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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Erica Curless

This individual is no longer an employee with The Spokesman-Review.

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News >  Idaho

Residents seek specifics about wastewater plan

Post Falls needs to give people more specifics about its proposal to irrigate farmland on the Rathdrum Prairie with treated wastewater before asking voters to spend $9.5 million on land purchases, some residents say. Post Falls is asking voters Aug. 3 to approve spending the cash to buy up to 1,000 acres of farmland during the next 10 years for land application. By irrigating crops with treated wastewater the city could reduce the amount of effluent it dumps into the Spokane River.
News >  Idaho

Dad’s an Ironman

Dad's an Ironman The elite athletes were fading memories as 4-year-old Mitchell Ward of Spokane and his big sister, Madison, 5, stood in the middle of Sherman Avenue in downtown Coeur d'Alene, offering high fives to Ironman participants nearing the end of the marathon, the final leg of their ordeal.
News >  Idaho

Ironman heroes don’t disappoint fans

Good DNA is important if you want to be a successful triathlete. Just ask the three Garretson sisters. Or at least the two of them enjoying shade and cold ones on a hot afternoon while the third went cranking past on a bicycle out in the hot sun. If you want to get all technical about it, only one of the sisters, Jen Garretson, actually was competing in Ironman USA Coeur d'Alene on Sunday. And as Garretson, a physical therapist from Boise, neared the end of her 112-mile bike ride about 4:30 Sunday afternoon, a cluster of friends from the Boise Hash House Harriers running club launched an explosion of cowbells, whoops and cheers. The happy, noisy throng included Garretson's older sisters, Judi Brungs and Joan Garretson.

News >  Idaho

Ironman event to close some roads

Various roads and streets stretching from Coeur d'Alene to Liberty Lake will be closed today because they are part of the Ironman USA Coeur d'Alene race course. To get to downtown Coeur d'Alene, the hub of Ironman activity, drivers are advised to use 15th Street as the main north-south route. Third and Fourth streets also will be open to Coeur d'Alene Avenue.
News >  Idaho

Drivers should plan for Ironman twists

Various roads and streets stretching from Coeur d'Alene to Liberty Lake will be closed Sunday because they are part of the Ironman USA Coeur d'Alene race course. To get to downtown Coeur d'Alene, the hub of Ironman activity, drivers are advised to use 15th Street as the main north-south route. Third and Fourth streets also will be open to Coeur d'Alene Avenue.
News >  Idaho

County denies permit to trailer sales lot

Calling it a junkyard that doesn't fit in the neighborhood, the Kootenai County Commission denied a Chilco man a permit Wednesday to run his used mobile home sales yard along U.S. Highway 95. Repo Depot owner Larry Spencer vowed to appeal the decision, arguing the property is zoned to allow commercial sales and that he has complied with all the county rules. "From what I've heard, there's not a legal basis for the denial," said Spencer, who wasn't at the commission meeting. The county has fought with Spencer for the past year, asking him to bring the sale yard into compliance or remove the mobile homes. The county filed a lawsuit against Spencer last year, prompting him to apply for the permit. Deputy County Attorney John Cafferty said the county will continue with the lawsuit, which he said should force Spencer to either comply with county rules or remove the homes. Spencer sells the trailers, many of which don't have windows or doors, to people in Bonner and Boundary counties because many of them are too old to comply with Kootenai County and Washington standards. "Some of the buildings look like they are unlivable by anybody's code," Commissioner Rick Currie said. Commissioner Gus Johnson called the business a junkyard. Neighbors in the Chilco area just south of the Rimrock Golf Course agreed, and told commissioners at a public hearing last week that the trailers are eyesores where transients often sleep. The sales yard is in front of Chilco Falls, a county park. Jack Cardwell, who lives just north of the sales yard, said he was pleased with the commission's decision and that the trailers aren't homes but "wobble boxes." "What I want to happen now is to get those junk trailers out of there," he said. Spencer told the commission last week that they shouldn't shut down his business because some say it creates an eyesore. Spencer maintains that he is allowed to have the sales yard because the land is zoned commercial. He said other commercial uses — including a log home business, tavern and feed store — were allowed on the same property. And he doesn't understand why the county wants him to make improvements to the site, including landscaping and fencing, because he never has applied for a building permit or requested permission to move dirt on the property. He interprets county rules to read that improvements are only needed if he requests either a building or site disturbance permit. Spencer added that it doesn't make economic sense to spend $300,000 on upgrades when the Idaho Transportation Department will probably take over a large portion of the property when it eventually widens U.S. 95.
News >  Idaho

Fuel tank proposal worries community

Interstate Concrete and Asphalt wants options other than natural gas to fire its asphalt-making plants. But neighbors to the company's Hayden mine and a local conservation group worry about putting two 20,000-gallon fuel tanks over the Rathdrum Prairie/Spokane Valley Aquifer, which is the sole source of drinking water for more than 400,000 people.
News >  Spokane

Missing rafters weren’t really missing after all

Kootenai and Spokane County sheriff's deputies spent nearly four hours Wednesday searching for two missing rafters who weren't really lost. Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson said a county jet boat and two personal watercraft began searching the Spokane River about 1:30 p.m. between Corbin Park in Post Falls and Stateline after the couple was reported missing.
News >  Idaho

Building rules up for debate

Kootenai County wants to protect its hillsides so they aren't covered with homes and road scars. And that means limiting where people can build on these steep slopes. But some local developers, including the North Idaho Building Contractors Association, fear the move will put a moratorium on building in Kootenai County. And with the area's skyrocketing population, the builders argue people need homes.
News >  Idaho

Removal of tracks may take time

Coeur d'Alene expected to have a little more room in City Park before thousands of people flocked downtown for Ironman this weekend. But the railroad tracks that run parallel to the park's corner at Northwest Boulevard and across Mullan Road are still there.
News >  Idaho

Easy access to Ironman event, despite closed roads

Ironman USA Coeur d'Alene organizers fibbed – getting downtown to watch the triathletes cross the finish line isn't a grueling challenge. Organizers admit they were overcautious during last year's inaugural event when they warned people about parking problems, delays and detours.
News >  Idaho

Pleasantview Road has grand debut

Herb Heisel revved the red Corvette and hit the gas Friday for the inaugural cruise down the new 2.5 mile stretch of Pleasantview Road, which officials tout as a critical addition to Kootenai County's road system. "Awesome," said Heisel, the recently retired Post Falls Highway District road supervisor. "It's nice and smooth."
News >  Idaho

City seeks ways to pay for park

The sale of 12 acres that adjoins Ramsey Park becomes official next week, but the city is still looking for ways to pay for the land that will eventually become a baseball complex. Lake City Development Corp., the city's urban renewal agency, voted Wednesday to help Coeur d'Alene finance the $967,000 sale.
News >  Idaho

Canfield neighbors hope to buy failed subdivision

There wasn't much time for celebration Wednesday because neighbors at the base of Canfield Mountain were too busy coming up with a plan to buy 50 acres of hillside for a park. The neighbors, after four hours of testimony, convinced the Coeur d'Alene City Council late Tuesday night to unanimously reject a proposed 27-home subdivision and a zone change that would allow three homes per acre on nine acres of the property.
News >  Idaho

Neighbors protest Copper Ridge

Coeur d'Alene should buy 50 acres on the southwest side of Canfield Mountain and turn it into a park instead of letting developers build homes on the local landmark, a group of neighbors told the City Council on Tuesday night. The council heard hours of testimony from about 30 neighbors who want to stop the proposed 27-home Copper Ridge development at the end of Shadduck Lane. The group, which also protested in front of City Hall before the meeting, fears approval of the first phase of Copper Ridge would open the door for development on the steeper slopes of Canfield Mountain.
News >  Idaho

Ironman expenses bother Post Falls

Post Falls wants Ironman to pay for the salaries and extra costs the city will have when the bike portion of the race cruises through town. Police Chief Cliff Hayes estimates it will cost Post Falls police, street, parks and water departments an extra $10,142 to staff the world-class event June 27.
News >  Idaho

CdA working on Tubbs Hill parking lot deal

A lakefront business wants to expand but doesn't have enough space for parking, so it's asking the city to share its east Tubbs Hill lot. Hanna and Associates, an advertising agency, is located on a narrow Lakeshore Drive lot next to Tubbs Hill. It wants to add one foot to the height of the building and remodel it into two floors so it can add a few more employees and a conference room. The city is requiring the building's owner, Don Anderson, to provide additional parking spaces if it expands. There's no room on the already cramped lot for more off-street parking, so Anderson is asking the city to expand the east Tubbs Hill parking lot by about seven spaces.
News >  Idaho

City Council to hear Copper Ridge appeal

Opponents of the proposed Copper Ridge housing development at the foot of Canfield Mountain get to share their complaints Tuesday with the Coeur d'Alene City Council. Neighbors near the Shadduck Lane property filed an appeal against Coeur d'Alene Planning Commission's April 13 recommendation to approve plans for the 28-lot planned unit development. During the same meeting, the commission also recommended changing the zoning to allow three homes per acre on the land. The current zoning allows one home per acre.
News >  Idaho

Change in law needed for marina

Hagadone Hospitality must get Idaho law changed before it can build a private marina on the east shore of The Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course. The company wants to build a 30-slip marina as part of its plan for a luxury apartment complex tiered into the side of Potlatch Hill, just above the 13th tee. Each tenant would get a covered 14-by-32-foot boat slip.
News >  Idaho

Post Falls seeks safer swim spot

Kiwanis Park along the Spokane River may get an official swim area that's protected by buoys and markers. Post Falls is asking the Idaho Department of Lands for a permit to enclose the popular swim area off Ross Point Road on Weatherby Avenue.
News >  Idaho

County to hold hearing on land rules

Local residents are finally getting the chance to compare Kootenai County's proposed new rules for how to divide and classify land. The Kootenai County Commission recently finished putting together new drafts of rules for subdividing and zoning land. Until now, residents have only been able to comment separately on the two laws that actually work together.
News >  Idaho

City seeks land for wastewater

Post Falls wants to irrigate 500 acres of farmland on the Rathdrum Prairie with treated wastewater to reduce the amount of effluent it dumps into the Spokane River. The city will ask voters Aug. 3 to approve spending $9.5 million to buy the 500 acres of bluegrass south of Hayden Avenue and perhaps another 500 acres within the next 10 years. Voters must give a simple-majority.
News >  Idaho

CdA to buy land by Ramsey Park for baseball fields

The McEuen baseball field might get a new home. The Coeur d'Alene City Council voted Tuesday night, after a closed-door session, to put a $400,000 down payment on 12 acres that adjoins the existing Ramsey Park.
News >  Spokane

CdA to get new beach along river

Coeur d'Alene is getting a new, sandy beach along the Spokane River that city officials say should be just as nice as City Beach downtown. The 1,000 feet of public waterfront is part of a plan for a Sanders Beach-style neighborhood on the former Crown Pacific mill site between Seltice Way and the river.