Huckleberries Best of the Northwest — 7/8/05

Ed and Lois Smart are pictured with their daughter, Elizabeth, after she was rescued in Utah from a kidnapper. This week, Ed visited Coeur d’Alene to bring a gift to Shasta Groene and a message to the community. See bold-faced item below/APhoto.

Three members of a Wolf Lodge Bay (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, area) family were killed with a hammer, according to sources of the Coeur d’Alene Press. But Sheriff Rocky Watson wouldn’t confirm the report. Click here .

Related: Elizabeth Smart’s father visits Inland Northwest with a gift for Shasta Groene here , Duncan’s blog mentions Minnesota girl here , Sheriff Watson tells The Spokesman-Review that the attack against the Groenes and Mark McKenzie was random but planned here , and No Montana charges to be filed in case here .

1. Eric Devericks /Seattle Times paints the terrorists in the London bombings as the cockroaches they are here .

2. Supporters of a Washington smoking ban turned in 100,000 signatures more than needed to place the measure on the November ballot here .

3. A “speak-no-Wal-Mart” policy in Yelm, Wash., Town Council meetings is getting a challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union, according to the Associated Press, here .

4. Pasco has surpassed Richland in population for the first time since the federal government brought the Manhattan Project to the Mid-Columbia in 1943, according to new state estimates, according to the Tri-City Herald, here .

5. Conservative Laird Maxwell admits he’s the “John Doe” behind the last-minute smear campaign against Boise mayoral wannabe Chuck Winder here .

6. IMHO-NW: Seattle Times ( In support of free speech, KVI ), Coeur d’Alene Press ( How to help Shasta Groene ), Seattle PI ( We’re all Londoners ), John Freemuth /Andrus Center for Public Policy ( Public doesn’t support dam breaching ), and Susan Paynter /PI ( Hendrix deserves Seattle tribute ).

*Mount Rainier climbers rescued after fall here .

*Two Texas cops still recall 2002 case in which a young newscaster from northwest Montana was murdered in her Abilene apartment here .

*Montana Highway Patrol is expected to stop at least one car per hour now here .

Orbusmax provides the rest of the Northwest here .