Drink A Toast To County Jail
If the plastic walls of the old Kootenai County Jail could talk, they’d tell riveting stories. Or, at least, they would have. The non-descript building finally came down Saturday after standing vacant for years alongside the Kootenai County Courthouse (which, architecturally, is no great shakes either). As a reporter fresh from Lewiston in 1984, I marveled that the county jammed dozens of employees into tiny office cubicles in the barely functioning fire trap. The dank cells in the building’s bowels were worse. A federal judge was right in 1978 when he outlawed long stays in the jail as “cruel and unusual punishment.” I’ve long wondered if the miserable working conditions and normal police stress contributed to former Sheriff Merf Stalder’s downfall. In 1988, he lost his bid for a third term after a story surfaced during the campaign that Stalder and top staffers staged office drinking parties during work hours. I’m sure anyone who’s ever worked there would raise a glass to the old jail now and say: “Good-bye and good riddance.”
Council picks right hydro showdown site
Mayor Al Hassell and the Coeur d’Alene City Council have chosen wisely by deciding not to move their regular Jan. 29 meeting to larger quarters. The scheduled discussion of hydroplane racing is certain to attract an overflow crowd - one that better could be handled at North Idaho College’s Bonner Room. But the community would lose the Cablevision broadcast in the process. Reluctantly, I agree that it’s more important to have as wide an audience as possible for this divisive issue. So, if you’re planning to attend the council meeting, get there early.
We need to close this $100,000 loophole
The “judicial confirmation” process has annoyed me since 1991 when Kootenai County used (abused?) it to borrow $8 million for a new landfill. And a 911 system. And a Kidd Island Bay dredging project. The latter two projects were thrown in while the public wasn’t looking. Under current law, local officials can sidestep a public vote and borrow money long term if they can persuade a judge that a project is an “ordinary and necessary” expense. A landfill certainly would qualify. But the $545,000 borrowed to cover 911 cost miscalculations and the $100,000 to design the Kidd Island Bay project shouldn’t have. (The dredging project was so “necessary” for county operations that the work still hasn’t been done.) Now, state Rep. Mark Stubbs, R-Twin Falls, has proposed legislation to close judicial confirmation loopholes. It’s overdue.
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