In brief: Meeting will cover lowering Lake Pend Oreille levels
Proposed changes to the winter water levels in Lake Pend Oreille will be discussed from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at a meeting at Sandpoint High School, 410 S. Division St.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regulates lake levels through operations at Albeni Falls Dam. The corps is proposing to operate the lake between 2,051-foot and 2,056-foot elevations from the end of kokanee spawning season until April 1.
For more information, contact Joe Summers, Albeni Falls Dam project manager, at (208) 437-3133.
Former sheriff’s sergeant files whistle-blower lawsuit
LEWISTON – A former Nez Perce County sheriff’s sergeant who said he was fired when his identity became known after disclosing what he thought was confidential information concerning the agency has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against the county.
Kevin Wilson said he was fired earlier this year over a time card dispute and after his name was wrongly placed on an internal sheriff’s efficiency report.
According to documents recently filed in 2nd District Court, Wilson said he was ordered to take part in an investigation into the efficiency of the Sheriff’s Office in the summer of 2008.
He said he disclosed incidents he believed violated law enforcement ethics or the law after being told the report would remain confidential.
Nez Perce County sheriff’s officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Elk poacher loses hunting privileges for five years
BONNERS FERRY, Idaho – A North Idaho man who pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing a bull elk out of season has been banned from hunting for five years.
Thirty-two-year-old Dennis Butch Liermann Jr., of Naples, last week was also ordered to serve two days in the Boundary County Jail, serve two years of unsupervised probation, and pay $3,495 in fines, restitution and court costs.
Refinery will convert poplar trees to ethanol
BOARDMAN, Ore. – A Lakewood, Colo., company plans to build a plant in Boardman to convert poplar trees to ethanol.
ZeaChem’s planned refinery was one of 19 to receive grants in economic stimulus money Friday from the U.S. Department of Energy. It got $25 million toward a $73.4 million demonstration plant
The company plans a 1 million-gallon capacity plant, using fast-growing poplar trees from a nearby 17,000-acre farm owned by GreenWood Resources of Portland.
ZeaChem officials say the company’s fuel will have 12 times the energy content that went into producing it and needs far less land than ethanol made from corn. The company’s investors include Valero Energy, the largest oil refiner in the country.