Washington yard sales to fund ‘Dylan’s Law’
Facing a July deadline for a quarter-million signatures, proponents of a “one-strike” law for sex offenders are holding six yard sales across the state Saturday.
“We need the support of the community,” said Tracy Oetting, author of Initiative 921.
Oetting has named the measure “Dylan’s Law,” after Dylan Groene, the Idaho boy whom sex offender Joseph Duncan is accused of kidnapping and killing last year. Groene family members plan to be at the Kirkland event, Oetting said.
“It just makes me sick every time another child disappears,” said Lacey waitress Diana Kinson-Stein, who’s spent weeks asking businesses, church groups and friends for things to sell at her yard sale.
Spokane’s sale will be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the southeast corner of Post and Heroy streets. The organizer is Tena Braucht: at (509) 328-7031.
On the Palouse, volunteers in St. John are holding a sale at 203 W. Liberty St. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information, call (509) 569-3561.
Under state law, the money raised must be reported to the state Public Disclosure Commission. The group, which has twice failed to pass a similar measure, is trying to raise enough money to hire signature-gatherers.
– Richard Roesler
Sandpoint
Officials, educators plan forum on milfoil
A free public forum on Eurasian milfoil will be held Saturday in Sandpoint from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Community Hall, on First Avenue in downtown Sandpoint.
The exotic weed is “the biggest environmental threat to our waterways that exists today,” said Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake.
Anderson is one of several speakers scheduled for the forum, which is sponsored by the Kinnikinnick Chapter of the Idaho Native Plant Society, the Idaho Conservation League and Sandpoint Parks and Recreation.
Other speakers include Tim Prather, a professor of weed ecology at the University of Idaho; Nina Eckberg, chairwoman of the Inland Empire Cooperative Weed Management Area; and Leslie Marshall, from the Bonner County Public Works Department.
A panel of experts will also address methods of prevention and control of Eurasian milfoil. The weed crowds out native plants and forms dense mats that suffocate fish and degrade water quality.
– James Hagengruber
Coeur d’Alene
Children’s program wins Ironman grant
A program for children with special needs was awarded a $1,900 grant from the Ironman Community Fund.
The Specialized Needs Recreation Program will use the grant for Camp Allstars, a day camp that offers school and after-school programs as well as events during school breaks. The nonprofit organization provides recreational opportunities for youths ages 4 through 21.
The Ironman Community Fund allows Ironman North America to help nonprofit organizations that support Ironman triathlon events. The fund has donated more than $800,000 in the United States and Canada. For more information, call Angie Goucher at (208) 769-2317.
– Erica Curless