John Craig

Elected two years ago as a Republican, Stevens County Commissioner J.D. Anderson defines his party's furthest right boundary. The ardent constitutionalist isn't active in Republican politics, but is still a major factor.

A struggle for control of the Stevens County Republican Party has produced the largest number of precinct committee officer candidates that election officials can remember. Ninety-eight candidates are running for 53 positions. In most of the 45 contested precincts, there are two candidates: one supported by mainstream conservatives and one that presumably represents the party's right wing.

A 15-year-old boy may join James and Tracie McMurtrey in adult court to answer charges that he participated in a violent break-in last week at a Springdale, Wash., home. The boy, who has no apparent relationship to the McMurtreys, faces a hearing Nov. 4 to determine whether he should face trial as an adult. Until then, he is being held in the Yakima County Juvenile Detention Center on charges of first-degree burglary and second-degree assault as an accomplice.

A Stevens County judge has refused to grant an 18-year-old rapist leniency, despite a Western Washington appeals court decision that threatens to turn the state's statutory rape law on its head. Superior Court Judge Larry Kristianson rejected arguments Friday that Bassah Curd deserves a light sentence for raping a 13-year-old girl last July.

Marvin L. Shepard, legally blind from a gunshot wound, walked to the front of a federal courtroom on the arm of his public defender Friday and admitted helping torture a man to death with a hot poker. Shepard, 33, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting aggravated assault and being an accessory to first-degree murder. U.S. District Judge Frem Nielsen ordered a presentence report before he decides whether to accept a plea bargain calling for a nine-year prison sentence.

Economic development, property rights and political balance are on the minds of four men running for two Ferry County commissioner positions. At the north end of the county, Republican Dennis Snook and Democrat Chris Kroupa are competing to replace Democrat Ed Windsor, who is stepping down.

A tax-dispute settlement Thursday between Pend Oreille County and Ponderay Newsprint will pump $4.3 million into government coffers and give some taxpayers a rate cut next year. Ponderay Newsprint started withholding almost 51 percent of its taxes in 1994 under state law that applies only to taxpayers who represent more than one-fourth of 1 percent of a county's assessed value.

Incumbent Stevens County District Court Judge Pam Payne violated professional ethics by breaking attorney-client confidentiality, according to election rival Patty St. Clair. St. Clair's husband, Cliff Hopper, said he will complain to the Washington State Bar Association that Payne improperly divulged information in April that he gave her when she represented him two years ago.

Two challengers for Pend Oreille County commissioner seats think the people who hold those posts need to spend more time on the job. Republican Wanda Stenzel and Democrat Sandi Lewis agree the commissioners need to keep office hours at least two days a week in addition to the time they spend elsewhere on the $23,760-a-year jobs.

Democratic challengers Jeff Johnston and M. Grant McMullen are focusing on economic development in their uphill battles against two incumbent Republican Stevens County commissioners. The county needs to support its struggling timber and mining industries with tax breaks and lure new industries with tax incentives, according to Johnston.

Meningitis victim Micah Brisbane remained in serious but stable condition Monday, but no new cases were reported in the boy's hometown of Republic, Wash. A Sacred Heart Medical Center spokesman declined to comment on prospects for the 16-year-old. He was hospitalized Wednesday.

Newport High School social studies teacher Roger Coplen's claim that two female colleagues sexually harassed him is unbelievable, a state administrative law judge has ruled. The judge, David G. Hansen, rejected the 51-year-old Coplen's appeal to the state superintendent of public instruction. He agreed with the Newport School District that former curriculum director Pam Veltri, 42, and counselor Sylvia Campbell, 36, did not violate district and state rules against sexual harassment.

A Republic High School junior is hospitalized with the same strain of bacterial meningitis that killed a Coeur d'Alene girl less than two weeks ago. Micah Brisbane, who will turn 17 in two weeks, was in serious but stable condition Friday night at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.

1. This sidewalk in Springdale was scarred with slogans, foot prints and bike tracks. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Springdale is building a new city hall after a teen set fire to the original building. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

A Tonasket, Wash., woman convicted of child molestation is suspected of leaving three crude package bombs in the Republic post office last week. Republic Police Chief Chuck Kells confirmed Wednesday that Laura Frank, 32, is expected to face numerous federal charges. She was booked into the Okanogan County Jail Tuesday after police searched the home where she was living.

Lovelace

Self-proclaimed racist Faron Lovelace, 39, worked his way up to a capital murder in North Idaho from a Louisiana burglary and theft conviction at age 17. In between, federal prison records show, Lovelace has spent much of his time in prison.

1. Post office evacuated. An Army bomb expert from the Yakima Firing Range removes packages containing explosives found in the Republic post office Tuesday. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review 2. Bomb squad members examine the recovered devices. 3. Police officers secure the area around the Republic post office. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

(From For the Record, September 26, 1996): Nikolay Senchenko was convicted of transporting wildlife with the intent to sell, but during his federal court trial, witnesses did not directly testify that he had sold bear parts. A story on Tuesday indicated otherwise.

Incumbent Stevens County Commissioners Fran Bessermin and Fred Lotze turned back challengers in the Republican primaries for their districts. Unofficial results from Tuesday's election show Suncrest resident Bessermin defeating Tony Delgado of Loon Lake 818 votes to 627. Lotze, who was appointed last spring, easily fended off former Commissioner John Hodde 1,710 to 877 in the race to represent Colville and the northern part of the county. Lotze will face little-known Democrat Jeff Johnston in the Nov. 5 general election. Johnston drew 445 votes in his uncontested primary. Bessermin faces a tougher fight in November. M. Grant McMullen of Suncrest made a strong showing in his uncontested Democratic primary. With 581 votes, he had 28.7 percent of the overall vote, compared with 40.4 percent for Bessermin and 31 percent for Delgado.

A Ukrainian immigrant was convicted Tuesday of 12 more charges related to illegal bear hunting in Pend Oreille County. Nikolay Senchenko, 46, already had been convicted in federal court and sentenced to three months in jail for illegal trafficking in animal parts. He remained free pending appeal of his federal conviction in April. As in the federal trial, Senchenko, who immigrated from the Ukraine in 1989 and speaks broken English, represented himself with the help of an interpreter. He made little use of his "standby" court-appointed attorney. A Pend Oreille County District Court jury of four women and two men heard two weeks of testimony and deliberated about five hours Monday and Tuesday before convicting Senchenko as charged. The charges included hunting out of season, exceeding the limit, using illegal snares and lacking a bear tag.

Stevens County Commissioner J.D. Anderson, a far-right constitutionalist, wasn't at a candidates forum here, but he was on people's minds. A written question from the audience of 140 at Colville High School on Thursday night asked whether candidates for two other commissioner positions support Anderson's proposal to have the county sue the state or federal governments over land-use policies. Answers from the six candidates ranged from hedging to disdain.

(From For the Record, September 14, 1996): A Friday story about a lawsuit against the Pend Oreille County clerk incorrectly identified Spokane County Superior Court Judge Paul Bastine.

Stevens County's North Country Faire will dish up a mellowed version of the '60s today, Saturday and Sunday. The peace-and-love generation may have mortgages and grandchildren, but fair organizers say they haven't lost their ideals. They promise to put counterculture's best foot forward with a noncommercial fair that bans war toys, military hardware, junk food and electrical generators.