Grants offered for landscaping

Kootenai Environmental Alliance and Idaho Rivers United are seeking applications for a limited number of cash grants to help property owners in Kootenai County relandscape their properties to conserve water.

The program, patterned after a project in the Boise metropolitan area, teaches property owners how to use less water with water-efficient landscaping practices.

Grants of up to $1,000 will be awarded to homeowners, small-business owners, public institutions such as schools, and nonprofit organizations that own property and wish to reduce water consumption by 50 percent or more.

“Throughout the state Idahoans waste far too much water at their homes and businesses, particularly on lawns,” Idaho Rivers United Executive Director Bill Sedivy said in a news release. “Water supplies are finite, and as our state continues to grow and develop it is becoming more and more important to use water wisely.”

The deadline for applications is March 21. Awards will be announced by April 13.

Applications are available at www.kealliance.org or www.idahorivers.org. Or call Carol Sebastian at (208) 667-9093.

Coeur d’Alene

Benefit auction, crab feed slated

The ICARE Children and Family Advocacy Center will hold a benefit auction and crab dinner March 9 to raise money for child abuse prevention in Kootenai County.

The auction preview begins at 6:30 p.m. followed by an “all-you-care-to-eat” crab leg dinner and dessert at 7 p.m. Both live and silent auctions are planned.

Tickets for the event, to be held at the Coeur d’Alene Resort, are $50 and must be purchased in advance. The nonprofit is seeking donations for the auction.

For information or tickets, call ICARE at (208) 676-1515.

Spokane Valley

Toy gun used in $1 robbery

An 18-year-old Spokane Valley man was arrested Tuesday night when he allegedly stole a dollar from a Spokane Transit rider at the Pence-Cole Valley Transit Center – using a gun he tried to sell to his victim for $5.

Spokane Valley police said the gun turned out to be a “very realistic toy,” but the one an officer pointed at Daniel M. Taylor was real. Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Reagan said Taylor was arrested at gunpoint when he refused at first to remove a hand from his hooded sweatshirt.

Taylor was booked into jail on suspicion of first-degree robbery. Victim Kenneth C. Arbuckle, 19, said he thought Taylor’s gun was real, according to court documents.

After robbing Arbuckle, police said, Taylor got onto a bus at the transit center at Fourth Avenue and University Road, only to flee when a Spokane Transit Authority security officer ordered him off the bus. The toy gun was found wedged under the seat where Taylor had been sitting.

A police officer arrested Taylor at Sprague Avenue and University Road.

Helena

Snowmobilers out of bounds

The three snowmobilers caught in an avalanche in the Helena National Forest over the weekend were sledding in an area that is off-limits to motorized travel, forest officials said.

Saturday’s avalanche killed Brett Toney, 27 and Kris Rains, 26, both of Townsend, and injured Jason Crawford, 27, of Helena.

Forest spokeswoman Amy Teegarden said the men were snowmobiling in Birch Creek Basin northwest of Townsend, an area with steep slopes that is closed to motorized travel.

The men were driving across a slope and triggered the slab avalanche that roared down on top of them about 12:45 p.m. Saturday.

Plaza, Wash.

Drivers released after collision

A head-on crash near Plaza shortly after 7 a.m. injured two people and slowed traffic on Highway 195 for a couple of hours.

Although their vehicles were totaled, Mindy L. Tussey, 25, and Stanley R. Bertram Jr., 31, both of Spokane, were treated and released at Deaconess Medical Center.

According to the Washington State Patrol, Tussey crossed the centerline.

Bertram swerved to the left to avoid the collision, but Tussey’s vehicle struck his when she corrected into the proper lane.

Tussey was cited for crossing the centerline, police said.