Bill would toughen protective orders

A North Idaho senator has proposed giving judges the ability to make protective orders permanent, and extending the distance offenders must stay from their victims to 1,500 feet, up from 300 feet.

A Senate committee unanimously approved the bill for introduction Monday.

Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, drafted the bill after hearing that Lino Gomez, convicted in 1992 of attempted murder after shooting his wife six times in Coeur d’Alene, had promised fellow prison inmates he would “finish the job” upon his release in July.

“A bill like this would make it more difficult to accomplish that,” Jorgenson said.

Jorgenson said Idaho’s protective laws are much more lenient than those of surrounding states.

– Meghann M. Cuniff

Measure makes mixer sales legal

A bill approved Monday by a House committee would legalize what some state liquor stores have been doing for years: selling non-alcohol merchandise like mixers and chasers.

“We’ve been selling these products in liquor stores since at least 1972,” said Ken Winkler, chief financial officer for the State Liquor Dispensary.

Winkler said customers like the convenience of buying products for use as drink mixers or chasers at the same place they buy liquor.

HB 435 simply allows them to do so legally, he said.

The bill now goes to the full House.

– Meghann M. Cuniff

Ag official warns of noxious weed

Eurasian milfoil already infests more than 4,000 acres of Idaho waterways, state Agriculture Director Pat Takasugi told legislative budget writers Monday.

“Swimmers have actually drowned in it, boaters have lost boats, and fishermen, obviously you can’t fish in it,” Takasugi told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

“Fish can’t go in there, and other plants can’t compete with Eurasian water milfoil.”

Takasugi showed the budget committee a photo of Lake Pend Oreille with a huge, brown swath that looked almost like an island. It was a giant tangle of milfoil.

The Agriculture Department’s budget request – and the governor’s recommendation – includes a $100,000 boost in general funds next year for noxious weed control.

Estimates are that a three-year plan to eradicate milfoil statewide would cost much more.

– Betsy Z. Russell