Winda Benedetti

Henry

In two separate cases, children recently reported that a stranger grabbed or tried to grab them near their schools. In both cases, the children were unharmed, according to reports released by the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department Monday. Investigators do not believe the cases are related, said sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger. A 14-year-old Coeur d'Alene girl told deputies that she was on her way to Canfield Middle School at about 8 a.m. Monday when a man approached her at the intersection of Dalton Avenue and Fourth Street.

Coeur d'Alene police officer Gerry Evensizer sifts through garbage at the transfer station. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

The owner of the Alpine Country Store received an appealing - if not illegal - offer in the mail this past weekend. A man, claiming to be a Nigerian government official, offered to deposit $21.5 million in the Hayden store's bank account. All the while, this ne'er-do-well really intended to make off with all the store's money. Good thing the store owner didn't bite. It seems the con man didn't realize who he was dealing with: Kootenai County Sheriff Pierce Clegg.

Kootenai County sheriff's deputies surrounded the home of a suicidal Coeur d'Alene man Monday night after he fired a gun in his house and threatened to come out shooting. Deputies ended the four-hour standoff by shooting Buck Brooks with a beanbag fired from a 12-gauge shotgun, Sheriff Pierce Clegg said. "He'll be bruised tomorrow, but he's alive," Clegg said. "There is a happy end to this."

1. The mother of Janis Nielsen, shown with husband, Richard, was beaten by a man who had violated his parole. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Henry W. Luke

The 82-year-old woman clung to the thought of her great-grandchildren as the intruder dealt her blow after blow. "She said the whole time, 'Jesus protect me, I've got my babies and they need me,"' Janis Nielsen said Friday. On Dec. 3, Nielsen's mother, Dorothy Kjera, was so brutalized during the attack that her blood was splattered against the walls and ceiling of her home of 38 years.

A 46-year-old convicted burglar filed suit against the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department this week, claiming a patrol dog mauled him as he tried to turn himself in to police. Although sheriff's authorities don't deny their dog, Enno, bit Dennis P. Morency, they say it was Morency who attacked their dog.

Spirit Lake police arrested a 13-year-old boy on a charge of lewd conduct Monday after he allegedly molested a 4-year-old boy. The teenager, who is mentally retarded, is being held at the juvenile detention center in Coeur d'Alene. The boy apparently had been staying at a foster home in Spirit Lake until he could be placed in a treatment facility, said Barry Black, Kootenai County deputy prosecutor. The family he was staying with has a 4-year-old son. The teen allegedly pulled down the boy's pants on Monday and fondled the youngster, said Officer James Cotter.

The blood that had marked the gunbattle's ground zero was cleaned up Monday. But the bullet holes remained. There was a cracked gap in the gunman's condominium window. There were splintered holes in a carport - where bullets barely had missed a deputy. In the next-door apartment, black holes marked where two bullets had blasted into the living room, which was empty of people. Twin Lakes residents living in the Evergreen condominiums spent Monday wondering what had caused their quiet, strange and sometimes spooky neighbor to open fire Sunday night. They examined the bullet holes the 54-year-old father of two had left and talked about the Kootenai County sheriff's deputy who finally shot and killed the armed man.

Luke

An 81-year-old woman remained in intensive care Wednesday after she was savagely beaten in her Coeur d'Alene home. Richard Nielsen found his mother-in-law collapsed in her living room Tuesday, the walls and ceiling splattered with blood, according to a Coeur d'Alene police report.

Bob Rehnborg joined volunteers who showed up Saturday to clean up around the city. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

All spruced up. Jack Schwab with Tidyman's in Coeur d'Alene has been selling Christmas trees since Thanksgiving for the early birds getting into the spirit. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Barcella

Kelly Sullivan adorns the top of the tree, while Sandy Gookin adjusts the lights for the 1996 Festival of Trees at The Coeur d'Alene Resort. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Dozens of searchers continued to comb the Shoshone County woods Monday, desperately trying to find a 54-year-old man who has been missing for four days and five nights. But with 4 to 6 inches of new snow expected to blanket the area by this morning, the odds of finding the man alive grew increasingly bleak. "The longer the search goes, the less chance you have for survival," said Lt. Skip Rapp, a veteran searcher with the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department.

More than a dozen searchers spent all day Friday combing Shoshone County's back roads looking for a missing hunter from Pinehurst. As a storm front rolled into North Idaho, rescue workers grew increasingly concerned about George C. Saunders. The 54-year-old hunter suffers from hip and back problems, said Shoshone County sheriff's Deputy Nelson Morris.

Mordaszewski

George LaValley resigned from the Planning Commission in June 1995. File photo

A Coeur d'Alene woman is suing her father's nursing home, accusing the business of neglecting the 91-year-old man and causing his death. Anna Marie Halpern says her father waited six hours with an injured spine before employees at Coeur d'Alene Convalescent Center identified the problem and took him to the hospital.

Arveson

Opland

To the dismay of Kootenai County officials, the state announced Tuesday that it will not build a work camp for young criminals in Hayden. Instead, the juvenile center will be built in Lewiston, according to a news release sent out late Tuesday afternoon by the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections.