Ken Olsen

Poppy Rich

A landslide buried a forest road and diverted Quartz Creek in the Clearwater National Forest during recent floods. File/The Spokesman-Review

Hydroplane opponents say they won't quit fighting the return of the jet-engine boats if the City Council approves the racing. "I'm hoping the council will do what I perceive to be the right thing - say goodbye to hydro," said Art Manley of the Kootenai Environmental Alliance. "I have a strong feeling that if it doesn't go the way I want it to, ... there would be some other action."

The move to return hydroplane racing to Lake Coeur d'Alene took on a more serious tone Thursday when the chamber of commerce announced it is forming a separate organization to focus on bringing back the boats. The chamber board voted to endorse putting Coeur d'Alene on the professional racing circuit each Labor Day weekend provided "all environmental and public concerns are adequately addressed," a chamber news release said.

Idaho Gov. Phil Batt would like Coeur d'Alene Greyhound Park to be able to broadcast dog and horse races without holding live races, as state law now requires. That idea may surface in the Legislature next month, his staff says.

1. Chris Christian announces that his company will take over operation of the Coeur d'Alene Greyhound Park in Post Falls. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. Gross

FOR THE RECORD: Thursday, December 28, 1995 Idaho Edition CLARIFICATION: GTE is proposing charging Moscow, Idaho, telephone customers a higher monthly rate to continue reaching Pullman as a local call. Or customers will be able to pay a lower monthly rate plus a per-minute charge for calls to Pullman. The per-minute charge would be based on extended-area service rates, which are lower-priced than long-distance rates. Currently, Pullman is a local call as part of regular telephone service. GTE maintains that is not eliminating toll-free calling between Moscow and Pullman, as implied in a story in Wednesday's Spokesman-Review

No rest for the working. Cindy Garcia, a clerk at Gittel's Grocery in Coeur d'Alene, found herself with dozens of customers in search of batteries, drinks and holiday dinner food on Christmas. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Abysmal. That's how the scorecard reads for timber worker retraining programs. They are expensive and produce few graduates. Retraining attracts few unemployed loggers and millworkers - even those who acknowledge they would be better off in different professions. Despite the millions invested by state and federal agencies over several years, retraining programs still don't cover enough of the workers' costs. That means people who enroll take huge financial risks, such as losing a home or a car. Or working full-time and going to school full-time - an enormous stress for most people, especially those unaccustomed to classroom work.

The Elk Creek School. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Huge salvage logging sales in the Kootenai National Forest, challenged because of potential harm to grizzly bears, can go forward, a federal judge ruled this week. That clears the way for 122 million board feet of lumber to be logged, much of it supplying North Idaho mills. Environmentalists say they will immediately appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell on Tuesday rejected a suit against the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service filed by the Inland Empire Public Lands Council, Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the Ecology Center. That suit charged that huge clearcuts and new roads would push a fragile grizzly population in the Cabinet-Yaak area to the extinction.

Former contractor Ronald Stratton heads to court for sentencing Friday. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

The Grinch didn't just steal Christmas. He swiped Mary and the baby Jesus Tuesday and went back for the crucifix Wednesday night. That was at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Coeur d'Alene. And it's part of a Christmas season trend that bandits appear to be pursuing with religious zeal. Last week, someone took a 4-foot statue of Joseph from in front of a Colbert, Wash., home and tried to also take Jesus and a wise man. In Athol 10 days ago, thieves cut down a 5-foot tall Santa that was lashed to an arch above Sherry Baker's home. That's the last anyone has seen of St. Nick.

Unseasonably wet weather continues to cause damage in the southwestern reaches of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests. A large chunk of the old Milwaukee Railroad route, 15 miles northeast of Avery, is the latest reported problem. Late November flooding caused a substantial pond to build behind the Moss Creek fill.

Lance Cpl. Zachary Mayo stops to talk with two boys before his parade through Osburn Tuesday. /The Spokesman-Review

Susan K. Servick is likely to become the next council member, replacing Dan English. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

City residents should not be allowed to vote on whether to bring back hydroplane racing to Lake Coeur d'Alene, the Chamber of Commerce president says. A 1985 advisory vote brought a record number of voters to the polls to reject the return of the super speedboats. They raced in Coeur d'Alene from 1958 to 1968.

Susan Servick, a local attorney, likely will join the City Council next week. Current council members and other nominees confirm that Servick is Mayor Al Hassell's pick to replace Dan English, who left in October to become Kootenai County clerk.

People selling homes that are known to have Louisiana-Pacific Corp. siding should disclose that fact as a possible flaw, attorneys and real estate agents say. That requirement deals another blow to homeowners who have been complaining for years that L-P's Inner Seal siding will crack, warp, sprout mushrooms and disintegrate because moisture penetrates the siding. Disclosure prior to a sale could lower the value of a house.

Isabella Creek washed away this road in the Clearwater National Forest during recent flooding. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Zachary Mayo came home to the Silver Valley on Wednesday. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

District Ranger Art Bourassa walks away from a massive slide on Quartz Creek in the Clearwater National Forest. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

In a rare move, the City Council nixed a four-home development on steep ground next to Fernan Hill Road. "We should have learned from other developments across the lake from this development," Councilman Ron Edinger said. "Sometime down the road ... we have to say we can't go any further on hillside developments."

Appointing a timber company official to the group overseeing grizzly bear recovery will thwart chances of bringing back the bear, three environmental groups say. The environmentalists say the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee should refuse Idaho Gov. Phil Batt's appointment of Chuck Roady, a resource manager for Crown Pacific. The Sandpoint Forest Watch, Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Inland Empire Public Lands Council wrote Ralph Morganweck, head of the Interagency Bear Committee, to ask that Roady not be accepted.