Guard members will train in Texas

More than 200 members of an Idaho National Guard helicopter battalion are deploying this week for eventual service in Afghanistan, the Guard announced Monday.

The 1-183 Aviation Battalion, based in Boise, will depart today for Fort Hood, Texas, where its members will train for four months before deploying to Afghanistan in February with 16 Apache helicopters, according to Lt. Col. Stephanie Dowling, an Idaho National Guard spokeswoman.

It will be the second time in three years members of the 1-183rd have been deployed overseas, having served eight months in Bosnia as part of Operation Noble Eagle in 2002 and 2003.

Spider bite leaves painful legacy

Lewiston The flu-like symptoms and skin damage that left a north central Idaho man on kidney dialysis and put him in the hospital for more than a month and in the intensive care unit since Saturday was likely the result of a brown recluse spider bite, a doctor told him.

Richard Abrams, 58, said he never did see the spider that bit him on the knee last June, and doesn’t know exactly when or where it happened. Abrams said his job as an electrical inspector for the city of Lewiston takes him into crawl spaces, where he likely encountered the spider.

Being bitten by a brown recluse isn’t a common occurrence in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley, said Larry Smith, extension educator for crops and horticulture at the University of Idaho Extension Agency in Lewiston.

“It’s not impossible he was bitten by a brown recluse, but it was likely brought in in a transient manner from the Midwest or Southwest,” Smith told the Lewiston Tribune.

There are other spiders native to the region that can cause harm, mainly the aggressive house spider (hobo spider) or the black widow spider.

Hobo spider bites are more common and usually occur when one gets into bedding or clothing and is trapped next to the skin, Smith said. It’s mostly males that bite, which are more toxic, and the wounds they leave can take anywhere from a month to more than two years to completely heal, he said.

Severity and reactions to the bites also varies from person to person depending on genetics.

Abrams was put on antibiotics and began to feel better, and was doing well until a little more than a month ago when he had a sharp pain in his knee. That was accompanied by a fever of 102 to 104 degrees that forced him back to the hospital.

The antibiotics he was taking to treat the spider bite wreaked havoc on his kidneys and last week he went on dialysis. He said he fainted after a dialysis session on Saturday and landed in the ICU as a result. Abrams is hoping to be released from the Tri-Valley Memorial Hospital in Clarkston this week and return to work part-time soon. He said he expects to be off dialysis in two to three weeks.

As for spiders, he will show them no mercy.

“If I see them, I’ll kill them. I don’t care what color they are.”

Seafood diners likely contracted E. coli

Bend, Ore. At least 18 people who became sick after dining at a Bend seafood restaurant appear to have been infected by E. coli.

The outbreak at McGrath’s Fish House one week ago is being investigated by the Deschutes County Public Health Department. The department’s lab has confirmed two cases of E. coli stemming from meals at the restaurant; another 16 diners are showing symptoms typical of an E. coli infection.

Five restaurant workers have also reported symptoms, health officials said.

Jim Marshall, vice chairman and director of operations for McGrath’s, said the restaurant, which is based in Salem, requires workers to wear gloves while handling food and has a hand-washing policy in place.

“All of those checks and balances and safeguards are built inside the company,” Marshall said. “It is just so unfortunate.”

Symptoms of E. coli infection include bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramping, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The symptoms usually disappear within five to 10 days without treatment.

B.C. teachers union votes to end strike

Vancouver, B.C.

Students across British Columbia returned to school Monday after teachers voted to end an illegal strike that kept them out of class for two weeks.

After the B.C. Teachers Federation was fined $500,000 by the B.C. Supreme Court for going on strike illegally, teachers voted 77 percent in favor of returning to work under a deal reached through mediator Vince Ready that will see the province increase funding to deal with learning conditions, including class sizes.

The province’s 38,000 teachers began the strike Oct. 7.

Federation President Jinny Sims said that by striking, teachers asserted their right to strike in the face of legislation that declared them an essential service.

“We knew we were in civil disobedience and we made some gains,” she said. “We not only took our bargaining rights but we exercised them for two weeks despite all the commitments of the government that students were not going to be out of school for one day.”

Sims said the union has also made class size an issue that must be dealt with.

Teachers were demanding a 15 percent wage increase as well as limits on class size and improved bargaining rights.

Education Minister Shirley Bond said class size and composition are issues the government is willing to discuss with teachers.

“There are lots of issues we want to talk to classroom teachers about, things like healthy and safe schools,” Bond said after the vote Sunday.

Tickets now on sale for fashion fund-raisers

Tickets are now on sale for the Kootenai Medical Center’s Festival of Trees fashion shows.

This year’s shows will include more than 60 models and more than 20 local stores featuring a variety of apparel ranging from ski suits to evening attire.

The Luncheon Fashion Show, sponsored by the American Institute of Clinical Massage, is from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and the Dinner Fashion Show, sponsored by FirstBank Northwest, is from 6 to 8:30 p.m., both on Nov. 28 at the Coeur d’Alene Resort.

Tickets, which are $50 each, can be bought at KMC in Classroom 3.

All proceeds from the 17th annual Festival of Trees will benefit the North Idaho Cancer Center, a service of KMC.

Life Skills NW holding open house, more

Life Skills NW, a nonprofit organization that teaches people how to build and develop healthy relationships and learn effective life management skills, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this weekend.

An open house is scheduled from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday at the Life Skills NW office, 2023 Sandpoint West Drive (off Pine Street), followed by an afternoon at the Omni Air Park with music, food, aircraft displays, and raffles for airplane rides and other prizes.

Omni Air Park is just north of the Sandpoint Airport, off North Boyer Avenue. The afternoon events run from noon to 4 p.m. Call (208) 265-6796 for more information.

Teachers can apply for Qwest tech grants

Public school teachers in Idaho have until Nov. 18 to apply for grants of up to $10,000 for creative uses of technology to improve student learning.

The grants, totaling $50,000, are being offered by the Qwest Foundation, in partnership with the state Department of Education. This spring, 13 Idaho teachers from around the state received the grants.

“We are proud to invest in Idaho teachers and children,” said Jim Schmit, Qwest president for Idaho.

Application information is posted on the state Department of Education’s Web site at www.sde.state.id.us/bots.