The County Lines

WASHINGTON

Adams County

Lind

The local school district has chosen Feb. 29 as its maintenance and operations levy date. Voters will be asked for $385,000 in both 2001 and 2002. This breaks down to $2.75 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

Ferry County

Curlew

Curlew High School student Darla Lewis is looking forward to the National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. Lewis will spend six days in the nation’s capital interacting with political leaders. She will also spend time with diplomats and the media. The theme of the conference is “Leaders of Tomorrow Meeting the Leaders of Today.”

Grant County

Moses Lake

The Port of Moses Lake isn’t content with 11,000 passengers flying Horizon Air from Grant International Airport each month. Port officials have made it a goal to increase boardings to 25,000 passengers in the next five years.

Lincoln County

Reardan

Eileen Vincent was recently welcomed to the Reardan school board. Vincent takes the place of Tom Nesbitt, who resigned in October. This is Vincent’s first foray into public office. She’s lived in Reardan eight years.

Pend Oreille County

Ione

Officials blame Initiative 695 for closing two health clinics in the county. The Northeastern Tri-County Health District closed clinics in Ione and Cusick to relieve financial pressure from a $150,000 budget decrease. Patients can visit clinics in Newport and Metaline Falls starting Feb. 1.

Spokane County

Nine Mile Falls

The Nine Mile Falls Community Club is holding its quarterly general membership meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Fire Station 3. All Nine Mile residents are welcome to attend.

Stevens County

Chewelah

Local resident Glen Hafer has asked the county road crew to ease up on mailbox mashing. Hafer says after a recent snowfall, plows knocked over nearly every mailbox between his house and Highway 395.

Whitman County

Pullman

Citizens are invited to serve on an ad hoc committee to consider levels of service for Pullman Transit in the wake of I-695 cuts. The City Council has been grappling with transit cuts for several months. On Tuesday, council members pledged to keep Dial-A-Ride bus service for the elderly and disabled at current levels for the remainder of the year. In addition, council members said the bus system’s D-Route will be saved from major cutbacks. The council pledged to save those services by using more than $225,000 in revenue from car tabs collected in 1999. Several other routes will remain in jeopardy after Feb. 7, however.

IDAHO

Benewah County

St. Maries

Kristina Halversen, 4, wanted to get her hair cut last year but decided to wait until it was long enough so she could donate it to Wigs for Kids. Wigs for Kids takes human hair to create wigs for chemotherapy patients. The Ohio-based organization requires the hair to be at least 10 inches long. Kristina’s ponytail was 11 inches long. After the cut she considered her dad’s reaction. “Dad’s gonna laugh,” she said. To contact Wigs for Kids call (440) 333-4433.

Bonner County

Sandpoint

A Democratic no-host breakfast is set for Saturday with State Controller J.D. Williams; Superintendent of Public Instruction Marilyn Howard; state House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquets; Assistant Minority Leader Roger Chase; state Rep. Jerry Stoicheff; and executive director of the Idaho Democratic Party Marsha Pursley. Bonner and Boundary county Democrats may attend the 8-11 a.m. breakfast at Connie’s Lounge to discuss issues and concerns with officials.

Boundary County

Bonners Ferry

The U.S. Census Bureau needs people to interview residents of Boundary County to establish a demographic profile of the area and to determine the population. The bureau is testing interested residents at 1 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays at the Bonners Ferry Job Service, 6541 Main St. The job pays $8 an hour and 31 cents a mile reimbursement, but an employee with Job Service said the “magic hire date hasn’t been released yet.”

Kootenai County

Coeur d’Alene

John Reels, 44, of Coeur d’Alene was arrested recently on aggravated assault charges. Reels is accused of threatening Douglas Evans with a knife for parking in his spot in front of his house. Reels allegedly said to Evans “Get back in your house or I’ll cut your head off,” according to a Coeur d’Alene police report.

Latah County

Moscow

Fifth- and sixth-graders in McDonald Elementary School’s gifted and talented program took first in Idaho and placed 81st out of 400 schools nationally in this month’s Knowledge Masters Open. The KMO competition occurs twice a year. The next will be in March. Moscow’s four elementary schools were the only schools in Idaho to participate, Lena Whitmore Elementary took second, Russell third and West Park fourth.

Shoshone County

Wallace

Silver Valley High School received a $1,000 grant from Avista for its Here Comes the Sun project. The project, headed by Jacqueline Fields, Charline Krone and Viky Allison, is designed to help science students study the sun’s role in photosynthesis and fossil fuels. The grant will also help them develop grade-appropriate projects to teach to four elementary classes. Silver Valley’s grant was part of $25,000 given to 75 Pacific Northwest educators by Avista.

MONTANA

Lincoln County

Libby

The Libby Middle School board of trustees voted unanimously to grant a two-year contract for district Superintendent Kirby Maki at its most recent meeting. Maki has been with the school since 1998 on a two-year $63,000 contract. The second year the board raised Maki’s salary to $70,000 based on accomplishments.