Orogrande Community Protection Project gets underway

The Orogrande Community Protection Project got a jump start in July when Idaho Department of Corrections' (IDOC) Red Shirt crew joined forces with forest personnel.

The Red Shirts, comprised of ten crew members from the Idaho Corrections Institute in Orofino, put training they had acquired to use cutting, brushing, and piling around the community of Orogrande. Corrections Officer Spencer, said of the group, “They are ready to go to work.”

The IDOC crew members earn $1.25 an hour. Wages earned in projects like the Orogrande project can be used to send money home, pay for child support, and purchase items in the commissary like pop, candy, and Ramen noodles.

Skills learned and utilized help inmates reintegrate back into the community and find jobs. When crew members were asked if they had spent time in the forest and done similar work, a range of experience, from one who had grown up in that line of work to another who was originally from Sacramento and had never done any kind of related work or spent time on forest lands, was shared.

Nez Perce-Clearwater Forest Supervisor, Cheryl Probert, signed the Final Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Orogrande Community Protection Project on January 29, 2016. 

In a Feb. 8 news release, a community member shared, "The Orogrande Protection Project is an example, of what can be accomplished when the local community and USFS work together in a harmonious way…” 

The project is designed to reduce forest fuels near private lands and roads near the Orogrande Community, other private lands, and along Forest Road 233, the Crooked River Road.

The project is also designed to reduce the risk of high intensity wildfires and to improve forest health, vigor and resilience within forest stands.

These actions are consistent with the Idaho County Community Wildlife Protection Plan (CWPP). The project area is located in the Crooked River watershed southwest of Elk City.

Shown here is some clean-up work done during the Orogrande Community Protection Project. The goal of the project was to reduce the risk of wildfires and improve forest health.

Pictured here are members of ICI-O Red Shirts work crew who helped at the Orogrande Community Protection Project.

ICI-O and Special Olympics Idaho team up for a “Mega Event Fundraiser”

Idaho Correctional Institution-Orofino (ICI-O) has a goal of raising $10,000 for Special Olympics Idaho, and to get there, they are holding a Mega Event Fundraiser all day Saturday, July 30, at Ernie’s Steakhouse in Lewiston.

The event kicks off at 9 a.m. and continues until 10 a.m.

“‘ICIO’s Mega Event Fundraiser’ is the largest fund raising event that we have done to date,” said Anthony Riccomini, Even Coordinator. 

“It will include a Jail Sit Challenge, Tip and Cop, Torch Run, inmate artwork auction, free parking lot carnival with carnival games, snow cones, and more! We will be out all day long raising awareness for Special Olympics Idaho,” said Riccomini.

The day begins with the Torch Run at 9 a.m. Athletes from the Special Olympics, along with representatives from the IDOC, local law enforcement, and the general public, will carry the Torch of Hope from North 40 Outfitters down Juniper Dr. to Nez Perce Dr., ending at Ernie’s Steakhouse around 10 a.m.

Law enforcement and Special Olympics athletes will compete to see who can acquire the largest dollar amount of pledges for their run. The top two law enforcement officials and top two athletes that receive the most will win the honor of taking turns running the torch. The general public is encouraged to run as well. 

No pledges are necessary, but a $10 entry fee ($20 with a Torch Run t-shirt) will be collected at the starting line the day of the event between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.

The arrival of the runners at Ernie’s Steakhouse will be the kick-off of the free parking lot carnival. There will be a bounce house, face painting, carnival games, prizes, and more. 

IDOC will have a “jail” set up, and will challenge the public to give up an hour of their freedom to sit in this “jail” for charity. 

At 11 a.m. Ernie’s will open for lunch and there will be law enforcement officers on hand to serve the guests for tips. All tips that are collected by the officers will go to the Special Olympics Idaho. (Officer tips are in addition to the servers tips). 

Inside Ernie’s you can check out the IDOC inmate artwork silent auction and place your bids. There will be a radio live remote, as well as a live band for your enjoyment.

Ernie’s Steakhouse is located at 2305 Nez Perce Dr. in Lewiston. To view details about each activity, print flyers and pledge forms, make donations, and view the artwork up for bid in the silent auction, visit http://www.iciomtf.org/megaevent.html.

Eric MacEachern honored for service to ICA

Eric MacEachern is pictured with ICI-O Warden Terema Carlin, who nominated him for the Feldner Award.

The Idaho Correctional Association (ICA) has given its highest honor, the Feldner Award, to Eric MacEachern of Orofino, a former deputy warden at Idaho Correctional Institution-Orofino (ICI-O) who sought to protect the people of Idaho by giving offenders opportunities to change.

Eric “Mac” MacEachern began working for the Idaho Department of Correction as a correctional officer in January of 1985. He served in a variety of positions at ICI-O, including as a member of the department’s Correctional Emergency Response Team, before retiring as the institution’s deputy warden of programming in April.

“Mac was always loyal to IDOC and believed the job of any and all IDOC staff is to provide opportunity for change for the offenders and for each other,” says ICI-O Warden Terema Carlin during the award presentation on December 8 in the Statehouse rotunda. “Every day, Mac provided opportunities for the staff and the offenders to excel.”

MacEachern witnessed IDOC undergo dramatic change during the course of this 26-year career. In 1985, Idaho’s total prison population was 1,339. Today it is more than 7,600. 

Still, MacEachern says the department’s mission remains the same – to protect society while keeping IDOC staff and offenders safe. But he says his view on how to fulfill that mission has evolved.

 “It took me a long time to realize that just running the prison really wasn’t protecting society,” MacEachern says. “It was that kind of heart-to-heart programming and teaching and role modeling that the correctional officers and food staff do every day, because that that was what was going to protect society when people were released.”

The Idaho Correctional Association represents all correctional professionals in Idaho. The association’s Feldner Award for Lifetime Achievement is considered to be the Idaho criminal justice community’s highest honor.  The award honors a criminal justice professional who has shown excellence, dedication, loyalty, and leadership while in service to the citizens of Idaho. The award was created in memory of New Plymouth Police Officer Ronald Feldner who was shot and killed in 1994 while investigating a report of a stolen car.