In brief: Baker Boulevard named for war hero

Kootenai County commissioners voted to name a road after a World War II veteran and Medal of Honor recipient who lived in St. Maries until his death in July at age 90.

The new road north of Hayden will be called Vernon J. Baker Boulevard. It’s a portion of a road that runs parallel to U.S. Highway 95.

“Oh, I can’t believe it. That is such an honor,” said Baker’s widow, Heidy Baker. “This is absolutely wonderful. I thank everyone who was involved. I thank everyone for this.”

Baker belatedly received the military’s top award from President Bill Clinton in 1997 after historians concluded he’d been wrongly denied because he was black.

“It is something that we wanted to accomplish,” said Commissioner Rick Currie. “My only problem with it is, why do we always wait until they’ve passed away when we do these things? He’s very deserving, and it should have been done while he was still with us.”

Baker is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Associated Press

Sex offender in jail on porn charge

A convicted Spokane sex offender already under investigation for possessing child pornography was jailed recently after a new investigation revealed ongoing illegal activity, according to court documents.

Shawn P. Sather, 34, was ordered to stay in Spokane County Jail without bail after appearing in U.S. District Court on Tuesday on a charge of possessing child pornography.

He was arrested last week after an undercover detective in Colorado Springs, Colo., said he’d downloaded hundreds of images of child pornography from an Internet user identified as Sather.

Federal agents already were awaiting a forensic analysis of a computer seized from Sather’s home at 1603 E. Ostrander Ave. in January. They had searched the home, after another Colorado detective connected child pornography obtained online to Sather’s computer, according to court documents.

Meghann M. Cuniff