Ken Olsen

Countdown to destruction. Anna Chong, president of Engineered Demolision, Inc., says her 'mischievousness' led her into a career of blowing things up. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

A 25-meter swimming pool and two gyms, all wrapped up in a community center, is only 2,000 memberships, $1.5 million in donations and a $2 million loan away. That's the latest plan for trying to turn more than a decade of effort into bricks and mortar - ambitious considering earlier failures and an aggressive fund-raising calendar. But the Coeur d'Alene City Council is expected to appoint a volunteer board Tuesday to raise the money and sell the memberships.

Crown Pacific closed its Bonners Ferry sawmill Wednesday for a year-long remodel just two weeks after announcing the closure of its Albeni Falls mill. All but 12 of the employees will be transferred to the nearby Colburn sawmill, where they will be used to start a second shift beginning Monday. There is no firm estimate of total job loss once the new, more efficient Bonners Ferry sawmill is back on line, but it should not be significant, company officials said.

Danzel Bjerke and Morgan Miller hide behind Jared Baisden as he tries his hand at the fly fishing demonstration at Saturday's Northwest Scouting Expo at Farragut State Park. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Under pressure to keep property taxes static, city officials are already looking for ways to pare next year's budget. They are operating under scrutiny from Concerned Businesses of North Idaho, which is monitoring nearly every staff discussion on the 1996-97 spending plan. The final budget will be adopted by the council in September.

Bob Welch examines a bottle from lab. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

John Witherspoon makes the best of it by testing his remote-control boat. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

A group hoping to douse hydroplane racing permanently is within 800 signatures of getting a proposed ban on the city ballot. Protect Our Lakes Association turned in petitions with 3,677 signatures to City Clerk Susan Weathers on April 12. Weathers determined that 2,408 of those signatures are valid.

Environmentalists supporting logging on public lands? Has the world gone wacky? Not exactly. The Sierra Club today is counting member votes on whether to call for a total ban of logging on federal land. That's bringing local environmentalists out of the woodwork, speaking moderation. "I am a member of the Sierra Club and I do not support the ban," said Larry McLaud, who also is North Idaho representative for the Idaho Conservation League. "In many parts of the U.S., a ban on commercial logging makes sense, but not in the Pacific Northwest and North Idaho.

Developers of Blackwell Island asked the City Council to pay them some $350,000 for public access to a bicycle path and other facilities Tuesday evening. "I don't think they were very serious," councilwoman Dixie Reid said. "More power to them for trying - a lot of this negotiation is how far can I push you. They tried the ultimate push."

(From For the Record, Thursday, April 18, 1996:) JD Lumber operates a sawmill at Priest River. The company was inadvertently left out of an article in Tuesday's newspaper about sawmills in the area.

Developers of a proposed recreational vehicle park on recently flooded Blackwell Island may pay the city $171,000 to get the project rolling. The money, which would be paid in two installments, is one aspect of an annexation agreement the Coeur d'Alene City Council will consider tonight. If finalized, it would be one of the last steps in bringing the first development south of the Spokane River into the city.

Taking the flak Khris Bershers gets some gentle ribbing from her more liberal friends at Quad Park in Post Falls. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Hydroplane opponents turned in petitions with approximately 1,200 additional signatures Friday at City Hall. But the question of prohibiting hydroplane races on Lake Coeur d'Alene won't make the ballot without more supporters signing up.

(From For the Record of Saturday, April 13, 1996:) U.S. Senate candidate Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, advocates making federal timber sales more cost effective and phasing out sales that lose money. A headline in Friday's editions misstated Minnick's position. Walt Minnick, Senate challenger

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig wants the General Accounting Office to investigate how much it costs the federal government to cancel timber sale contracts for environmental reasons. Craig is concerned about cases where he believes the Forest Service has had to pay timber companies for sales canceled because of the Endangered Species Act or other environmental laws. But Forest Service officials say environmental laws never have prompted any timber sale cancellations on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests or the Colville National Forest.

Saddle up. Horse logging may be riding back into the picture. This month, the Idaho Panhandle National Forests will offer the first of two horse-only logging sales, a move horse loggers hope will turn from an experiment into a trend.

Calling her a shameless foe of the environment, the Sierra Club is bestowing its "Eco-Thug" of the month award on U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth. The Idaho Republican isn't exactly distraught over the award, given in the May/June Sierra Magazine.

There's talk of drug deals and bad language at the basketball courts by the water, a main attraction at City Park. "Several credible sources" are reporting "the appearance of drug trafficking" in and around the popular courts on Lake Coeur d'Alene, Parks and Recreation Director Doug Eastwood said at a meeting last month.

Ted Wheeler Jr. rubbed a bandaged hand across his face Saturday, nursing the wounds from losing his cats to a house fire and from injuring his hand trying to save them. "I'm not dead," he said, after a neighbor kid strode over to give him a hug and ask him if he was all right.

Considering the anti-hydroplane fervor in the lake city this winter, getting a permanent ban on the ballot seemed a snap. With less than a week to go, organizers are a long way from docking their petition drive with the necessary 3,200 signatures. The question definitely won't make the May 28 primary. It may become an issue for a special August election. It's more likely the proposal to ban hydroplane racing will go to the voters during the November general election. Or die.

As one problem along U.S. Highway 95's snaking route through the Lake City is nearing resolution, another is surfacing. Tonight the City Council is expected to endorse an Idaho Transportation Department proposal to change the shape of Haycraft Avenue and Highway 95. It means by summer that raised islands likely will be installed along the Highway 95 portion of the intersection.

Two Kingston men became ill Monday morning after handling a 55-gallon drum they found on the banks of the Coeur d'Alene River. The unidentified men apparently were walking along the Union Pacific Railroad line, about a quarter-mile from the Coeur d'Alene River Campground. They found the drum on its side and turned it upright, said Bill Schwartz of Kootenai County Disaster Services.

A metal-plating company will start cleaning up pollution around its plant by early June. Deming Industries will punch wells into the contaminated water and soil around its plant to remove heavy metals and an industrial solvent.