Idaho Voices

For 02-28-2010

Students at Coeur d’Alene High School were recently named to the first semester honor roll for the 2009-2010 academic year. Students are listed by their grade level. Seniors

Prosecutor Doug Payne didn’t appreciate the criticism leveled at Sheriff Bob Kirts and Benewah County by outsiders including me recently. In a Handle Extra comment, I said the issue of giving tribal police the authority to arrest nontribal members has exposed white animosity toward the tribe. This, after Kirts had called Coeur d’Alene police spokesman Christie Wood “stupid” and dismissed concerns of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations as a bunch of “fecal” matter. Quoth Payne: “Unlike Dave Oliveria or Christie Woods (sic), I live on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation and in Benewah County and I personally know many of the people he has insulted, and I know Bob Kirts. They are rural people; less impressed by money or power than by hard work, humility and loyalty to principle. They are not so easily offended by the inartfulness of words used as by the ill intent of the one who uses them.” In a Coeur d’Alene Press online comment, Payne said trouble with cross-deputization began when the U.S. Supreme Court awarded the eastern third of Lake Coeur d’Alene to the tribe. And tribal police tried to enforce the law on the waterway. Seems to me the problem began and continues with Benewah County residents who refuse to acknowledge the tribe owns the lake and should have the right to enforce the rules on its property. More on Brannon

COEUR D’ALENE – North Idaho College will host College Information Night on Wednesday, from 5 to 7 p.m. in NIC’s Edminster Student Union Building, in the Lake Coeur d’Alene Room. Event activities include presentations by North Idaho schools on the programs offered at their institutions, along with informational booths, how to apply for financial aid, and door prize giveaways.

Lake City High School sophomores and freshmen who made the school’s first semester honor roll are: Sophomores

Waves National Organization Unit 140 – Sea Service organization of women veterans. Meets the third Saturday of October, November and April. Welcoming new members. Call Naomi at (509) 747-8383 or Pat at (509) 456-8612 for more information. USS Gurke (DD-783) – April 8-11 in Washington, D.C. Contact Thomas Stephenson at 2030 Lockwood Drive, San Jose, CA 95132; (408) 263-2836; dd783_reunion@tstephenson.com; or www.ussgurke.org.

Weekly Events Sunday Morning Studies at CUMC – 9:45-10:45 a.m. between worship services. Also time for Kids pre kindergarten-fifth grade, and youth sixth-12th grades. Nursery available 8:30 a.m.-noon at Community United Methodist Church, 1470 W. Hanley Ave. (208) 765-8800.

An Irish pub without Guinness is like a discotheque without a DJ. “I’m so sorry, we can’t serve any beer or wine tonight,” apologized the waitress with a hint of exasperation when I walked into Kelly’s Irish Pub to meet the parental units for dinner. The draught drought was actually through no fault of their own; turns out they ran into a snare during the transfer of the beer and wine license, namely the fact that the county is notoriously slower than molasses when it comes to such matters. More than likely, Kelly’s beer taps will be flowing by the time you read this, but their temporary dry spell was too much to handle for several groups of customers who walked in and did a 360 back out the door after being told of the dire alcohol situation.

It has definitely been a warm start to 2010. Temperatures across the Inland Northwest have been running about 6 to 8 degrees above normal since the first of the year. Looking at temperature data over the last seven weeks, two Washington cities, Winthrop and Ephrata, have seen their warmest temperatures on record. The first seven weeks of the year have been the third warmest for Spokane and the second warmest for Pullman.

BOISE – There are 33,000 Idaho retirees who draw their pensions from the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho, all longtime state, local government or school employees, and all, presumably, motivated voters in this election year when every seat in the Legislature is up for a vote. So what prompted House Republicans to wage a bare-fisted but losing battle to deny those retirees a 1 percent cost-of-living increase next month?

For 02-28-2010

In early February, Sandpoint resident Peter Faletto was saddened to hear of the death of one of his greatest heroes, Jimmie Heuga. Huega was a man who influenced Faletto in both his personal and professional life, and it is Heuga who Faletto will honor March 13 by raising funds in his memory and donating them to a cause to which Heuga devoted his life.

Actress Melinda Strobel will celebrate Women’s History Month, performing her new production, “Western Women: Pioneers and Prostitutes,” at North Idaho libraries throughout the month of March. The one-woman show will look at the split personalities of women in Western history. The performances will introduce attendees to a variety of women who helped shape the American West. Among them are Berthenia Owens-Adair, the first woman doctor in Oregon; stage coach driver Charley Parkhurst; and Idaho’s own Molly b’Dam’, the legend of Murray.

A crisis has occurred at the Timberlake Fire District, as Chief Jack Krill idled 17 of 18 fire rigs, one of which is the chief’s personal pickup truck. Citing safety and mechanical issues, Chief Krill, after discussing the matter with his officers, decided to take this step out of concern for the safety of his firefighters. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back was when the gas pedal on one of the fire engines stuck wide open while the chief was test-driving it. Before he could get it stopped, the truck had blown through the railroad crossing, to finally stop at the lumber company west of the station. (No, the truck was not built by Toyota) The following was part of an announcement by the chief:

Filings from Jan. 29-Feb. 2. Chapter 7