Moscow City Council Election November 5th

Moscow has a City Council election coming up this November 5th.

NOTE: You can vote early at the Latah County Courthouse Oct. 21 through Nov. 1. Skip the line and vote early! Or Vote Nov. 5th at County Fairgrounds 8am to 8pm.

Please vote, and consider voting for these three pro-family, pro-business conservative candidates for City Council!

Brandon Mitchell, James Urquidez, and Kelsey Berends

  • Who can vote? Anyone living within the Moscow city limits.
  • Can I vote for three? YES! Three open seats, so you can vote for up to three.
  • Where do I vote early? Oct 21 – Nov 1 (early voting) at County Courthouse during normal hours.
  • Where do I vote on November 5th? Latah County Fairgrounds or Hamilton Lowe Center (Assume Fairgrounds if you have not received a mailer about new polling location). Polls are open from 8am to 8pm.

About the Candidates

BRANDON MITCHELL moved to Moscow in 2013, and his family was well accepted into the community. Since then, he has been grateful to call Moscow his home. Brandon is a small business owner and looks forward to helping other local businesses prosper, hearing opinions from Moscow’s citizens, and working together with them to grow as a city.

JAMES URQUIDEZ, a local small business owner, will bring wisdom from a life well lived to the city council. He serves in the county jail as a chaplain and has worked to help restore felons and drug addicts. James believes this type of interaction will help bring balance in representing our community at the city level. James wants to maintain a family-friendly, business-friendly environment and to maintain excellent infrastructure while seeking to keep our taxes low.

KELSEY BERENDS serves as the human resource and talent acquisition manager at a local economics firm, where she has worked to hire more than 120 people, promoting Moscow as a great community for them and their families. As a member of the city council, Kelsey will focus on fiscal responsibility, individual liberty, and gainful employment for family prosperity to help Moscow thrive.

May Primary Election 2018 Endorsements

We have an important Primary coming up!

I have been unusually busy over the last few months, and have therefore had less time to look into each candidate. But many of these names are not new, and I’ve recently had some confirmations on those I knew less about. My friend Gresham Bouma, who ran for Idaho Senate (District 5) a number of years ago, put together his list of endorsements which lined up exactly with mine. I have not had time to create notes for each candidate, so with his permission, I am including his notes below.

Here is how I’m voting this May 15th. Notes by Gresham Bouma.

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Caroling on Friendship Square

I had the privilege to once again film Christ Church and Trinity Reformed Church gathering for caroling on Friendship Square.

Previous years: 
Caroling (mall) 2009
Caroling 2011
– Caroling 2012
– Caroling 2013
Caroling 2015

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News ran this article, which quoted me:

Singing in the snow

Christ Church carolers fill Friendship Square for hour of singing, fellowship

By Taylor Nadauld, Daily News Staff Writer

Framed by the branches of a Christmas tree Saturday, carolers sing at Friendship Square in Moscow. Kai Eiselein/Daily News

Framed by the branches of a Christmas tree Saturday, carolers sing at Friendship Square in Moscow.
Kai Eiselein/Daily News

Members of Christ Church gathered in an hour of song for the church’s annual Christmas caroling event Saturday afternoon at Friendship Square in Moscow.

Volunteer Curtis Spencer carried a stack of carol booklets in his arms, passing them out to people in the crowd as they sang “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” one of several Christmas-themed hymns in an hour-long lineup of caroling.

“There’s a few scripture readings, passages of the Christmas story from the Bible, and then we’ll end with fellowshiping, drinking cocoa and eating cookies,” Spencer said.

A member came to the front of the crowd in between songs, reading scripture to the audience from a megaphone near a frosted evergreen in the square.

Above the many voices, friends and New Saint Andrews College classmates James Goode and Caleb Harris could be heard belting harmonies during each hymn.

“We were trying,” Harris said with a laugh. “We’re like that in church, too,” to which Goode added, “If you’re going to sing, you might as well sing loud.”

For Harris and Goode, the annual caroling event is not just about singing, but about teachings of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe to be the son of God and whose birth is celebrated on Christmas.

“We are here to spread the news to the world that Jesus is king, that he has died on the cross for our sins, and we can’t keep that in — we’re happy about it,” Harris said.

At the front of the crowd, Daniel Foucachon photographed the carolers with his cellphone. A frequent attendee and unofficial photographer of the event, Foucachon said the church sings in the square about four times per year, but its Christmas caroling event is special, as it includes hymns many passersby will recognize.

“Christmas is a time where just about everyone is happy to talk about something that Christians are celebrating every week, all year round,” Foucachon said.

The carolers wrapped up with “Joy to the World! The Lord is Come,” before ending in prayer and warming up from the surrounding snow with some hot chocolate.

Taylor Nadauld can be reached at (208) 883-4630, by email to tnadauld at dnews.com and on Twitter @tnadauldarg.

Moscow Election 2017

We have an election coming up in Moscow! This November 7th, we will be deciding who will be meeting every Monday at the City Council meetings and deciding about policies, permits, laws, levies, taxes, and infrastructure that affect us daily in Moscow. This is an important election!

I moved to Moscow in 2005, which is long enough to have observed the direct effect anti-business, “progressive” politicians can have on a small city. I wasn’t the only one noticing. In 2013 the Greater Moscow Alliance released an economic report showing the harm of the anti-growth politicians running our city. Thankfully, we got a new mayor that election year (our current mayor Bill Lambert) and the GMA just released a new study and is happy to announce that “Moscow’s economy [is] “thriving,” pro-business climate pay[ing] dividends“. Your vote made a difference!

I fully concur with the GMA endorsement of all incumbents. Please get out and vote! Let’s keep Moscow thriving and economically healthy. I offer this simple voting guide in case it’s helpful.

Where to vote? Latah County Fairgrounds, from 8 am to 8 pm, on November 7th.

Read the full 2017 Report from the GMA or the Executive Summary on their website.

Voting guide image not showing up? Here is a text version: 

I endorse:

For Mayor:
Bill Lambert

For City Council, four-year term:
Walter Steed
Gina Taruscio
Art Bettge

For City Council, two-year Term:

John Weber

Broken Bread for Broken People

So the emptier you feel, the greater the need to come. There is fullness here, fullness for your emptiness. So the weight of your sin bears you down, but there is one here who will lift all of your burdens and will bear them away. So you feel sometimes as though your heart is black as hell, but here is edible light.

Humble yourself, and do not fear that adverb. Come.

So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.

Douglas Wilson, inviting broken people to the broken bread.

Singing for Eileen – a paltry earthy choir to send her off

Eileen was too weak to go to church, so we brought the worship to her window this evening, with three hymns of her choosing. Her battle with cancer has been an incredible testimony of her faith. Read Mike’s latest update here.

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YouTube version.

From Rachel Jankovic:

We gathered to sing today to a dear saint who is in the final stages of cancer and can no longer come to worship with us. A paltry earthly choir to send her off – only a small picture of the far more glorious choir gathered to receive her. Eileen Lawyer – we love you and we will miss you! Thank you for having lived so well with the time you had. Packing a much longer lifetime of serving the saints into the time God planned for you. May we all be so fruitful, may we all be so faithful, and may we all love as fiercely -May God grant us the grace to follow in your train.

“A noble army, men and boys,
the matron and the maid,
around the Savior’s throne rejoice,
in robes of light arrayed.
They climbed the steep ascent of heaven,
through peril, toil and pain;
O God, to us may grace be given,
to follow in their train.”

Late to read? Why that’s not always a problem.

I would like to tell you something about my mother and about me. Homeschooling mothers have to be self-sacrificial, hard-working, and patient. I want to share how these qualities in my mother blessed my life in a particular way. For whatever reason (some people would affix a three or four letter acronym to this), I was just not ready to read when most boys and girls normally learn to read.

New Saint Andrews Freshman with the Freshman reading list

Some classmates standing beside the Freshman reading list at New Saint Andrews College

It wasn’t that she wasn’t trying hard enough, or that she was not qualified (truth be told, she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Gordon College, and taught at Winter Park High School – she is over-qualified!). For whatever reason, I simply wasn’t ready–I was just not grasping the careful and articulate lessons she taught me. She patiently continued to teach me from 6-10 years old. When I was about 10 years old everything suddenly clicked into place. I was ready to read, and took off!

Years later, I now have BA in Liberal Arts and Culture from New Saint Andrews College, a particularly vigorous program in terms of reading, requiring an estimated 20,000 pages of reading in Freshman year alone. The pile of required books every Freshman reads reach higher than the average student when stacked. And I loved it. I thrived. I am a voracious reader.

Donna Foucachon

My wonderful mother, Donna Foucachon

The amazing thing, however, is not that I was late, but that I never knew it. It was only years later that I looked back and realized that most kids learned to read earlier than I did. I had no idea. And that’s when I realized just how much love and care and patience it took my mother to continue teaching me, worrying about the delay, and yet plodding on. It turned out, nothing was “wrong with me.” I was perfectly normal, and just needed time. Had I been in public school I would have been acutely aware of my “slowness.” It wasn’t easy for my mother to homeschool all 5 of us kids in 5 different grades, while also being a pastor’s wife overseas. But it was an incredible gift to me. Thank you!

Now married to another bibliophile, we are inundated with books. We have more books than our bookshelves can hold. Piles of books on every subject: fiction, history, philosophy, literature, theology, how-to’s, The Great Books, classics, etc. And we’ve read the majority of them!

If you are a parent with a late reader, don’t assume there is a problem. Obviously sometimes there can be true issues, ranging from physical, physiological, or even just plain old laziness. But I believe many children are cast into a mold that simply doesn’t fit them. When we force them into that mold, we are hurting them, not helping them. Sometimes they just need time. I did!

Daniel Foucachon,
Founder and CEO, Roman Roads Media
January 8th, 2013.

family - squareDaniel Foucachon grew up in Lyon, France where his family was church-planting with MTW. He was homeschooled for most of his education, attending a Classical Christian School for two years in Lyon. He then moved to Moscow, Idaho in 2005 to attend New Saint Andrews College, and graduated with a BA in Liberal Arts and Culture in 2009. While finishing school and working in his father’s French restaurant, “West of Paris,” he ran a local media production company where he sub-contracted with Canon Press to create CanonWired. In 2012 he founded Roman Roads Media with the desire to bring quality Classical Christian Education to the homeschooler. He now lives in Moscow, Idaho with his wife Lydia, and four kids (Edmund, William, Margaux, and Ethan).

late to read

Last Disputatio of the Class of 2009!

Can you believe it? We just had our last Disputatio as a class at NSA?

God has been very good to us, allowing us to travel thus far. I am very grateful for such a wonderful class, and I hope we all keep in touch. To that affect, I plan to keep this blog going as a place where we as Alumni can come and keep getting NSA info, or see what’s going on in Moscow.

Here are the two videos I presented at Disputatio.

  • The first is a slideshow of some photos I through together of our 4 years here. It is only a tiny sampler of all the photos I have!
  • The second is a compilation of spliced videos from our 4 years. Again, only a sampler of what I have! I had to cut some GREAT stuff! (such as some of our declamations).

I uploaded a bunch of videos not shown here on a YouTube playlist called “Live in Moscow as an NSA student,” which you can find HERE

 

Enjoy!

 

Charity Bandanas

The following is from Benjamin Nieuwsma. Please take a second to read!

We are raising money for the Community Action Partnership in Moscow . The charity works to reach out to poor people in our area in a number of ways. The partnership provides food for people unable to afford it, clothing and health related expenses. Often the elderly on fixed incomes are unable to afford their heating bill during the winter and this partnership helps with that as well. They also help pay for educational expenses.

Unlike many other charities, the Community Action Partnership works towards self-sufficiency as much as it can, so for many of the underprivileged families, they help by providing work for them.

I am the project manager of a team of about a dozen students who chose this charity to raise money for as class project and we have come up with a couple different incentives for giving money to the partnership:

Donate 1 Dollar

For anyone donating a dollar to help the underprivileged in our area, we will enter them into a drawing for one of three $50 gift certificates for the online sporting good stores:

www.buysnow.com

www.buywake.com

www.buyskate.com

Donate 4 Dollars

For anyone who donates $4 (essentially the price of a nice coffee), we will give them a free bandana. They are black with a golden U of I logo design on them.

This charity is tax deductible and upon request we can provide you with verification of your donation. Unfortunately, due to some supplier problems on the bandanas, we are running out of time for this project. We need to know about everyone who is willing to donate by next Monday, November 26.

So, if you would be willing to donate a few dollars, it would be a great blessing to the charity, and a huge help to me and my team.

Please send me an email. (Be*******@va*****.edu) or feel free to call (208-310-1841)

Thanks!

Benjamin Nieuwsma

One thing Ben mentioned to me is that you don’t have to pay him right away. So if you are away on break, just send him an email letting him know that you will be getting him the money whenever you get back.

Thanks!

Moscow City Council

O Socii, today is a great and honourable day. It is a day in which we can put to use our right as citizens of the Unitest States of America to elect our leaders. In days past leaders were often chosen through strength of arms. Men proved their courage on the battle field, fighting for their king, that they might live peaceful lives under their king. We have no bloody battle field on which to pour our blood and prove our valor, but we do have the Moscow Fair Grounds, and today, until 8 p.m. May it not be said of the students of New Saint Andrews college that they did not bother to go out and vote. Furthermore, this is going to be a close vote – 50 could turn the tide of the election. You may feel like it’s not your place to vote in Moscow, but it does affect you. It affects NSA, it affects the families you’re boarding with, and it affects our churches. If you’ve lived here for more than 30 days, you can vote! Please vote!

Please vote for Krauss and Carscallen for the 4 year seat (do not vote for a 3rd person) and Steed for the two year seat.

To the Polls!

Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit. O Socii, Proponite!