In brief: Senate bill helps float-home owners

Legislation guaranteeing float-home owners binding arbitration if they’re hit by “unreasonable” rent increases passed the Idaho Senate Tuesday on a 34-1 vote, and heads to the House.

Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, told the Senate that float-home owners at Bayview on Lake Pend Oreille “need our help.”

“This bill is not a rent control bill,” Jorgenson said. “All this bill does is say that if there is a dispute over rental rates, it could be resolved by way of binding arbitration.”

All of North Idaho’s senators voted in favor of SB 1433a.

Spokane Valley

Holdup thwarted, man takes a seat

An attempted bank robberydh at midday Tuesday in Spokane Valley ended with the suspect sitting in the bank’s lobby awaiting police.

Police say a teller at AmericanWest Bank, 9019 E. Appleway Blvd., refused to give money to Jason W. McKinney, so he pointed his finger like a gun barrel, stuck his hand into his sweatshirt pocket and acted like he was holding a gun.

“We haven’t decided if he was just inept or maybe imbalanced,” Spokane Valley police Sgt. Wes Eylar said in news release.

McKinney took a seat in the lobby after the teller hit the alarm button and turned away, according to police. Police described McKinney as a transient with a substantial criminal history.

Kootenai County

MacDonald running for his old post

After an 11-year hiatus, former Kootenai County Commissioner Bob MacDonald wants his job back and is running as an Independent.

MacDonald served on the commission for six years, until Ron Rankin beat him in the 1996 Republican primary.

Prior to the commission, MacDonald served two terms on the Coeur d’Alene City Council.

So far, MacDonald is the only Independent vying for the seat held by Commission Chairman Rick Currie.

Currie faces former Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Tom Cronin and rural neighborhood advocate Jai Nelson in the May Republican primary.

MacDonald and Democrat Steve Caires, Lakes Middle School vice principal, will face the winner in the November general election.

Potential candidates have until March 21 to file.

Post Falls

Police say men tried enticing girls

Post Falls police are looking for information on a possible child enticement case near Ponderosa Elementary School.

Two fifth-grade girls were in the 3000 block of East Third Avenue about 3:15 p.m. Monday when three men in an orange, box-style van pulled up. One said “we’re going to take you home,” and the girls ran, according to a news release.

The van had its slider door open and had white paint around the windows, the girls told police.

The men are described as white, in their 20s, and with long hair.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Dave Beck at (208) 773-3517. Anonymous tips can be left at (208) 777-2677.

GREAT FALLS, Mont.

Police find owner of smashed camera

Great Falls police returned the memory card from a badly damaged digital camera to a Calgary man after using clues in African safari photos to learn his identity.

Someone found the battered camera in the street and turned it over to police, who found the memory card was still intact.

One picture showed a man posing in front of a Toyota Land Cruiser with a foreign license plate. The detectives went to work with the information they had.

“Every cop would like to jump on something like that, where you hand them a photograph and say this could be any of several billion people in the world,” said Lt. Jack Allen, who assisted Officer Philip Wilberding and Sgt. Michael Grubb in the investigation.

Officers knew the pictures probably meant a lot to the camera’s owners.

The officers noticed an adventure company’s logo on the side of the vehicle in one picture. They e-mailed the photo to the company, hoping employees would recognize the man. The company’s employees said they didn’t because they have so many guests.

Officers then recovered from the camera the date the photos were taken. With that information, the adventure company’s employees were able to use its records to come up with a likely identity for the man in the photo: Robert Bradbury, of Calgary, Alberta.

Sure enough, Bradbury and his wife were missing a camera. They figured they’d left it in Yellowstone National Park during a recent weekend trip.

“I figured … we would never see that puppy again,” Bradbury said.

Police mailed the memory card to Bradbury.

“The pictures are invaluable,” Bradbury said. “(Great Falls police) obviously went the extra mile, and it is greatly appreciated.”