NIC Board Trustee, Position B
Related Coverage, Page 3
Comments on Benewah sheriff brought Payne to surface
Prosecutor Doug Payne didn’t appreciate the criticism leveled at Sheriff Bob Kirts and Benewah County by outsiders including me recently. In a Handle Extra comment, I said the issue of giving tribal police the authority to arrest nontribal members has exposed white animosity toward the tribe. This, after Kirts had called Coeur d’Alene police spokesman Christie Wood “stupid” and dismissed concerns of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations as a bunch of “fecal” matter. Quoth Payne: “Unlike Dave Oliveria or Christie Woods (sic), I live on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation and in Benewah County and I personally know many of the people he has insulted, and I know Bob Kirts. They are rural people; less impressed by money or power than by hard work, humility and loyalty to principle. They are not so easily offended by the inartfulness of words used as by the ill intent of the one who uses them.” In a Coeur d’Alene Press online comment, Payne said trouble with cross-deputization began when the U.S. Supreme Court awarded the eastern third of Lake Coeur d’Alene to the tribe. And tribal police tried to enforce the law on the waterway. Seems to me the problem began and continues with Benewah County residents who refuse to acknowledge the tribe owns the lake and should have the right to enforce the rules on its property. More on Brannon
Sheriff’s crudeness comes with a cost
Benewah County Sheriff Robert Kirts isn’t going to win his battle to continue to treat Coeur d’Alene tribal police with contempt. He’s already losing that war.
Tracking the vote tracker
You really don’t have to tell a private eye how you voted, no matter how persuasive he may sound on the phone or in person at your doorstep. As you know from reading this column, Confidential Investigations sleuth Erin Jenkins is checking out some Mike Kennedy supporters who voted absentee on behalf of losing candidate Jim Brannon. Huckleberries has already told you about Jenkins calling Monica Paquin, who’s living near Montreal while she works for a Palouse company. Afterward, Jenkins called one of my blog denizens, pseudonymed CoeurGenX. When asked for whom he voted, CoeurGenX blurted out: “Mike K, of course.” Then, CoeurGenX said he asked Jenkins if his company had picked up a permit to do business in Coeur d’Alene, as his company has twice been warned to do by City Clerk Susan Weathers (as reported on Huckleberries Online). Bottom line? You don’t have to tell anyone how you voted, even a private eye. But I’d love to hear from you if Confidential Investigations calls and asks. But for God’s grace
Shopko employee tackles armed robber
A Coeur d’Alene pharmacy employee tackled a masked armed robber and held him for police Wednesday night.