House approves major water bills
Boise It took two hours of hard debate, but the House on Monday passed three major water bills – including the bill that addresses a southern Idaho water crisis and also funds a series of North Idaho water projects.
The North Idaho projects include studying the Rathdrum Prairie aquifer, monitoring the use and re-use of water, and more.
Several representatives said the water issue is a statewide one, and a statewide approach is appropriate. “We’re all in this together,” said Rep. Scott Bedke, R-Oakley.
The bills, in the end, passed easily, and now head to the Senate. HB 373a, allowing the purchase of water rights at Bell Rapids and setting up bonding authority and a revolving loan fund at the Idaho Department of Water Resources, passed 65-4. HB 374a, expanding the role of water districts in dealing with the issue, passed 64-6. HB 392, the funding bill, passed 63-7. All of North Idaho’s representatives voted for the bills, except for Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, who voted against the first and the third, and Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, who voted against the second.
A fourth bill is being reworked, with a new version scheduled for introduction Tuesday morning in the House Ways and Means Committee. That’s a measure that makes water district membership mandatory.
Boundary County to decide on levy
Boundary County voters today will be asked to approve a nearly $800,000 maintenance and operations levy.
The one-year levy is smaller than the levy expiring this spring and, even if it passes, the district plans to make cuts of at least $185,000. If voters don’t approve the levy, more drastic cuts are proposed, up to the closing of one of the district’s outlying schools.
A grass-roots restructuring committee helped develop the levy proposal and recommended several cuts to school programs to pare down the levy amount. The cuts include reducing the district’s lone certified librarian to half-time, cutting some non-varsity sports teams and eliminating $10,000 from the drama program.
More extreme cost-saving measures including possibly closing Naples Elementary and cutting kindergarten to two full days instead of five half days.
Polls will be open at the district’s schools from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today.
Three hospitalized after crash on I-90
Two teens and a 20-year-old Kellogg man remained in the hospital Monday, two days after a crash on Interstate 90.
According to Idaho State Police, Mitchell W. Brower Jr. was driving west on I-90, passing another car near Wallace when his 1993 Toyota pickup hit standing water and began to hydroplane. The truck reportedly went off the interstate, rolling three times.
Brower and both passengers were ejected from the pickup, according to ISP.
Passenger Casey B. Hennings, 19, was listed in critical condition at Sacred Heart Medical Center. Another passenger, 14-year-old Misty House, was reported in serious condition, also at Sacred Heart. Neither was wearing a seat belt, according to police reports.
Brower was listed in fair condition at Kootenai Medical Center. He was cited by ISP for careless and inattentive driving.
Constitution Party forms Bonner County group
Constitution Party members in Bonner County recently created a central committee.
The central committee will have meetings on the first Friday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Panhandle Health District building in Sandpoint.
Nelson Campbell, who has twice run unsuccessfully for the Idaho Senate, is the committee chairman; Cliff Jones of Oldtown is vice chairman; and Gary Schulte of Cocolalla is secretary/ treasurer.
The Constitution Party has been organized in Idaho for more than a decade. The party advocates for the restoration of local, state and federal governments to their limited, constitutionally authorized powers.
Campbell said that having an organized Constitution Party in Bonner County will have an impact on local elections.
“This is a giant step toward providing Bonner County voters with a real choice of political parties and candidates,” Campbell said in a press release.
For more information, call Campbell at (208) 755-1551.