In brief: Infant’s death called a homicide
A 15-month-old infant died of head injuries after she was flown to Spokane last week, and Montana police are calling the death homicide.
Kaylee M. Stenvers was pronounced dead at Sacred Heart Medical Center after she was flown from Hamilton, Mont., last Friday, according to court documents filed Thursday.
The girl’s father, Jeremy J. Tacket, 25 and his girlfriend, Nicole L. Moore, 22, are both under investigation for killing the infant, according to Ravallie County Sherriff’s Detective Jesse Jessop.
In interviews, Tacket and Moore gave conflicting stories as to how the girl received the head injuries, with one claiming the girl hit her head on a table and the other saying she hit her head on the fireplace. But Dr. Sally Aikin, Spokane’s medical examiner, said the injuries sustained from the trauma could not have been caused by accident.
Spokane police used a search warrant to find information about Stenvers from the hospital, including medical records and X-rays.
Post falls
Houser named chamber president
The owner of a local trophy shop is the new Post Falls Chamber president and chief executive officer.
Pam Houser, who has served as interim president since January, was officially selected Friday to lead the business organization and will begin the full-time job April 2.
Houser replaces Angela Alexander, who resigned Dec. 31. The longtime Post Falls resident co-owns Awards Etc., one of the few women-owned trophy shops in the Inland Northwest.
Houser has been on the chamber board for five years and served as chairman in 2005, in addition to overseeing the ambassadors, auction and banquet committees.
SEATTLE
Enlisted man at Kitsap arrested
The senior enlisted man at Naval Base Kitsap was arrested Friday for investigation of attempted child rape after a monthlong undercover Internet operation by police in Bremerton, west of Seattle.
Detectives alleged that Command Master Chief Edward E. Scott, 43, had been communicating over the Internet with someone he thought was a woman with 12-year-old twins, a boy and girl, but in reality was an undercover agent.
Over the course of a month, Scott used his computer at work to engage in chats that were sexually explicit and graphic in nature, Bremerton police Sgt. Kevin Crane said.
Eventually, Scott asked to meet the woman and her children, and a meeting was arranged for 5 a.m. Friday at a Bremerton hotel, Crane said.
“Scott provided graphic detail of specific sex acts he wanted to perform and which he wanted the children to perform as well,” police said.
He was arrested and booked into Kitsap County Jail for investigation of second-degree attempted rape of a child and communication with a minor for immoral purposes.
“He cooperated when he was arrested,” Crane said, declining to say whether Scott said anything at the time.
Bail was initially set at $500,000. Scott’s first court appearance was scheduled for Monday in Kitsap County Superior Court.
Crane said Scott is married with at least one adult child.
He has been at Naval Base Kitsap for about a year, said Tom Danaher, a spokesman for the base.
His position will be filled by “another senior enlisted professional and business will go on,” Danaher said, refusing to discuss additional details.
BOISE
Seminar hopes to draw teachers
State officials will hold a seminar in Boise on Saturday to recruit new teachers for Idaho schools.
School administrations across the state have been raising increasing concerns about a teacher shortage.
“Other states have experienced great success in recruitment by holding major events to recruit new teachers,” Gov. Butch Otter said Thursday. “Everything possible must be done to ensure that we recruit the best teachers for our schools.”
Idaho schools had more than 2,400 vacancies in the last school year, according to an annual report by the state Department of Education. The three most difficult positions to fill, according to the report, were speech pathologists, early childhood special educators, and elementary school psychologists.
The American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence is sponsoring the seminar. The nonprofit group has been helping professionals around the country gain certification to teach in public, private and charter schools.
The free event will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel in downtown Boise. Potential teachers also may find more information at www.improveourfuture.org.
BILLINGS, Mont.
Philanthropist Fortin dies at 97
Mary Alice Fortin, philanthropist and mother of actress Stockard Channing, died Wednesday night in Palm Beach, Fla., after an extended illness. She was 97.
For more than three decades, Fortin gave millions of dollars to education and health-care facilities in Montana and Florida.
Several buildings in Billings were named in honor of either Fortin, late husband Philip N. Fortin, or both of them.
Fortin also supported a medical-systems and computer-education center at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the Fortin Childcare Foundation for children with AIDS in South Bay, Fla.
Mary Alice English was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Jan. 27, 1910.
She studied at Hunter College and married shipping magnate Lester Napier Stockard during the Depression. They had two daughters, Susan Stockard Channing and Lesly Stockard Smith, the latter the mayor of Palm Beach, Fla., in 2000. Lester Stockard died in 1950.
His widow met Philip Fortin, a widower and Montana-born oilman, in Palm Beach and they married in 1968. Philip Fortin died at 86 in 1982.
David Irion, executive director of the St. Vincent Healthcare Foundation in Billings, said Thursday that the Fortins not only contributed generously to large capital projects, such as the hospital’s west wing named after the couple, but Mary Alice Fortin annually sent a check to buy Christmas presents for children in St. Vincent’s pediatric unit.
“The family has had a profound impact on Billings and has been a catalyst for a great community spirit,” Irion said.
Compiled from staff and wire reports