Commission calls rainfall 'catastrophic' for malt barley crop

The effect of heavy August rain on eastern Idaho's malt barley crop has been catastrophic, said Kelly Olson, administrator of the Idaho Barley Commission, who was in eastern Idaho Tuesday through Thursday touring the area. "We're looking at millions of dollars, perhaps high millions, of lost economic value," she said.

The worst case scenario would be for 60 percent of the malt barley crop to be downgraded to feed, due to early sprouting in the mature but unharvested malting barley crop. In the malting process, sprouting is highly controlled in plants like the Anheuser-Busch and Intergrow facilities south of Idaho Falls.

A downgrade from malt to feed would cause the crop to lose roughly half its value. "We're losing more and more of the quality than we thought we had," she said.

The malting companies, which have contracted for certain quantities of malt barley, will have to go somewhere else now, paying higher prices and freight costs as well. The commission is hoping that at least some of the crop can be salvaged and has issued guidelines for steps growers can take. Commission Chairman Pat Purdy encourages barley producers who need assistance or information to contact the IBC office in Boise at 208-334-2090 or in Idaho Falls at 208-569-6957.

The southwestern monsoonal weather pattern is nothing unusual for August, Olson said. What is unusual is it coming this far north. In a typical year, the moisture from the Pacific hits Colorado and is deflected eastward.

"No one has a good explanation for it," she said. "It's just another example of the more extreme weather patterns everybody seems to be experiencing."

Earlier this week Jerome County commissioners sought emergency status after nine days of rain caused hay and wheat to mold and barley fields to sprout, according to a story Wednesday in the Idaho Statesman. Between 50 and 70 percent of the wheat, barley and alfalfa crops in Jerome County may have been lost, according to estimates from the county's Office of Emergency Management. Commissioners in neighboring Twin Falls County said they would seek an emergency declaration as well.

Here is a link to today's National Weather Service forecast: Idaho Falls weather.

Here we are at Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's in Brandywine Hundred, Wilmington, Del.

Day 5 of my annual East Coast sojourn, we hit Trader Joe's for those cheese sticks my mom practically lives on and some bread crumbs to make meat loaf. I can tell you it was everything I hoped for and perhaps much, much more. I can't tell you when we're going to get Trader Joe's in Idaho Falls, but I can say for sure that if or when we do they will sell Two Buck Chuck, which this store in Delaware can't. Yep, beer, wine and spirits are all sold at privately owned liquor stores in the Blue Hen State. No beer or wine in the grocery stores. Anyway, this is just to let all you loyal readers know I'm thinking about you land sending good thoughts your way. Trader Joe's thoughts. Dunkin' Donuts, too. Any requests? I've got another 10 days and will lose all the extra pounds when I get home.

Two nuclear engineering students receive scholarships

The Partnership for Science & Technology and the Western Initiative for Nuclear have awarded $5,000 in scholarships to two college students. Funding for the scholarships was provided by a grant from NuScale Power LLC.

The students who received the scholarships were:

• Paulina Hyde, who is pursuing a double major in mechanical and nuclear engineering at Idaho State University.
• Kaleb Trotter, majoring in mechanical engineering at the University of Idaho and planning to continue his education with master’s and doctorate degrees in nuclear engineering.

The scholarship application asked each student to submit a 250-word essay on how they might apply their field of study to Small Modular Reactor technology.

“We are fortunate to work with an organization like NuScale Power," said Leslie Huddleston, PST's executive director, announcing the awards in a press release timed to coincide with the Intermountain Energy Summit taking place in Idaho Falls today and Wednesday. "Their membership in PST and involvement in the Project WIN Scholarship underscores their commitment to the community, Idaho and this nation’s need to train the next generation of nuclear engineers. … These students represent the future of the nuclear industry.”

Salutation from the Blue Hen State

Downtown Market Street, Wilmington, Del.

I am in Delaware the next two weeks, visiting my mom, who turns 82 on the 26th, but I don't want you to feel like I'm not thinking of you. I will keep posting as the spirit moves me.

While walking to the Dunkin Donuts on French Street (I know, I know), I saw this Walgreen's at Market and Ninth (it was Woolworth's when I was a youngster.) The architecture reminded me of downtown Idaho Falls, the Salisbury Building perhaps, and it made me feel a little low that we can't have something like this. The reason is simple, I've been told. There aren't enough people living downtown to support development like this. Wouldn't it be nice if there were to change some day?

Under arrest and out of a job?

Monday mornings are one of my favorite times to catch up on what’s happened over the weekend.  I dial into MSN, local news Web sites and Facebook to get my fill of current events before I get my week going.

This week was especially interesting.  Browsing through the news, I happened to see a link to a story on an person who had been arrested on charges of driving under the influence and hitting a pedestrian. While this might not be any big deal, the mug shot was of a co-worker to a close colleague of mine.

Visiting with my colleague later that day, she disclosed to me that she had received many reports, texts and e-mails notifying her of the arrest. Bear in mind this is not the person’s manager, just a co-worker. She said she was unsure how management would handle the situation, or how any employer should handle this sort of situation. It got me thinking.

Employees are people and so are managers. We all know no one is perfect. We all make mistakes, but what do you do when someone makes a mistake and is charged with breaking the law?

There’s really not an easy answer because there are legal liabilities that can be involved when considering a candidate for employment if they have been arrested or convicted of a crime.

There are certain state and federal laws that specifically state that if an individual is arrested or convicted of a crime they may not hold certain positions or occupational licenses. These are very specific in nature and most of the time they are carefully outlined to an individual during the pre-employment and hiring process. This makes it so employees and employers are on the same page that if Employee A is arrested or convicted of Crime B.  They will be terminated and cannot be employed (or hold a license) for Position C.

Outside of that, however, lies a very grey area for employers and employees. In making hiring decisions, an employer can take into consideration a candidate's criminal background. For example, if a candidate applying for a bookkeeping position had been arrested and convicted of forgery or fraud, it might be reasonable to expect an the employer would not hire the candidate for that reason.

In order for employers to cover their bases and lessen legal liabilities (and potential discrimination cases with the EEOC), a background check for applicants should be run, candidates should be provided with their rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and a solid policy in place stating the convictions that disqualify candidates from employment should be in place. Just taking information off an application may not be the best course of action.

To help employers and employees understand these matters, the EEOC in 2012 released the Enforcement Guide on Consideration of Arrests and Convictions. Typically, employment attorneys and HR professionals are a good resource to visit with about best practices.

Keep in mind that hiring decisions based on arrests or convictions should be carefully considered. For this reason, most employers shy away from asking about arrests through the application process (convictions are a different story). This allows the employer to more fairly consider the conduct in relation to a candidate's fitness for a position.

But what happens if someone gets hired with flying colors but has a little too much fun one weekend and ends up in jail?  Next week we will discuss the impact an arrest may or may not have on current employment.

Monica Bitrick is CEO if Bitrick Consulting Group, a human resources company in Idaho Falls.