Print Edition

Today the first edition of The Local Review is available.  It's only eight pages, but we'll grow from here.

BYU-Idaho to perform free concerts in Salt Lake City, Rexburg, Pocatello

            Brigham Young University-Idaho choirs and orchestra will perform a new sacred work in Salt Lake City, Rexburg and Pocatello on March 8, 9 and 10. Bring Forth My Zion features the music of K. Newell Dayley, a well-known composer and currently dean of the School of the Arts at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The work is the eleventh in the series of sacred music oratorios commissioned by BYU-Idaho.

POCATELLO - Thursday, March 8, 7:30 p.m., ISU Stephens Performing Arts Center: Admission is free, but tickets are necessary. They can be obtained in person at the ticket office or by calling the Stephens Performing Arts Center Ticket Office at (208) 282-3595.

REXBURG - Friday, March 9, 7:30 p.m., BYU-Idaho Center: Admission is free, but tickets are necessary. They can be obtained from the BYU-Idaho Ticket Office at (208) 496-3170 or (800) 717-4257 (open school days from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) or online at www.byui.edu/tickets. A BYU-Idaho pre-show dinner at 6 p.m. is available for $15 to those interested (deadline to order dinner is March 5).

SALT LAKE CITY - Saturday, March 10, 7:30 p.m., Salt Lake Tabernacle: Admission is free, but tickets are necessary. They can be obtained at the Temple Square Events Ticket Office at www.lds.org/events, (801) 570-0080 or toll free at 1-866-537-8457.

Under the direction of Randall Kempton, the BYU-Idaho Symphony Orchestra will combine with more than 250 voices from the Collegiate Singers, Men’s Choir, and Women’s Choir to present this sacred music service.                                                    

As a composer, Dr. Dayley may be best known for hymns such as “Lord, I Would Follow Thee,” “I Feel My Savior’s Love” and “Faith in Every Footstep,” which are widely used in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1997, he also wrote Immanuel, another sacred work commissioned as part of this series.

            “A message about bringing forth Zion seems timely,” says Dr. Dayley. “It is our opportunity right now to learn to live together in ways that characterize Zion - to be peacemakers, to respect and serve one another, to care for those in need, and stand firmly for those things that truly matter. Within every facet of society throughout the world there is a great need for integrity, love, and greater faith in true principles.”

            He continued, “The purpose of this musical work is to help us realize and remember how to become more like those of old who were of one heart and one mind, and lived together in righteousness and happiness. There were no poor among them. There was no contention. There was no bondage. They were all made free and partakers of heaven's gifts.”

Progress Update

Well, here at The Local Review we have gotten a few new writers.  Our print paper will be going out the 27th.  And our website is nearly ready to open to the public; perhaps even sometime this week we will be switching over from posting our articles on this blog to posting them directly to www.thelocalreview.com.

Thanks for reading and be sure to pick up a copy of our paper in two weeks.

Tabernacle Turns 100

By Allison Jones

               

      Saturday, January 7^th, the Rexburg Tabernacle celebrated its 100^th year with speakers and music.  Participants included Roland Blazer, the grandson of the stonemason in charge of building the Tabernacle; Mark Ricks, the last living Stake President who served in the Tabernacle; and the Upper Valley Women’s Choir.

Rexburg’s Tabernacle is the only one left in the valley.  The others were torn down when larger buildings were built to accommodate the growing population using them.  Our building has been declared an historical site and was purchased by the City of Rexburg and restored after the Teton Dam flood, remnants of which still linger in the far corners of the basement.  The Teton Dam Flood Museum resides in the basement of the Tabernacle and was a requirement of the grant the city received from the federal government to purchase the building.  

All the funds and supplies for the building of the Tabernacle were acquired locally.  The grey stone was quarried from the Rexburg Bench and the lighter stone around the windows was quarried in Archer.  No inferior work was accepted by the head stone mason but it still took less than eight months to complete.  The interior contains many purely decorative touches including details on the benches and the delicate cover over most of the organ’s pipes. 

The Commercial Club wanted it to be built on Main Street, but the land was much cheaper where it is now.  Because there was no other development around it, the grounds of the Tabernacle used to be enclosed in a hedge to block the sight of the weed filled lots around it.  Now it is surrounded by a wrought iron fence to separate it from the parking lots around it.

It was built because there was nowhere at the time for large groups to assemble for Stake Conferences or any other activities.  Before it was temporarily abandoned, all community events were held in the Tabernacle.  Dances were held in the open basement and plays, concerts, graduations, and political events were held in the main floor.  Before the Hart Building was constructed all of Rick’s College’s musical concerts, including the annual performance of Handel’s Messiah, were held at the Tabernacle.

There are still events and concerts hosted at the Tabernacle throughout the year.  The Rexburg Tabernacle Orchestra practices every Wednesday, a Hispanic dance group meets there every Thursday, and it is the home of the Upper Valley Women’s Choir.  The building’s acoustics are excellent and it contains both a pipe organ and a piano.

Because the Tabernacle is an historical site, all restorations must maintain the integrity of the original building.  Funding has been raised to replace the windows with more energy efficient versions but they will still match the style of the original windows.  Originally the windows were all able to open to allow air to circulate in the hot summer months, but they are now stuck closed and may even have been painted shut.  This makes the interior somewhat stuffy in the summer, but the new windows will remedy that.  The stained glass windows behind the stage are also replicas of the originals that were destroyed by vandals when the building was abandoned after Stake meetings moved to the larger venue provided by the Hart Building.

The Teton Flood Museum was installed in 1983 and was recently updated.  It is now more professional looking: the handwritten descriptions of exhibits have been typed up, the fantastical taxidermy has been removed, and a children’s section was added.   The Tabernacle and everything in it continues to improve.

Sassy Flowers Opens for Business

By Allison Jones

Today Sassy Flowers held a ribbon cutting.  The shop is attached to the Atrium at Hemming Village and is also run by Linda Bates and her staff.  They offer bouquets of cut flowers as well as potted plants.  A large fridge keeps both tropical and temperate flowers fresh and they are able to offer “just about anything you can think of.”

While they can do traditional styles as well, Linda describes their usual arrangements as having “a little more contemporary spin.”  She showed a two part arrangement of submerged orchids with a smaller grouping of flowers in another vase set above the larger one.  She also displayed hyacinths with tropical greenery together in a pot.  These would last longer as long as you remember to keep them watered.  They have a beautiful bunch of stargazer flowers on display as well.  All the plants decorating the Atrium are also for sale.  Linda said they just rotate the plants so you can buy any of them that you really like.

As well as opening the flower shop, two events were announced for the Atrium.  The first culinary class offered will be April 21^st and the topic will be gourmet meals for small groups.  Also there is the Sweetheart dinner this month.  Only 50 tickets are available and it will include a served meal with dancing as well.

New Wedding Reception Venue

by Allison Jones

Linda Bates has owned a flower shop, Sassy Flowers, for 8 years and has dealt with many brides in that time plus the weddings of her own children.  One thing she noticed was that there were no nice places to have a wedding reception in Rexburg.  Linda claimed she had been thinking about the need for a reception center for 5 years having seen “very tacky” attempts to convert a cultural hall into a nice reception venue.  So last summer she decided to do something about it and brought in three of her daughters as well.  November saw the beginning of construction for the Atrium and the grand opening was held January 13^th and 14^th.

“Part of it was for my girls,” she admits.  Three of her daughters returned home to help support Linda when she was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. 

The Atrium is a beautiful space to celebrate your wedding.  It is decorated with real plants and has a small flower shop attached.  Large windows let in abundant sunlight and there are chandeliers for after dusk.  They have “the only hand cut crystal chandelier outside of a [LDS] temple” in the region.  There are eight round tables that come with linens and still leave plenty of room for dancing. 

The Atrium also hosts a chef and a photographer, both of them Linda’s daughters.  Their skills were also shown at the open house in the refreshments offered and the photos on display in the slide show.   There is a full kitchen with movable island which, starting in February, will also host cooking classes.  A TV to show slide shows on is next to the kitchen and another will be added to the upper level wall soon. 

Up the grand staircase are the Bride's room and the Groom's room.  The Bride's room is spacious and the Groom's room has an x-box in it; both rooms have their own bathrooms attached.  It was reported that the groomsmen had to be retrieved from the room for the party at their last reception because they were enjoying the x-box so much.

Overall this is a beautiful place to hold a wedding reception and fills a real need in our area.

Edit: The Atrium is located upstairs in the Hemming Village.  The address is 160 West 2nd South, Suite 207.  To see the website go to www.Atrium-Weddings.com or look them up on Facebook.

Idaho Wolf Management

by Allison Jones

Since the reestablishment of wolves in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, there has been a great deal of controversy over how to manage them.  The legal struggle involved the temporary re-listing of wolves on the endangered species list for 2010. 

In order to keep the federal government from re-listing wolves again in the future, Idaho must have at least 15 breeding pairs and 150 individual wolves.  The 2010 Annual Report on Wolf Conservation and Management in Idaho prepared by the Nez Perce tribe wolf program staff  found the population to contain a minimum of 705 wolves in 87 packs with 46 breeding pairs.  Idaho Fish and Game currently has radio collars on 70 wolves and there are more than 1000 individuals in Idaho.  Southern Idaho has no documented packs, but dispersing individuals do pass through the area.

The stated goal for wolf management in Idaho is to “manage wolves to reduce conflicts, ensure a self sustaining wolf population, and maintain state management authority.”

Wolves provide a necessary check on elk and deer populations, but they also come into conflict with humans.  Aspen saplings in Yellowstone were completely destroyed by hungry elk before the reintroduction of wolves, but now saplings are able to survive because the elk are kept in check by their predators. 

The ecosystem is healthier with wolves present.  But some wolves also prey on domestic livestock.  In 2010, 75 cattle and 148 sheep were confirmed wolf kills.  The individuals or packs responsible were killed to protect the livestock.  Most of the wolves killed in 2010 were legally shot by civilians who caught them preying on their herds.

Another conflict with humans arises out of the competition for game animals between hunters and wolves.  By Idaho law IDFG must manage elk, deer, and other wildlife for a surplus that can be harvested by the public.  While there are nonlethal measures possible for controlling our excess population of wolves, none are practical on a large scale.  The preferred method of management is to allow the harvest of excess wildlife by hunting and trapping. 

The number of wolves harvested is closely monitored by IDFG, but based on past experience, both in Idaho and reports from Canada and Alaska, they are not worried about over harvesting the wolf population.  There are limits in the areas necessary for maintaining a contiguous population and reporting each harvest is mandatory within 72 hours.  In order to make sure that the population is able to sustain itself, harvest seasons are planned so that they do not overlap with active denning.  This ensures that pups won't be orphaned and will survive to replace those harvested.

  

More specific information about Idaho's wolf population can be found on the Idaho Fish and Game site.