Kevin Keating

Fall foliage hunters will have a chance to watch the seasons change and leave the driving to someone else. The Montana Rockies Daylight, a restored six-car, 242-passenger train, is offering a scenic ride through the mountains between Sandpoint and Missoula.

An appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court already took convicted killer James Kevin Pratt off death row, leaving him to serve his life in prison. Now Pratt, 36, is appealing that life sentence at a Supreme Court hearing today in Coeur d'Alene.

1. Pete Conway completes one of these wooden carousel horses a year, putting in about 350 hours of work. He starts with basswood planks glued together, then shapes and carves the hundreds of pounds of wood into replicas of antique horses. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review 2. Pete Conway puts his favorite, an eagle, into his designs. This work-in-progress shows the rough carving and detail that make these horses unique. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Petroglyphs around Lake Pend Oreille are vanishing due to environmental deterioration as well as people removing aritfacts. Photo by Ross Hall/Special to The Spokesman-Review

Just before the city staff sang happy birthday to him, Mayor Ron Chaney announced Thursday that he won't seek another term. "It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to be mayor of this great city, the place of my birth," said Chaney, 67. "But I have decided not to seek the position."

After facing stiff opposition from environmental agencies and residents, a developer withdrew his plan for a 2.5-million gallon sewage lagoon on a Clark Fork River island. Jim White, a Clark Fork contractor, started building the lagoon on Derr Island several years ago without proper county permits.

In dire streets: Bonner official Pat Achzinger. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Hatley

Boundary County authorities have identified one of the two people struck and killed by a Burlington Northern train Monday, but say the cause of the accident is still a mystery. A BN engineer found the bodies of a man and a woman early Monday morning near a crossing about two miles east of town.

He's already tried twice and failed, but that's not stopping City Council President Ray Miller from running for mayor again. The 14-year council member announced his candidacy for the $800-a-month job this week.

Traffic in a narrow hallway flows around freshman Adam Kedish on Tuesday morning at Sandpoint High School. Hallways such as this one, originally designed without lockers, are jammed as the school deals with overcrowding. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

A Jewish couple pulled into town last week to ask about buying property. The woman refused to get out of the car, saying she feared for her safety because of the area's neo-Nazis. A Hispanic travel writer from a Dallas newspaper recently toured North Idaho by bike. He said he feared for his life the entire time.

When Bonner County deputies stopped a suspicious vehicle Thursday, they ended up nabbing two suspects wanted by the Secret Service, Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Postal Inspectors and Washington police. "It turns out they are part of a major crime ring near Tacoma," said Det. John Valdez. "It appears they were on the lam and somehow ended up here in Bonner County."

A plan to build a 2.5-million-gallon sewage lagoon on an island in the Clark Fork River is an environmental disaster in the making, opponents of the project said Thursday. About 25 people, including an environmental group and handful of Derr Island residents, protested the lagoon at a public hearing before Bonner County planners.

An ambitious $14.7 million plan to build a new high school and renovate four elementaries is headed to Boundary County voters Thursday. It's the first major building project and bond levy put to residents in nearly 25 years, said Superintendent John Schwartz.

The number of transplanted caribou living in the Selkirk Mountains are dwindling, biologists say. File/The Spokesman-Review

A bomb threat on the second day of school sent more than 550 Bonners Ferry High School students scurrying outside Wednesday. A man telephoned the high school about 7:50 a.m. and told a secretary he had planted a large amount of explosives in the building.

City councilman David Sawyer said Wednesday that he wants to be Sandpoint's next mayor. With the election still four months away, Sawyer, 37, is the first to announce his candidacy for the post.

Mark Fuhrman was back in Los Angeles on Tuesday, far from his new north Idaho home, on the day his racially explosive tape recordings were played at the O.J. Simpson trial. A friend whisked Fuhrman, his wife and two kids away from their home Aug. 13, and he hasn't been back. His home on the west end of Sandpoint remains locked tight with the shades drawn.

A man who was missing for nearly two years and found dead last week was shot several times before being buried under his own home, an autopsy revealed Monday. Bonner County authorities haven't positively identified the murdered man, but believe he is 53-year-old Paul Gruber.

The city is mulling over the idea of setting aside $60,000 to hire a city administrator next year or boost the meager mayoral pay. Mayor Ron Chaney pitched the idea to council members Monday. He said he was neither for it nor against it, but wanted council members to have some options next year.

CNN called the mayor's office. A crew from the TV tabloid show "Extra" interviewed City Council president Ray Miller. And a Boston Herald reporter wanted to know what bar Mark Fuhrman frequents. It's Fuhrman fever - a feeding frenzy by the national media searching for new tidbits about the former Los Angeles detective who moved here several months ago after becoming a focal point in the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

An erosion of trust Naomi Landon of Northstar Enterprises flags traffic around the Highway 2 project near Priest River. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

FOR THE RECORD: Idaho Edition; Saturday, August 19, 1995 CORRECTION: In 1991, Schweitzer Mountain ski area was fined $500, and required to pay Bonner County $3,000, for failing to control erosion during construction. A story Wednesday stated otherwise. As summer rains hit Schweitzer Mountain Resort, construction on the new condominum complex has brought runoff down Sand and Schweitzer creeks. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review