In brief: Task force will focus on student conduct

The Coeur d’Alene School District’s superintendent is creating a task force focused on student behavior.

The decision came in early March after one student stabbed another multiple times at Woodland Middle School. An incident this week, in which a student held a knife to the neck of another student at Lake Middle School, is being investigated.

“The task force will focus their efforts on weapons, dress code, language, public displays of affection, bullying and the use of electronic devices at the middle and high schools,” said district spokeswoman Laura Rumpler. It will be made up of teachers, principals, students, parents, community members and school resource officers.

“We have strong policies in place,” said Superintendent Hazel Bauman, “but my vision for this task force is to find ways to better enforce what we have, establish more concrete standards, and get parent and community support of the higher bar we wish to set for a student code of conduct.”

Deadly driver suspected of DUI

A repeat drunken driver convicted of vehicular homicide in 1990 was arrested early Thursday on suspicion of drunken driving.

Lance Dean Falcon, 44, of Plummer, Idaho, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.167 and 0.162 in two samples submitted after a Washington State Patrol trooper stopped him for speeding about 6 a.m. near Madison and Dishman-Mica roads.

Police say he smelled of alcohol and had glassy, bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. Falcon told police he’d had a “few” drinks and four to five hours of sleep, according to a police report. He gave an initial breath test of 0.169 before he was arrested for drunken driving and taken to the Spokane Public Safety Building, where the other samples were submitted. Falcon faces a felony DUI charge because of his previous conviction for vehicular homicide. He also was arrested for drunken driving in 1996, 1998 and 2008, according to Idaho court records. The 1998 arrest resulted from a serious car crash in North Idaho that injured a pregnant woman and her young child.

Donation honors Whitworth grad

A $3 million endowment at Whitworth University has been established in honor of alumnus and former board chairman Charles L. Boppell that will support a dean position and improvements in the School of Global Commerce and Management, officials announced this week.

It’s the largest endowment of its kind in Whitworth’s history. Boppell, a 1965 graduate, spent his career as a leader of major restaurant chains such as Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Godfather’s Pizza and Sizzler. He served 18 years on the board of directors.

“You often hear that what you learn in school is only good for a couple of years because things in the business world change so fast,” Boppell said. “But having been a Whitworth grad, I’m able to look back and see that 40 years later, what I really learned in school – the values and the way to be centered as a person – I have used throughout my entire career.”