In brief: Woman pleads guilty to beating foster son
A Coeur d’Alene woman pleaded guilty Friday to beating her 6-year-old foster son so badly the boy ended up in the hospital with severe head injuries.
Another child in the home told Coeur d’Alene police that Joyce D. Hibshman beat the boy in July 2006 because she was angry at him “for eating mommy’s chocolate bars.”
Hibshman, 37, pleaded guilty to the felony charge of injury to a child as part of a non-binding plea agreement. Prosecutors agreed to recommend a suspended sentence and supervised probation.
First District Judge Fred Gibler told Hibshman he will decide at the March 12 sentencing whether to accept the plea deal. If he doesn’t, Hibshman can withdraw the guilty plea and the case could go to trial.
Hibshman declined comment following Friday’s hearing.
– Taryn Brodwater
Trial set to settle snowmobile access
A new trial has been ordered to decide how much snowmobiling should be allowed in caribou habitat north and west of Priest Lake. For now, snowmobiling remains open in the area.
U.S. District Judge Robert Whaley of Spokane ordered a new trial be held Feb. 12 after agreeing to an environmental group’s motion to reconsider the matter, said Mark Sprengel, director of the Selkirk Conservation Alliance. The order came after a court hearing earlier this month in Spokane in which environmentalists argued they were not allowed to review documents or cross-examine experts used by the U.S. Forest Service last year.
Environmentalists believe snowmobiles should be barred from portions of the backcountry around Priest Lake that is favored by caribou, a species listed as endangered by the federal government.
The Forest Service believes snowmobiles can be allowed on certain trails through the popular recreation area without spooking the animals.
In September, Whaley banned snowmobiling across most of the region’s federally designated caribou habitat. In November, he reopened most of the trails at the urging of the Forest Service.
“It’s like a teeter-totter,” Sprengel said.
Environmentalists now hope the judge will close groomed trails that cross the Trapper Burn and Smith Creek areas. Snowmobiles running through these areas keep caribou from returning to the southern half of their federally designated recovery zone, environmentalists allege.
Whatever happens is only expected to be an interim solution until the U.S. Forest Service finishes a winter travel plan this year.
– James Hagengruber
School board-council session on TV
The Coeur d’Alene City Council and Coeur d’Alene school board will hold a televised joint meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday to discuss school issues of city-wide importance, such as the possible closure of Sorensen Elementary School and the district’s proposed supplemental tax levy.
The meeting will be held in the City Council chambers, 710 E. Mullan Ave.
It will be televised live on cable Channel 19.
– Meghann M. Cuniff