Idaho Rep. Tom Trail spent the next two years in Ecuador as a representative, not a volunteer, with the Peace Corps, supervising 100 agricultural volunteers involved in a heifer project



Idaho Rep. Tom Trail spent the next two years in Ecuador as a representative, not a volunteer, with the Peace Corps, supervising 100 agricultural volunteers involved in a heifer project

County agent turned lawmaker Trail enjoys serving

By PATRICIA R. MCCOY Idaho Staff Writer
pmccoy@capitalpress.com

Idaho Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, is a retired county extension agent specializing in beef production. He is in his fifth term as a state legislator.
BOISE – Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, will never forget his first assignment as an extension agent. Sent to meet with some 4-H leaders at 6 a.m., he found four or five families slaughtering hogs.

“They gave me a knife and told me to get to work,” said Trail. “I’d just graduated from college. One of my last classes was a meats class, during which I’d had to slaughter hogs. As a result, I knew how to do it. By the time the day was over, the families told me I’d do,” said Trail.

That was in 1959. Trail worked as a Canyon County extension agent for almost two years. He spent the next two years in Ecuador as a representative, not a volunteer, with the Peace Corps, supervising 100 agricultural volunteers involved in a heifer project.

“Next, I finished my doctorate in experimental psychology at Montana State University, then went to Chile as a University of Minnesota livestock specialist. Two years later I became an extension specialist at the University of Nebraska at Columbia,” he said.

“I returned West in 1971, joining the college of agriculture faculty at Washington State University,” he said.

Trail retired in 1994, but didn’t stay that way long.

“I got into politics by sheer chance,” he said. “Former state Rep. James ‘Doc’ Lucas announced he would not run again in the fall of 1995, due to health problems. I saw the announcement in the paper, but hadn’t been that active politically. The Republican Central Committee invited me to run for Doc’s seat. I had time on my hands, so I agreed.”

The former county agent won election. He’s now in his fifth term and ninth year of service in the Idaho State Legislature.

Memorable Bills

Trail can point to some 30 bills he was instrumental in getting through. Three were especially memorable, he said.

“The first was the minimum wage bill for farm workers, and the second was related legislation requiring farm labor contractors to register with the state. I just received a one-page report saying both laws are working fine,” he said.

“Most Idaho farmers were already paying more than minimum wage when the legislation passed. Making it law was a question of human dignity,” Trail said.

The third accomplishment Trail is especially pleased with is his co-sponsorship of legislation creating the Robert Lee Promise Scholarship Fund. It offers all Idaho high school graduates with at least a 3.0 grade point average one-time scholarships of $1,200 if they attend an Idaho college or university.

Former Sen. Lee is deceased. The scholarship, funded by general fund dollars, was one of his dreams, Trail said.

“I worked with Sen. Lee for two years to pass that legislation,” he said. “Over 4,000 students have received $4 million-plus from it already.”

Disappointment

Trail’s greatest disappointment as a legislator is that public education in Idaho isn’t adequately funded.

“Given all the new federal mandates and other requirements, we haven’t had adequate funds to give our teachers for the last four years. That will hurt us in the long run,” he said.

Trail can chuckle with many others over one piece of legislation he’s tried to pass several times. Only once has it made it to the House floor, where it was so soundly defeated he received the daily crow award – a tongue-in-cheek prize of a stuffed toy crow on a swinging perch the Idaho House gives to members who lose votes by wide margins.

The legislation would legalize growing industrial hemp in Idaho.

“I know Trail’s annual hemp bill is something of a joke around the Statehouse,” he said. “It is kind of funny. Industrial hemp is illegal in the United States because it’s related to the marijuana plant, but it’s also quite different. It can’t be smoked. It can be made into over 10,000 different items, from rope to textiles. It’s even used to make the interior components, such as dashboards, in cars.”

The Bush administration and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency policies ban growing it in the United States. Until that changes, Idaho farmers couldn’t grow it anyway. Yet Trail brings his proposal back every four years or so.

“We need to educate the world out there,” he said. “The largest hemp factory in the United States is in Spokane, Wash. Raw materials are imported from Romania, Hungary and China. It’s a $6 million-a-year business. That’s money Idaho farmers could be getting.”

Trail doesn’t plan to bring his hemp bill up again this year, but he does hope to remain in the Legislature. Though he turns 70 this year, he’ll run for at least one more term, providing his health remains good, he said.

When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state.

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RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter.

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March 5, 2005: RPCV Groups in the News San Diego RPCVs host reception with Gaddi Vasquez on March 6 4 Mar Alaska RPCVs speak for dividend 4 Mar Western North Carolina's RPCVs sponsor Africa Night on March 6 3 Mar Maryland RPCVs lobby their Senators for Peace Corps 3 Mar Connecticut RPCVs hold fundraiser on March 5 3 Mar Charles Baquet speaks at Louisiana PC Breakfast on March 4 28 Feb RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

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March 5, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Senate FR Committee approves $345 M PC budget 4 Mar RPCV's "Kennedy's Kitchen" records second CD 4 Mar Sam Farr asks Army to reconsider burial policy 3 Mar Bayanihan jewelry designed by Philippines RPCV 2 Mar Todd Vetter receives calling during PC service 2 Mar Sargent Shriver still on Washington's A-list 2 Mar Photographer Bill Owens publishes new book 2 Mar Crisis Corps to open new program in Sri Lanka 28 Feb PC wants new stories for "The Great Adventure" 28 Feb Ukraine PCV asks "Is Bush right on Iraq?" 28 Feb Carol Bellamy defends "feminism" in aiding children 28 Feb John Bridgeland discusses role as Bush assistant 28 Feb Paul Theroux recalls high times with Hunter Thompson 28 Feb Elaine Chao Leads Delegation to Uruguay 28 Feb RPCV reunites with friend after 40 years 27 Feb Kay Muldoon-Ibrahim's photography on exhibit 27 Feb Jim Doyle displays political brilliance on tax cuts 26 Feb

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March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory.

Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot? Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments.

WWII participants became RPCVs Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service.

Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress.

Read the stories and leave your comments.