The County Lines

WASHINGTON

Adams County Ritzville

A Ritzville man is trapping cats and moving them to a farm, police say, but he denies the cats are being used as coyote bait. In Ritzville, it’s not against the law to trap cats. Often, litters are abandoned and become wild. The unidentified trapper has reported the theft of the electronic eye used to shut his trap, and police are asking that it be returned.

Ferry County Republic

A hand-made quilt will benefit the Forget-Me-Not Animal Shelter. Many local women worked on the creation, which will be raffled off for the new shelter. The shelter’s mission is to care and find homes for abused and abandoned animals. Tickets are $1 and are available at businesses countywide.

Grant County Ephrata

Congress has allocated $440,000 to help the Grant Transit Authority replace its aging bus fleet. Many buses are 15 years old. Newer, more reliable models are needed, especially due to the rural nature of the transit authority, which links nearly all towns in the county.

Lincoln County Reardan

The details are getting nailed down for the 57th annual Mule Days celebration. The festivities are on the calendar for June 2-4. Saturday, June 3, kicks off with a fun run, a parade, food and craft fair, and a kiddie carnival in the local park. A 3-on-3 hoop shoot and free entertainment are planned.

Pend Oreille County Newport

Staff and students at Newport High School spent a good deal of their day recently unloading a truckload of computers. The technology was donated to the school from the Pend Oreille County Public Utilities District. The PUD gave 50 computers, a handful of laptops and networking equipment to be used at Sadie Halstead Middle School.

Spokane County Spokane

The Spokane Valley Center, which serves low-income families with a variety of social services, has a found a new home. The Valley Center’s purchase of the Nazarene Church of the Valley’s building at 10814 E. Broadway closed last week. The price of the church property, which includes a house next door, was $595,000. The Valley Center received a $350,000 grant from the Comstock Foundation to help pay for the property. The Valley Center, which has been in cramped quarters at 11922 E. First for the past 10 years, won’t move until September 2001, when the Nazarene congregation’s new church at Sullivan and 20th is to be completed.

Stevens County Chewelah

Northwest Alloys has been issued an order by the Washington Department of Ecology, formalizing proposed cleanup actions at the L-Bar site just outside of Chewelah. The state wants to make sure the cleanup is in accordance with the Model Toxics Control Act and is completed in a timely manner. The public is invited to review documents and comment on the proposed cleanup until June 5 at the local library.

Whitman County Pullman

Services begin at 10:30 a.m. today at the Presbyterian Church for Gerald Lawson, a Pullman-area farmer who donated $1 million to the city of Pullman in 1984 to build a public garden on Pioneer Hill. Lawson Gardens, the legacy of Lawson’s gift, is now an area attraction, with its reflecting pool, vast lawns, paved walks and rows of trees and flowers. Lawson created the gardens to honor his first wife, Alice. Not long before his death last Sunday, Lawson was given the Citation of Merit Award from the Washington Recreation and Parks Association.

IDAHO

Benewah County Plummer

Crissie’s Corner, owned by Chris Mahoney Meyer and Margaret Mahoney Jose, opened May 8 in Plummer. The business carries the top 15 selling books and used books. Coffee, cookies, muffins, pastries and ice cream are also sold. Manager Ellen Reh said crafts will be added soon.

Boundary County Bonners Ferry

Every year Idaho Law Enforcement Officers and peace officers carry the flame of Hope through the state and to the Special Olympics Idaho State Summer Games for the opening ceremony, this year on June 8 at Idaho State University in Pocatello. Rick Alonzo of the Bonners Ferry Police Department will carry the torch from Bonners to Coeur d’Alene today.

Kootenai County Post Falls

Registration ends Friday for the Post Falls Parks and Recreation Department’s first Blast on the Beach, a co-ed four-player volleyball tournament. The tournament is for players 13 years and older and will be June 2-4 at Q’emiln Park beach. For details, call (208) 773-0539.

Latah County Moscow

Latah Title Co., a family owned and operated business, is celebrating its 100th year of business. It’s the oldest active family-ran business in Moscow. Tod Kiblen, 50, operates it with his two sons, Dave, 31, and Mike, 29, while his 84-year old mother lives in an apartment above the business. It was started in 1900 by C.L. Thompson (Tod’s grandfather) and his brother John Thompson and was called Thompson Brothers Abstract Company.

Shoshone County Kellogg

A swarm of bees thought to be looking for a place to start a hive hovered in a tree on the corner of Main Street and Portland Avenue in Kellogg last week. A local shop owner and beekeeper, Bruce Hanks, ran home, donned his beekeeping attire, hit the tree several times and the bees flew into beehive boxes he’d set below the tree. Swarms occur during the spring when bees are looking for a hive, Hanks said.

MONTANA

Lincoln County Libby

The Lincoln County Health Department has about 25 doses of pneumoccal vaccine available for people 65 years and older or for those younger with chronic illnesses such as lung, heart, kidney or liver disease, diabetes, those without spleens or those whose immune systems are compromised. For an appointment call (406) 293-2660. The Health Department is at 418 Main Ave.