Silverton man dies in mine accident

A Silverton, Idaho, man was killed last week in an accident at the Stillwater Mine in Nye, Mont.

Cody R. Mathewson, 52, was an electrician at the underground platinum-palladium mine. He was killed late Thursday while working on ventilation air doors in the mine, according to a press release issued by Stillwater Mining Co.

Officials from the Mine Safety and Health Administration are investigating the accident.

Services for Mathewson will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday at the United Church of Christ Congregational in Wallace.

Mathewson started at the Stillwater in February 2002. He was part of a contingent of Silver Valley miners who commuted to Montana for work after the Sunshine Mine closed in 2001. At the Sunshine, Mathewson was active in union issues. He was the shop steward for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local 73.

Sculpture pays tribute to firefighters

Boise A bronze sculpture memorializing Idaho’s wildland firefighters was unveiled Monday at the Boise Airport.

Vicki Minor, executive director of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, said several other statues are set to be installed at airports and other high-profile locations around the country. Boise got the first statue in the foundation’s project because it is one of the busiest areas for wildfire activity, she said.

The National Wildfire Suppression Association raised $30,000 to install the Boise statue, which was designed by Vermont sculptor Larry Nowlan.

The nonprofit Wildland Firefighter Foundation was created in 1999 to support family members and co-workers of wildland firefighters who die or are injured in the line of duty.

Environmental concerns halt timber sales

Moscow, Idaho Federal judges have stopped four timber sales, ruling that cutting a combined 60 million board feet of logs from north-central Idaho national forests shouldn’t proceed until concerns over water quality and species protection are addressed.

A Moscow-based environmental group, Friends of the Clearwater, had asked for the injunctions, which affect two projects in the Nez Perce National Forest and two projects in the Clearwater National Forest.

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge and a federal magistrate, Michael Williams, both of Boise, wrote Friday in separate decisions that federal officials should have considered how logging would impact animals, such as the pileated woodpecker, as well as water quality.

“I think we are starting to get the Forest Service to finally recognize the importance of water quality in the standpoint of timber sales,” said Gary Macfarlane, the environmental group’s forest watch director.

Clearwater National Forest Supervisor Larry Dawson said he’s disappointed because some of the projects would have helped restore damaged forest areas by repairing culverts and removing roads that are no longer used. The proposed timber sales also would have yielded more than $2.4 million for the agency. Some logging had already begun but won’t resume until legal issues have been resolved.

School district plans to limit classes

Nampa, Idaho The Nampa School District plans to limit the number of classes high school students can take each semester, starting this fall.

The plan, designed to reduce spending, will limit students to seven class periods a day instead of the former limit of eight classes.

When students are limited to seven periods a day, the district only needs 74 full-time teachers and one part-time teacher compared to the eight-period system which would require 85 teachers.

“We want to be prudent on how we use resources available to the school district,” said Kevin Stanger, the chief educational officer for Skyview High School and East Valley Middle School.

Exceptions to the seven-class limit will be granted on a case-by-case basis, and those students who choose seven classes will have the option of taking a study period, coming to school later in the day or leaving earlier, said Jeff Read, chief educational officer for Nampa High and West Middle School.

Other Idaho school districts also have made changes because of tight budgets. The Boise School District is considering cutting an after-school recreation program and up to 43 employees. The Boundary County School Board has switched to a four-day school week and the Pocatello School District is eliminating 10 full-time teaching positions.