Driver cited with DUI for two crashes

A suspected drunken driver in a hit-and-run accident Friday evening in Hayden left the scene only to cause another accident just blocks away – crashing head-on into another man suspected of driving under the influence.

Both drivers were cited with DUI, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department.

Lawrence Pierce, 40, of Smelterville is accused of leaving the first accident at Government Way and Honeysuckle Ave., according to a press release and police reports. He then reportedly ran head-on into a Ford pickup driven by 32-year-old Richard Way Jr. of Post Falls.

Pierce, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, was injured. He remained in Kootenai Medical Center on Monday and was reported in good condition.

Wolfinger honored as Citizen of the Year

Capt. Ben Wolfinger of the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department was honored as Citizen of the Year last week by the Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to his extensive volunteer record, Wolfinger was recognized for his role as the Sheriff’s Department spokesman during the Groene investigation.

Wolfinger is a Coeur d’Alene City Council member and outgoing chairman of the chamber’s board. He has also been involved with United Way, Boy Scouts and Project Safe House.

ArtSpirit Gallery owner Steve Gibbs received the chamber’s Ed Abbot Volunteer of the Year award. Gibbs spearheaded the work of the chamber’s Arts and Culture Committee and the creation of Coeur d’Alene’s Art Walk.

Boating season set to end on Monday

The boating season is nearly over in Post Falls.

On Monday , the Q’emiln Park boat ramp on the Spokane River will close for the winter.

The reason is twofold, said Avista Utilities spokesman Hugh Imhof, whose company runs a hydroelectric dam on the river.

To avoid flooding Coeur d’Alene Lake, more water is let into the river, which can sometimes cause strong currents, a potential danger to boaters.

The lake’s lower water levels are also a potential hazard for boats.

Depending on the amount of inflow into the lake, the ramp will reopen in late spring or early summer.

Milner Dam drawdown to be bigger than usual

Heyburn, Idaho Idaho Power Co. officials are allowing more water than usual to be drawn down from the Snake River behind the Milner Dam this year, giving riverside property owners a chance to repair damage resulting from ice that forms along their shoreline retaining walls during the winter.

The annual drawdown of the Milner Reservoir in south-central Idaho is typically three to four feet for a few days. This year, however, it will be four to six feet and will last through Dec. 1, said Randy Hill, Idaho Power’s eastern region manager.

“I’ve been working all summer to get ready for it (the drawdown),” said Bill Morrison, a Heyburn resident who says his retaining wall has been crumbling slowly since ice began to freeze around it following the construction of a new powerhouse in 1993.

“We never had trouble with the wall until they put in the power plant at Milner,” he said. “Ice is powerful stuff.”

Underwear thief sentenced in Oregon

McMinnville, Ore. A Tigard man who stole bras and panties from students at Linfield College and George Fox University was sentenced Monday to more than four years in prison and another 18 months in the Yamhill County Jail.

Sung Koo Kim, 31, who has been behind bars since June 2004, will get credit for the time he has already served. While in the county jail, Kim can petition to spend the rest of his term in a treatment program.

“I would like to sincerely apologize with all my heart to all the girls affected by my shortsighted, selfish, abnormal actions,” he said before Judge John Collins.

Kim reached a plea deal last week, admitting charges of burglary and theft. He told the court that his problems stemmed from his upbringing in a strict, religious household.

Kim has been accused of stealing thousands of bras and panties from college campuses in several parts of Western Oregon. At the home Kim shared with his parents, investigators found more than 3,000 bras and panties, many labeled with names, dates and places.