Lumber company to close indefinitely

Stimson Lumber Co. has issued layoff notices to workers at its sawmill in Arden, Wash.

The company will close the plant indefinitely Dec. 8, said Jeff Webber, vice president of manufacturing.

“We expect the closure to last more than six months,” he said. The mill employs 118 workers.

Pine products are the mill’s focus, but the slowdown in the housing market has cut demand for doors and window frames made out of pine, Webber said.

Portland-based Stimson is considering restarting the sawmill on a limited basis but doesn’t have a firm plan to do so, he said.

North Idaho

14-year-old arrested for reckless driving

A 14-year-old Coeur d’Alene boy was in the Kootenai County juvenile detention center Tuesday on charges of underage driving, driving recklessly near a preschool and causing an auto accident from which he fled.

The teen took the family’s red Ford Ranger pickup from the Post Falls Wal-Mart parking lot while his sister and another woman shopped, said Post Falls Police Department Lt. Pat Knight.

The boy picked up two friends and headed to a Subway restaurant off state Highway 41.

In the parking lot there, he sped up to avoid being hit by a car backing out of a parking space and hit the driver’s side door of a Honda Passport, which sustained about $1,500 in damages.

As he fled the scene, police said, the underage driver passed another vehicle near a preschool along Covington Avenue, catching the eye of someone who reported him to police.

The boy is expected to appear today before a judge.

Woman charged after leaving girl in car

A 5-year-old Coeur d’Alene girl whose mother left her in an unlocked car outside a Post Falls bar Friday is under the care of child welfare workers, Post Falls police said Tuesday.

The girl’s mother, 23-year-old Cory Cameron, was in the Kootenai County Jail on a misdemeanor charge of injury to a child and probation violation, said Post Falls police Lt. Pat Knight.

Cameron was previously charged in two domestic battery incidents, including one in the presence of a child, police said.