Week in Review
The ongoing war in Iraq, which has claimed more than 800 U.S. servicemen and women, made Memorial Day services more poignant than usual for many Americans. The dead have included three Inland Northwest residents. An estimated 500 people gathered at Memorial Gardens for one of four Memorial Day services in Coeur d’Alene. They stayed to hear a speaker read the names of all veterans buried at the cemetery, and to witness a low-elevation flyover by a KC-135 refueling jet from Fairchild Air Force Base. There were similar ceremonies in towns throughout the region. More than 200 people gathered at Spokane’s Fairmount Memorial Cemetery, where a speaker told them, “We must prove our beliefs and patriotism in these days of trial.”
MONDAY
• The Washington Department of Transportation plans to close the Spokane River rest stop on I-90 near the Idaho border. It receives just 10 percent of the visitors of more remote rest areas.
First District Judge Benjamin Simpson figures the Juvenile Education and Training court he oversees saves Kootenai County $365,726 a year. Kids who go through the program avoid costly detention, usually finish school and rarely re-offend. But with a federal grant expiring and the county facing budget costs, the program has an uncertain future.
TUESDAY
Nearly every hotel in the area is already booked for the last weekend of June. In addition to the crowds expected that weekend for Hoopfest in Spokane and the Ironman Triathlon in Coeur d’Alene, more than 12,000 people are expected to attend the U.S. Youth Soccer Far West Region Championship Tournament in Spokane Valley.
• Harrison is going through an economic renewal, thanks to the growing popularity of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes. Residents of the long-struggling town began to notice the change last year when “every car coming to town started sprouting bicycles” headed for the newly opened trail, according to one local. They expect more visitors now that the Chatcolet Bridge over Lake Coeur d’Alene is open to bike traffic and pedestrians.
• Coeur d’Alene police are investigating a double moose-tipping. Vandals caused about $2,300 damage each to two fiberglass moose from a herd decorated by local artists and displayed in town. The moose are scheduled to be auctioned in September as a school fund-raiser.
WEDNESDAY
The fate of a University of Idaho student charged with supporting terrorists is in the hands of a Boise jury. Defense attorneys told the jury that Sami Omar Al-Hussayen was targeted for prosecution because he’s a Muslim and a Saudi national. But prosecutors said in closing arguments that there’s plenty of evidence to prove Al-Hussayen’s guilt.
• The Coeur d’Alene City Council has decided to charge city landowners a $5 monthly utility fee for stormwater maintenance and improvements. Meanwhile, the Kootenai County assessor is preparing to ask the Legislature to help keep taxes affordable by freezing the assessed values of homes owned by the same person for 10 years or longer. He says longtime residents of resort communities are hurt by rapidly increasing property values.
• Unable to buy insurance against lawsuits, Rathdrum Prairie farmers expect to burn about half as many acres of Kentucky bluegrass stubble this year as last, part of a 15-year decline in the number of acres burned. Clean-air activists say that’s good news, but farm advocates say it means productive land will be subdivided and developed.
THURSDAY
• The Washington Attorney General’s Office has filed a lawsuit against Spokane-based National Marketing Solutions, two related companies, their owners and several agents for allegedly scamming senior citizens with questionable business opportunities. The owner says he’s done nothing wrong, and some of the 27 people listed by the state as victims say they don’t think they’ve been victimized.
• Coeur d’Alene is getting 1,000 feet of beach from developers who plan to build homes and offices on the former Crown Pacific mill site. City officials say it will take a couple of years before the beach is open.
• Idaho legislators, who wrestled with such high-profile issues as an anti-smoking bill and a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, received more calls from constituents wanting to express opinions than during any other session in the past decade. Nearly 25,000 calls came in, compared to 15,000 last year and 7,400 the year before.
FRIDAY
High-school and college students are finding tough competition for summer jobs. Among the biggest employers: Silverwood theme park and Spokane city parks, which is still looking for lifeguards.
• Workers are putting the final touches on River City Middle School, which was built with money from a $7.1 million levy passed by voters in 2002. Teachers will begin moving in Monday and students will start school there in September.
• The city of Coeur d’Alene will spend nearly $1 million to buy 12 acres adjoining Ramsey Park. Plans call for eventually building two baseball fields there. But no one knows where the city would get $4 million for construction.
COMING UP
The Kootenai County Commission is working on new land-use rules that – among other things – would eliminate the requirement that new houses be at least 75 feet from shorelines.
Read about it Monday, in The Idaho Spokesman-Review.
Compiled by Dan Hansen.