Two local groups want to demystify the land-use planning process so people will get involved in Kootenai County’s growth.

The Kootenai Environmental Alliance and the League of Women Voters of Kootenai County are having Monday workshops in September and October to teach people what they need to participate in local land-use planning.

The first workshop is 3:30 p.m. Monday at the Coeur d’Alene campus of the University of Idaho.

The eight free sessions will feature experts, city and county planners and local decision makers.

“Great communities are no accident,” said Carol Sebastian of KEA. “They are inspired from the visions of residents, citizen planers and long-term planning by local governments. Growth is not the issue. It’s how a community grows.”

For more information, call KEA at 667-9093 or Joyce Bergan with the League of Women Voters at 699-5198.

Pair face charges in Spokane assault

A Spokane Police lieutenant apprehended a man just after a witness saw a 73-year-old man attacked and robbed outside a downtown Spokane grocery store.

Lt. Scott Mullennix was driving past Rosauers at 1808 W. Third Ave. Wednesday afternoon when he saw a man on the ground and two people running, police spokesman Dick Cottam said in a news release.

One man fleeing was holding a wallet as he ran into some bushes, Cottam said, and when he emerged, Mullennix could no longer see the wallet.

Mullennix stopped his car and approached the man, who was identified as 28-year-old William S. Ross of Post Falls. The fleeing woman was identified as Talisha M. Ross, also 28.

Mullennix then learned that the 73-year-old man and his granddaughter had been standing next to a pay phone. The Rosses were standing nearby and the granddaughter said she heard the woman ask the man, “Should we do it?”

William Ross then allegedly knocked down the older man, and the woman took his wallet, Cottam said.

When Mullennix asked William Ross about the wallet, he first denied having had one. He then said he had found a wallet on the sidewalk. The officer found the wallet in the bushes, Cottam said.

William and Talisha Ross were both booked into jail, each on a charge of first-degree robbery, Cottam said.

Raffle nets $4,000 for injured CdA officer

A raffle organized by the Kootenai County Deputy Sheriff’s Association helped raise $4,000 for a fund benefiting injured Coeur d’Alene Police Officer Michael Kralicek.

St. Maries resident Beverly Martin was the winner of a mini-chopper motorcycle, donated by Tom Addis Motors. The winning ticket was drawn at the close of last month’s Kootenai County Fair.

Kralicek was shot in the face last December by a suspect in a theft and hit and run accident. The suspect was killed by other deputies.

Energy outlook topic of Spokane conference

Gas prices and the long-term energy outlook will be the focus of a Spokane conference in early October presented by Washington State University.

The event is designed to bring together energy and business experts and will present the latest science on oil depletion and energy alternatives, WSU said in a news release. The conference will be Oct. 4-5 at the Davenport Hotel.

Among those who will make presentations are Gov. Christine Gregoire; Herman Franssen, former chief economist of the International Energy Agency; Roger Bezdek, co-author of “Peaking World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation and Risk Management”; and Matthew Simmons, author of “Twilight in the Desert,” a book that raises doubts about Saudi Arabia’s ability to meet growing demand for oil.

Presented by the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at WSU, the conference is being sponsored by Avista Corp., the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Spokane Rotary 21 and the state Department of Ecology.

For more information and a schedule, go to https://capps.wsu.edu/ globaloil/ or call (800) 942-4978.