Ken Olsen

Sens. John Warner and Dirk Kempthorne take testimony Saturday at NIC. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Armed with a gift pack of bologna, human rights activists visited the Kootenai County commissioners Wednesday to push for the repeal of their official-English resolution. "In Nazi Germany, it was against the law to speak any language but German," said Marshall Mend, of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. "What does it say to the Japanese exchange students who come to North Idaho College? What about the tourists who come to The Coeur d'Alene Resort?" "There is latent bigotry and prejudice here," said task force member Skip Dunton. "I see it bringing out a divisiveness that is already here."

English became the official language of Kootenai County Tuesday by unanimous vote of the county commissioners. Commissioner Ron Rankin initiated the English-only resolution last week but the matter was tabled. Before Tuesday's vote, he dropped provisions that bilingualism allegedly threatens to split Canada. Rankin also added a paragraph noting that Idaho law requires official business be conducted in English.

Watch for falling timber 1. Bell 205 helicopter lifts storm-damaged trees off Coeur d'Alene's Tubbs Hill on Monday. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. Workers watch as trees are dropped onto the Third Street parking lot.

Two North Idaho snowmobile trails were closed Friday because of avalanche danger and the U.S. Forest Service is encouraging people to stay out of the back country. Priest Lake Ranger Ken Dunstan made the Boulder Trail and the Beaver Creek/Beaver Pass route off limits Friday. Warm weather, winds and heavy snowfall this week all spell high avalanche danger.

Deepest snowpack in years great for spring skiers Lookout Pass Ski Area Manager J. Eischen makes a pass Thursday under a chairlift where snow was so deep that riders were dragging their skis. The region's snowpack is unusually deep and moist. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Putting toll booths on interstate highways likely wouldn't be popular in North Idaho, local experts said. And it might even be counterproductive. President Clinton's proposed six-year highway funding bill would give states the option of using toll booths. Current law allows tolls to be charged only to build a new piece of interstate.

English isn't the official language of Kootenai County, at least not yet. Kootenai County commissioners voted 2-1 Tuesday to table a resolution mandating English as official county-speak. Only Commissioner Ron Rankin, who pitched the proposal, voted against putting the issue on hold.

Hayden Lake's Rose Tinklin wants some answers to her water problems. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Ron Rankin COEUR d'ALENE

Logging the dike. Mike Kloos and Kevin Stevens remove cottonwood and pine trees to prepare for digging a new spillway through the Hayden Lake dike. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Environmentalists appear to have edged timber interests 2-1 in a week of significant decisions for Pacific Northwest forests. From the Clinton administration to the federal courts, the decisions and declarations clearly favored environmentalists over the timber industry.

Expanding the rights of property owners to collect damages for state and local government decisions is a good idea, a Bonner County commissioner says. On Thursday the Idaho House of Representatives passed a measure giving property owners a new way to seek damages, without going to court, if a government decision reduces their property value more than 10 percent. The vote on House Bill 220 was 54-16.

If library officials don't quit pushing for a new building in McEuen Field, they will seriously alienate community donors, City Councilman Ron Edinger said Wednesday. "All of those $5, $10 and $20 donations add up," he said.

Seven of 12 allegations of money mishandling and record-keeping problems in Washington State University's College of Education have merit, the Washington state auditor said Tuesday. And WSU Education Dean Bernard Oliver should either provide better documentation for more than $800 he spent on travel and entertainment or reimburse the university, the auditor's report said.

Quigley

Ken Kohli

A plan to protect the drinking water for Oldtown, Idaho, and Newport, Wash., isn't dead despite rejection from the Bonner County Commission, proponents say. The commission voted 2-1 Thursday to reject a plan that would have established a bell-shaped protection zone for prolific drinking water springs east of Oldtown. The springs are part of the supply for a joint water system supplying Oldtown and Newport, called the West Bonner Water District. There's a significant potential for spoiling the water because the soil is porous, the water is near the surface and Bonner County's population is increasing. The Water District wanted to establish guidelines for about a 1-square-mile area, out of the estimated 22-square-mile aquifer recharge area, said Bryan Quayle, a land use consultant for the West Bonner Water District.

Conservationists, the timber industry and cattlemen agree there are flaws in proposed changes in the rights of citizens to appeal federal land-use decisions. Some want tougher changes, some want none.

New laws are not needed to make the U.S. Forest Service a better land manager, a General Accounting Office spokesman said Tuesday. The Forest Service simply needs to better follow laws already on the books, said GAO Associate Director Barry Hill. The agency managing America's forests must improve its decision-making, accountability and performance, Hill told senators considering an overhaul of the national forest management act.

An alumnus who has given Washington State University $1.5 million in state-of-the-art computer gear is threatening to start a donor boycott with a statewide newspaper advertising campaign. Warren Mack Lindsey says the WSU School of Architecture has mishandled his gifts of computers and software that students use to learn computer-aided drafting and building design. WSU took no initiative to train faculty and students on the computers, and hasn't tried to raise additional money to keep the equipment upgraded, Lindsey said. "It's way beyond disappointment," said Lindsey, a 1976 graduate of the architecture program who now lives in Seattle. Kirk Wise, chairman of the architecture school's alumni advisory board, blames the dispute in part on misunderstanding among school administrators and Lindsey. Robert Altenkirch, the dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture, said he hasn't talked to Lindsey about concerns over the computers. "The hardware and software gifts have been installed," said Altenkirch, who wasn't dean when Lindsey made his first donation more than three years ago. 'It's basically revolutionized what's being done in this school. The gifts have well-positioned the school technologically," he said. He added the school is "providing the support resources" for the computers. Geoff Gamble, interim WSU provost, said he plans to meet with Lindsey but doesn't know the details of his concerns. "I think I've been vaguely aware of it," he said. Lindsey, whose family made its fortune in the soft drink business, said he first gave 20 computers to the school in 1993. The unsolicited gift was intended to put computers on the desks of third- and fourth-year architecture students, Lindsey said. He said he nearly withdrew his gift after the then-dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture complained Lindsey was using the donation to dictate how students should be taught. Lindsey claimed an administrator told him after the 1993 gift that some professors had no intention of learning how to use or teach with the computers. "When Mack's gift came about, there were teachers so contrary to the whole thing they wouldn't let students use them in the classroom," Wise said. Despite those problems, Lindsey donated 116 more machines the following year. He said WSU couldn't come up with the money to train students how to use them, so he spent $40,000 to fly two architects from Seattle to Pullman once a week for two semesters, to train students. Lindsey continued donating computers to WSU, and has now given about 250 machines for both architecture and construction management students. He said the construction management program is making good use of the computers. Wise said that at one point, he and Lindsey were trying to figure out how to set up an annuity to provide money for ongoing equipment upgrades. "I think that's pretty much out the window," said Wise. Altenkirch said he'd be glad to sit down with Lindsey to talk about an annuity. Now, both Wise and Lindsey are concerned the computers are becoming obsolete, and school administrators have discussed the possibility of requiring that students provide their own computers.

Pointing out a place in history Medal of Honor recipient Vernon Baker attends Washington, D.C., ceremony honoring Black History Month on Wednesday. Photo by Associated Press

There are only three of them. Webster Anderson mounted the parapet of his battalion's howitzer emplacement to direct shells at North Vietnamese who were overrunning his position in October 1967. Two grenades exploded at his feet, shattering his legs. He propped himself up and continued to direct howitzer fire. Another grenade landed by a wounded comrade. Anderson grabbed it and tossed it, losing his right hand in the explosion. Clarence E. Sasser was an infantry medic with an aerial assault team elsewhere in Vietnam in 1968. The enemy ambushed the choppers, inflicting 30 causalities. Sasser ran through a blizzard of rockets and bullets to bring the wounded to safety. He was hit in the shoulder by rocket fragments, and kept going back. After both legs were hit, he dragged himself back, bringing more wounded to safety. Then he tended to them for five hours until they were evacuated. This is the company Vernon Baker keeps. Baker, of St. Maries, along with Anderson and Sasser, are the only three living black veterans to have received the Medal of Honor. All were summoned to the Pentagon on Wednesday for Black History Month and for the dedication of a corridor honoring blacks who have fought for the United States. Only Baker and Sasser were there. Anderson, a triple amputee, is too ill to travel. Baker, his wife, Heidy, and Sasser arrived an hour early - time enough for them to be shuffled from one office to another, so all of the important people could have a moment with these heroes. Baker and Sasser then were squeezed into a 300-seat auditorium that was trying to hold 400 to hear words long denied them because of their race. "Their medals shine especially bright, because they fought two wars," Defense Secretary William S. Cohen declared. That they had to fight racism and prejudice as well as enemy soldiers "is a stain upon our nation's soul." Admiral J. Paul Reason, commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and the first black four-star officer in the Navy, echoed those thoughts. "Lt. Vernon Baker and Pfc. Clarence Sasser and many more represent the very best our country has to offer," Reason added. Wednesday's festivities included a video tribute to the 86 blacks who have earned the Medal of Honor since it was created by Congress during the Civil War. Baker's photo leads the film. A clip of him at the Jan. 13 White House ceremony, tears on his cheek, draws the tribute to a close - and the audience to a standing ovation. Baker was a platoon leader in Italy in 1945 and single-handedly took out three German machine gun nests, an observation post and two bunkers as well as helping to eliminate two additional machine gun nests. All of this in a single day, a day during which he was abandoned by his white commander. Baker was passed over for the Medal of Honor until last month. Six other black World War II veterans were honored posthumously. During every pause at Wednesday's ceremony, there was a crush of people, young and old, working to get autographs from Baker and Sasser. People with cameras jockeyed for position and shouted "just one more." Heidy Baker guided forkfuls of food to her husband's mouth so he could partake of the reception banquet and satisfy the demand for signatures. It was both a welcome honor and a trying task for Baker. "It just brings back things I'd like to forget," he said of the talk of potholes and curves in the road to equality. "I think sometimes that's part of the problem - we live in the past too much. I'd rather look forward, down the road, to what's going to happen."

Craig