The County Lines

WASHINGTON

Adams County Lind

A group of fifth and sixth graders has taken on an exciting responsibility. The kids recently were trained in conflict resolution by Seattle’s Conflict Resolution Unlimited Institute. With their training, students will help patrol the playground. Playground monitors will walk in pairs, identified by special T-shirts, and help their peers learn to resolve conflicts on their own.

Ferry County Curlew

Anyone who’s anybody at Curlew Elementary School is part of the 20/20 Club. To be a member, students must read 20 minutes per day for 20 days of the month. In September, 48 K-6 students took the challenge. School officials say even more students registered for October and November. Kids meeting the requirements are honored with a certificate and small reward.

Grant County Ephrata

Grant County sports the fifth highest juvenile arrest rate in the state. According to 1998 state statistics, police arrested 1,210 of the county’s 9,531 kids age ten to 17. Drugs and alcohol played a major part in the statistics. The state average for alcohol arrest rates is 13.5 per thousand. In Grant County, that number was 37 per thousand arrested for drug and alcohol violations.

Lincoln County Almira

Local volunteer firemen have had the jaws of life emergency extraction equipment for years. Trouble is, they’ve never really had to use it. Just to make sure all are ready for an emergency, 14 firemen took part in special training by Santaim Emergency Equipment Co. The crew viewed videos and worked hands-on with the emergency equipment.

Pend Oreille County Newport

Thanks to GTE, Pend Oreille County will soon enjoy high speed fiber optic communications. The company plans a $500,000 project to install fiber optic cable between Newport, Priest River and Spirit Lake. Crews are working on the project and hope to have it finished by the end of the year.

Stevens County Colville

County Commissioners had to do something about overcrowding in the county jail. The jail will soon house 18 more inmates thanks to newly purchased bunk beds. Inmates often sleep on mats on the floor, especially during weekends. The county sent 157 inmates to other county jails in 1998 because there was no space available locally. This cost taxpayers $94,345.

Whitman Pullman

A panel of area women will discuss growing up in the Palouse during a public program Nov. 17 sponsored by the Pullman branch of the American Association of University Women. The 7-9 p.m. program at Neill Public Library will feature panel members Barbara Jean Clark Collins, Lola Story Finch, Carol Sayles Rydbom and Shannon Zakarison.

The panel participants are members of prominent Palouse families who will share memories of growing up on the Palouse at different times during the last 80 years.

IDAHO

Benewah County St. Maries

Mary Brown, Plummer, was sentenced to 250 hours of community service Oct. 29 for her part in an automobile accident last year in which a St. Maries woman was killed. Brown, 28, was charged with manslaughter after the vehicle she was driving crossed the center line on Highway 58 and struck two oncoming vehicles. St. Maries resident Minnie Epler was killed in the accident.

Bonner County Priest River

The West Bonner County Food Bank is accepting applications for Thanksgiving baskets. Applications are available at the Priest River Laundromat, Priest River City Hall, Oldtown City Hall and the West Bonner Thrift Shop in Oldtown.

Boundary County Bonners Ferry

Boundary Community Hospital will sponsor a satellite program at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The program will provide information to diabetes patients and their families. Diabetes Dialogue 199: Living Smarter, Feeling Better will highlight steps that diabetes patients can take to better manage the disease and improve their quality of life. For information, call Elaine Atkins at (208) 267-3141.

Kootenai County Coeur d’Alene

The Panhandle Chapter of the American Red Cross has rescheduled a series of basic disaster relief classes. Introduction of Disaster Services will be offered Nov. 10 and 15 at 6 p.m. Damage Assessment will be held Nov. 16, Shelter Operations on Nov. 17 and a Shelter Simulation class will be conducted in conjunction with a scheduled State Disaster Drill Nov. 20. The classes are free of charge. For information or to register, call Nelle at (208) 664-5414.

Latah County Moscow

The University of Idaho literary magazine, Fugue, is now available. The magazine includes 100 pages of short stories and poems. The magazine is available for $6. For information, including manuscript submissions, call adviser Ron McFarland at (208) 885-6937.

Shoshone County Kellogg

A Christian-based youth center is being proposed in Kellogg. The Vital Link Youth Center is scheduled to open in January in the lower level of the old Alpine Haus bookstore at 114 McKinley Ave. Founders Dan and Nancy Barrett hope to raise $15,000 to purchase materials and get the building up to code.

MONTANA

Lincoln County Libby

Residents with concerns about cleanup at the former W.R. Grace vermiculite mine will get a chance to voice opinions at a public hearing set for 7 to 9 p.m. Dec. 1 in the Ponderosa Room at Libby City Hall. The hearing is being held by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to gather input on a request to release a $67,000 reclamation bond for the property, now owned by Kootenai Development Company. County commissioners scheduled the hearing in September.