth Camp. All the buildings of yesteryear are gone. Mike Hutchings, executive director of MHSYC, said when he arrived, the foundations were rotted away and the electrical wiring was outdated. There was no septic system and the health department would not allow dumping waste into Shoshone Creek. The place was infested with mice and snakes.

"It just had to go," Hutchings said. So Hutchings and others went to work and today, Magic has been transformed. Today, MHSYC houses 19 juveniles and the young people have done a lot of the work themselves. They've built a lodge and installed two electrical generators, a septic system and a water system. They will soon pour the concrete for a recreation building and plan to build more cabins to accommodate staff and visiting family members.

Hutchings said they're trying to make everything look rustic. All the buildings will have log siding, which Hutchings and the youth will install. He said even CarpentryConcrtj any phase at an honest, non-changing bid with 27 straight years construction. I can give you an insured quality product see counselors "get in your owners through -MikeHutchings, gWo'l director of e.in pen briefly in the Hot Spnngs 1980s, it has i been closed to Youth Camp the public for more than 30 Pat Parks Pick of the Week great with "tremendous rain-bow trout." Kuest said he also strongly dis-J couraged alcohol because "hot I water and liquor just don't mix." In an area and an era where I Bleyb urn Continued from Cl Nile Bohon said. 'He said renovating the existing building would cost about the Jsme as constructing a new facility.

3 Vlt's in bad condition," Bohon The council decided it was -more feasible to construct a new 'building, he said. In a 3-1 vote last August, the approved $346,000 to build the new City Hall, Bohon said. 'We've been talking about this 'iqr quite sometime," said council jnember Flossie Kay. "We have a 5dt of decisions to make." Council member Tom Vaughn siid building a new City Hall is a nvfrong move. "There are better things to Spend money on," he said.

"We -need to establish a downtown." years. Several of the cabins were destroyed by flood waters years ago, and the hotel and many other cabins were destroyed by fire in the 1970s. Vaughn said the City of Heyburn has been trying to build a new City Hall since before he was in office. He said he disagrees with people who believe a new City Hall will bring new businesses to Heyburn. He said the old building needs to be updated to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act which is what started the idea of building a new City Hall.

He said it would cost $220,000 to remodel the present building and about $255,000 to construct a new building. He said funds for the building are already in the budget and no new taxes will be raised to help pay for the building. Times-News staff writer Damian D. Rodriguez can be reached in Burley at 6774042. Stepside, 4x4, V-8, Auto Trans, Power windows, power Locks, Cruise, C-D Player, Alloy Wheels, Stainless Steel Nerf Bars, Bed Liner, Sold New in the Magic Valley, STKQ75S No DOC Fee, Priced at Only ItjtoO1 LARIAT i Please call 734-9040 1-T COPY!.