10 CapitalPress.com
January 8, 2016
Idaho
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Former spud shed official pleads guilty to embezzling $1.7M
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
BLACKFOOT, Idaho — A
former financial controller of
a southeast Idaho fresh pota-
to packing plant has pleaded
guilty to embezzling $1.7 mil-
lion from the business and its
affiliate.
In an agreement reached
Dec. 23 with Bingham County
prosecutors, Russell C. Leon-
ardson pleaded guilty to two
counts of grand theft for em-
bezzling from Aberdeen-based
Idaho Select Inc. and Select
Express LLC, an affiliated ag-
ricultural transportation com-
pany.
In exchange for his plea,
prosecutors dropped 70 counts
of forgery against Leonard-
son for allegedly converting
checks from his name to an-
other name to hide embezzled
funds.
Leonardson agreed to pay
the companies $1.7 million in
restitution and faces up to 14
years in prison on each grand
theft count, according to Bing-
ham County Prosecutor Cleve
Colson.
Colson said prosecutors
have agreed to suggest that
the judge accept the sentenc-
ing recommendations of a
pre-sentence investigation by
the Idaho Department of Cor-
rection, which is still pending
and will factor in details such
as Leonardson’s criminal his-
tory and family background.
The judge won’t be bound by
the recommendations. Leon-
ardson is scheduled to be sen-
tenced at 1:30 p.m. on Feb.
18.
“Both counts encompass
the entirety of the thefts — the
entirety of what we know was
taken from Select Express and
Idaho Select,” Colson said.
A pending civil suit, filed
by Select Express and Ida-
ho Select, provides insight
into the criminal case against
Leonardson. According to the
civil filing, Leonardson was
hired in 1997 to perform finan-
cial management functions for
Idaho Select and also served
as the first manager of Se-
lect Express, formed in 1998.
Leonardson’s job description
tasked him with “establishing
internal controls to protect
Idaho Select from financial
predators and deficiencies.”
Idaho Select’s president,
Scott Poulson, said in his
affidavit that he frequently
expressed concerns to Leon-
ardson that his financial state-
ments weren’t thorough or
timely, and that Leonardson
became angry when he and
Idaho Select board members
suggested hiring a full-time
accountant. Leonardson re-
signed, and Poulson hired
Cooper Norman fraud investi-
gators, who confirmed Leon-
ardson had used Select Ex-
press credit cards and checks
to pay off personal debt and
make unauthorized purchas-
es for himself and others,
according to the civil filing.
Restitution will cover thefts
from January 2007 through
July 2014.
According to the civil
case, Cooper Norman ob-
tained evidence from an au-
diting program that tracks
missing checks and maintains
a time-stamped history of any
changes to financial records,
in a format that can’t be al-
tered by users.
Irrigators use canal water to recharge aquifers
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
ABERDEEN, Idaho —
For decades, holding shares in
the Aberdeen-Springfield Ca-
nal Co. has essentially been
a contingency plan for Gay-
len Van Orden, who relies on
wells for a steadier source of
water.
However, that surface wa-
ter may finally come in handy
for the Eastern Idaho farmer
and other irrigators in the re-
gion who have switched to
wells but still held onto their
canal shares.
Aberdeen-Springfield Ca-
nal Co. recently announced
a plan authorizing share-
holders to inject their unused
storage water into the aquifer
— through a process known
as recharge — to offset man-
datory reductions they’d oth-
erwise be expected to make
from their well irrigation in
the coming season.
Under the terms of a set-
tlement reached last summer
resolving the Surface Water
Coalition’s water call against
junior well users through-
out the Eastern Snake Plain
Aquifer, groundwater users
will have to cut consumption
by an average of 240,000
acre-feet annually, or about
11 percent per user.
Van Orden said many
members dug their own sup-
plemental wells in lieu of us-
ing surface water — and some
have removed their lateral
canals — as they switched
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Volunteers prepare french fries in Pocatello’s Pond Student Union
Ballroom during a prior Idaho Potato Conference. Free fries are a
tradition at the event, hosted at Idaho State University but spon-
sored by University of Idaho.
Courtesy of Aberdeen-Springfield Canal Co.
This structure, called the Hilton Spillway, is utilized by Aberdeen-Springfield Canal Co. for conducting
managed aquifer recharge. The company intends to allow members to recharge some of their storage
water to help them meet a required reduction in well-water use this year, rather than curbing their
groundwater pumping.
Idaho Potato Conference aims
to boost leader talk attendance
By JOHN O’CONNELL
from flood irrigation to sprin-
klers, which require a stable
water source and can’t make
do with delivery reductions
during times of peak demand.
“A lot of people with
shares in the canal system
are paying even though there
aren’t any canals around their
fields,” Van Orden said, add-
ing growers on the farthest
extremities of the canal were
especially apt to switch to
wells.
Since the settlement was
approved, Aberdeen-Spring-
field General Manager Steve
Howser has already received
requests from growers to re-
turn about 1,500 well-irrigated
acres to surface water, seeking
to meet their required ground-
water reduction. Howser fears
it would jeopardize the canal
company’s ability to deliver
a stable supply if many more
growers were to follow suit,
and he hopes shareholders
will take advantage of the
recharge plan to maintain the
status quo.
Howser said about 17,000
acres on his system are eligi-
ble for the recharge program.
He said the company would
have to recharge just under
5,000 acre-feet to offset the
required groundwater reduc-
tion if the full eligible acreage
were enrolled.
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Shareholders will have
the opportunity to pool any
remaining water to be re-
charged to help groundwater
districts meet their ground-
water recovery goals. Pay-
ments from the groundwater
districts will be returned to
the shareholders. Howser
said his company also plans
to line a 1.5-mile stretch of
the main canal through More-
land to conserve an addition-
al 75 cubic feet per second of
storage water.
Lynn Tominaga, execu-
tive director of Idaho Ground
Water Appropriators Inc., said
his groundwater districts have
approached other canal com-
panies, including Idaho Irri-
gation District and New Swe-
den Canal Co., both based in
Idaho Falls, suggesting they
consider similar recharge op-
tions for their members. Canal
companies are still mulling
the possibility, he said.
Mat Weaver, deputy direc-
tor of the Idaho Department of
Water Resources, cautioned
water users to remember that
“relying on recharge is prob-
lematic because it’s water
supply-driven.” He also not-
ed that recharge water may
not remain in the system long
enough to completely com-
pensate for water pumped
from wells.
2-4/#17
Capital Press
POCATELLO, Idaho —
Organizers of the 48th Annu-
al Idaho Potato Conference,
which will be hosted here Jan.
20-21, anticipate far fewer
empty seats in the Pond Stu-
dent Union auditorium when
industry leaders speak at their
upcoming event.
Top spud officials come
to the Idaho State Universi-
ty campus from Washington,
D.C., Denver and Eagle, Idaho,
for the opportunity to update
growers, shippers and others
involved in potato production
about their organizations’ ef-
forts.
Too often during past con-
ferences, however, they’ve
delivered their comments to
sparse crowds, said UI Ex-
tension weed scientist Pam
Hutchinson, who is co-chairing
the event.
New during the upcoming
conference, Hutchinson ex-
plained leaders from the National
Potato Council, the U.S. Pota-
to Board and the Idaho Potato
Commission will present during
a special “featured speaker” time
slot, from 9 a.m. until noon on
Jan. 20, with a half hour break.
Hutchinson said the speakers
have thus far spoken during the
8 a.m. time slot, when many at-
tendees were still arriving.
During previous years, she
said, other presentations have
been scheduled at the same
time, some offering pesticide
applicator recertification cred-
its, which aren’t available to
those who attend updates by the
organizations.
This year, Hutchinson said
there will be no conflicting ses-
sions during the featured speak-
ers’ time slot, aside from a single
presentation offered in Spanish,
with no credits available.
Hutchinson said she’s also
considering door prizes to help
draw a crowd.
“They travel a long ways
and they have really excellent
information, and when your
talk is at the same time as a
workshop that gives pesti-
cide applicator recertification
credits, that’s hard to compete
with,” Hutchinson said.
USPB President and CEO
Blair Richardson said he’s glad
for the opportunity to speak,
regardless of the audience size,
but he’s pleased with the effort
to make it easier for members
of his industry to attend.
“I’m excited about some of
the changes we’ve made as a
board over the last few years,”
Richardson said. “It’s a great
opportunity to visit with some
of the growers, and there’s
nothing like being face to face
with them.”
University of Wiscon-
sin-Madison plant pathologist
Amanda Gevens will also be
among the featured speakers.
Gevens will focus on late
blight, a fungal disease that
caused widespread problems
in Idaho during the 2015 grow-
ing season.
“We want to take advantage
of her expertise and experience
in late blight,” Hutchinson said.
“She’s published in research
journals and has developed
good recommendations be-
cause they have it there more
than we do.”
Other sessions will high-
light the latest advancements in
weed, disease and insect man-
agement. Hutchinson said UI is
aiming to increase its focus on
grower involvement in work-
shops and has panel discussions
scheduled on pale cyst nema-
tode control and potato virus Y.
UI will also unveil website
updates, including a more com-
prehensive UI potato website
and a youth website, focused
on potatoes, developed by UI
Extension scientists. Partici-
pants will be allowed to regis-
ter online for the first time for
the upcoming conference, and
an Internet cafe will be added
to provide visitors with online
access.
Nez Perce Tribe opposes
forest rehabilitation plan
ROP-1-2-2/#14
LEWISTON, Idaho (AP)
— A large-scale timber sale
and rehabilitation project re-
cently approved by the Nez
Perce-Clearwater National
Forest still faces opposition
from the Nez Perce Tribe over
environmental concerns.
The Lewiston Tribune re-
ports the 44,000-acre Clear
Creek Integrated Restoration
Project is backed by members
of the Clearwater Basin Col-
laborative, made up of county
commissioners, loggers and
environmentalists. The proj-
ect would be implemented
over several years. Its goals
include harvesting 85 million
board feet of timber and im-
proving fish and wildlife hab-
itat.
The tribe is concerned the
logging will negatively im-
pact Clear Creek, the water
source for a fish hatchery it
manages. The tribe’s Fisher-
ies Division director says of-
ficials haven’t yet addressed
their concerns.
The Idaho Conservation
League’s Jonathan Oppen-
heimer says the organization
looks forward to discussing
challenges surrounding the
Clear Creek project.