The County Lines
WASHINGTON
Adams County
Ritzville
The Ritzville Visitors Information Center will be funded through 2000. At the Chamber of Commerce’s request, the city allocated $1,400 per month from its tourism fund. The Chamber will keep track of how funds are spent.
Ferry County
Republic
Republic High School will hold its annual cheer camp Wednesday and Thursday. Students in kindergarten through sixth grade are invited to rally, dance and jump in preparation for their public debut during halftime of Thursday’s Tiger boys’ hoops game. Participants receive snacks, awards and a few minutes of fame for their efforts.
Grant County
Ephrata
Convicted murderer Carl L. Ford may spend the rest of his life in prison. Ford, found guilty in the Sept. 12, 1998, death of his girlfriend, Olivia Hodson, is a candidate for the state’s three strikes legislation. Previous offenses include California convictions for robbery and kidnapping. Sentencing is set for Monday.
Lincoln County
Harrington
Declining enrollment is affecting finances at the Harrington School District. The school projects it will lose nine full-time students next year. Hoping to head off a shortage of money to the reserve fund, the district is asking voters for a $350,000 one-year levy. Even if the levy passes, the district will have to cut spending, and personnel may become an issue.
Pend Oreille County
Newport
The debate is on after the Idaho Fish and Game Department requested winter lake levels at Lake Pend Oreille be kept 4 feet above normal for the next seven years. The department is running a kokanee salmon spawning project. The Pend Oreille Public Utilities District is asking the Army Corps of Engineers to reject the proposal. The PUD says it has lost nearly $175,000 for the past three years because of the higher lake level.
Spokane County
Colbert
Marine Pfc. Ian M. Craig, son of Gary and Peggy Craig of Colbert, recently completed the Logistic Vehicle Systems Operator Course at the Army Engineer School, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. During the course, he learned the techniques and procedures needed to perform logistics operations on tactical motor transport vehicles.
Stevens County
Colville
Local skating enthusiasts turned 300 withered Christmas trees into $1,000 cash. Raising money to make the local skate park a reality, volunteers picked up and discarded the unwanted trees. The volunteers, mostly local high school students, were aided by members of the U.S. Navy’s Mobile Construction Battalion from Spokane. The trees were chipped by crews from Weatherman’s Columbia Navigation of Kettle Falls, and trucked by Boise Cascade.
Whitman County
Pullman
The Friends of the WSU Museum of Art will celebrate the St. Valentine’s Day season with an evening of art, music, food and fun called Sweet Art. The museum fund-raising event begins at 6 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Lewis Alumni Center. Master of ceremonies will be WSU President Sam Smith. There will be hors d’oeuvres, a full-service no-host bar, auctions, live music and a Decadent Desserts competition. Reservations are due Wednesday. For more information, call the museum at (509) 335-1910. Tickets cost $27.50 per person and are available at the museum and The Ivy, 209 East Main.
IDAHO
Benewah County
Plummer
Friends of the Plummer Library are gathering recipes for a community cookbook. The group plans to publish 500 recipes and 1,000 copies of the book, which will sell for between $12 and $15. Recipes may be submitted to the Plummer Public Library, Box 309, Plummer, ID 83851. For more information, call (208) 686-1812.
Bonner County
Sagle
The Sagle Fire District voted Friday to postpone a special levy election scheduled for today to allow for more public comment and to resolve an issue with the Idaho Tax Commission. The delay will allow more comment on the election seeking to increase the district’s budget from $260,000 to about $500,000. The delay also will allow the district adequate time to make sure it has met all the requirements for holding an election. The fire district plans to run the election in May.
Boundary County
Bonners Ferry
Area children ages 4 to 6 are invited to a reading adventure series at 1 p.m. today. The series will run on Tuesdays through the month of February at the Boundary County Library. For more information or to register, call (208) 267-3750.
Kootenai County
Coeur d’Alene
KVNI Radio has installed a new 10,000-watt transmitter at the Moscow Bay transmitter site near Lake Coeur d’Alene. The station will emit a much stronger signal in North Idaho. The old transmitter was outdated, said Tim Anderson, KXLY Broadcast Group Director of Engineering.
Latah County
Moscow
The University of Idaho College of Mines and Earth Resources and the Office of Outreach and Technology will host a reception to dedicate a new $200,000, state-of-the-art computer teaching facility and open student computer laboratory at 10:30 a.m. Friday. The student lab contains 39 Micron computers paid for by student computer fees and is open daily to students.
Shoshone County
Kellogg
The North Idaho College Workforce Training Center is offering a certified nursing assistant class to begin Monday in Kellogg. The course will meet 5:30-9:30 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays through April 22. Cost is $513, which includes textbooks. The course meets the Idaho requirements for CNAs, offering 80 hours of classroom instruction, 40 hours of clinical experience, manual skills testing and basic CPR certification. For more information, call the NIC Workforce Training Office at (208) 769-3444 or register by phone with a credit card at (208) 769-3333.
MONTANA
Lincoln County
Libby
The Libby School District will hold an election April 6 to fill two school board seats. The terms of Chairman Lee Disney and board member Roxanne Parker are expiring. Parker plans to run for re-election. Interested people must fill out a nominating petition signed by 20 registered voters. Petitions are due to the school district’s business office by Feb. 25.