Former Rep. Wayne Meyer dead at 59

Former state Rep. Wayne Meyer, who represented North Idaho in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2004, died Monday of colon cancer. He was 59. Meyer, a Republican, was a bluegrass seed farmer from Rathdrum and served as a high school basketball referee for 22 years. Though he made issues regarding field-burning on the Rathdrum Prairie a high priority in his legislative service – an issue close to home for him as a farmer who burned his grass-seed fields – he also was heavily involved in education issues, and pushed strongly for creating dual-enrollment programs in Idaho, like those in Washington, to allow high school students to take college classes and get credit in both places.

Meyer’s funeral will be Friday in Coeur d’Alene , at St. Pius X Catholic Church.