4-H on the chopping block?

COEUR d'ALENE - In the three years Gretchen Hauser has volunteered with 4-H in Coeur d'Alene, she said, she has seen transformations.

Kids who learn business tactics by selling their animals. Youth who develop responsibility by caring for pigs and horses throughout the summer.

Take it away, she said, and how will kids get these lessons?

"It gives them something positive to do, and that's the bottom line for me," the 58-year-old said. "If 4-H went away, I think it would be a disaster."

Hauser is among a group of Coeur d'Alene area residents who have rallied to protest potential budget cuts at the county, including slashing all funds for the University of Idaho Extension Office, which oversees the 4-H Youth Development program.

Basically, if the Extension Office goes, so does 4-H.

"I know money is tight, it's tight for everybody," Hauser said. "But you have to look at the long-term ramifications."

So far Hauser and others, who discussed the issue at a recent meeting at the Mica Flats Grange, have agreed to make phone calls to county officials and write letters.

"It's something that's so important to us," she said.

County Clerk Cliff Hayes recently announced that when he proposes a preliminary budget to the county commissioners, he will likely recommend cutting the entire $160,000 the county budgets for the Extension Office.

Jim Wilson with the Extension Office, which has existed for 95 years, said the office has heard from a number of concerned folks.

He confirmed that if the county drops its funding for the office, then the University of Idaho won't fund its $260,000 share, either, shutting the office down.

With it would go all its programs, including nutrition classes and finance education for low-income individuals, forestry management, master gardener classes, and the 4-H Youth Development program, with its roughly 700 members and 200 volunteers.

"My sense is, once it (the extension office)is gone, it's probably going to be gone for good," Wilson said, adding that the state extension director would decide if the office could ever be resurrected.

Shannon Jahns, leader of the Jolly Workers of Mica 4-H Club, said 4-H activities could not continue without the Extension Office's coordination.

"I don't know of any 4-H group that is not affiliated with an extension office in the country," said Jahns, a leader for 10 years. "They basically oversee all of the programs. As a leader, they supply me with the knowledge to learn and teach the kids. They supply the materials and the programs themselves."

4-H is more than just raising animals to sell at the fair, Jahns added. Kids learn about leadership skills, budgets and how to run an organization.

"I think it's one of the most important programs still out there for kids to learn," said Jahns, who said she planned to write county officials about it this week.

Chelsea Rosenberger, sponsorship and special events coordinator for the North Idaho Fair and Rodeo, said the event would be impacted by the absence of 4-H activities.

"4-H is a critical component of our fair," Rosenberger said. "Our community has grown to love our fair because of the agricultural center."

Hayes agreed the extension office's programs are beneficial.

But due to restricted revenue, the county must focus on funding mandated services, he said, like the sheriff's department.

"The taxpayers of this county cannot afford to fund everything people would like us to fund," Hayes said.

County-provided services are largely funded by tax dollars, he reminded, which many individuals are struggling to pay these days.

The community does have other positive activities available to kids, he added.

"This might provide an opportunity for kids who are in 4-H to maybe join up with the Kroc Center or the Boys and Girls Club," he said.

He believes there could still be potential to bring the extension office back in future years, he said.

"Never is anything gone for good," he said.

He still has two more budget meetings with elected department heads, he added, before the Aug. 1 deadline to present to the commissioners.

Wilson doesn't want to worry extension clients, he said. After all, the commissioners will make all the final budget decisions after the preliminary budget is proposed.

"Until we have that information, it's a little bit premature for us to come out and say anything, because things could change," Wilson said.