Priest Lake woman dies in cycle crash

A 43-year-old Priest River woman died Tuesday night in a motorcycle accident, according to the Idaho State Police.

Catherine D. Thompson was riding a 2001 Harley Davidson south on Spirit Lake Cutoff Road when she attempted to pass another vehicle and hit a Dodge Neon head-on. The Dodge was driven by a 16-year-old girl who is also from Priest River, according to ISP.

Thompson was wearing a helmet but did not survive the crash.

Snoqualmie man hurt in ATV accident

Wallace A Snoqualmie, Wash., man was injured in the backcountry Wednesday, when he lost control of his all-terrain vehicle.

James E. Humes, 52, was in the Wallace area for the High Mountain ATV Jamboree, but he was not on one of the jamboree’s guided rides when the accident happened, according to the Shoshone County Sheriff’ Office.

Humes was with a group of friends in the Cranky Gulch area of Placer Creek when he apparently lost control of his ATV. It flipped and rolled over him as it rolled down a hill, the sheriff’s office reported.

Humes was transported to a hospital by Med Star air ambulance.

Kootenai HR director takes California job

Kootenai County Human Resources Director Cherie Bates resigned Wednesday to take a job in Southern California. Her last day is Aug. 5.

Bates recently accepted a job as the director of classified personnel for the Santa Monica Community College District Personnel Commission.

Before working for Kootenai County, Bates was with North Idaho College for nine years.

She has served as the county’s human resources director since April 2002 and was instrumental in the completion of the county’s recent wage and benefit study conducted by a California consultant. County employees got more than a $1 million in salary and benefit adjustments in June that will keep county pay in line with other Northwest governments and similarly sized businesses.

“She’s done a great job and is leaving us in good hands,” said Commission Chairman Gus Johnson about the salary study results.

Johnson has known Bates since the ninth grade at Coeur d’Alene High School and said that she did well in a tough job.

Bates said she is happy to make a “good career move.”

Sandpoint police target pedestrian safety

Sandpoint City police here will focus on pedestrian safety through the end of August as part of the state Department of Transportation’s Pedestrian Crossing Enforcement Program.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 25 percent of children ages 5 to 9 killed in traffic crashes nationwide in 2002 were pedestrians, and 6 percent of all children younger than 16 injured in traffic accidents were pedestrians. Forty percent were injured between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Seniors older than 69 accounted for 17 percent of all pedestrian fatalities and 6 percent of all pedestrians injured in 2002.

Alcohol use was reported in nearly 50 percent of all pedestrian fatalities and more than 40 percent of fatalities happened on roadways without crosswalks.

Long-term data indicates pedestrian fatalities are declining, but they still account for more than 11 percent of all traffic fatalities.

Sandpoint police will focus their enforcement on First Avenue, Cedar and Third, Pine and Third, Fifth and Poplar, Highway 2, Highway 2 and Olive, Division and Michigan and Division and Spruce.

Blast at propane distributor injures one

Dallesport, Wash. A tank exploded at a propane distributor Wednesday, injuring one person and starting a brush fire that shut down a stretch of highway between Washington and Oregon, authorities said.

The explosion at the Amerigas facility was reported Wednesday afternoon, Klickitat County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Eileen Porter said.

The injured person was removed with burns, but the extent of the injuries was not clear, Porter said. The victim was not immediately identified.

“I haven’t been able to establish exactly what blew,” Porter said. “I do know that there were five or six additional 30,000-gallon tanks that were in jeopardy.”

The explosion sparked a brush fire in the area, but authorities reported it contained by about 4:30 p.m., Porter said.

About five miles of U.S. 197 were shut down, including a stretch that crosses the Columbia River into north-central Oregon, Porter said.

Portions of State Route 14 also were shut down, said Washington State Patrol Lt. Ron Rupke in Vancouver, Wash.

A corridor along the highway, described as a rural industrial area, was evacuated, Porter said.

Troopers were assisting local authorities with evacuation of the nearby Columbia Hills Trailer Park, Rupke said.

Amerigas, based in King of Prussia, Pa., has roughly 1.3 million residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural and motor fuel customers in the United States. It’s a subsidiary of UGI Corp. in Valley Forge, Pa.