Lovelace waffles on plea agreement
Sandpoint A convicted murderer says he’ll try to get out of a plea agreement if his attorneys don’t follow through on their promises.
Faron Lovelace, a former death row inmate who won a new resentencing in an appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court, has entered into a new plea agreement that would spare him the death penalty for the 1995 kidnapping and murder of 24-year-old Jeremy Scott.
But in papers filed in 1st District Court this week, Lovelace argued he should be allowed to withdraw from the plea deal because he entered into it under duress, which he attributes to unfulfilled “confidential promises” made by his attorneys.
If the attorneys come through with the alleged promises, Lovelace wrote, he “may yet accept” life in prison with no chance of parole, as specified in the plea agreement.
Lovelace’s attorney, Teresa Hampton, did not immediately return phone calls.
Lovelace was sentenced to death in 1997, but the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that juries should hand down death sentences instead of judges. The Idaho Supreme Court upheld Lovelace’s conviction, but ordered that he be resentenced.
Region gets $500,000 to boost tourism
North Idaho will receive nearly $500,000 from the state to help market the region’s tourist and convention business.
The money is part of $2.6 million in tourism promotion grants given out by the Idaho Travel Council to 33 organizations. Locally, the Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce was the largest recipient, with a $274,890 grant. Other recipients were: the Greater Sandpoint Chamber, $73,045; North Idaho Tourism Alliance, $64,550; Post Falls Chamber of Commerce, $63,000; the northern chapter of the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association, $5,000; and the northern chapter of Idaho RV Campgrounds Association.
The grants, awarded annually, are funded by a 2 percent lodging tax on hotels, motels and private campgrounds. By law, the state receives 45 percent of the tax proceeds for tourism promotion. The remaining money is dispersed to travel committees, chambers of commerce and nonprofits. It’s used for advertising, brochures, travel shows, direct mail, industry research and Web sites.
Inaugural regatta today at Fernan Lake
Crews from Spokane and Coeur d’Alene will power rowing shells across Fernan Lake from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. today for the Coeur d’Alene Rowing Association’s first rowing regatta.
About 25 adult rowers and 25 juniors from Coeur d’Alene will face the Spokane River Rowers. The action will start on the lake’s west side about a half-mile past Fernan Village. Competitors will row in teams of eight, four, two and as singles. Each race will cover 1,000 meters.
“It’s more exhibition than anything else,” said Chuck Tasca, a Coeur d’Alene Rowing Association rower.
The races are free to the public.
Bait targets grasshoppers in three counties
Boise A grasshopper infestation in Lewis, Nez Perce and Idaho counties has prompted the Idaho State Department of Agriculture to send 35,000 pounds of grasshopper bait to the region.
Thousands of grasshoppers – as many as 45 of the insects per square yard – are infesting the region north of Kooskia along the Clearwater River to just east of Grangeville, said Les Tschohl, a manager with the agriculture department. So far, the infestation has not migrated to farmland on the Camas Prairie.