NAMPA, ID — 2022 has brought a lot of unique and interesting stories that may not get the headlines but play a role in what we're all about here in the Treasure Valley. Here are some of my personal favorites from the past year. There's really no other story that grabbed my attention like the story of Lee Painter, who I introduced myself to in Downtown Boise one fall day. You see Lee Painter is a painter. Painter pays very close attention to detail. Lee also has a focused look at life. Always be the best you can be no matter where you are and who you're with. Then there's Ira Goldstein. Just a meticulous as Lee Painter working everyday in a small office in Eagle. Fixing watches. Ira knows it's soon becoming a lost art.
"There's just a shortage it's not like a mechanic or a dry cleaner on every corner where there's one on every corner. What I do, there's just three, maybe four in the entire valley."
Marc Von Huene and his wife thought raising bees would be a great idea. So that's how the life of a Meridian beekeeper started. Keep in mind you may have neighbors who might be a little squeamish to the idea of having thirty five thousand bees next door. Marc says something funny happened.
"One day our neighbor over there came knocking on my door and I thought it was for the worst and he had a tupperware container full of raspberry compost and said Marc your bees did such a good job with my raspberries I wanted to give this to you."
Ray Lenty an established skater himself from Vancouver, Washington always enjoyed competitive skating and then one day something caught his eye.
"When I first saw the Rollerdrome was for sale it was in a classified ad in the Oregonian newspaper about this roller skating rink for sale and a phone number."
That was enough for Ray to move his family east to Nampa, Idaho.
"We have grandparents that skated here when they were in high school in the 1050's and 60's and they come back with their children who come back with their children. It's generational and they all can still skate."
Jerri Nelson and her husband Roger didn't realize when they bought the historic Idaho Hotel in Silver City, there would be an added attraction that came with it.
"I walked through some cold spots in the hotel that I cannot give you the reason why right here it's cold and right here it's not."
Orbs. Balls of energy that might mysteriously show up in a photograph, but some say can even be seen if the sunlight hit's it just right.
"Little orbs going down the hallway it's not like they're going with the wind, they move."
And we cannot end without the story of Scott Weissbeck. The Boise man who returned home to find his Sasquatch missing. You know those creatures that roam the Pacific Northwest.
"Cause I believe in Bigfoot and I thought it would make a nice ornament at the Five Mile and Franklin intersection."
Through the help from a good Samaritan a new larger Sasquatch to greet all that pass by.