Susan Drumheller

Spirit Lake basks in benign neglect. "It's kind of a diamond in the rough that a lot of people haven't discovered," said Gerry Peterson, a cabin owner from the Spokane area.

The people who own some of the biggest stretches of waterfront also get the biggest tax breaks. Kootenai County's top waterfront owners qualify for timber exemptions that reduce their property's taxable value to a fraction of what it's worth. The exemptions are designed to help the timber industry.

Stevens Point, one of the most recent lakeshore areas to be developed on Lake Coeur d'Alene, is off to a promising start, which is atypical of new subdivisions.

If the city moves ahead with a plan to make over McEuen Field, a rift will form in the community that won't be easy to mend, a grass-roots group warned Thursday. "There will be a sense of loss and anger that will take years to recover," said Anne Solomon of the McEuen Preservation Alliance. She faced off with Sandi Bloem of the Lake City Coalition in a debate sponsored by the Kootenai Environmental Alliance.

The state of Idaho is a Johnny-come-lately trying to undermine an accord between the United States and the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, an attorney told a federal judge Thursday. The tribe began making its case Thursday in a legal claim to the southern third of Lake Coeur d'Alene.

The public could lose access to 500 feet of Sanders Beach when the Hagadone Corp. renews its lease for its floating golf green. The corporation's 10-year lease with the state of Idaho is up for renewal this month, and a deal brokered by then-Gov. Cecil Andrus could be scuttled in the process. At a briefing session Tuesday for next week's state Land Board meeting, the Department of Lands staff recommended dropping a provision in the lease that guarantees public access to the beach from city-owned property near 15th Street to a rocky outcropping that marks the edge of The Coeur d'Alene Resort golf course.

Fish were crucial to the Coeur d'Alene Indians' survival in the 19th century, and they're important now as the tribe fights for ownership of Lake Coeur d'Alene. Whether the Coeur d'Alenes were farmers or fishermen is at issue this week and next in U.S. District Court in Coeur d'Alene.

History will play a big role in helping a federal judge decide whether the Coeur d'Alene Tribe owns the south end of Lake Coeur d'Alene. While much of the trial that begins Monday in U.S. District Court will dig up the past, it is the lake's future that is at stake.

RaeAnne Capaul plays pool at the new teen center, The Spotlight, in Coeur d'Alene. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Darcy Peterson, left, Kristen Spencer, center, and Aimee Barre sing "Silent Night" with the crowd in Coeur d'Alene. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

A horse in a North Idaho pasture eats around a sea of spotted knapweed. The plant pushes out other grasses, wiping out grazing for animals. File/The Spokesman-Review

Lake City High School students, wearing Great American Smokeout T-shirts, enjoy a smoke-free breakfast at the Rustler's Roost in Coeur d'Alene. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Idaho is proposing new rules for bull trout streams to allow warmer stream conditions than the federal government said were necessary earlier this year. Idaho environmental officials will present their proposal to the Idaho Health and Welfare Board today.

As all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles become as common as elk hunters in the Panhandle, the Coeur d'Alene River Ranger District is contemplating more road closures. Such planning makes motorized recreationalists edgy, but Forest Service officials say never fear.

The framework for an expanded holiday light show at The Coeur d'Alene Resort began going up Thursday. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

After reaching a low on Halloween, relations between North Idaho College officials and legislators may be on the mend. College officials know they'll have a tough time getting favorable legislation without the help of their local legislators. So they're meeting today with the North Idaho delegation in hopes of explaining their needs and policies in a way that doesn't turn off their potential allies.

The first step in the state's strategy for cleaning up the Coeur d'Alene River basin is beginning at the end - the Spokane River. A plan for limits on metals pollution in the Spokane River and Lake Coeur d'Alene was approved by a governor-appointed commission Thursday, but the plan really doesn't change anything.

School officials and bond supporters in Kellogg still were giddy with delight Wednesday, the day after residents approved a $6.6 million school bond levy. The bond issue, which will pay for a new elementary school and an addition to the high school, was passed with 73.5 percent of the vote. "Today, everyone is flying sky-high," said Dr. Jim Joy, co-chairman of the bond campaign committee. "These people stood up and said, 'We are not going to be a Bonners Ferry. We're not going to be a Post Falls. Our kids matter to us."' Joy was referring to failed school bond efforts in those communities. Most school districts in North Idaho have struggled in recent years to overcome the supermajority requirement for passing bond levies. To pass a school bond issue, which generally is required for any large construction project, school districts must win at least 66-2/3 percent of the vote. The deciding factors in Kellogg's case were a lot of homework, information and community involvement, Joy said. "We got all the community involved, the kids involved, the senior citizens involved, and people really believed in what we're saying," he said. The victory is one not only for kids, Joy said, but it also will help attract business to the area now bouncing back from financial decline. Superintendent Greg Godwin agreed that the committee did a good job of educating the public. "They looked at the 1929 elementary school and saw some real safety and code issues," Godwin said. "There was no question in their mind the need was there." Kellogg hasn't always had such an easy time passing levies. The district has had to hold supplemental levy elections nearly every year to maintain educational programs, but some years, the district has had to hold the election more than once to pass the levy. Supplemental levies need only a simple majority to pass. The district will need to hold another supplemental levy election next spring because bond levies cannot be used for educational programs.

Cabin owners and Harrison area residents were struck recently by a rash of burglaries of their homes and automobiles. Four different homeowners in the Driftwood Point area reported burglaries which occurred earlier this month. One was the attempted theft of a motor home.

Whooping cough. Dr. Richard McLandress of Coeur d'Alene leads all discussion Tuesday at Kootenai Medical Center on the North Idaho pertussis outbreak last spring. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

1. David Phillips and his brother, Jeff, watch from across the street as the house at the corner of Lakeside and 8th begins to burn to the ground. Photos by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review 2. Jim Washko stands ready to douse the Coeur d'Alene home that was burned to the ground as a training exercise for the CdA and Post Falls fire departments Saturday. 3. Above: Washko takes a break amid a showering mist of water as the house burns. 4. Right: Post Falls firefighter Russ Knapp contains one wall as the first floor of the home burns.

The fight against hatred and bigotry in North Idaho is an incremental battle in which progress is hard to measure. Leaders in the fight met here Saturday to discuss some of the recent skirmishes, victories and losses, as well as future tactics.

Two years after release of the original environmental impact statement on Asarco's proposed Rock Creek Mine, a revised statement is due to be released soon. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality and Kootenai National Forest are preparing to release the supplemental environmental impact statement on Dec. 22.

City officials advised residents living in the Highlands neighborhood of Post Falls to boil their water after a second set of tests confirmed Wednesday the water supply is contaminated. The first sign of a problem came Tuesday when results from three of 10 tests taken Monday showed coliform in the water serving the Highlands area, according to Terry Werner, Post Falls water superintendent.