Megaload opponents win $1,000 cash award

April 30, 2011

BOISE – Two leaders of the opposition to the megaloads have been recognized for their efforts in obtaining information about the supersized shipments of Imperial Oil that have been proposed for U.S. Highway 12.

Karen Hendrickson and Linwood Laughy of the Kooskia area are scheduled today to receive the Max Dalton Open Government award and an accompanying cash prize of $1,000 in Boise.

The honor goes to a “citizen or group judged to be an outspoken advocate of openness in either public records or public meetings on the state or local level,” according to a news release from the Idaho Newspaper Foundation, the sponsor of the award.

Among the documents that became public because of Hendrickson and Laughy were transport plans and correspondence between the oil companies and the Idaho Transportation Department, according to the news release.

“Their efforts from realization of the problem to the present ongoing fight, resemble a spider web reaching every aspect of government and beyond,” said Lee Halper of Jerome in the news release. Halper nominated the couple.