For the last several weeks, what appear to be giant yellow ribbons have been tied in cheery bows around the four large columns at the front of the state Capitol. Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said he had them put up “for the 116th,” the Idaho National Guard unit that’s in final training now for deployment to Iraq. “We’ll keep ‘em up through their actual departure, and then we will probably bring them down just because of weather considerations, but put them back up for special occasions,” the governor said.

He was inspired by a drive to get folks to put yellow ribbon symbols on their cars and homes to support the troops. “I just thought the people’s house ought to put the ribbons up too,” he said. “I think it’s meant a lot. I’ve gotten a lot of very positive feedback from a lot of families of troops.”

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