Bonner County Trying Its Best In Dealing With Its Roads Crisis
Bonner County commissioners are between a rock and a slushy place. At times, the Winter Without End and annual spring breakup have made dozens of county roads impassable. Last week, people in the hinterlands demanded action. Pronto. Said resident Mike Lajko: “We need to fix these roads once and for all so we don’t do this for the next 15 years.” No one, of course, has any money to repair roads properly. But people who have been stranded for weeks aren’t willing to listen to excuses - no matter how legitimate they are. Many roads are nothing more than blacktop thrown over dirt and tree stumps and need to be rebuilt. They tend to disintegrate - even without a natural catastrophe like this year’s floods. Maybe the county can do more. But from here, it appears the county is trying its best and deserves credit for tending to the emergency needs of grounded constituents.
Sweet Potatoes go to retiring trustee
The filing deadline Friday for school trustee candidates brought good news and bad news. The good news? Coeur d’Alene trustee Jane Curtis is seeking re-election. She may be the best trustee I’ve seen in my 12 years here. She’s intelligent and not afraid to ask tough questions. The bad news? Trustee Ken Burchell isn’t re-upping. Some don’t like him because he has attacked the status quo. But he has accomplished much. Ken successfully pushed for a district discipline program, a solid elementary curriculum and a set procedure for adopting pilot programs. He also was the moving force behind Idaho’s new law requiring criminal background checks for teachers. Ken said Monday he has accomplished 90 percent of the goals he’d set out to do and it is time for someone else to take a turn. Well done.
Fan mail: Attorney general fires back
Republican state Attorney General Al Lance hated the Hot Potato (April 2) that portrayed the $800 fine meted out to Margaret Eddy as a partisan slap on the wrist. Eddy was the fall gal for anonymous Republicans responsible for a nasty flier that slimed Dick Panabaker’s foes during the 1994 Kootenai County commissioner campaign. Fumes Lance: “Your article was riddled with unsubstantiated insinuations and suppositions and was factually inaccurate. For example, the accusation that any political favoritism was given to Ms. Eddy due to her connection to Republican Party officials is without merit. … Contrary to your report, Ms. Eddy was fined in an amount in excess of the maxiumum established in Idaho code.”
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