Susan Drumheller

A dispute between federal agencies and conservation groups has officials in Shoshone County tapping their feet and biting their nails. The county hired a contractor to start work on the washed-out St. Joe River Road east of Avery on Sept. 25.

Hoping to get as much flood-repair work done before winter, Shoshone County has already contracted to crush and sort material removed from Latour Creek. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

In what once was a Democratic stronghold, a lone liberal lawmaker is fighting like Underdog to keep her seat. Mary Lou Reed has raised more money in the past three months than she did during most of her 1994 campaign for her District 4 state Senate seat.

Rep. Wayne Meyer is perhaps better known as an outspoken grass grower than a state legislator. This season's controversy swirling around grass-burning probably has helped Meyer's name recognition, while forcing the life-time farmer to defend his choice of Kentucky blue grass as a crop.

Gary Waters isn't one to give up easily. At odds with his fellow commissioners and the local Democratic Party, Waters is trying to win a write-in campaign against Shoshone County Commission candidate Jim Vergobbi. Waters, the incumbent, didn't make the ballot because Vergobbi, a fellow Democrat, won by 29 votes in the primary election. No Republicans are running. "It was such a tight race and such a concentrated effort to beat me, (my supporters) felt with a little extra work we could overcome," Waters said. History is in Vergobbi's favor, however. The past two general elections have had write-in campaigns in the Shoshone County sheriff and assessor races, but without success. Still, in both instances, the write-in candidates attracted almost 2,000 votes. "It's another campaign all over again," said Vergobbi, who won the endorsement and a $250 contribution from Shoshone County Democrats. Both men have plenty of name recognition in Shoshone County. Waters has operated a garbage business under his name for 26 years, and is completing a two-year term on the commission. Vergobbi's family has been around Shoshone County for generations, and Vergobbi served on the county commission for six years. He lost in a bid for re-election in 1990. Commissioner Sherry Krulitz also was defeated that year. She later regained her office and is running unopposed for re-election this year. "I think it was a case of 'Let's get the rascals out,"' Vergobbi said of the 1990 election. "I can't sincerely believe in my heart that I lost that election because of bad performance. I was doing a pretty good job." Vergobbi said he can do a better job than Waters, particularly at getting along with his fellow commissioners. "I thought there was a possible lack of harmony," Vergobbi said. "The commission wasn't acting as a unit... It's not a one-person commission." Waters admits discord exists among the commissioners. He complains that Krulitz and Commissioner Jack King don't always consult his opinion, and conduct "backdoor" meetings. If he wins re-election, Waters said, "I would hope that they would realize that the voters have spoken their piece and they would accept me as a commissioner rather than a garbage man." Waters describes the big difference between him and Vergobbi this way: "He's much more of a politician than I am. I'm a common, everyday working man. He's got the silver tongue and I've got the brass." Waters also portrays himself as the candidate who can represent the Osburn and Wallace areas, because Vergobbi lives in Kellogg. Vergobbi says that is not the case. "I don't like to hear the word bias or misrepresentation," Vergobbi said. "I will represent Shoshone County, not Kellogg or any individual city."

The specter of double-shifting was raised again in Post Falls after the latest failure of a high school bond issue.

Jared Conrad, 4, checks out the action at the Post Falls Kindercenter as his mon, Vi, votes. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Rein and shine. Lloyd Jones, 75, has been driving draft horses since the '30s. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review <

Tom Porinchok didn't wake up in his recovery room at Kootenai Medical Center early Tuesday. He couldn't. During the night a nurse accidentally put a potent dose of morphine in his intravenous bag - possibly enough to kill him.

Under a new county law, builders on lake and riverfront property must keep their bulldozers 25 feet away from the shoreline. The provision of the county's new site disturbance ordinance is a compromise between conservationists and developers, which was approved Wednesday by Kootenai County commissioners.

Float homes. Deanie Curry passed around a petition against a permit for a float home to be moored on the water below her house. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Getting slimed. Four generations of Gerry House's family have lived around Hayden Lake and he has helped write a proposed waterfront development ordinance. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

A group of conservationists and sportsmen are trying to erect a roadblock to keep dump trucks from unloading rocks and dirt in the St. Joe River. A letter signed by members of 18 different organizations in Idaho, Montana and Washington was sent to Panhandle Forests chief Dave Wright on Wednesday protesting the agency's decision to allow fill to be dumped onto the river's flood plain.

Drunken visitors and emotional family members tend to be the most common security concerns at Kootenai Medical Center. While North Idaho hospitals still are relatively free of gang-related violence, security is a growing issue, according to hospital officials.

Cataldo Mission Gonzaga University students near the end of a 9-mile hike while making the 26th annual pilgrimage to the Cataldo Mission. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

The last chapter in a drunken driving accident three years ago came to a close this week when Marcella Nomee Monhatwa dropped a lawsuit against the Idaho State Police. Monhatwa had sued the police for allegedly mishandling her husband's body after he was killed in a head-on collision. He and two children died Dec. 3, 1993, on U.S. Highway 95 near Worley, Idaho, when his car collided with one driven by an intoxicated Moscow, Idaho, woman.

The methods now used to save the endangered salmon are backward and probably won't succeed, according to a long-awaited scientific report. "The focus has been on the technology. The focus has to be put on the fish," said Richard Williams, chairman of the Independent Scientific Group appointed 18 months ago by the Northwest Power Planning Council.

David Westover says his family's dock at their unbuildable lot on Moscow Bay is a great way to spend time on the lake. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Mini boat 1. After carefully constructing the hull and main superstructure of the steamer Flyer, Al Sorenson adds details, such as the "hoglines" that provide rigidity to old wooden hulls like the Flyer's. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. The detail is evident on the first model steamship, the Amelia Wheaton, that Sorenson built. The model is the centerpiece of the display at the Museum of North Idaho.

Reeling out line. Crews working for GTE spent Thursday on Lake Coeur d'Alene, laying a 36-strand, two-mile-long fiber optic cable. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

A weakened version of a shoreline protection ordinance was lambasted as the product of politics at a public hearing Wednesday. Speakers called the proposed changes to the ordinance "window dressing for a special interest power play" and "a political necessity."

Developers could bulldoze along the lakeshore under a watered-down version of a proposed law governing waterfront development. The proposed Kootenai County "site disturbance" ordinance is the subject of a public hearing before the county commissioners tonight.

To those who served. World War II veteran Bernard Visser of Lynden, Wash., and Cory Anderson of Post Falls Boy Scout Troop 13 help hold up a giant American Flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance during a tribute to the graduates of Farragut Naval Training Station who fought in the war.

Guardsman Russ Hansen arms a Claymore mine under the watchful eye of Sgt. Cliff Shove at the firing range at Farragut State Park near Athol. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review