Funds will aid cancer education

Money raised at last year’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure fun run in Coeur d’Alene will start an education and outreach program on breast cancer at Boundary Community Hospital in Bonners Ferry and continue a mammography screening program through the Panhandle Health District.

The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s Coeur d’Alene affiliate raised $65,000 at last year’s race. The Komen Foundation added $27,000 from races in larger cities.

Nearly $20,000 will go to Boundary Community Hospital to raise awareness about breast cancer and teach prevention and detection.

The health district, which serves the five northern counties, has offered lower-income women without health insurance vouchers for mammograms for six years. Last year, 350 women were screened through the program and eight cases of cancer were found.

Cities work to reduce people’s water usage

The cities of Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls are working with the Kootenai Environmental Alliance on a voluntary program to reduce the amount of water used by homeowners and businesses.

The effort is designed to reduce withdrawals from the Rathdrum Prairie/Spokane Valley Aquifer, the sole source of drinking water for more than 400,000 people.

Coeur d’Alene water superintendent Jim Markley said the city will ask residents to water their lawns more deeply, but less often. It’s most efficient to water before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m., Markley said in a press release.

The city and KEA also will encourage companies to install automatic sprinklers. Businesses will be invited to a meeting this month to discuss ways to participate in the campaign. The city water department will put wise water use tips on its Web site and on the city’s cable TV channel.

“We are in a drought cycle and should it continue it could well affect our future water supply,” said Barry Rosenberg, KEA executive director.

For more information, call the city of Coeur d’Alene at 769-2300 or KEA at 667-9093.

House panel acts to protect vulnerable adults

Lewiston An Idaho House committee has passed a bill to protect vulnerable adults from sexual abuse despite concerns that it might be used against elderly people engaged in normal sexual conduct.

The law, which passed the Senate unanimously, provides a 25-year prison sentence and $25,000 fine for people guilty of lewd and lascivious conduct or sexual contact with someone who cannot consent because of physical or mental impairment.

Rep. Bill Sali, R-Kuna, told committee members of the House Judiciary Rules and Administration Committee that the law might not allow for normal behavior in assisted living facilities.

Mike Kane, a former law enforcement officer and lobbyist for the Idaho Sheriff’s Association, said marital sexual conduct is off limits for criminalization, and the law is intended to protect vulnerable adults who do not have the capability to give consent.

While state law protects vulnerable adults from physical or mental abuse and exploitation or neglect, there is no protection against sexual abuse or exploitation, said Heather Reilly of the Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Association.

She said a felony rape charge is the only law that protects such people, but the charge does not include lewd acts.

Police find body, arrest man’s roommates

Meridian, Idaho Police arrested the roommates of a missing man after the two men led detectives to a body buried in an Oregon campground, police Lt. Bob Stowe said.

Police said it had not yet been confirmed that the body was that of Nathan Ned Fries, 23, who had been missing since March 6. The body was found at a secluded campground in Baker County.

Police believe Fries was killed during a fight at the men’s home.

Jason Huff, 25, and Timothy Colucci, 24, were booked into the Ada County jail Thursday for investigation of second-degree murder, according to jail officials. Colucci has an outstanding warrant from Bannock County.

The three men originally were from the Pocatello area and had shared the home in Meridian for about two months. Fries’ pickup was found at the home.

Officials to recommend fewer elk permits

Gardiner, Mont. State wildlife officials plan to recommend fewer hunting permits for elk that migrate in and out of Yellowstone National Park because of continued lower calf numbers in the northern range herd, a biologist said Friday.

State and federal wildlife managers, who conducted an annual survey this month, estimated an overall ratio of 13 calves per 100 cows in the northern herd. The number is similar to ratios during 2002 to 2004 but down from the range observed in the previous six years.

This was the fourth straight year of lower calf numbers, officials said.

Because of this, only 100 to 500 anterless elk permits will be recommended for next winter’s late hunt near Gardiner, a park gateway town, said Tom Lemke, a biologist with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. By comparison, he said, 1,100 antler-less permits were issued this past year.

Lemke said limiting hunting would allow wildlife officials to determine what’s affecting the elk numbers. Predators, like bears and wolves, and weather also factor in. He ssiaid there’s evidence grizzly bears could be having a “significant effect” on the elk population, particularly very young elk.

Lemke said more ideal calf ratios would be 20 to 30 calves per 100 cows.

P.J. White, a biologist at Yellowstone, said that because hunters killed fewer antler-less elk this year, “the primary mortality factor was almost certainly predation.”

The Northern Yellowstone Cooperative Wildlife Working Group counted more than 9,500 elk in the herd earlier this year.

Forest supervisor aiming for balance

Lewiston In the face of a potentially disastrous fire season, the new supervisor of the Nez Perce National Forest said she will balance environmental concerns with maintaining the water quality of the forest’s watersheds.

“We are concerned about fire effects. But the bottom line is the water quality. We want to preserve the incredible fishery and the water system,” said Jane Cottrell, who replaced former supervisor Bruce Bernhardt.

On the job for just a few months, Cottrell has acquainted herself with employees, the needs of the forest and has met with advocates who encouraged her to log trees killed by insects to reduce fire danger or clean up rivers and streams that are not up to par with Idaho’s water quality standards.

“The community is very friendly and wants the forest to succeed,” she said. “They have taken it upon themselves to see that happen.”

Truck driver sentenced in woman’s death

Caldwell, Idaho A Washington truck driver was sentenced to a year in jail in connection with the death of a Caldwell woman.

But 3rd District Judge James Morfitt suspended all but two days of that time for 600 hours of community service and a fine, said Canyon County Chief Criminal Deputy Virginia Bond said.

Helen Christensen, 58, died when her vehicle collided with a tractor-trailer rig that was stretched across Idaho Highway 20/26 near Parma last September. Investigators said William Lemasters was trying to turn around on the two-lane highway because he missed a turn. Police evidence concludes Christensen did not see the trailer given the pre-dawn conditions.

Lemasters, of Yakima, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter. The charges were reduced from felony charges.