BNSF wins Dead Swan Award
An environmental group has given its Dead Swan Award to a railroad that built a fueling depot over an aquifer that is the only source of drinking water for more than 500,000 people.
The tongue-in-cheek award – recognizing “corporations and individuals who excel in polluting or degrading the waters of the Upper Columbia River” – was given Tuesday to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Corp. by the Sierra Club’s Upper Columbia River Group.
BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.
The railroad company opened the train fueling depot near Hauser in September 2004. It sits atop the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, the only source of drinking water for more than 500,000 people in Washington and Idaho.
Three months after the depot opened, the railroad disclosed that the facility was leaking contaminated wastewater into the aquifer.
The Dead Swan Award is named for tundra swans that die after ingesting lead in the Coeur d’Alene River Basin while feeding in wetlands polluted by mining activities.
Robbery suspect apprehended in parking lot
Citizens held a robbery suspect at a Coeur d’Alene latte stand until police arrived to make the arrest Tuesday evening.
Suspect Terry T. Taylor sustained minor injuries in a scuffle with three men at Lean Bean Latte, 1211 Sherman Ave., the Coeur d’Alene Police Department reported. He was booked into Kootenai County Jail on robbery charges.
A latte stand employee told police that Taylor demanded money and said he was armed with a gun, though police later determined that none was present. The 19-year-old clerk fled and called 911.
Taylor was confronted by a man in the parking lot who had seen Taylor put on a ski mask and enter the stand. The two scuffled, and two other men joined the effort.
Clark appealing S-R libel dismissal
The former chairman of Idaho’s Republican Party, who unsuccessfully sued The Spokesman-Review for libel, is now appealing to the Idaho Supreme Court.
Trent Clark sued the paper in 2003, alleging that reporter Thomas Clouse misquoted him in a Feb. 2, 2001, story.
The article quoted Clark as saying: “You probably cannot find an African American male on the street in Washington, D.C., that hasn’t been arrested or convicted of a crime.”
The next day, Clark said he had really said: “I know of no African American males in Washington, D.C., who don’t have at least a couple of friends who have been arrested or convicted of a felony.”
The newspaper stood by the accuracy of the quote.
1st District Judge Eugene Marano initially dismissed Clark’s claim on the grounds that there was no evidence of malice on the newspaper’s behalf. Clark appealed the ruling.
On appeal, 1st District Judge Charles Hosack granted summary judgment in the newspaper’s favor, only on different grounds. He said the case should be dismissed because the “gist of the written quote and the gist of the alleged actual statement is substantially the same.”
Clark is appealing that ruling to the Idaho Supreme Court and is also seeking attorneys’ fees and costs.
Would-be home robbers still at large
Police are asking for help finding two would-be robbers who forced their way into a Spokane home, then fled as the homeowner opened fire with a pistol.
The men remained at large Tuesday.
Bob Boisjolie, 65, said he heard a loud crash in his home early Monday and grabbed his 9 mm handgun.
Boisjolie saw a man near his back door holding a baseball bat, said Spokane police spokesman Dick Cottam. Boisjolie fired a shot at the intruder, and one or two men ran from the house.
Nothing was taken from the home, and officers later found a shell casing inside the house and a baseball bat in the alley, Cottam said.
Blood was found on a door, and officers said it could be from a bullet wound or from broken glass.
Boisjolie told police he saw two white males, but could not further describe them because of darkness, Cottam said.
Police dogs searched the area unsuccessfully.
Police ask anyone with information to call the TIPS line at 242-TIPS.
Man killed when vehicle slides off highway
A Rathdrum man died early Tuesday when his vehicle slid off U.S. Highway 95 and hit a utility pole near Tensed, Idaho.
Ryan T. Johnson, 37, was northbound near milepost 375 when he attempted to pass a semitruck about 4:37 a.m. According to an Idaho State Police report, Johnson lost control of his 1999 Chevy Suburban, which slid off the road, overturned and hit the pole.
The road was icy and alcohol use is not suspected, the ISP said.
College’s second stolen semitruck recovered
The second of two semitrucks stolen from the Grant County Fairgrounds in Moses Lake was recovered Tuesday morning.
A 1995 Volvo semitruck and a 1992 Freightliner belonging to the Big Bend Community College Truck Driving School were taken Dec. 21.
Grant County deputies found the Volvo the same day approximately a half mile from the site. The truck was damaged from ramming the fairground gate during the theft.
Catherine Holestine, college public information officer, said the Freightliner was discovered Tuesday at the intersection of Highway 17 and Grape Drive, about a mile from the fairgrounds.
It also had damage to the front end.
“Both trucks will need to be out of service for at least two weeks,” Holestine said.
The semitrucks are part of a fleet of seven vehicles used by the driving school. Two commercial driver’s license programs, with more than 20 students, use the vehicles daily, Holestine said.
Holestine said the other trucks belonging to the school have been moved.