Briefly
Girl shot in face by man with pellet gun
Huetter, Idaho A California girl staying with her grandmother for the summer was shot in the face by a pellet gun as she rode her bicycle on Huetter Road just before 6 p.m. Thursday, Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies reported.
The victim, who was not identified, told deputies she was riding north in the southbound lanes when a red sport-utility vehicle with at least two young men inside passed her. A man in the back seat, possibly a teenager with blond, spiky hair, pointed a gun at her, she told deputies. She heard a popping sound and felt a sting on her cheek.
The girl suffered a nickel-sized welt on her cheek, the report said, but did not request medical assistance. Deputy Jon Brandel scoured the roadway where the girl said she was shot and recovered a “soft air” brand pellet. Deputies said the girl gave them a good description of the vehicle, and they filed the report as an aggravated battery.
Neighborhood cleared after truck hits pipeline
Moscow, Idaho A man accused of drunk driving rolled his pickup truck, ruptured a natural gas pipeline and brought down a power line, forcing the evacuation of a neighborhood at 2 a.m. Friday, Latah County sheriff’s officials said.
Sheriff’s officials said 50 to 60 residents in a mile radius of the 2600 block of East Palouse River Drive were evacuated for about an hour after 64-year-old Carl Johnson of Moscow rolled his truck and caused a leak in the natural gas line. The residents were taken to a temporary safe area at the parking lot of the East Side Marketplace. Sheriff’s officials said Avista repair crews sealed the leak before emergency workers could prepare the Latah County Fairgrounds as a more permanent evacuation site.
Johnson was not injured in the accident but was cited for driving under the influence, sheriff’s officials said.
Lawyer arrested after threatening woman
Coeur d’Alene City police arrested a local attorney Thursday evening after an elderly neighbor said the man threatened her with a pitchfork in a dispute over a loose dog
David C. Johnston, 44, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault after an officer determined the victim feared for her safety, according to a police report. According to the police report, 79-year-old Lorraine Palmieri called officers to the 3600 block of Pineridge Drive just before 6 p.m. Thursday.
Her dog broke loose, Palmieri told police, and was running around the neighborhood, ignoring her calls and those of her son, John Crosby, who is in a wheelchair, to come back. Johnston, she said, came to the edge of his lawn across the street and began stabbing a pitchfork into the ground. Palimeri told police Johnston appeared angry and said, “I am going to do this to your dog. I’m going to do this to you. And I’m going to do this to your son.”
Johnston told police he saw Palmieri let the dog off its chain and overheard Crosby order it to defecate in his yard. He said the dog does this frequently, and he is tired of it, the police report said. Initially, according to the report, Johnston told police he picked up a shovel to defend himself from the dog, later telling police he grabbed a pitchfork and admitted he stabbed it into the ground.
Johnston told officers he did not threaten Palmieri or Crosby, telling them he would defend himself from the dog.
Traffic lanes reduced on Atlas, Kathleen
Coeur d’Alene Realignment of Kathleen Avenue near Atlas Road begins Monday, and the construction will create traffic restrictions for the next two weeks, city officials said.
Atlas will be reduced to one lane at the intersection near Greenwich Road beginning Tuesday and lasting all week. Beginning July 12, Kathleen will be reduced to one lane in both eastbound and westbound lanes.
The work is connected to the construction of Holy Family Catholic School at the northwest corner of Kathleen and Ramsey. Kathleen is being realigned to travel next to the new school and line up with Greenwich Road at Atlas.
Delays are expected to be brief, city officials said. Flaggers will be on duty.
Incarcerated rapist gets more time
Caldwell, Idaho A former private school teacher, who is already serving at least 30 years in prison for raping three teenage girls in Boise, has been sentenced for attempted rape in Canyon County.
Kenneth Kip Wilkins, 28, who taught physical education and coached at St. Mark’s School in Boise, was sentenced to concurrent terms of 10 and 15 years for trying to rape a woman and another teenager in Nampa. He also pleaded guilty to burglary charges in connection with the incidents.
The sentence will be served simultaneously with the 30-year-to-life sentence Wilkins received in the Boise cases.
State appoints new game commissioners
Boise A retired employee of the state Fish and Game Department is one of two newly appointed board members for the state agency that oversees its operation.
Gary Power, of Salmon, replaces John Burns, of Carman, on the Idaho Fish and Game Commission. The 28-year department veteran was a regional supervisor from the Salmon Region from 1991 until his retirement in 1998.
In southern Idaho, Dr. Wayne Wright, of Twin Falls, replaces Dr. Fred Wood, of Burley. The appointments were announced on Friday along with 157 other appointments to 63 boards and commissions as the new state fiscal year gets under way.
“This will be pretty interesting, a retired employee being a commissioner,” said first-term Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner John Watts. “He knows that Salmon country like the back of his hand.”
Wright, an avid big game hunter and Twin Falls cardiologist, said he will have more time available after his retirement this year. He said he simply wanted “to help preserve the heritage that we have in Idaho with our wildlife and our fish and game, and keep that intact for my kids and grandkids.”
Fish and Game commissioners are appointed by the governor for staggered four-year terms and must be confirmed by the Idaho State Senate.
The commission supervises the Fish and Game Department, establishes hunting, fishing and trapping seasons and makes decisions about the management of the state’s wildlife.