Prosecutor Scores Important Win Despite Disadvantage
The Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office stood up for abused women everywhere by taking James Loss to trial last week - although his victim wouldn’t help. In fact, Jerrene Loss denied her husband had beaten her to a pulp last year aboard their boat. She testified she’d suffered her near-fatal injuries from a fall. But the evidence couldn’t be denied - blood-soaked towels, clots of hair and blood smeared throughout the boat and Mrs. Loss’ desperate S.O.S.: “He’s killing me in the middle of Lake Coeur d’Alene.” If ever there was a classic example of how domestic abusers’ control their victims, this was it. Said Deputy Prosecutor Rick Baughman: “Jerri Loss is a double victim here. She had to endure this beating and she’s stuck on this guy emotionally.”
The prosecutor’s office could have dropped the case and abandoned Mrs. Loss to her fate. It didn’t. As a result, the jury found James Loss guilty - and his wife may heal enough while he’s in prison to thank her rescuers.
Where did these guys learn to count?
In a letter to the editor Thursday, Spencer L. Hamm of Citizens for Nonviolent Action Against Racism wrote to set the record straight. CINAAR director Hamm was upset by a recent story that said “about 1,000” civil-rights protesters marched in April 1989 against the Aryan Nations’ first skinhead conference. Hamm claims 3,800 protesters trekked up the bike trail along U.S. Highway 95. As one involved in covering activities that day, I think organizers fudged then by saying they’d attracted 1,000. There were fewer than that. Then, Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler claimed his shindig had lured 100 young goosesteppers. But the cops counted only 50. Bottom line? After eight years, why should Hamm care?
Gee, who didn’t see this one coming?
Nothing satisfies an editorialist as much as saying I told you so. Case in point: The University of Idaho’s intercollegiate athletics program posted its first losing budget since the 1980s, finishing $359,000 in the red. In September 1994, after starry-eyed UI officials announced the Vandals were moving to the Big West Conference, Hot Potatoes warned them to beware: UI “has abandoned a conference where it fit perfectly and had natural rivals - all to keep up with the Joneses, or in this case the Broncos. UI couldn’t let arch-rival Boise State bolt for the nondescript Big(ger) West Conference without wanting out of the smaller Big Sky Conference, too.” Hot Potatoes predicted UI’s dreams of a big sports payoff would vanish, along with booster support if UI fielded lackluster Big West teams. Bingo.
, DataTimes MEMO: D.F. Oliveria’s “Hot Potatoes” runs Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can comment on the items by calling (800) 344-6718 or (208) 765-7125, or by sending e-mail to daveo@spokesman.com.