Craig Welch

Ron Rankin, longtime tax activist and now Kootenai County Commissioner, is now sitting as a member of the board of Equalization, hearing tax assessment appeals. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

The state's lone environmental watchdog agency is citing fewer and fewer businesses for polluting the air or mishandling hazardous materials. The state's Division of Environmental Quality slapped only 13 such citations on businesses in the past two years, compared to 57 in the 24 months before that. Meanwhile, DEQ demanded only nine businesses enter legally binding agreements to stop polluting in 1995 and 1996, compared with 59 the previous two years.

Gene Woodruff displays a plaster cast of what he believes is a Bigfoot footprint. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Frustrated business leaders are campaigning to get rid of Panhandle Health District's authority to enforce environmental regulations. They contend the health district appears to duplicate efforts of the state's Division of Environmental Quality, and is less responsive to residents who seek environmental permits.

The Idaho Panhandle National Forests may lose another 10 percent of its work force after its staff already has been reduced by a quarter since 1995. Forest officials are preparing for a June meeting when they will outline a proposal to cut about 40 jobs from the 2.2 million-acre forest during coming years.

One-year-old Bailey Corbin wanders through Forest Cemetery on Monday morning. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

What should rising population and a public call for less government mean for Panhandle Health District? That's what health officials hope to find out during a pair of public meetings this week in Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls.

They're 250 yards away, across a street and shielded by a 40-foot fence. But residents of four duplexes near the Coeur d'Alene Public Golf Course are being clobbered by a hailstorm of golf balls. They've endured broken windows and dented fenders and dodged the little missiles during barbecues.

Jesse Bush, Reuben Rod and Matt Mattles make the most out of a piece of debris Thursday at Independence Point. They said the water was warm - after they were numb. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Home values for most Kootenai County property owners did not rise last year, according to assessment figures released this week. But up to a third of county landowners can expect value increases that range from a few dollars to 50 percent or more.

The hazardous materials team move a barrel at the landfill transfer station. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Recruiting minorities to work in North Idaho is fine - albeit unnecessary - as long as the practice doesn't take large numbers of jobs from locals. That seemed to be the general opinion of a handful of Kootenai County business and government leaders surveyed last week.

City leaders approved on Tuesday a controversial 220-site recreational vehicle park on Blackwell Island - again.

Ivory Carr, a senior at Lake City High, works at the Coeur d'Alene office of the U.S. Forest Service, which has come under fire for its minority hiring program. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Devanney

1. Fate saved Don Caparelli, still a miner, from a deadly fire 25 years ago. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. Worried family members await word on the fate of miners trapped by fire 3,400 feet below the surface in the Sunshine Mine. Of the 93 men trapped underground, only two emerged alive. File photos/The Spokesman-Review 3. Tom Wilkinson, left, and Ron Flory were all smiles at the 3,700-foot level of the Sunshine Mine after surviving seven days trapped at the 4,800-foot level. 4. Crew chiefs studied maps of tunnels and shafts while plotting rescue efforts for trapped miners. 5. Rescuer Donald Morris, in skip, was the first to descend into the burning mine. Wayne Kanack is at left.

Developers have scrapped a controversial plan to build a 150-foot cellular telephone antenna in a suburban Post Falls neighborhood. After meeting with Post Falls officials and learning of 250 signatures on a petition, representatives of AirTouch Cellular agreed this week to seek a new site for their tower - this time in a commercial area. "We sat and visited and decided if the neighbors didn't want it, that's not where it should go," said Post Falls City Administrator Jim Hammond. "They (AirTouch) didn't want to create a problem for Post Falls or for themselves." The wireless phone company had proposed building the tower and an adjacent support building at 21st Street and Idaho Avenue. But opponents, led by resident Janice Hussman, complained the tower would be ugly and inappropriate near their homes. Hussman badgered city employees and collected 250 signatures in support of her push to block the tower from being built near homes. While pleased with news that the tower won't land in her neighborhood, Hussman said Thursday she was disappointed the proposal was yanked before she was able to share her thoughts with city officials in a public hearing. "I didn't get to say what I wanted to say, and the issue is still at hand," she said. "I was fighting for my corner, yes, but what I really want is for these things to be regulated. They're going to put it someplace." But Hammond said the new site would be in a business area and added that city planners were looking into regulating the towers - an increasing phenomenon throughout the West. In recent years, a boom in wireless communication has led to a proliferation of cellular phone towers in even small cities. Post Falls and surrounding areas now have six of the antennas, the oldest of which has been around less than a year. As a result, many cities facing the same conflicts as Post Falls have turned to land-use regulations to control where and how the towers are erected. However, cities' control is limited by last year's passage of the Telecommunications Act, which was designed to help encourage more competition among telephone companies. Hammond said the two central issues Planner Gary Young is researching are: How much leeway does Post Falls have in limiting where towers can be erected, and what kind of design standards can the city place on future towers?

A judge has rejected a Coeur d'Alene School District plan to build a $1.5 million support services building without going to voters. District Judge James Judd said the district's plan would save money, improve efficiency and better serve the public, but did not constitute a "necessary" expense.

Workers with Microwave Tower Service Inc. put the finishing touches on a new cellular phone tower for Nextel in Post Falls on Friday. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

A Wallace, Idaho, physician has had his medical license reinstated after promising to start paying his overdue child support. Dr. Joe Bayard Miller Jr., a family physician, agreed to make two $800 partial payments to care for his two teenage boys over the next 60 days.

A Silver Valley physician is scrambling to get back his medical license after learning it was suspended because he's $25,000 behind in child support. Dr. Joseph B. Miller Jr. has been in and out of court several times for not making court-ordered $1,000 monthly payments to care for his two teenage boys. Tuesday, a Spokesman-Review reporter informed Miller that his driver's and medical licenses have been suspended since April 8. The next day, Miller was negotiating with state Health and Welfare Department workers to resume those payments to his ex-wife in Tennessee.

Saying board members who oversaw the project were "incompetent" and held illegal meetings, county Commissioner Ron Rankin said Monday it was time to kill a plan to dredge Kidd Island Bay for better boat access. After spending $198,000 in legal and engineering fees over seven years, the advisory board of bayarea residents still doesn't have the necessary permits to start the project, estimated at $2.8 million. The board apparently kept no official meeting minutes, but engineer's notes from two years of gatherings suggest the board replaced retiring members itself - a duty reserved for county commissioners - and held closed-door meetings without a quorum, Rankin said.

Coeur d'Alene police officers arrest Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler outside the Coeur d'Alene Inn on Saturday night. He was cited for trespassing. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

The Coeur d'Alene School District has named three finalists to replace Doug Cresswell as superintendent. Each of the three will be introduced to the public during morning and evening forums, beginning later this week.