The County Lines

WASHINGTON

ADAMS COUNTY

Ritzville

Employees at East Adams Rural Hospital will ante up more for their health care premium. The hospital district, looking at a healthy raise in premiums, has decided to pass a portion of the increase to staff members. Starting in August, employees will pay $26.82 monthly for benefits, a $13.41 increase.

FERRY COUNTY

Republic

The local jail is a busy place, but has room for more occupants. Ferry County’s jail is rated for 22 prisoners at a time. The county averages 12.7 inmates daily. In comparison, Stevens County’s jail is also rated for 22 inmates, but averages 35.3 prisoners daily.

GRANT COUNTY

Moses Lake

Farm Credit Services, headquartered in Spokane, is ready to pack up in a disaster situation and do business from the Columbia Basin. FCS recently ran a test to work bugs out of the emergency move system, putting the mainframe system and employees to the test. The Moses Lake center can be used for up to six weeks.

LINCOLN COUNTY

Davenport

The Bruce Dehn family has been without a home since November due to fuel leaking into their house from a neighboring Priceless gas station. Merit Truck Stop, Inc., of Boise was identified as a “potentially liable person” for clean-up of the closed gas station. The company must now begin investigation into the site and cleanup possibilities. The Dehn’s smelled fumes in their basement and detected seepage in the basement.

LINCOLN COUNTY

Davenport

The county’s scrap metal pile will soon be used as construction beams. A year’s worth of scrap metal, nearly 75 tons, had accumulated at the Lincoln County Transfer Station. American Recycling hauled the pile away.

PEND OREILLE COUNTY

Diamond Lake

There will be no fishing in certain areas of Diamond Lake until Thursday. Those areas were recently sprayed with chemicals to kill noxious predator weed Eurasian Milfoil. Spraying was funded by a grant from the Department of Ecology. The aquatic herbicide Renovate was used, and is considered experimental.

SPOKANE COUNTY

Spokane

Historic Browne’s Addition Neighborhood is sponsoring free concerts at Coeur d’Alene Park every Thursday this summer through Aug. 26. A different local group will perform each week at the gazebo at 6 p.m.

STEVENS COUNTY

Colville

Toddlers in Stevens County are learning their most valuable communications skill - talking. Area tots have been attending Conversation Camp to help them abandon pointing, grunting and whining. Campers are between 1 and 3 years old and show a 25 percent delay in speech development. Speech therapists use play, snack and learning time to help the kids catch up. For information, call (509) 935-4154.

WHITMAN COUNTY

Pullman

The Pullman School District will hold public forums for parents, community members, students and staff to meet the candidates for Pullman High School principal. The forums will be held in the high school Cleveland Performing Arts Theatre at 2:30 and 4 p.m. Wednesday. The candidates are Larry Hearst, superintendent at the Winlock, Wash., school district and Thomas Alsbury, K-12 principal of the Naselle-Grays River Valley School District in Naselle, Wash.

IDAHO

BENEWAH COUNTY

St. Maries

Valley Vista Care Services will sponsor its third annual community dance and dinner July 16 at the Valley Vista Campus. The event begins at 5 p.m. and will feature live music by 4 on the Floor.

BONNER COUNTY

Sandpoint

The University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System is offering a Forest, Insect and Disease Field Day in Sandpoint July 30. The program will expose participants to insects, diseases and parasitic plants that impair the growth of trees and forests in North Idaho. The program will begin at 8 a.m. at the UI Bonner County Extension Office and end by 4 p.m. For information or to register, call (208) 263-8511.

BOUNDARY COUNTY

Bonners Ferry

The Boundary County Farmers’ Market is held 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays through Oct. 3 in the Bonners Ferry city parking lot at the corner of Kootenai Avenue and Highway 95. To reserve a space, call Marsha Semar at (208) 267-7698.

KOOTENAI COUNTY

Coeur d’Alene

The Coeur d’Alene Public Library will offer a four-part photography class for children age 12 to 14 beginning Tuesday. Photo Finish will cover basics of photography, making images and careers. The free class will be 10:30-11:30 a.m. Tuesdays through July. Register at the Coeur d’Alene Library or call (208) 769-2315.

LATAH COUNTY

Moscow

University of Idaho alumnus Jeff Ashby will pilot the Space Shuttle Columbia on a mission to deploy NASA’s newest space telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Ashby will be in charge of the space shuttle’s electrical, hydraulic and environmental systems. He also is in charge of the Earth observations and photographs. The shuttle will launch July 20 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and return July 26.

SHOSHONE COUNTY

Kellogg

The Kellogg Parks and Recreation Department will offer swim lessons beginning July 12 at the Kellogg City Pool. Parents can begin registering children Wednesday at 9 a.m. by calling a lifeguard at the city garage at (208) 784-5595.

MONTANA

LINCOLN COUNTY

Troy

A Montana Conservation Corps team will be in Troy July 19-30 to work on developing Riverside Park. The city council has approved $1,000 funding for the group. The team will clear brush and debris along Kootenai River, where the city is creating a park near the old Roosevelt Bridge.