Briefly

Radio station to hold benefit

Sandpoint Panhandle Community Radio Inc. will rock and roll at the Panida Theatre on Friday even though the struggling station temporarily has lost its voice.

The nonprofit, community-access station will feature a night of music to raise money to renovate studio space. The lineup of musicians for Friday’s concert includes Sandpoint singer and guitarist Beth Pederson and Nina Gerber, a guitarist and singer from California who recently appeared with Jackson Brown; the Kathy Colton Trio; bluegrass performers Doug and Kim Bond; Gordon Anderson and Joan Lassen, folk and bluegrass singers and guitarists; and Niccole Bayley, who performs rhythm and blues and rock and roll.

Panhandle Radio is on computer while it waits for the FCC to approve its license. The station is one of 1,700 low-power stations waiting for FCC approval. For months, it broadcast on computer at www.panhandleradio.org, but the business that shared its bandwidth with the station, adding audio capabilities to its Web site, stopped sharing.

Panhandle Radio still offers links at its Web site to programs it used to air. Organizers began the station last year to promote a community voice in Sandpoint. Anyone was invited to broadcast, but no foul language or denouncements were permitted.

Yontan Gonpo, leader of the community-access radio movement, said he plans to renovate donated studio space for the station in Hope while he waits for an FCC license.

Friday’s show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $12 and are available at the door. For information, call 265-9655.

Fall sports registration begins

Rathdrum Rathdrum Parks and Recreation is registering children for its volleyball, flag football and fall soccer programs.

Youth have until Aug. 31 to sign up.

The co-ed volleyball program is for third- through sixth-graders and will run from Sept. 11 through Oct. 9.

Flag football is open for all youth in second through sixth grade. A pre-season mandatory meeting is set for Sept. 11.

Fall soccer is open for all youth including two micro programs for children ages 3-6. All soccer players must attend the Sept. 11 pre-season meeting.

For more information, call 687-2399 or drop by the recreation department at 8047 No. 2 Main St. in Rathdrum.

Windows reportedly shot out

Coeur d’Alene Coeur d’Alene police responded to two calls of windows being shot early Friday morning.

A construction supervisor reported that a glass door on the west side of the newly built Holy Family Catholic School had been shot. A bullet was found nearby, according to a police report.

A resident of nearby Abbey Road told police she heard four gunshots at about 1 a.m. Friday. She said she heard a car horn and screeching tires. Later that morning, she discovered a rear, side window of her Oldsmobile Bravado was broken and discovered a bullet casing lodged in the glass.

Damages in both cases were estimated at $500.

Burglars hit Nazarene church

Coeur d’Alene More than $5,400 in cash, computers and electronics were stolen from the Coeur d’Alene Church of the Nazarene on Saturday night, according to Coeur d’Alene police.

The door of the Fourth Street church had been pried open. Police found a 12-inch pry bar on the floor near where two vending machines had been forced open. Pastor Ronald Hunter told police he thought the pry bar belong to the church. The burglar allegedly took about $200 from the machines.

Three office doors also had been forced open. Three computers, a digital video camera, karoke machine, projector and television/VCR combo also were taken along with other electronics. About $246 was taken from a safe, in which the key was kept above in a small bowl, according to the police report.

Hunter told police that the alarm wasn’t operational at the time of the breakin. Hunter estimated about $370 in damage to the vending machines and doors.

LCSC named among nation’s best

Lewis-Clark State College has been named as one of America’s best.

The college was named the top comprehensive, bachelor’s degree-offering public college in the West by U.S. News and World Report. Each year, the magazine ranks more than 1,400 colleges and universities for its list of “America’s Best Colleges.”

This is the second time the college has received the honor. In 2001, LCSC also was rated tops. The college was ranked No. 3 in the category for the past two years.

The college was ranked against other public colleges that focus on undergraduate education and offer degrees ranging from liberal arts to professional programs.

U.S. News and World Report ranks the schools based on academic reputation, retention and graduation rates, class sizes, percentage of full-time faculty, student/faculty ratios and alumni giving rates.

“We are elated,” LCSC President Dene Thomas said Monday in a press release. “We know we have a quality school here and we are a good value for a student’s education dollar.”

Police sergeant files for NIC board

Coeur d’Alene Coeur d’Alene Police Sgt. Christie Wood has filed for a seat on North Idaho College’s board of trustees.

Wood is the department’s public information officer and also a trustee for the Coeur d’Alene School District. She took classes at NIC while studying for her master’s degree, which she recently received from Lewis-Clark State College.

Wood said she also attended NIC when she was younger.

“I’m just so fond of the school,” she said Monday. “I got a lot of support when I was there. There was so much support for non-traditional students to continue their education. I just want to be part of that.”

Former State Board of Education member Jim Hammond and Tyler Allen Smith are also running for the seat formerly held by Fred Ostermeyer.

Hammond is the Post Falls city administrator and a former mayor.

Incumbent and board chair Rolly Williams has filed to retain his seat and, so far, has no challengers.

The positions, both six-year terms, will appear on the ballot during the Nov. 2 general election. The deadline to file for candidacy is Sept. 1.

Declaration of candidacy forms are available at the NIC Business Office, (208) 769-3340, or the Kootenai County Elections Office, (208) 446-1030.

Rags, alarm failure blamed for spill

Coeur d’Alene A big wad of cloth rags and a faulty alarm system are both responsible for the accidental dumping of 130,000 gallons of raw sewage into the Spokane River over the weekend.

The spill happened late Friday night and early Saturday morning, wastewater superintendent Sid Fredrickson said.

While it’s common to find clusters of rags, mop heads of other products blocking the pipes, it is rare that the system’s alarms would fail at the same time.

Two alarms should have sounded during the night, but neither did.

The city notified the Idaho Department of Environmental quality, which said the spill poses little risk to human health because the concentration of harmful bacteria happened over many hours.

Test samples of the sewage and river showed no dangerous levels of contaminants.

Fredrickson said a relay in the systems motor control center burned out, deactivating the entire alarm system. Electricians have replaced the faulty relay and have begun replacing the other 30 as a precaution.

Post Falls official in national group

Post Falls Post Falls Finance Director Shelly Enderud was recently elected to an international public treasurers association.

Enderud, who oversees the city’s finances including preparing the annual budget, was elected secretary of the Association of Public Treasurers of the United States and Canada.

She served as the association’s treasurer the previous year and is a certified municipal finance administrator.

Vehicles can be registered online

Kootenai County motorists can now renew their vehicle registration online.

Starting with registrations expiring this month, motorists can go to www.itd.idaho.gov/dmv to renew their registrations.

Until now, motorists could only renew their registration by mail or by going to the county license office. County officials say the online registration will be faster and more convenient.

No tax dollars will be used to build, operate or maintain the service because the county partnered with Access Idaho, the state’s official Web portal and provider of electronic government services for the state.

Motorists must use a credit card, either Visa or MasterCard, to renew online. Users must log in by entering their plate number and the PIN printed on the reminder postcard they receive in the mail from Kootenai County.

For more information, call the Vehicle License Department at the Coeur d’Alene Office at (208) 446-1580 (option 1).

Parents advised to immunize kids

As the first day of school nears, Panhandle Health is reminding parents to make sure their children’s immunizations are up-to-date.

State law requires students to have current immunizations to attend public, private or parochial schools, according to a press release from Panhandle Health.

For information on vaccines and the diseases they prevent, visit the Center for Disease Control Web site at www.cdc.gov.

Information on back-to-school immunizations in Idaho’s five northern counties is available by calling the following Panhandle Health offices: Benewah County, (208) 245-4556; Bonner County, (208) 263-5159; Boundary County, (208) 267-5558; Kootenai County (208) 415-5100; Shoshone County, (208) 786-7474.