Elizabeth Yalian provided the photo of her son, Jonathan, in his Rathdrum Police Department uniform (above) and as a toddler (below).

Jonathan Franco, the Rathdrum police officer killed in a motorcycle crash earlier this fall, would have been 28 today. In memory of Jonny, HucksOnline is please to run an essay about him by his mother, Elizabeth Yalian. Who notes in the essay that Jonny loved guns and included a note he wrote as a young boy when he got his first gun: “The best thing I ever (heard) was the day Mom said I could have a B.B. gun.  I thaohgt I would faint when Mom said yes but I had to get this awfull haircut but I didn’t care. Mom had already gotton me B.B.s and later got me some pellets.  We went in to Shopco and thier it was the most buitiful thing I ever saw. After school I couldn’t wait to go shooting I was very angcious to knock some cans of the hey stak.  A few weeks later I got a scope and after Christmas I got a case for it.” You can read Elizabeth Yalian's entire essay here.

Question: Elizabeth Yalian has asked people who knew Jonny to drop her a note re: how he blessed their lives.

Services and a funeral procession for Jonathan Franco, a Rathdrum police officer who died on Saturday in a motorcycle crash north of Newport, Wash., are today. The viewing will start at noon at Real Life Ministries in Post Falls and run until 1:30 p.m. The funeral will be held from 1:30-3 p.m. An Honor Guard will be present to post colors. A funeral procession of police vehicles will run from RLM, north on Highway 41 to Rathdrum's Pinegrove Cemetery where Franco will be buried/Coeur d'Alene Press. More here.

An off-duty Rathdrum police officer was killed Saturday morning when his motorcycle was involved with a two vehicle accident four miles south of Cusick. Johnathon Franco, 27, had been with Rathdrum police since 2006 working as a patrol officer. Coeur d'Alene Press reported that Franco's motorcycle hit a Plymouth whose driver slowed for an injured deer in the road. Motorcycle debris from wreck struck a third vehicle. Spokane Valley-based photographers, Shmily Face Photography, spent time with him in May. More from Nicole Hensley, KXLY here. (Photo courtesy: Shmily Face Photography)

• 3 hurt, one critically in Colfax crash/KXLY
• Hoopfest convict wanted in North Idaho/Meghann Cuniff, S&G
• Cyndie Hammond: 'We're all in this together'/Marc Stewart, LCSC
• Chewelah Farmer's Market one of best in country/Rob Kauder, KXLY
• Sentence in Westra lewd conduct case affirmed/Keith Kinnaird, Bee
• Animal rightists claim torching of Caldwell fur, fireworks story/Kathleen Kreller, Statesman
• Man drives through bank lane, into canal near Eagle/Kathleen Kreller, Statesman
• 3 Idaho congressmen seek ESA clarification/David Cole, Hagadone News Network
• Education Corridor project is 2011 Grow Smart winner/Victoria Bruno, CdA Today

A Post Falls man is dead after a motorcycle crash sent him flying off the elevated portion of Interstate 90 at Wallace today. The Idaho State Police said Francis L. Cox, 67, was riding a 2008 Yamaha motorcycle eastbound on I90 at 11:43 a.m. today when he failed to negotiate a left-hand curve at milepost 61. His bike drove off the right shoulder and hit a jersey barrier, vaulting Cox off the bike and off the elevated portion of the freeway, ISP said. He landed in a parking lot adjacent to Bank Street in Wallace, police said, and was declared dead at the scene/Spokesman-Review. More here.

On Facebook, Joe Butler writes: “Who’d think a motorcycle would be that hard to sell, especially now that it’s sunny and summery? But the local papers and even cursed Craigslist haven’t produced any serious buyers yet. If you’ve ever considered a sweet Honda Shadow, let’s talk!

Question: Have you been trying without success to unload something that you own, during this Recession Without End Amen?

Justin M. Allen, 20, of Coeur d’Alene, was killed and his passenger Garrett J. Kienke, 20, of Post Falls was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash at 9th & Lakeside at 7:21 p.m. Monday. According to the Idaho State Police, the two men were westbound on a 2005 Suzuki when the driver lost control while approaching and braking for northbound traffic at the 9th Street intersection. Both occupants were ejected and came to rest in the intersection. INeither man was wearing a helmet. ISP is continuing the Investigation.