The County Lines

Thu., Sept. 3, 1998

WASHINGTON

ADAMS COUNTY Othello

The City Council budgeted $3.1 million for a new well, but the project was completed $383,356 under budget. The council can now turn its attention to ailing well No. 5. A new pump will be installed after the system is cleaned and flushed with chlorine. Fluoride levels in that well have been routinely higher than Environmental Protection Agency standards, although they have been decreasing.

FERRY COUNTY Republic

Play round of golf and help a worthy cause at the Ferry County Open Golf Championship Sunday. The two-person scramble event will donate half of its earnings to the flood repair effort at the Ferry County Fairgrounds. An entry fee of $20 includes greens fees and lunch at the scenic heridan Greens Golf Course. For information, call Terry Knapton at (509) 775-3657.

GRANT COUNTY Ephrata

The county’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee will ask the public for input on two options for future solid waste disposal, including continuing to use the Ephrata Landfill. The second option, which centers around building one or more transfer stations in the county, would mean trucking trash to a regional facility. The committee is asking folks to attend the meeting tonight at 6:30 in the Grant County Public Works building in Ephrata.

LINCOLN COUNTY Davenport

The City Council is considering development of city-owned land near the local airport. The 64-acre strip has been called a prime location for light industry. “I think it would help our little town grow and prosper to have some light industry,” said Councilwoman Eleanor MacDonald.

PEND OREILLE COUNTY Cusick

Volunteers are needed to begin construction on the second Pend Oreille County Habitat for Humanity home, and a family to occupy it would be nice as well. Construction starts Sept. 15 with or without a family, says coordinator Joel Jacobsen. The group will get as much of the two-bedroom dwelling done as it can before the weather turns, leaving the decorating portion of the job until a family is found. The group has $30,000 in the bank to start the project, which gives low-income families a chance to earn sweat equity in the home it can then purchase for a reasonable sum.

SPOKANE COUNTY Colbert

Colbert residents Ian M. Craig, son of Gady and Peggy Craig, and Jonathan C. Collier, son of Jeff and Giovama Collier, completed basic training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, Calif. The two completed courses in first aid, combat water survival, marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat and various weapons training.

STEVENS COUNTY Northport

The city’s three-day Labor Days Celebration will start Saturday with the opening of a temporary museum and a demolition derby at 1 p.m. The fun will continue Sunday with a logging competition at 10:30 a.m., a barbecue at noon and stock car races at 1 p.m. It will culminate Monday with a parade at 10:30 a.m., followed by outhouse races and a soap box derby and, at noon, snowmobile drag racing on grass. The dates were listed incorrectly in Tuesday’s County Lines.

WHITMAN COUNTY Pullman

An internationally recognized ethnic and cultural studies scholar, Epifanio San Juan Jr., has assumed the chairmanship of the Department of Comparative American Cultures at Washington State University. San Juan comes to WSU from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where he taught ethnic studies for five years. For the 25 years previous he taught English and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut.

IDAHO

BENEWAH COUNTY Avery

Seven 2-month-old puppies were found in a Forest Service outhouse at the Conrad Crossing Campground 28 miles east of Avery. Forest Service employee Angela Hacket found the abandoned puppies during her afternoon rounds Aug. 23. She took the puppies to her home in Avery, where she fed and bathed them, and then to the Hayden Lake Humane Society animal shelter. To adopt one of the puppies, contact Renee Fisher at the Hayden Lake Humane Society at (208) 772-4010.

BONNER COUNTY Sandpoint

The Panhandle Health District is offering free developmental screenings for children ages 3 months to 3 years. This screening will be Sept. 11 by appointment only. It can identify delays in speech and language, physical development, reasoning and thinking and social skills. If you have concerns about your child’s development and would like to have him or her screened, contact Panhandle Health at (208) 263-5159.

BOUNDARY COUNTY Bonners Ferry

Bonners Ferry Ranger District announced two road repair projects scheduled to begin after the Labor Day weekend. Solomon Lake Road 627 will be closed at the 1-mile marker Sept. 8-11 for a culvert replacement. Trout Creek Road 634 will be closed beginning Sept. 8 and is expected to remain closed through the month. People wishing to use the road should call the Bonners Ferry Ranger District at (208) 267-5561.

KOOTENAI COUNTY Spirit Lake

Timberlake High School opened Tuesday with 634 students. This is the first year for the $8 million school, which split the Lakeland School District. An estimated 300 students, faculty, parents and community members attended a Monday night opening celebration.

LATAH COUNTY Moscow

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine has ranked the University of Idaho as one of the top 100 values in state universities in the country. In its September issue, the magazine lists the top 100 of approximately 600 public four-year colleges and universities based on cost and financial aid access as well as quality of education. The UI is ranked 63rd and is the only institution in Idaho, Utah, Nevada or Montana included in the listing.

SHOSHONE COUNTY Kellogg

Shoshone Medical Center has opened an account at US Bank in the name of Rene Ives, a surgery department technician, who recently lost her home and belongings in Osburn to fire. Contributions can be made at any branch of US Bank. For more information, call (208) 744-1303.

MONTANA

LINCOLN COUNTY Libby

Lincoln County’s unemployment rate for July was 9.8 percent. The first half of the year the county had a double-digit rate. Lincoln County’s rate is more than double the state’s unemployment rate of 4.7 percent, but it is a considerable improvement over the 11.7 percent posted in July 1997. The report, prepared by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry, put the county’s population at 18,772, down from 18,833 persons in July of 1997.

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