Craig Welch

Landing zone for aliens? Directions for airplanes? Clues for a treasure hunt? Residents question why their roads are rated X. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

While land and home values here climb, county spending appears poised to take a tiny tumble. A new preliminary Kootenai County budget shows several county departments are seeking thousands of dollars less than they have in years past.

Residents legally can't record oddball "commercial liens" that seek millions of dollars from public officials they feel have wronged them. That's the word from Kootenai County Clerk Tom Taggart following a Monday court ruling.

Gravel grumblings Melody Small and Dawn Slauson, neighbors of a proposed gravel pit, protest the commissioners approval outside the courthouse. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

1. Kootenai County Commission Chairman Dick Compton. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. Panabaker

FOR THE RECORD CORRECTION: The names of the victims who died in the abandoned mine Saturday are Stephen Novak, 28, Christopher Ost-Homstad, 22. Both names were misspelled Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Correction published on June 14, 1995. 1. Rescue workers head back into the mine. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review 2. Family members comfort each other after the bodies were removed. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

A 33-year-old man who jumped from a cruise boat into frigid Lake Coeur d'Alene Friday night is lucky to be alive, authorities said. David Lee Morse of Coeur d'Alene spent 40 minutes swimming and treading water in the dark 58-degree lake before being fished out by a fire district marine boat about 10:30 p.m.

Tests of a city well show levels of a cancer-causing solvent that exceed federal standards. There is no immediate health risk, water officials said Wednesday. But the well is only a few blocks west of a private community well that was shut down in 1992 after higher levels of the same chemical were found.

A judge has reversed Kootenai County's approval of a controversial 92-home development overlooking Cougar Bay. District Judge Craig Kosonen said county commissioners approved the project south of Coeur d'Alene along U.S. Highway 95 without adequate proof that proposed water, waste and stormwater disposal systems would work.

As Kootenai County enters budget season, early predictions are that property tax bills could drop this year for the typical Coeur d'Alene and Rathdrum homeowner.

Failing health has promoted renegade planning commissioner George LaValley to resign. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Neighbors are angry that a gravel pit got carte blanche approval to expand. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

After more than three years of battles, Interstate Concrete on Wednesday won the right to mine gravel on 230 acres of the Rathdrum Prairie. The decision by Kootenai County commissioners infuriated residents who complained that dust and noise from existing pits near U.S. Highway 95 and Boekel Road already make them miserable.

(Photo appeared in Idaho edition only): State Fish and Game officer Wayne Weseman says federal officers have reason to carry guns since the people they're dealing with are armed. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

"Somebody else paid an overly high price for their land so we all get it in the nose, huh?" asks homeowner Jim Kelly. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Mining gravel near Rathdrum will coat neighbors in dust, drown them in noise, cheat the county out of millions and leave a hole in the prairie, dozens of residents said Saturday. But backers of Interstate Concrete's plan to dig rock and sand say the project will control dust and noise, will help fuel the economy and will leave the land better than it is today.

A 21-year-old woman Friday admitted having sex with 13- and 14-year-old boys, but said she was "coaxed" into it by her boyfriend, who watched. Kimberly Ward, of Lancaster, Calif., pleaded guilty to three counts of lewd conduct stemming from a series of encounters with several teenagers between March and May 1994. Her boyfriend, an uncle to two of the boys, faces charges of aiding and abetting lewd conduct.

A footwear giant will pay states $9.5 million to settle charges it stomped on consumers, but Idaho's share amounts to little more than baby shoes. Authorities say Reebok International Ltd., and subsidiary Rockport Co. Inc., broke anti-trust laws by forcing retailers to sell shoes at a price fixed by the shoemakers.

Green treatment Sid Fredrickson, CdA's wastewater plant superintendent, knows it could mean serious cash for the city if "Coeur d'Green" is a success. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Kootenai County assessment notices will arrive in mailboxes this week, bringing good news and bad. The good news: The Legislature recently capped budget increases for taxing districts at 3 percent.

George LaValley's crusade to halt an industrial development over the Rathdrum aquifer has sparked an internal ruckus across the state line. Spokane County commissioners reprimanded their own water quality advisory panel for appearing to side with LaValley, a Kootenai County planning commissioner, in a dispute with his elected bosses.

An Eastside Highway District crew scoops up gravel Thursday after a slide along Fernan Lake Road. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

City leaders will consider a scaledback plan for a recreational vehicle park and retail center on Blackwell Island next month. The city Planning Commission recommended Tuesday its elected bosses approve plans for the park across the Spokane River and south of U.S. Highway 95 on land that once was home to a city dump. The decision came after four hours of comments from about 30 residents and developers.

A hardfought agreement limiting the time and way gravel can be extracted on the Rathdrum Prairie appears to be buried as deep as the rock itself. County commissioners have scheduled a hearing for public comment on an unsigned agreement that would heavily restrict Interstate Concrete in mining of gravel on 230 acres near Boekel Road. But the agreement being circulated for public review is an earlier version that's more favorable to the gravel company.