So.
Idaho's junior Senator is pissed by the noise from airplanes flying over his South Boise homestead.
What a deal!
Jimmy Risch has lived out there for decades. Noise from aircraft is not a new phenomenon for him. He's been listening to airplanes - with his ham and eggs - for a long, long time. When he's there.
Only now, after many thousands and thousands of general aviation and commercial flights in and out of the Boise airport over 30 or so years, does he squawk. The airport is just a mile or so from his desert hacienda, an airport he's used many hundreds of times on his trips in and out of Boise, to and from his U.S. Senate offices in D.C..
The Boise airport has been in-place for many decades before the junior Senator and his family moved South. He knows that. But, now, several decades after he took up residence, he's pouting.
Risch can be no more put out about the aerial racket than several thousand Meridian residents and folks in the area of Five Mile Road, Eagle Road, Cloverdale, Linder and more. Those "aggravating" aircraft fly over a lot of West Ada County and Boise territory. They've done it for years.
Now, our boy wants somebody, somewhere to do something about it. NOW!
I'd be willing to support Jimmy if he was standing up for his constituents out West -and South - of Boise. If he was asked to front an organized group of Ada County folks, similarly unhappy about the airport, seeking a real answer to their problem. If he was the spokesman for thousands of folks who were as unhappy about noisy aerial conditions as Junior.
But he's not.
Fact of the matter is, the airport had been there for many, many years before "Gentleman James" decided to live nearby on his little acreage. He knew the planes were there. He knew by hearing flyover noise as he was out there looking for a homestead many years ago. He knew by driving around the airport's West end to get to his property. Or, downtown.
What's changed is that the Boise airport is much busier than it was in the '70's and '80's. More commercial, military and private aircraft are in the skies thereabouts. The airport is a thriving source of income for the city and a handy resource for air travelers and home to the Idaho Air Guard. It's win-win all the way.
What the hell does Risch expect in answer to his new outrage? Who - or what - is supposed to do something to change the situation?
The only way to dry his tears is for him to move out of the area. The airport is not gonna move. The planes won't stop flying. The noise from those aircraft won't suddenly go away. The only answer for Junior is a U-Haul truck and some teens looking for work.
I've never been a Senator. Never aspired to be one. So, maybe I don't understand the depths of Risch's belated anger. Is a Senator's anger different from the rest of us? Is he angrier than us? Does it take 30-40 years to get up a full head of steam on an issue if you're a Senator?
Or, is he using his years as a national politician to achieve his ends? A little power play to get what he wants? Silence?
Or, maybe - just maybe - he knows something we don't. Maybe he knows some new, high-powered stealth airplanes are coming to the Idaho National Guard. Stealth planes that, I can tell you from personal experience, are much nosier than the current crop. Much.
I go back a long way with the Senator. I've watched him in "action" many, many times. On a personal note, he's even taken a drunken swing at me (and missed.) A future Idaho Governor kept him from falling flat. Oh, yeah, we go way back.
I'm afraid, on this one Jimmy, you're on your own. The "chin" you're going to try hit this time belongs to the City of Boise. Or the State of Idaho. Or the federal Department of Transportation. Or, the United States Air Force.
But, in the end, my friend, after 30-40 years of living in the same spot, you're gonna have to move. Or, buy some expensive ear plugs.
I don't think you can "swing" your way out of this one.