Hayden plans meetings on core

Consultants working on Hayden’s effort to establish a downtown core are in town this week to present design concepts and ways to incorporate public art.

The first meeting is a business development workshop today with the Hayden Chamber of Commerce. The 4:30 p.m. meeting is at the Northern Lakes Fire Station, 125 W. Hayden.

Hayden Planning Director Lisa Key said it’s a chance for residents to develop an image for the city that will support existing businesses while recruiting new industry.

There are four meetings Wednesday with Downtown Solutions Team, the Salem-based consultants, including a 7 p.m. public workshop on enhancing the aesthetics of downtown. Key said that’s everything from signs at the entries to the city to interactive art in public spaces such as splash fountains in parks.

Wednesday’s other public events, at City Hall, are as follows:

“Planning and Zoning Commission workshop on design and development standards, 11 a.m.

“Hayden Arts Commission meeting with the project team, 2 p.m.

“Hayden City Council and Urban Renewal Agency meeting with the project team, 3:30 p.m.

Hayden City Hall is at 8930 N. Government Way. For information, call Key at (208) 209-2021.

Coeur d’Alene

Shasta Fiesta this Saturday

Tickets are available for Saturday’s Shasta Fiesta, a fundraiser for the communitywide effort to build a home for 10-year-old Shasta Groene and her family.

Groene’s mother, 13-year-old brother and mother’s fiancé were killed in 2005 by Joseph Duncan. Duncan is charged in federal court with kidnapping Shasta and her 9-year-old brother, Dylan, from the family’s home and killing the boy.

The Windermere Foundation launched the effort to build a home for Shasta after her father, Steve Groene, said they were homeless.

A lot was purchased in the girl’s school district and construction is under way, said Midge Smock of the Windermere Foundation. Smock hopes proceeds from Saturday’s event will pay off the property.

Tickets for the dinner and auction are $25 per person or $200 for a table of eight. Auction items include a kids football camp with retired NFL quarterback John Friesz, a helicopter tour of Coeur d’Alene donated by Duane and Lola Hagadone, a Mexican cruise, a diamond and emerald necklace, day trips on Lake Coeur d’Alene, a child-sized ATV and a Honda scooter.

The event runs from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Best Western/Coeur d’Alene Inn, 506 W. Appleway. Tickets can be purchased at Windermere Coeur d’Alene Realty or by calling (208) 664-9221.

Also on Saturday, the Albertsons grocery store in Hayden will have a lunchtime barbecue to raise money for Shasta.

Volunteers sought for Tubbs cleanup

The Tubbs Hill Foundation is seeking volunteers for a trash pick-up Saturday at the 120-acre city park.

Starbucks will provide trash bags, gloves and coffee for volunteers who donate their time from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, said Mark Weadick, president of the nonprofit Tubbs Hill Foundation. Starbucks will donate $10 per hour to the foundation for every person who participates, to a maximum of $1,000.

Around 200 people attended last fall’s Tubbs Hill Cleanup, collecting a truckload of trash, Weadick said.

A registration tent will be set up near the Third Street entrance to Tubbs Hill. Weadick said volunteers must sign in for their time to be counted for the fundraiser.

For information, call Weadick at (208) 765-5628.

BILLINGS

Rancher kills young gray wolf

A rancher west of Springdale shot and killed a gray wolf on Monday, about two weeks after wolves fatally injured one of the rancher’s cows.

The year-old male wolf was shot under a federal shoot-on-site permit issued last week to the rancher, whose name was not released. One of the rancher’s heifers had been attacked April 17 and was later put down due to its injuries, said Jon Trapp, a wolf management specialist with the Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks.

It was unknown whether the wolf shot Monday was involved in the attack. The state’s policy is to remove wolves “as close in time and space as possible” to such an attack, Trapp said.

Trapp said the rancher’s permit was for one wolf only, although federal rules allow the taking of additional wolves if caught in the act of harassing or injuring livestock.