Human Rights banquet scheduled Monday

The 11th annual Human Rights banquet is set for 7 p.m. Monday at the Coeur d’Alene Inn, t 414 Appleway in Coeur d’Alene.

Gregory Carr, the advisory board chairman of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University, will present on “The Status of Human Rights on the Global Scene.”

Tickets for the banquet are $30 and must be purchased by mailing a check made out to the Human Rights Education Institute to P.O. Box 2725, Coeur d’Alene, ID, 83816 by Friday.

Carr also is a featured speaker at North Idaho College’s Popcorn Forum Convocation Series Symposium, which kicks off at 11 a.m. Monday in Boswell Hall Schuler Performing Arts Center.

Following a brief welcome by NIC President Priscilla Bell and Associated Students of NIC President Ryan Robinson, Carr will discuss “The Challenges of Global Warming to Our Future.” Carr is embarking on one of the largest individual commitments in the history of conservation projects in Africa with a pledge of $40 million over the next 30 years to restore Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique.

All Popcorn Forum events are free and open to the public, with the exception of the Human Rights Banquet. Visitor parking permits will not be required on NIC’s campus the week of the Popcorn Forum.

Rathdrum

Music Festival starts next week at Lakes Bible

Lakes Bible Academy is hosting its first anual Music Festival next Thursday. Wanting to promote the arts in a scholastic setting, the Academy has chosen to host this event and has invited Christian schools from the area to join in a spring music festival. Included in the music categories, which are vocal, instrumental and rhythm, are small groups, quartets and soloists.

With the cuts that have occurred over the past few years in school funding, many of the fine arts programs have been dropped. There have not been competitions and music festivals in many areas since 1994. The response to the festival has been very enthusiastic by area music teachers who want their students to see other students in performance.

This first festival will be an introduction to the participating schools to the music talent which is in each of the schools. Next year, the plans include competitions and judging of the various categories. This allows a year for the music teachers to prepare their students for a more competitive event.

Lakes Bible Academy, a nondenominational Christian school , is in the New Beginnings Baptist Church facility at 16218 N. Westwood Drive in Rathdrum. For more information, call the Academy at 687-2101 or 651-0448.

•Five students at Lakes Bible Academy were recently notified that their short stories had been published in the Anthology of Short Stories by Young Americans, 2007 Edition.

This competition is open to students from all over the country, ages 5 to 18, who submit short stories. These stories are then reviewed by professional writers and appraised for originality, content and description. The stories entered by these young authors which are deemed superior quality, are published.

Those receiving publication in this national anthology are Vance Kistler, Sierra Mayberry, Ariel Cummings, Bailey Cummings and Krystall Uzzi.

WINGS information session planned

All students and parents who are interested in North Idaho College’s dual credit program known as WINGS are encouraged to attend an information session from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. March 25 in the Post Falls High School library.

NIC’s WINGS program, an acronym for Win by getting a Good Start, gives high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to enroll in NIC classes for both high school and college credit, giving them a head start on their college career.

The classes are offered at half the cost of normal college credit and are accessible to students, with classes offered via the Internet and through interactive video conferencing as well as through onsite instructors.

Students from public, private and home school systems are welcome to attend.

The information session is free and open to the public.

For more information, call 769-3229.

Sandpoint

Wishing Star hosting breakfast Saturday

The Sandpoint Chapter of the Wishing Star Foundation will be having its annual Huckleberry Pancake Breakfast on Saturday at the Elk’s Golf Course and Clubhouse, Highway 200, Ponderay.

It will be cooked by “Hooties” at the Elks Club from 8 until 11 a.m. with help serving from the Sandpoint Chapter volunteers. The price is $6 for adults and $4 for children under 12.

The Wishing Star Foundation is a charitable organization that grants wishes to children with life threatening illnesses.

Bonner county

Friday night ski at Schweitzer

Bonner County 4-H will host the Friday night ski night at Schweitzer Mountain on Friday. Money raised at this event will go toward additional resource and teaching materials for 4-H leaders and help support upcoming educational events.

Tickets are $7 and are only good for Friday from 3 to 8 p.m. Tickets must be purchased before going up the hill in order to get this discounted rate.

Ski and board packages are available to rent from the SOURCE on the mountain for $12 when you show your pre-purchased night ticket. Lesson and rental packages are also available for the special rate of $19 for this program only.

Contact the Ski and Ride Center at 255-3070, ext. 2375, for more information. Tickets can be purchased at the Schweitzer Conoco or the Bonner County Extension Office through Friday.

Idaho/Washington

Scouts board of directors chairwoman elected

Jan Richardson is the new board of directors chairwoman for Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho.

Richardson grew up with Girl Scouts and has served on the board of directors of Girl Scouts Inland Empire Council since 2004. She has been the president of Spokane Motor Cars Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo since March 2004.

Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and North Idaho is a newly merged council, combining resources and staff of the former Girl Scouts Inland Empire Council based in Spokane and Girl Scouts Mid-Columbia Council based in Kennewick. Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and North Idaho currently serves more than 8,000 Girl Scouts and 2,500 adult volunteers in 32 counties.

Spokane County

MOAA member named to advisory committee

Beth Ann Daigre has been named to serve a three-year term on the Auxiliary Member Advisory Committee of the Military Officers Association of America.

Daigre, a member of the MOAA’s Spokane chapter, will join five other surviving spouses for the association’s 367,000 membership. She was nominated by Merl Gorton, president of MOAA’s Washington State Council of Chapters. She currently serves on the Spokane MOAA Chapter’s board of directors as the auxiliary liaison, Web page coordinator (Spokane MOAA.org), and newsletter editor. Daigre and her husband moved to the Spokane area in 1991 after his retirement at his last duty station, North Island NAAS, Coronado, Calif.

The MOAA’s Spokane chapter serves more than 500 members in northeast Washington and North Idaho. The nonprofit veterans association is dedicated to maintaining a strong national defense and to preserving the earned entitlements of members of the uniformed services and their families and survivors.

Spokane

Bloomsday training clinics

Free training clinics for Bloomsday participants will be held at 8:30 a.m. on Saturdays for seven weeks prior to Bloomsday at the Spokane Falls Community College gym.

Meet at the gym for a training talk and warm-up activities followed by a walk or run on an outdoor course. Training begins with a one-mile course and increases a mile each week. Water stations, first aid, crossing guards and volunteer support staff will keep participants safe on the road each week.

Registration is required in advance or at the clinics. Call 482-2356 for more information.

– From staff reports