Spirit Lake picks Hutcheson

SPIRIT LAKE - Keith Hutcheson will have a job lined up when he returns from Iraq.

Hutcheson, who formerly worked for the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and as police chief for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, has been named Spirit Lake’s new police chief.

“I’m excited, honored and humbled,” said Hutcheson, who returns to Iraq on Friday for the remaining six weeks of his contract as an independent contractor who works with bomb-detection dogs that protect the U.S. Embassy.

Hutcheson will start at Spirit Lake in early March. He replaces Gene Marquez, who resigned the morning after November’s city election, after 11 months on the job. Brian Walker, Cda Press