Lake Life

Produced by The Miner NewspapersVolume 1, Issue 3 June 2012

Learn to wakesurfPage 4

Back in time ... 1940sPages 8-9

Fragrant invadersPage 5

2 Lake Life | June 201283

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Published: May 2012Publisher: Fred WillenbrockWriters & editors: Michelle Nedved, Janelle Atyeo and Don GronningDesign: Michelle NedvedAdvertising: Susan Willenbrock, Lindsay Guscott, Cindy Boober and Amy Robinson

LAKE LIFE is published monthly in April, May, June, July and August as a supplement to The Newport Miner and Gem State Miner, P.O. Box 349, Newport, WA 99156. Editorial and advertising offices are located at 421 S. Spokane, Newport.

TELEPHONE: 509-447-2433 E-MAIL: [email protected], [email protected]: 509-447-9222Reproduction of articles & photographs is prohibited with-out permission of the publisher.

See all issues at: The Miner Online:

www.pendoreillerivervalley.com.

If you want to receive Lake Life in the mail outside Pend Oreille

County contact The Miner at 509-447-2433.

Has summer started? Half way over on Fourth

We thought we would get everyone that enjoys Lake Life on the grandest day of the year – Fourth of July – in the spirit with our cover picture. It is from last year’s Fourth of July boat parade on Diamond Lake. Remember the sun and fun? It’s on its

way. I’m looking forward to Fourth of July because sometime around that date I’m going to meet

my first grandchild. I’m going to give him his first marshmallow, fishing lesson, firecracker and dunk in Diamond Lake. Another lake rat to motor around the coves and docks on a summer day is on his way.

Before you know it there are three generations of lake residents – they grow like algae around here.

Speaking of algae, there was a bloom like nothing the real old-timers say they had seen before. (See story in this issue.) It might not be a concern but something changed to give the little bacteria unusual amounts of nutrients. It can’t be ignored because it might impact future generations of lake users and wildlife.

This is our third of five issues we plan for this summer. We also put the publication on The Miner’s website for those far off lake life dreamers.

Let the summer fun begin. Fred Willenbrock

Publisher

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Large algae bloom found at Diamond LakeState tests show not toxicBY FRED WILLENBROCKOF THE MINER

DIAMOND LAKE – An unusual discoloring of the crystal clear waters of Diamond Lake during the sec-ond week of May has been identified by state officials as an algae bloom. Although some algae can produce toxins that are harmful to animals and humans, there were no toxins in the sample tested. The lake is now clear again but the mystery continues.

The exact cause of the bloom that was observed in most of the lake is debatable, according to state of-ficials but the clue is to find the increased nutrients. The other issue that came up was who to call when a bloom is observed.

Washington State Department of Ecology officials said people could call them. The Spokane telephone number is 509-329-3400. They said to ask for the water quality department. They will test the water or ask the Northeast Tri-County Health District to do it. DOE tests will determine if the algae is toxic but not the source of nutrients.

“A lake turns over after winter, releasing nutrients from the bottom,” said Mike Hepp from the state Department of Ecology compliance department in Spo-kane, when asked by The Miner for a possible cause. Many longtime residents said they had never seen a bloom this large or one at all.

He said the ice could trap the nutrients and then when the spring thaw comes they release. Sometimes these situations cause algae blooms. They also can occur in the fall but are not as large.

One theory on why there pos-sibly is more nutrients in Dia-mond Lake is that it has had two years of high water. This could wash more fertilizer from lawns and other nutrient rich natural materials into the lake. Hepp said scientists argue both ways on this. Some feel the high water allows more cleansing in the wetlands and others feel more nutrients are added.

The main concern is that the bloom can contain Cyanobacte-ria, formerly called “blue-green algae” which are relatively simple, primitive life forms closely related to bacteria. They are sometimes toxic to animals and humans. Hepp said they don’t know why some types of algae grow and oth-ers don’t. Only tests can tell. Many types of algae are always present in area lakes.

Samples must be taken in clean containers and kept chilled so the algae is alive. Only the DOE lab in Seattle can test for toxins and the samples must get there alive. Spokane DOE staff can tell what type of algae is present in most cases, he said, but they send it to

Courtesy photo|Washington Department of Ecology

This is a blue-green algae scum on Lake Steilacoom, Wash. The algae on Diamond Lake looked similar but had a red tint to it.

Continued on page 18

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How to start wakesurfing

STOCK PHOTO

Wakesurfing has exploded on the water sport scene in recent years.

RECREATION

Wakesurfing has exploded onto the lake scene in a big way. What started in the 1950s with a couple of guys goofing around on longboards behind their boat has become one of the fasting growing watersports on the planet – Wakesurfing.

To get in on the wakesurfing action here are a few tips.

Boat: Only wakesurf behind an inboard boat. The prop on inboard boats is usually about 2 feet or so in front of the rudder, well away from any chance of falling too close to the prop while wakesurfing.

Rope: Get a wakesurf specif-ic rope. A wakeboarding rope is thin and will likely leave you with a nasty case of rope burn. Wakeboarding handles are big and can be dangerous when falling. Not fun. Wake-surf ropes are typically thicker and sometimes have a small handle or T-bar, sometimes not. Some ropes have knots to help you pull yourself into the “sweet spot” of the wake.

Ballast: Getting the wake dialed is critical to having a successful wakesurfing session. For most boats that means utilizing any built in ballast system along with several fat sacs. Generally, you want get as much weight as possible to one side of the boat, with most of the weight towards the back. Be sure not to exceed the manufacturer’s maximum weight specifications when wakesurfing.

Board: People originally used ocean surfboards, but now more than 15 compa-nies make wakesurf specific surfboards. Do yourself a favor and get a board specific to wakesurfing. It will make the learning curve easier and you’ll be having fun faster. There are two styles of boards – “surf” and “skim.” Surf style boards usually have two or more fins towards the tail of the board and look like mini surfboards.

Skim style boards usually have one cen-ter fin in the back and possibly a small fin in the front. Surf style boards are good for aggressive carving and catching air. Skim style boards are usually easier to spin and do shuv-its.

Speed: Most people wakesurf around 10 mph, but sometimes as slow as 9 mph and as fast as 13 mph depending on the hull, length of the boat, and amount of ballast. Addition-ally, each board has an ideal speed depending on length and rocker.

OK – so now you are saying, “Enough with the ‘basics’ mumbo jumbo. Let’s get on to riding!”

So, let’s get to it. Getting Up: Standing up on the board is

easier than it looks. Lay back in the water with your feet laying loosely on the wakesurf board, your knees bent and the rope between your legs. The driver should start slowly – just 1-2 mph should allow you to dig your heels into the wakesurf board and pop it up verti-cally. The people in the boat should now be able to see the bottom of the wakesurf board.

At that point the driver gives more throttle while you keep your arms straight and begin pulling yourself up. It is almost like when you are sitting on the floor and you reach out your hand while someone pulls you up with theirs. Once up, keep your knees slightly bent and edge away from the wake so you can get your feet into position.

Feet Positioning: Generally you want your feet about shoulder width apart, with your back foot anywhere from 6 to 18 inches from the tail of the board. It will be different for each wakesurf board.

Your feet should usually be closest to the edge of the wakesurf board that is cutting into the wake – that will allow you to hold your edge in the wake and keep you in the sweet spot. Additionally, keep in mind that shifting your weight to your front foot is like the “gas” and putting weight on the back foot is like the “brake.” Same goes for moving forward on the wakesurf board and moving back. As you progress you will move your feet all over the wakesurf board while riding to recover from tricks.

BY SHARON SORBYPEND OREILLE COUNTY WEED DEPARTMENT

Fragrant water lily will begin its bloom period shortly. Although a spectacular sight, with white or bright pink flowers dotting large round leaves floating on the water’s surface, infestations are harmful to many of the values we hold dear for living on the water.

Water lily infestations reduce habitat for many aquatic organisms, fish and native plants. They also interfere with many rec-reational activities, listed as second only to milfoil in being problematic.

There are several infestations of water lily on Diamond and Sacheen lakes. If al-lowed to continue without addressing these populations, these infestations will continue to increase until they fill all available sites (the sur-

face area over depths up to 6 feet). Such an infesta-tion level will make boating, paddling, swimming

and fishing unsafe to impossible. The Pend Oreille County Weed Board has

treated a small infestation about a half mile down the West Branch of the Little Spokane River. The treatment proved effective, but with-out funding, a more comprehensive project is not possible.

We are happy to assist landowners who wish to undertake similar action. Another option includes faithfully pulling the leaves as they appear throughout the season. If this option is chosen, it is necessary to have the “Blue Book” – “Aquatic Weeds and Fish” on site as it consti-tutes your permit to perform the work. Books are available from our office. It’s also important to wear gloves with any noxious weed removal project.


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Opening Memorial Weekend

Memorial celebrates life of Phil MoeserDIAMOND LAKE – A memo-

rial service to honor the life of Phil Moeser is set for Wednes-day, June 27 at Diamond Lake. Moeser passed away Jan. 4, in Sun City, Ariz., at the age of 82.

Moeser grew up on Diamond Lake and attended Newport High School where he was also an Eagle Scout. He was active in the Newport community and a volunteer with the Pend Oreille County Historical Soci-ety Museum.

The service will include a barge party at 10 a.m. on Diamond Lake and a casual get together at Create Arts Center at 4 p.m., located on the corner of Fea and Fourth in Newport.

WEEDSFragrant water lily poses threat

COURTESY PHOTO|SHARON SORBY

This fragrant water lily infestation is similar to the one at Sacheen Lake.

COURTESY PHOTO|SHARON SORBY

The fragrant water lily, while beautiful with pink or white petals, is a danger to local waters.


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Evening moonAn evening moon rises over Diamond Lake’s West Bay in late May. June brought cold and rain to the area. After a few weeks of rain, we should see sun after the official start to summer, June 20.

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Fire season preparationsWEATHER BABBLE

BY BOB LUTZCLIMATOLOGIST

SACHEEN LAKE – The summer season is finally upon us and now is the time to reflect upon our past spring. You’re probably think-ing why bother, but we’re going to do it any-way because that’s what I do! In summary, our spring, while on the wetter side of normal, was not at all that abnormal. After we made it through the 40 days and 40 nights of rain early in the season, the pat-terns took on a much calmer mode, and Mother Nature even threw in a couple of summer-like periods just to wet our appetites a bit. Overall, not a bad spring at all!

The one thing that our wet spring has done was encourage lots of undergrowth which will no doubt dry out and create one heck of a fire hazard come mid-summer. Unlike last year, I do anticipate some rather prolonged dry periods this summer due to the changing La Nina patterns. The only saving grace would be showers mov-ing in from the southern monsoonal flow, but even they could present their own hazards in the form of thunderstorms. So, what can we do to prepare now?

We have heard the list over and over again: keep roofs clear of debris, maintain a green belt, cut back bushes from around the house and the list goes on. Now, I don’t mean to un-derscore the importance of all this, but here’s the thing: In a real “wild” fire (like the ones that occurred back on Oct. 16, 1991) are you prepared to evacuate? After all,

in a serious wildfire situation, this is the best thing to do because saving property is simply not worth risking your life. So, allow me to bore you with the details as to what we have done to prepare just in case.

In our home, we have one room with all our family picture albums all in one location for easy collection. Not far from them in a hidden location is a small locked fire box with all of our important paperwork such as birth certificates, insurance documents, wills, marriage license, deeds and vehicle titles. Also in that box is a thumb drive with a complete inventory of our “worldly” possessions which include item descriptions, approximate value, and model/serial numbers. Just outside of our door into the garage sits a pet carrier in which we can carry all our “beasts” to safety if a wildfire threatens.

In theory, we should be able to evacuate our place along with all the most impor-tant items in our lives within 5-10 minutes. The only wildcard is how will two cats and a pet prairie dog get

along in a small cage together? (Ah, perhaps I should re-think that to avoid a sea of claws and teeth.) In any event, I think you get the drift. While leaving your home is a hard thing to do, you can make it a little less painful by at least preserving some of the most important things in your life.

Next time we meet here in Lake Life, we’ll dis-cuss thunderstorms and how to avoid getting a 1 billion volt lightning jolt to the head like I almost did. Or did I? Hmmm.

‘In our home, we have one room with all our family picture albums all in one location for easy collection.’

Celebrate independence,

lake styleDIAMOND LAKE – The

Diamond Lake Improvement Association knows how to celebrate. They’ll be putting on the annual Fourth of July activities Wednesday, July 4, starting with a boat parade.

Anyone is welcome to join the parade. Many participants deck their boats in red, white and blue. Line up at the Beach Club on the east end of the lake around 1:30 p.m. The parade will tour the lake in a counter clockwise fashion.

Fireworks will be set off from a barge in the center of the lake at dusk, or around 10 p.m. Spectators are welcome, but any boats on the water should keep a safe distance from the barge.

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Diamond Lake memories

Courtesy photo|Lindsay Guscott

Billie and Phil Withers go for a boat ride on Diamond Lake during their honeymoon in 1947.


A group enjoys the beach on Diamond Lake at the Vanderholm summer cabin, located on what is now called Bayview Boulevard. The development was originally called Newport Summer Homes and was started in the 1920s.


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There used to be a sandy beach and fire pit in front of the Vanderholm summer cabin, where Lindsay and Jeanne Guscott now live. The water level has risen and the beach is no more.


Out for a summer boat ride on Diamond Lake.


A group enjoys the sunshine on the patio at the Verderholm summer cabin.


Leona and Oscar Vanderholm sit in the sunshine with Leona’s father, Stonewall Jackson Lindsay.


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WATER LEVELNo wake zone lifted at Sacheen, remains on at Diamond

BY JANELLE ATYEOOF THE MINER

NEWPORT – Spring rains have caused the lake level to remain high at Diamond Lake, and as of the first full week of June, the county-imposed no wake zone remains in effect.

County commissioners lifted the wake restrictions on Sa-cheen Lake May 22.

“The lake is alive with activ-ity, and I’d say summer has begun,” commissioner Diane Wear said following the Memo-rial Day weekend.

Sacheen Lake has dropped to a normal lake level for this time of year.

“Sacheen has a hydraulic

permit in place that al-lows work clearing debris from beaver dams,” Wear said. “Diamond is still working on its permitting and access and remains unusually high.”

The Diamond Lake Improve-ment Association recently got approval on its permits to do herbicide weed treatments and install beaver tubes in the lake’s outlet at Moon Creek. It’s not certain when the work would begin. Installation of beaver tubes would probably

need to wait until the lake

level is low, possibly in late September. Issues with access-ing the channel will need to be worked out.

In the meantime, county commissioners, the sheriff and the emergency management service departments have received several requests to keep the no wake restriction at Diamond Lake, Wear said. They have considered lifting the no wake zones in certain areas of the lake and have

Weeds in channel

From North Shore Road to the beaver dams, the water level drops 2 feet. Tubes in beaver dams and weed removal could drop lake level 2 feet.

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No wake zone lifted at Sacheen, remains on at Diamond

need to wait until the lake

level is low, possibly in late September. Issues with access-ing the channel will need to be worked out.

In the meantime, county commissioners, the sheriff and the emergency management service departments have received several requests to keep the no wake restriction at Diamond Lake, Wear said. They have considered lifting the no wake zones in certain areas of the lake and have

asked the sheriff to help them decide which areas are ready to be lifted. No decisions have been made yet.

Residents around Diamond are still experiencing flood-ing. As of the latest measure-ment, taken by the Diamond Lake Water and Sewer Dis-trict, the level was 2,344.61 feet, up 0.32 inches since the last measurement on May 19, taken at Woodland Drive on the lake’s north shore. Last year, when the Pend

Oreille River Valley saw heavy flooding, the lake level peaked at about 2,345.64 feet in late May 2011. In 2011, wake restrictions were in place on Diamond and Sacheen lakes until early July.

The county doesn’t have specific criteria such as a target lake level for determin-ing when the no wake zone goes on or off, but they’ve been discussing it. Sheriff Alan Botzheim has suggested using the high water mark to

determine a level. Emergency management director JoAnn Boggs talked about having a process to set the mark, includ-ing public meetings.

This year, restrictions were placed on both Sacheen and Diamond lakes March 27. Bead Lake has been under a no wake zone since April 24, and as water remains high there, the wake restriction is still in effect as of early June.

Under the restriction, any power boaters must operate at 5 mph – a speed slow enough to prevent creating a wake. Violators of the no wake speed limit are subject to an infrac-tion with a fine of $66.

Weeds in channel

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Tiger trout becoming popular sport fishBY MICHELLE NEDVEDOF THE MINER

SPOKANE – Tiger trout are not only an interesting fish to look at – with their dark stripes on greenish-brown skin – but they also make for good eating.

“I have had a number of reports over the past year or so talking about how they are good table fare,” said biologist Bill Baker of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Tiger trout are a sterile hybrid of brown trout and eastern brook trout. The are stocked in Sacheen Lake in Pend Oreille County, and a few lakes in Stevens County, including the Little Pend Oreille Chain of Gil-lette, Heritage, Sherry, Thomas and Leo lakes, and Black Lake. Five thousand fingerlings were stocked in Sacheen Lake last October.

They’re becoming quite the popular sport fish. The state record was recently broken by a painting contractor from Mason, who caught a 15.04 pounder in Roses Lake in

Chelan County. Kirk Herrin landed the fish casting a Fluke, which is a soft swim-bait lure.

“They are capable of getting quite large,” Baker said. The only tiger trout bigger than Herrin’s is the world-record holding 20-pound, 13-ounce fish caught in Lake Michigan 34 years ago.

Baker said WDFW likes the tiger trout because the department can control

their numbers since the hybrids are sterile, and

because anglers like to catch them.

The tiger trout were first bred by WDFW in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Brown trout and eastern brook trout spawn-ing periods overlap, which allows them to be bred together manually. Baker said you wouldn’t find the two spawning together in nature, though.

Some were stocked in Sullivan Lake a few years ago, and there should be some still swimming in those waters. Baker said one angler caught a 10-pounder last year when he was trolling for kokanee.

NATURE

Grant money helped with milfoilBY SHEILA PEARMANSACHEEN LAKE WATER AND SEWER DISTRICT

In 1989 the Sacheen Lake Sewer & Water Dis-trict applied for its first Department of Ecology Centennial Clean Water Fund Grant to perform a diagnostic/feasibility study to determine the

extent of water quality problems at Sacheen Lake. The district was awarded a grant for a to-tal project cost of $75,600. To meet the required local share, the district borrowed $6,000 from Pend Oreille County.

The project aimed to: 1. Develop best management practices

2. Reduce non-point source pollution

3. Control lake level4. Lower phosphorus loading

by eradication of milfoil5. Install a sewer systemWith these tasks at hand,

the district applied for and was awarded a second Centennial Clean Water Fund Grant for a total project cost of $759,000 to work on the recommendations made in the diagnostic study with a major focus being to rid the lake’s shores of the dreaded Eurasian watermilfoil, generally known as milfoil to all of us.

The lake was basically ringed with milfoil to such a degree that many residents found it dif-ficult to maneuver their boats in and out of dock. This grant was the first CCWF money awarded for the removal of aquatic weeds. It was felt that the dense weed growth’s die off each sea-son was a significant contribut-ing factor to the phosphorus levels in the lake.



Now’s the time to think about flood insurance

BY MICHELLE NEDVEDOF THE MINER

MEAD – With high water at both Sa-cheen and Diamond lakes this spring, now is the time for property owners to think about flood insurance.

Anyone who lives in a flood plain or is ask risk of their home flooding should get the insur-ance, said Steve Wilson, owner of Mount Spokane Insurance.

“If you live on a mountain top, you probably don’t need it,” he said.

Flood insurance is a sepa-rate policy from homeowners’ insurance. Policies are renewed a year at a time, and most regu-

lar flood insurance policies are underwrit-ten by the Federal gov-ernment. Insurance through private underwrit-ers is also

available. Wilson suggests talk-ing with your insurance agent to determine which option is best for you.

The biggest restriction on flood insurance is that it is not effective for the first 30 days after you purchase your policy. Private insurance can be effec-tive with 15 days. Exceptions to this rule are new loans or refinanced loans. People who are buying a new home or refinancing their current home can get flood insurance that is effective the day the policy is purchased.

The price varies from a few hundred to a few thousand dol-lars a year, Wilson said. It de-pends on elevations, locations and the value of the home.

Coverage can be either for just the structure on the property or for both the structure and its contents. Basements, however, are not covered if they are finished. Ordinary items found in basements, such as water heaters or furnaces are covered, but damage to finished rooms is not because basement flooding

is so common. For other buildings, such as garages

and barns, separate policies need to be purchased, Wilson said.

REAL ESTATE

“If you live on a mountain top, you probably don’t need it.”

Steve WilsonMount Spokane Insurance

Law enforcement calls up in MayNEWPORT – The Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office responded to 218 calls in

May around the Diamond and Sacheen lake areas. This is up from 177 in April. There were five reported burglaries and the sheriff’s office has arrested two

suspects and recovered stolen property in three of the five burglaries. There was one fatal traffic accident. Two bicycles were found and no one has claimed them yet. Anyone missing a

bicycle should contact the sheriff’s office at 509-447-3151. Nine thefts were reported. Items stolen range from a large generator and mo-

tor to county road signs and fuel. “As always please watch out for each other and report suspicious activity.

Burglaries and thefts seem to be on the rise again so we really depend on our community partners for help in preventing and solving these crimes,” sheriff Alan Botzheim said.


Diamond, Sacheen Lake Government DirectoryWHO TO CONTACT

Noxious Weed Control Board509-447-2402Fax: 509-447-6477Charged with ensuring the control of

noxious weeds in the county. The weed board office is located in the courthouse annex 418 S Scott Ave., and is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Mail: P.O. Box 5085, Newport WA 99156

Board: Dist. 1 Warren Koontz, Dist. 2 Wes Bailey, Dist. 3 Vacant, Dist. 4 Joe Sherman, Dist. 5 Vacant

The board meets every even month on the second Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the county commissioners’ meeting room.

Weed coordinator: Sharon SorbyE-mail: [email protected]

Diamond Lake

Water & Sewer District509-447-4660 Fax: 509-447-0180172 South Shore Road, Newport, WA

99156-9300Operates water and sewer systems

around Diamond Lake.Commissioners (six-year term): chair-

man Bob Graham (2017), Secretary Richard Swan (2016), Ray King (2013).

Board meets on the first and third Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the district

office.Office open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Monday-Friday. Maintenance hours 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Sunday.

In addition, they can be reached by telephone after hours for emergencies.

Sacheen Lake

Sewer & Water District509-447-4641Mail: P.O. Box 463, Colbert,

WA 99005Located at Sacheen Lake in

southern Pend Oreille County, the Sacheen Lake Sewer & Water District is working on lake water quality, lake level issues, milfoil control and beginning design and construction of phase 1 sewer collection and treatment plant.

The district also maintains the Myers/Harter Sanctuary, located near the corner of Highway 211 and Fertile Valley Road.

Commissioners: position 1 Perry Pearman (2017), position 2 Gary Garrett (2015), position 3 Peggy Johnsen (2013)

Managing secretary: Sheila Pearman

Commissioners meet at Sa-cheen Lake Fire Station, High-way 211, on the first Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m.

South Pend Oreille

Fire & RescueServing south Pend Oreille

County including Diamond Lake, Sacheen Lake, Deer Valley, Cam-den and Fertile Valley areas.

Chief: Mike Nokes 509-447-5305

Commissioners: Gary Wilkey 509-447-0744, Randy Miller 509-292-8065, Leonard Pielli 509-447-3793, Galen Hansen 509-292-9458, Karen Johnston 509-939-7714.

Commissioners meet the third Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. at Diamond Lake Station.

Diamond Lake Station is staffed 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Mail: 325272 Hwy. 2, Newport WA

Web site: www.spofr.org


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YEARS OF PEND OREILLE

COUNTY HISTORYpresented in this beautiful book.

Page 4

1910s a decade of growthfor the region, birth of Pend Oreille County

BY JANELLE ATYEO

OF THE MINER

The Pend Oreille valley

was growing rapidly

100 years ago, as the people of

Washington’s northeast corner

looked to break away from

Stevens County and form their

own government. Business

was booming, with lumber

mills working around the clock

and a new cement plant in

the new, new town

of Metaline Falls

(also established in

1911).Over the last 25

years, the Pend Oreille valley

had been homesteaded, and numerous little communities sprang up all along the river. Places like Blueslide and Jared that are all but wiped from the map today looked just as bustling as the established towns of Newport and Ione.

Stevens County was all well and good with the division, so long as those Pend Oreille folks didn’t inch the boundary line any further west than was proposed. Stevens County had once encapsulated much of eastern Washington. For the last 40 years leading up to Pend Oreille’s split, 10 or so counties had been formed from its reach. Pend Oreille was the last to leave the nest. It’s the states youngest county.

Talk of taking Pend Oreille on its own had been going

major players from King and Spokane counties didn’t take so warmly to the idea. Their major quarrel was with representation in the Legislature. At the time, each county had one rep. Giving lil’ ole Pend Oreille its own man would mean populous King County would have that much less of a say over things. King County’s delegate pointed out that representation would be 6,500 to 1 (Pend Oreille’s population) versus 15,000:1. We all know how much of a pull our rural counties have in Olympia today. I think King is

The division’s major movers were Fred and Fred. Trumbull and Wolf, that is. Trumbull was an attorney from Ione who planned the town’s incorporation the year before, and Wolf was publisher of The Newport Miner. He was an all-around citizen activist

to take the helm of the paper in 1907. The county division

He also served three terms in the state House of Representatives, starting in 1919. He pushed for an improved highway through Newport, and all the way into the 1950s, he helped bring about

the construction of Albeni Falls Dam.

The two local men sent petitions around and lobbied for the division in Olympia. The reasons for splitting off from Stevens County had to do

with transportation and population growth, but mostly – as in

most movements in history – it was money.

Taxes from Pend Oreille citizens contributed $32,000 per year to the Stevens County general fund. They guessed they could run their own county government for $27,000 per year, and they’d be better off for it. The people felt under represented. The Pend Oreille side held only 17 of the county’s 77 voting precincts. They didn’t like all the new bridges and infrastructure they saw going up on the other side of the mountains.

And there being no roads across those Selkirks, the trip to Colville was exhausting. For a local person wanting to conduct business with Stevens County, it was a three-day journey from Newport. The way the train schedules worked, a Pend Oreille resident would have to overnight in Spokane and in Colville, and again in Spokane on the homeward journey.

Choosing a county seat was a hot issue. Newport was named as the temporary seat by the legislature’s bill. It would stand until the next general election in 1912, so that meant a lot of talk in each community’s newspapers about why they were the best. Cusick and Usk proclaimed their central locations as their claim for the title. Ione edged Newport on population (both were about 1,600) and infrastructure, but Newport had the link to the outside world with the railroad there connecting so readily to Spokane and Idaho. Ione

THE VOICE OF PEND OREILLE COUNTY SINCE 1901

The county chronicles of 1911

1911 AT A GLANCE

March 25

May 25

May 30

June 22

July 24

Aug. 15

Aug. 22

Sept. 17

Sept. 29

Nov. 27

Dec. 31

A county is born

FILE PHOTO

Traveling on Cusick streets was rough in 1910. The Wike family’s store was one of the town’s first businesses.

IONE DEPOT IN 1910 – COURTESY PHOTO|PEND OREILLE COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM

The New CountyFROM CHINOOKERS IN THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

(PRINTED IN THE NEWPORT MINER FEB. 23, 1911) The people up to MetalineExult in nature’s bounty,And know they’ve land enough in signTo continue a county;But how they groan and grouch and yellWhen people call it Penn Dorell. Ione, we know, has got the worth,Surrounding towns to dazzle;Her boosters say she has the earthAll pounded to a frazzle;What boots it if competitorsAre ground into a jelly,When rank outsiders call the placeA name like Pan Dorelly? There’s Newport, future county seat, A lively town, believe me;But what a wrenchThey give their French –Or do my ears deceive me?For even boosters proud as theyPronounce it blandly Ponderay. Small wonder that the senatorWhose soul is steeped in historyShould find the new-found titleAn Orthographic Mystery.But vain regrets would bow his headAnd salt tears drip a gallonShould he successfully imposeThe sainted name of Allen. Accept we then this county new,And place the name on fileWhere every prospect pleaseAnd only man is vile. But wish yourself in for HawaiiBefore you call it Pon-Do-rye-ee!

COURTESY PHOTO|PEND OREILLE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM

Two loggers work in nearly perfect winter logging conditions – cold with moderate snow. They started a cut with a saw and axes on the left side and are about halfway through the trunk on the right.

COURTESY PHOTO|PEND OREILLE COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM

Haying operations are in progress at George Johnston’s “Sky Ranch,” located southwest of Newport in Spring Valley.

The first county officers, appointed by Gov. Hay, were sworn in at 2:10 p.m. on June 12, 1911.

Fred Wolf

Fred Trumbull

The Miner Celebrating 100 years of Pend Oreille County

SEE 1911, 30

Page �


The county chronicles of 1910 -1919

The Miner Celebrating 100 years of Pend Oreille County

THE 1910S AT A GLANCE

1910

1911

1912

1913

1914

1916

1917

1918 1919

Rough and tumble Pend OreilleThe 1910s weren’t a walk along the Pend Oreille

BY JANELLE ATYEO

OF THE MINER

Thinking of life in early

Pend Oreille County,

it’s not a stretch to

imagine settlers toiling away

to raise a crop and feed their

families, or loggers with crude

equipment bucking away in

the dense woods. The 1910s weren’t easy.

residents went through some trying times.

People from all over the U.S. and other countries were settling in northeast Washington in the early 1900s. When neighbors bickered, they preferred to take matters into their own hands. Several murders resulted in the early days. A mining man in Metaline Falls was poisoned with strychnine in his coffee after an altercation with a nearby homesteader. Neighbors at Blueslide and Ruby were quarreling in what was called the “Kentucky Feud,” named after the state many of them had moved from. An ambush at the Blueslide train station happened in 1915. Shots were meant for the county’s prosecuting attorney, and the suspect wasn’t captured for nearly two years.

Even the founding fathers weren’t always on their best

behavior. Joe Cusick, who founded the mid-county town, shot and killed a former employee of his who did him wrong. It took two trials to convict him, but he went to prison, serving four years before the governor gave him a pardon. Still, he didn’t return to Cusick. He lived out his days in California.

occurred when a man at Lost Creek came home drunk and took to beating his wife and kids. As they ran away, he followed them, but not before getting in a tussle with the neighbor and threatening him with a knife. The neighbor

notoriously bad man dead on

Alcohol was often the incendiary factor when confrontations between neighbors and partners turned violent. Prohibition didn’t take effect in Washington until 1916 (lasting what must have been an agonizing 17 years), but controlling alcohol sales was one of the law’s major tasks. Women and “lewd persons” were prohibited from loitering at the saloons.

One Chinese immigrant, Sam Lee, was suspected of selling liquor without a

license, an article in The Miner said. The law set up a sting, sending in a couple of hoboes to order a round. That was at the City Cafe, not to be confused with the City Bar, which advertised on the

same page of The Miner that

Gilt Top (brewed in Spokane), Schlitz, Budweiser, Olympia, and Pabst Blue Ribbon in pints and quarts.

Along with that “unneighborly” conduct, the people of early Pend Oreille

County had plenty of other hazards to watch for. The area had in 1910 experienced one

recorded history. Structure

mid-night blaze that started in

the back of T.J. Kelly’s general store (located at the present Club Energy building) burned so hot that it turned the butter on the store’s front shelves to

Union Avenue leveled three buildings, two residences and outbuildings within an hour.

annually where there were no dams on the river. Logging accidents were frequent.

Businesses, particularly hardware stores, were victim to burglars, and bandits still held up the trains now and then.

SEE 1910-1919, 30

COURTESY PHOTO|PEND OREILLE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM

Fid’s Bar was a popular watering hole in early day Newport. It operated on Union Avenue in a building that is no longer standing. Fid’s Opera House, built in 1911, brought live shows and movies to Newport. It survives today as the apartments behind Owen’s Grocery.As the newly established

Pend Oreille County began to grow and expand, it was constantly defending itself and its worth to the state’s larger cities.

THIRD AND WASHINGTON IN NEWPORT, JANUARY 1913 – COURTESY PHOTO|PEND OREILLE COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM

COURTESY PHOTO|PEND OREILLE COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM

Smokes all around in Locke. This photo from the Ralph R. Isaacs album is one of several showing the pipe-smoking dog. Pictured here is possibly Isaacs and his son-in-law on the porch of the Isaacs cabin at Locke.

FILE PHOTO

A Kalispel Indian mother poses with her baby at Cusick in 1911. In those days, the tribe numbered fewer than 100 members and suffered from foreign disease brought by white settlers.

NEWPORT – Hundreds of swans migrate

through the Pend Oreille River Valley in

February and March, resting and feeding

on Calispell Lake during their journey to

their northern breeding grounds.

The Pend Oreille River Tourism Alli-

ance organizes a Tundra Swan Festival

each year. This year it will be held March

20, near Calispell Lake. Registration ends

Friday, March 12. The cost is $10 for

adults and $5 for children 12 years old and

younger. Registrants will gather at the Camas

Center for Community Wellness and leave

by bus at 10 a.m. for Calispell Lake. The

owners of the property have afforded access

to the site. Participants will then return to the

Camas Center for lunch. Presenters during

lunch include biologist Martha Jordan,

known as “The Swan Lady,” Kalispel Tribe

of Indians’ wildlife program manager Ray

Entz, and Pend Oreille Public Utility District

resources biologist Bart George.

Entz will review the tribe’s wildlife

program and projects. Jordan will discuss

the tundra swan – myth, legend and fact.

George will cover a survey of osprey, eagle,

Great Blue Heron and Cormorant along the

Pend Oreille River.

This will be the third year for the Tundra

Swan festival, organized in association

with the Kalispel tribe and PORTA.

Tundra swans draw a crowd, being a

rare site for bird spotters. Their summer

breeding grounds are the lakes and ponds

of the North American tundra. During

migration and the winter months, birders

�nd the Tundra swan most often on shal-

low lakes, ponds and estuaries, often near

agriculture lands.

Sometimes called the “whistling swan,”

Tundra swans feed on seeds, roots and

Weeks will retire;

endorses Botzheim

BY YOUSSEF SLEIMAN

OF THE MINERNEWPORT – One high pro�le

election this year already has its

�rst candidate. And Pend Oreille

County Sheriff Jerry Weeks says

he will retire and endorse him.

Alan Botzheim announced this

week something many people

have know for years: that he is

running for Pend Oreille County

sheriff this fall. He is currently

sheriff’s inspector

and third-in-charge

of the county sheriff’s

of�ce. He is a former

Ione council member.

Weeks said Monday

that he is retiring at

the end of his term,

ending his 40th year

in law enforcement.

Weeks said he is endorsing

Botzheim for the position since he

has “helped bring us in a big way

to the level of pro�ciency we have

today.” Botzheim has worked his way

THE NEWPORT MINER

THE NEWPORT MINER

www.pendoreillerivervalley.com

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Volume 107, Number 4 | 2 Sections, 22 Pages 7


Planning a wedding?

Check out our guide on 6A & 7A

FIND IT OR S in The ClassiN

Online T

Botzheim

OPINION 4A • WEDDING G

| | B R I E F L

MINER PHOTO|YOUSSEF SLEIMAN

Spring sports start outside

For the first spring in many coaches’ memories, the Newport High School spring athletes began March 1 on dry fields.

Baseball, softball, cross country and boys’ soccer got in their first practice. Boys’ soccer coach Jerry Person said they would

be practicing on the Stratton Elementary field with the possibility of a home game on the Don Ellersick Memorial Field. All

Washington schools began Spring sports practice Monday. In Priest River, softball and baseball practice began Friday, Feb. 26,

and track began Monday.

FILE PHOTO

Tundra swans migrate through the Pend Oreille River Valley through the late winter, stopping for rest and

food on Calispell Lake. The white swans with dark beaks end their journey on breeding grounds in the north.

Broadband stimulus funding hopeful

NEWPORT – Pend Oreille County hopes are one

step closer to getting a �ber optic broadband con-

nection. The public utility district’s application for

stimulus funds has moved on to a due diligence pro-

cess where federal workers are delving into details of

the project for an exhaustive review.

If funded, the PUD would put $35 million into

expanding its �ber system to homes in the county’s

south end. “So there’s no Styrofoam check yet, but it’s a really

good sign,” community network system manager Joe

Onley said Monday. He and the PUD’s consultant

are working with the feds on a list of 25 items th

want to know more about. The state’s legi

ave been watching the issue in Washi

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., plans to make sure th

administration knows that she supports the P

application for funding, according to her

The project was denied from one r

but that money came mostly in t

The program it is being con

vides grant funding. Th

up with $7 million

grant.

First candidate

announces 2010

run for sheriff

SEE SHERIFF, 2A

Personnel complaint

prompts consultant hire

BY JANELLE ATYEO

OF THE MINERNEWPORT – Pend Oreille Coun-

ty commissioners have received a

complaint about a county em-

ployee, and in order to impartially

review the issue, they’ve hired a

consultant. The investigation concerns an

employee from the public works

department, which covers roads,

solid waste and facilities. Com-

missioners would not divulge

whether the complaint stemmed

from a county employee or from

the public. Personnel issues are

exempt from the open public

meetings law.

Chairwoman Diane Wear said

she could only con�rm that this

is an internal investigation. In

reviewing the board minutes, no

one has been placed on leave.

Prothman consultant Mike

Cecka will be conducting inter-

views and reviewing documents,

policies and procedures over the

next two to three weeks.

Wear said he will likely work

two to three days per week, at $50

SEE COMPLAINT, 2A

Impact payment bill awaits Senate floor

BY JANELLE ATYEO

OF THE MINERNEWPORT – Pend Oreille County of�cials are

shocked at how well their bill on impact payments

is doing in the Senate, especially after such a cold

reception at the beginning of the session.

The bill received the go-ahead from the Senate’s

Ways and Means Committee after a hearing

Thursday. It passed one of two steps in the Rules

Committee, which will decide if it will go to the

Senate �oor for a second reading.

The county introduced a bill that would set a

formula for calculating impact payments Seattle

“If we’re going to make … any

amendments to the bill … let’s put a

formula in.”Nancy LotzeSelkirk School District Superintendent

SEE PAYMENT

Tundra Swan Festival March 20

SEE SWANS, 2A

Big election year in Bonner C

Filing deadline

in two weeksBY MICHELLE NEDVED

OF THE MINERSANDPOINT – A majority of

county ofces and several state

positions are up for election i

Idaho this year. Candid

le to run from Mo

8 through Frid

Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.

to 5 p.m. To review ling rules a

download forms, vi

ner County Web

there clickthe Cod

Wednesday, July 2, 2008 75¢

The Voice of Pend Oreille County Since 19

01

Volume 107 • N

umber 21

3 Sections •

26 Pages

The Miner Online: www.pendoreillerivervalley.com

Have a Happy &

Safe 4th of July

See pages

1B -3B

Sign up now for

Poker Paddle

See page1

0B

tyeo

Newport Rodeo blows fa

ns away

Miner photo/Janelle Atyeo

A bull tosses his rider Saturday at the Newport Rodeo. The 2008 Newport Pro-West Rodeo entertained

crowds Friday and Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, June 27, 28 and 29. Festivities also included

a carnival, live music, a parade and food. There were 220 cowboys and cowgirls entered into the

competition. Audience attendance was down slightly this year, but exact numbers were not yet available

Tuesday. See more pictures on page 8A and at The Miner Online, www.pendoreillerivervalley.com.

en regular hours on Thursd

or Fourth

er

Two districts

move to merge

By Youssef Sleim

an

Of The Miner

NEWPORT – Discussion of an

idea to consolidate Pend Oreille

County’s eight fire districts have

moved two fire districts to begin

the process of merging with Pend

Oreille Fire District No. 3.

Commissioners fo

r fire districts

No. 1 and No. 7 have begun

drawing legal petitions to start

the consolidation process. Fire

chief Mark Havener of fire district

No. 3 has continued to meet fire

commissioners about the process

and benefits of consolidating fire

districts. The fire commissio

ners

for fire districts No. 1 and No. 7 will

draw a petition to fire distric

t No. 3,

requesting the merger.

Once fire district No. 3 approves

the petition, each district will

begin phrasing the question for the

ballots in November. Fire district

consolidations require 60-percent

approval among the registered voters

in an affected district.

Fire district No. 7 chief Bruce

Coleman said his fire commissioners

are filling out the information.

Coleman said the greatest benefit to

them is the increased coverage. Fire

district No. 7 has nine volunteers,

including Coleman. At times, the fire

station has two volunteers available

while the rest work jobs, leaving the

district sometimes vulnerable.

“If the residents get all the

information, and they don’t see just

the tax raise, it will pass,” Coleman

said, adding that fire district No. 7

residents often wait for service from

See FIRE on page 2A

POVN expanding

wireless s

ystem

New projects hope to reach Cusick, Sacheen Lake

By Janelle Atyeo

Of The Miner

NEWPORT – P l ans a re

materializing for providing Internet

service through wireless signal

along the Pend Oreille River Valley

– possibly to Cusick and also to the

Sacheen Lake area.

Newport-based Internet service

provider Pend Oreille Valley

Network (POVN) will construct a

wireless tower on Cooks Mountain

sometime this month. The tower

may allow the signal to reach Cusick.

It will also allow the company to

install repeaters along the river to

stretch the signal further. POVN

also plans to add new equipment to

See POVN on page 2A

Hearing delayed in PUD-PNC case

The PUD and the U.S. Forest

Service have examined four scenarios

for future operations of each of the

Sullivan Lake and Mill Pond dams.

The cost estimates vary with the

amount of mitigation measures

required. All options excluding

complete removal of the dams have

continued annual operations and

maintenance costs, as list

ed.

Here are the estimated costs o

f

each:

Sullivan Lake Dam

Mill Pond Dam

Keep as is

$30,000 to $50,000 O&M

Add fish passage $500,000 to $2 million

$500,000 to $5 million

Plus $150,000 O&M Plus $100,000 to $500,000 O&M

artial removal

$130,000 to $600,000

$400,000 to $2 million

Plus $20,000 to $40,000 O&M Plus $50,000 to $200,000 O&M

l$500,000 to $2 million

$3.6 to $10 million

Weather

doesn’t

phase

crowds

By Michael Denuty

Of The Miner

NEWPORT - Hot weather and

high fuel prices had their effect

but didn’t stop Newport from

having another successful rodeo

weekend.

Reports are that rodeo attendance

was down a bit, but the parade,

music in the park, craft booths,

Soroptimists’

barbecue and Eagles’ cowboy

breakfasts all went well.

Spectators filled the sidewalks

downtown Saturday even though

the temperature was already topping

90 degrees.

Heat didn’t appear to hurt the

concert in the park - th

e park was

pretty full through the afternoon and

people said the music was good,

Leona Raven of the Newport

Soroptimist Club said they had a

good turnout at their barbecue in

the park until it sim

ply got too hot

late in the afternoon.

There were some complaints

about the Paradise Amusements

carnival being small but it met its

contract obligation of eight rides,

according to Chamber of Commerce

manager Dave Livingston. The

See RODEO on page 2A

Public reviews scenario

s

for Sulliv

an Lake future

Will dams re

main?

By Janelle Atyeo

Of The Miner

NEWPORT – Public informational

meetings regarding the future of

Sullivan Lake, a popular camping

destination in north Pend Oreille

County, wrapped up June 24

by exploring different scenarios:

keeping or removing the dams at

Sullivan Lake and Mill Pond.

The license to operate the dams,

known collectively as the Sullivan

Creek Hydroelectric Project, expires

this fall. D

am owner Pend Oreille

Public Utility Distric

t has chosen not

See LAKE on page 10A

BY JANELLE ATYEO

OF THE MINERNEWPORT – Rising costs of

the Box Canyon Dam turbine

upgrade project brought the Pend

Oreille Public Utility District and

its largest customer, the Ponderay

Newsprint Co., into the court-

room. While power costs are at

the heart of the issue, it’s unclear

if the parties are ready to resume

negotiations over the company’s

power purchase contract just yet.

Before �ling suit against the

PUD, Ponderay Newsprint,

which operates a paper mill in

Usk, brought up six issues in the

20-year contract it would like to

change. PUD general manager

Bob Geddes responded to those

requests last month, outlining

where the PUD would be will-

ing to negotiate and asking the

newsprint company to drop the

lawsuit.

“We hope that PNC can join us

in such negotiations, and move on

to the real issue of contract adjust-

ment that you have outlined,”

Geddes wrote. “However, an es-

sential element of any settlement

would include

your agree-ment to drop

the pending lawsuit …”In a re-sponse dated

July 28, Paul

Machtolf,

Ponderay Newsprint resident

manager and vice president,

reiterates that dropping the suit

would involve resolving certain

points of the power contract. The

company is not willing to drop

the lawsuit unless the two parties

reach an agreement, he told The

Miner Tuesday.

“The PUD needs to be open to

THE NEWPORT MINER

THE NEWPORT MINER


Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Volume 106, Number 26 | 3 Sections, 28 Pages 75¢

THE VOICE OF PEND OPREILLE COUNTY SINCE 1901

34th Annual Kalispel Powwow

check out the highlights. 7A

State Legislature Candidates address

Pend Oreille County issues. 1C & 2C

And the ducks are offM

After being postponed once this summer due to a fa

town Chamber of Commerce’s Duck Race was

place winner of a $150 gift certificate wa

ertificate, went to Big Moose Rent

Betty Wells. The chamber

5 last year. The duck

took about

Kalispels host 34th a

In a blur of color, a young dancer makes his

urday night, Aug. 2. The Kalispel Trib

stick games, a softball tournam

Miner Online, www.PendO

Riley Creek Lumber Company buys JD Lumber

Fate of the mill is unknown

BY MICHELLE NEDVED

AND MICHAEL DENUTY

OF THE MINERPRIEST RIVER – After 27 years

of operation, the JD Lumber Inc.

mill in Priest River has been sold

to Riley Creek Lumber Co., effec-

tive Oct. 3. The sale includes the

sawmill, equipment and the plant

property, according to Random

Lengths, an industry publica-

tion. The mill is located on Bodie

Canyon Road, on the west side of

Priest River. Managers announced the

decision to employees on Fri-

day, though mill manager Dave

Slaugther said they do not wish to

speak to the media. Calls to Riley

Creek’s owner and president Marc

Brinkmeyer were not returned.

While speculation is running

rampant in the community, there

has been no of�cial word about

the fate of the mill, whether Riley

Creek will close it down, or con-

tinue operations.

The mill site is not within Priest

River’s city limits, but mayor Jim

Martin said the switch will most

likely affect the local economy.

“I don’t know what’s going to

happen. I don’t want to speculate.

I know it’s going to have an affect

on the economy,” Martin said.

If the mill does close, Martin

said the community will have

to �nd ways to absorb those lost

jobs. As other companies move in

and expand in Priest River, such

as Aerocet and Harrison Dock

Builders, Martin sees a switch in

industry that has been a long time

coming. In December 2007, Slaughter

said the mill employed about 230

people. In January of this year,

between 10 and 12 people were

laid off. The sale isn’t the only major

change planned for Riley Creek.

The Laclede lumber company and

Bennett Forest Industries Inc. of

Grangeville announced in early

July that the companies plan to

merge by Sept. 1.

Company of�cials said this move

will help the two family-owned SEE RILEY, 10AElection ballots in voters’ hands

BY MICHAEL DENUTY

OF THE MINERNEWPORT – Ballots are start-

ing to come in for Pend Oreille

County’s primary election. As of

Tuesday afternoon, 583 ballots

had been returned to the county

auditor’s of�ce. Ballots were

mailed out on July 30 and as of

Monday the county had approxi-

If you are a registered voter and

have not received your ballot by

now contact the county auditor’s

of�ce. Ballots may be voted at any time

in the next two weeks, but they

must be turned in by Tuesday,

Aug. 19, at 8 p.m. or be post-

marked by Aug. 19.

This election operates under the

state of Washington’s new “Top

2” primary election rules – the

top two vote getters move

the general election i

ber, regardless

Partisan cas pr

Power contract revisions

could drop lawsuit

SEE PUD, 2A

WEB EXTRA:

VISIT THE MINER

Online to download letters

from the PUD

and Ponderay

Newsprint.

PUD and Ponderay square off on issues via letters

C

ause she had not heard

nd didn’t have a

other event for

is responsible

booth o

public garden in Priest River. The meet-

ing will be 6 p.m. at city hall.

Two property owners will allow the city

to use their land in the city as public gar-

den, where people can plant and harvest

their own fruits and vegetables. Anyone

interested in �nding out more or helpin

organize the garden is encouraged t

THE NEWPORT MINER

THE NEWPORT MINER


Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Volume 107, Number 15 | 2 Sections, 22 Pages 75¢


Join the fu

n at Prie

st Lake M

emorial

Weekend Spring Festiv

al. See Schedule 6A - 7

A

Need a Pet? Check out all

the pets

in the

Adopt-A-Pet

6B

MINER PHOTO|ROSEMARY DANIEL

ly iel, left. Also performing are Miles

Northern pike making splash on Pend Oreille

BY MICHELLE NEDVED

OF THE MINER

SPOKANE – Northern pike are becoming

a successful sport �shery in the Pend Oreille

River, and tournaments are being held a

couple times a year.

Most recently, Keith Hoffman of Gone Fishin’

Lure Co. of Spokane, held a tournament April

18-19 at Box Canyon Dam. He said it was a

partial success, but the weather wasn’t as

warm as he had hoped.

Hoffman said he held the tournament not to

make a pro�t, but to raise money to put into

research of northern pike on the river.

“Until the research is done, we won’t have

regulations implemented on pike in the river,”

he said. “I would like to see a trophy �shery

preserved for many years to come. If managed

properly, a trophy �shery for pike as well as

the other highly targeted �sh in the river is

possible.”

The tournament consisted of 15 anglers and

six people serving as judges, two of which were

biologists from the Kalispel Tribe of Indians.

Several �sh were hooked but only two were

landed. The water had warmed enough to put

the �sh in the spawn, Hoffman said, making

them nearly impossible to catch, especially

using arti�cial lures only. The winning �sh

went to Ryan Quaintance. It measured 25

inches. The other �sh caught was even smaller

at 22 inches, by Hoffman’s grandfather Tom

McManus.

Hoffman said he plans to hold the tourna-

ment again next year, at a later date to avoid

spawning. He said this was a learning year,

and he’ll take what he learned and use it next

year.

Fishing on the Pend Oreille River is open

year-round, but a license is required from the

state you are �shing in. “Until the research is d

one, we won’t

have regulations implemented on

pike in the river.”

Keith Hoffman

Gone Fishin’ Lure Co.

PUD turbine

project may

be delayed

Manufacturer behind

schedule

BY JANELLE ATYEO

OF THE MINER

NEWPORT – Crews at Box

Canyon Dam have been gear-

ing up for the �rst new turbine

that is to be installed there over

the next year. But the unit is

behind schedule at the manu-

facturer, and the project may

have to be delayed a year.

Timing is critical for install-

ing the massive new unit.

The current schedule has it

complete

by March

15, 2010.

The turbine

needs

to be in

operation

by the time

spring melt

starts causing high �ows in

the Pend Oreille River. If the

STOCK PHOTO

A northern pike fishery is growing in the Pend Oreille River. Two fishing tournaments are held on the river a year.

WEB EXTRA:

DOWNLOAD THE

CONSULTANT’S

turbine report on

the scheduling

concerns at The

Miner Online.

SEE TURBINE, 2A

Verizon sells o

ut of this area

Frontier will ta

ke

over in Pend Oreille

and Bonner counties

BY YOUSSEF SLEIMAN

OF THE MINER

NEW YORK – The last major

telephone company in Pend

Oreille and Bonner counties

has sold its remaining �ber-

optic and landline telephone

accounts.

The historic departure of

Verizon Communications’ resi-

dential service from Newport,

Priest River, Priest Lake and

Sandpoint – as well as 10 other

states – will transition own-

ership to Connecticut-based

Frontier Communications.

In 1997, the federal govern-

ment created the Universal

Service Fund to tax urban

SEE VERIZON, 2A

Extension program not

expecting large cuts

BY JANELLE ATYEO

OF THE MINER

NEWPORT – Though the

Washington State University

announced a proposal to cut

$3.14 million from the exten-

sion program in order to deal

with state budget reductions,

the Pend Oreille County branch

is not expecting any large cuts.

“We’re �ne,” extension agent

Janet Lambarth said, adding

that the 4-H program is part

of extension and should not be

cut.

She said there will likely be

no increase in salaries for the

next two years, and the of�ce

may not receive its allocation

for postage and bulk mailing.

Pend Oreille extension current-

ly has a $2,800 annual budget

for mailing. The of�ce sends

out three quarterly newslet-

ters: the 4-H Pipeline, Garden-

ing in Pend, and Diggings, for

which extension partners with

the Kalispel Tribe of Indians.

SEE EXTENSION, 2A

Two Selkirk teachers la

id off

Two more teachers

won’t be replaced

BY JANELLE ATYEO

OF THE MINER

METALINE – Amidst funding

cuts and declining enrollment,

the Selkirk School District

has laid off one full-time and

one part-time teacher. Two

teachers who either retired or

resigned will not be replaced

next school year, and one staff

member had hours reduced.

Notices went out to staff

Friday, May 15. One full-time

teacher in the high school was

laid off.

“Once the budget is �nalized

I am hoping the funding will

be there to rehire this staff

person,” superintendent Nancy

Lotze said. SEE SELKIRK, 2A

Wednesday, October 18, 2006 75¢


Volume 105 • Number 36

4 Sections • 36 Pages


Miner photo/Michael Denuty

Pend Oreille County Library Library District trustees meeting at Cusick

Community Center Oct. 10 included, left to right, Debbie Harkness, Kim

McNaughton, Bettie Perry and Pat Weeks. Chair Dale Weathers was not

in attendance. Library director Janet Lyon is at right. Both Harkness and

McNaughton turned in their resignations to the county commissioners after

the meeting.

JUST FOR YOUR

HEALTH. . .See pages 1D - 6D

Assesor

candidate

interviews

See page 9B -10B

Library board reprimands director

TEDD plans grind forward slowly

By Jeanne Gustafson

Of The Miner

NEWPORT – The Tri-County

Economic Development District

(TEDD) has several plans in

the works, which all seem to be

progressing at a much slower pace

than originally anticipated by TEDD.

There is some feeling in the county

that the turnover in the Pend Oreille

economic development specialist

position has affected Pend Oreille’s

coverage by TEDD.

TEDD recently hired John

Halterman as Pend Oreille County’s

new economic development

specialist. Halterman is th

e fourth

economic development specialist

in less than four years. He replaced

Josh Hall, who resigned June 30.

Hall had replaced Suzanne Norquist

in September of 2005. Norquist

replaced Theresa Sanders in July

2004.

Members of Pend Oreille County

government have expressed concern

over the turnover in the position

since TEDD became the county’s

Associate Development Organization

(ADO) in April of 2002.

Newport Mayor Fred Anderson

said he thinks it is very difficult to

attract quality people who can stay

in the area with the low salary the

development specialist position

pays, and Pend Oreille County

commissioner Dean Cummings

See TEDD on page 2A

Two board members

resign after hot meeting

By Michael Denuty

Of The Miner

CUSICK – The Pend Oreille County Library

District Board of Trustees presented lists

of alleged

insubordination to Library Executive Director Janet

Lyon after a tense library board meeting last week.

After the meeting two board members, apparently

frustrated by the situation and heat from the community,

resigned.

At a 4-1/2 hour long special meeting held Oct. 10

at the Cusick Community Center, the board voted to

“deliver” to Lyon a previously discussed Corrective

Action Plan and they also voted to issue a Written

Reprimand that Lyon said she had not seen.

The trustees’ allegations against Lyon include

comments she allegedly made to the board that she

was not willing to eliminate the computer network

specialist’s job or reduce his hours as they directed.

Lyon had previously responded in writing to the

Corrective Action Plan but said she didn’t understand

some of the complaints. She said at the meeting that

since she had not seen the Written Reprimand before,

she would be responding in writing this week, delivering

her response at the Oct. 17 board meeting (after The

Miner’s deadline).

The board of trustees on Oct. 10 approved a

preliminary budget that cuts the position of computer

specialist Kevin Paulus from 40 hours per week to

30 hours and also eliminates the outside Webmaster

position, which costs $4,800 per year.

The board held the special meeting to finish the

agenda of the Sept. 19 regular meeting. Vice chair Bettie

Perry ran the meeting; chair Dale Weathers was not

present and called later to say he was still at work.

After the meeting that included a few harsh exchanges

between some of the 25 people in the audience and

the board, trustees Debbie Harkness and Kimberly

McNaughton sent letters of resignation to the county

commissioners effective immediately.

On Monday, the county commissioners agreed

to advertise for applications for the open library

board seats. Commissioner Ken Oliver said several

applications had already been submitted before they

had even accepted the resignations.

Oliver said he wants to have a careful interview

process before appointing new members. He said he

doesn’t believe they have the authority to appoint an

entire new board as some have suggested.

Harkness stated in her letter of resignation that, “I

do not feel that my position is promoting the long-term

objectives of the library. During my tenure as a trustee

I did what I believe is right for the library and Pend

Oreille County by being objective, taking an active role

in being informative on all issues and being fiscally

responsible.”

She also stated in the letter, “I feel that I have been

unjustly scrutinized in public and in the media for

making people accountable for their actions and for

implementing library policy. The hostile environment

See LIBRARY on page 12A

Still OK to push powder in Washington

Colville National Forest caribou recovery area

named in lawsuit but not banned to snowmobiles

By Jeanne Gustafson

Of The Miner

TALINE FALLS – The

rest isn’t the only

ibou – and

le the

Washington state forest, Newport

and Sullivan Lake District Ranger

Betty Higgins said.

According to the U.S. Forest

Service, about 11 percent, more

than 105,000 acres, of the

woodland caribou recovery area is

h Colville National Forest in

Higgins said that so far

m to be happy

n Lake

district is m

aking to limit impacts

on caribou.

Mark Sprengle, executive director

of the Selkirk Conservation Alliance,

said the topography and dense

vegetation in the Colville National

Forest lessens the effects there. He

said they don’t plan to seek any

specific remedy on the Washington

side of the caribou habitat at this

time, because they are hopeful they

can negotiate with that district, and

See CARIBOU on page 12A

Candidates out in

Newport in full fo

rce

By Jeanne Gustafson

Of The Miner

NEWPORT – Neither rain nor

dark of night could prevent the

nd Oreille County candidates

s from coming together

night at Newport

t 16. They

of

answers.

David Livingston, director of

the Newport/Oldtown Chamber

of Commerce, presided over the

event, in which each candidate had

the opportunity to talk free form

for three minutes, then answer

questions from the audience for

one minute each. After the question

eriod, the candidates each got a

ute wrap up.

ns ranged from th

u runnint

IEFL

Wednesday, November 8, 2006

75 ¢


Volume 105 • Number 39

2 Sections • 22 Pages


Win a Turkey! 52 Chances to Win!

Entry forms on page 8A and 9A

Honored for leadership

Miner photo/Jeanne Gustafson

Newport American Legion Commander George Lunden accepted a

plaque from Newport High School Monday, Nov. 6 at their Veteran’s

Day assembly. Newport student Amanda Parsley described how

Lunden served in the Army after graduating from Selkirk High

School in 1945. Lunden was a clerk in World War II, then re-enlisted

after graduating from Washington State University and served as a

supply sergeant in Korea. Lunden retired from the U.S. Forest Service

after 35 years and served on the Pend Oreille County Civil Service

Board and the Newport Cemetery District board. A number of area

veterans gathered at Newport High School for the ceremony. The

school also presented the legion with a red, white and blue wreath,

pictured at left.

See LEVY on page 2A

See LIBRARY on page 2A

Weather woes for PUD

eille PUD crews were still repairing a powe

ad in Newport early Tuesday mornin

ng for the PUD, said the soft we

eep the trees in place. The

r hour.

County unsure if

road level shift

is in the future

By Janelle Atyeo

Of The MinerNEWPORT – During Pend

Oreille County budget hearings,

which are now complete, officials

talked about penciling in money

for a road levy shift. Taking money

from the road department was one

idea they are considering as they try

to balance a budget with almost $1

million dollars more of expenses

than revenue. Auditor Carla Heckford said

she did not include the shift in the

updated budget this week.

“Who knows if we’re going to

have to do that,” Commissioner

Ken Oliver said.

He said because the county doesn’t

know where the revenue will stand at

the end of the year, it’s difficult to tell

if the levy shift will be needed. At the

beginning of this week, the current

expense budget totaled just over $8

million in expenditures and $7.06

million in revenue – a difference of

just under $950,000.

Last year was the first time

commissioners implemented a road

levy shift – taking $200,000 worth

of levy power from roads to balance

the current expense budget. This

amount from the road budget was

backfilled with money from capital

Library board upholds

disciplinary actions

Brewster, Six appointed

as library trustees

By Michael Denuty

Of The MinerNEWPORT – The Pend Oreille

County Library Board of Trustees

voted last Friday to uphold the

disciplinary actions they had

previously taken against library

director Janet Lyon – a Corrective

Action Plan and written Reprimand

for insubordination. The only

change made was that the trustees

determined that she had not violated

the open meetings act when she e-

mailed the board members.

Meanwhile, the Pend Oreille

County Board of Commissioners

voted on Tuesday afternoon to

appoint Jim Brewster and Eva Gayle

Six to fill two vacancies on the five-

Student arrested for making bo

Juvenile with knife at school suspected of makin

By Michelle Nedved

Of The MinerMETALINE FALLS – Law

enforcement agents arrested a 14-

year-old freshman from Selkirk High

School last week on felony charges

of possessing an explosive d

after the juvenile alleged

three pipe bombs

The Pend Oreille CountyS

Office did not release

name, but he will

Court ThusaidCo

First retail fiber service coming in fallBY FRED WILLENBROCKOF THE MINER

NEWPORT – With almost 2,000 people signed up to get hooked up, the question is when will they be able to use the high speed fiber network now lacing the south county. Pend Oreille PUD offi-cials are finally saying the network will be ready for retail service providers to begin offering services to homes and businesses this fall.

The fiber lines in Newport, the last of the overhead part of the fiber system, are near completion. Con-tract crews and their boom trucks with spools of wire have been visible around town for weeks. Under-ground conduit is just beginning to be installed in other areas. Fiber is later pulled through the conduit.

Joe Onley, PUD community network system manager, said the actual gray boxes that will house the electronics that retail service providers (RSPs) will use to provide services such as phone, Internet, television and security will be in-stalled this summer. The electronics will be installed in these boxes and connected to the underground or overhead fiber by the PUD as RSPs receive orders.

The PUD does not charge for any of the work or equipment to the house including the final electronics in the box. That is all covered by the federal grant and PUD funds.

Until April 2013 when the grant period ends, the PUD will do the fiber work and electronics without charging customers. After that, they will cover only the first $1,500. This has been one of the incentives for the signup program underway by the PUD. Customers who haven’t signed up can now stop by the PUD’s Community Connectivity building behind Safeway or sign up online.

This summer, contractors will also be installing the electronic hubs that connect groups of individual drops to the PUD fiber network. These will be attached to poles in most areas.

People can get a good idea of where the fiber is located by find-ing the loops of black fiber coiled on the poles at regular intervals. These must remain to allow for any repairs in the future.

Crews have also been clear-ing rights of way of trees and branches. The grant allowed for some of this work, which will benefit the fiber system and – as

an extra bonus – the electrical. They have completed most of this work.

Onley said they will have enough funds to connect all of the roughly 5,000 homes and businesses in the south county area. The grant had a minimum requirement of hooking up 1,000 in the south county. The grant did not cover north Pend Oreille County

because Pend Oreille Telephone had received a federal grant.

Onley said the plan is to have drops to every home and business by April 2013. This does not mean customers have to purchase any retail services or pay any-thing to the PUD. But it will be ready to go if they decide to do it in the future.

A separate grant awarded to the

Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet) is being used to create a redundant fiber loop over Tiger pass to Okanogan and back to Spokane. This will provide needed backup for the PUD backbone that runs south along High-way 2 to Spokane. That project should



Latest draft of Shoreline Plan has changesBY DON GRONNINGOF THE MINER

NEWPORT – For more than four years, Pend Oreille County commission-ers have been working on developing the Shoreline Master Program. They received a draft document from the planning commission, which they have been fine tuning for several weeks.

Their edited draft of the Shoreline Master Plan is on the Pend Oreille County website at www.pendoreilleco.

org/county/shoreline_master_pro-gram_update.asp.

The commissioners opened up the public comment period for another 60 days. That will end Aug. 8.

Many of the changes are small things, said Mike Lithgow, community develop-ment director for the county. Lithgow has been involved with the four-year process from the start.

“They’re things like moving the cumulative impact analysis towards the front of the document,” he said.

The commissioners eliminated the size requirements for platform landings located near docks. They did away with the requirement that future subdivi-sions on shorelines share a common buffer.

The commissioners made some changes to the setbacks for some desig-nations of land.

They increased the setbacks for urban and rural intensive use, extending them from 50 feet to 100 feet. That means no development could occur within 100

feet of the ordinary high water mark. An example of rural higher intensity

designated property is the Box Canyon Dam. The Mill Pond area in the north-ern part of the county is an example of an urban higher intensity area.

The commissioners decreased the set-backs for urban and rural conservancy lands to 50 feet. In the draft approved by the planning commission, the set-back was 150 feet for rural conservancy and 100 feet for urban conservancy areas.

Whether the state Depart-ment of Ecology signs off on such changes remains to be seen. DOE must approve the Shoreline Master Plan before the program is implemented.

Greg Dohrn is a land use con-sultant who has worked on the Shoreline Master Program with Lithgow. He said the commis-sioners received a lot of input from a variety of sources.

They received comments from individuals, as well as from state and federal agencies.

“They balanced and reviewed and changed the document to reflect what is best for the county,” Dohrn said.

The setbacks or buffers have been among the most conten-tious of the issues dealt with in the Shoreline plan. They are the distance from the ordinary high water mark where development cannot occur.

Commissioners wanted to give landowners a choice, Dohrn said. If the current pro-posed designations work, people can just comply with them.

But if there is some reason why they need to build some-thing closer to the water, there is a more individual way to comply. It will be up to the landowner to make the case – using and paying for a qualified professional.

Some alternates that will be considered on a case by case basis include:

• Buffer averaging, where the standard setback could be reduced in one place if it is in-creased in another, with no net loss of ecological function.

• In-fill development, where landowners would be able to build closer to the water if the houses on both sides have built closer. The idea is that there would be no net loss of ecologi-cal function since the area was already developed.

• An administrative adjust-ment may be made to a property on a case-by-case basis. This



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Marine deputies enforce laws, educate boaters

MINER PHOTO|DON GRONNING

The Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office got this 19-foot, $140,000 patrol boat in 2010. The boat can reach speeds of up to 45 mph and has side radar. The boat was purchased with a Homeland Security grant.

BY DON GRONNINGOF THE MINER

NEWPORT – Pend Oreille County Sheriff deputies will once again be patrolling the lakes and Pend Oreille River, looking for safety violations and writ-ing tickets when necessary.

But along with law enforcement activities, depu-ties also are looking to educate boaters.

“We’ve probably done 100 boat inspections since Memorial Day,” said Geoff Rusho, a reserve sheriff deputy and a marine technician. “Our biggest concern is safety.”

Most of the inspections were at boat ramps, before the boats got into the water, he said.

All vessels, including canoes and inflatable rafts, must have a U.S. Coast Guard approved per-sonal floatation device for each passenger. Children 12 and under must wear their lifejackets. USCG approved floatation devices are marked with a USCG number.

The flotation devices must be in good working order and easily accessible. People using personal watercraft, like jet skis, must wear an approved flotation device.

In addition, each vessel must have a sound producing device. Rusho said that has been a requirement for years. Pinning a whistle to the lifejacket is a good way to satisfy that requirement.

The Pend Oreille County Sheriff

Office’s Marine Division consists of two vessels, two marine technicians and three deputies, according to Sgt. Questin Youk, who heads up the division.

“We’ll be out on the water for weekends, holidays and big events,” he said.

The county uses an aluminum boat and a newer SafeBoat purchased two years ago.


be completed by the end of the year, Onley said. Onley added that NoaNet is running fiber

along the east side of the river across the high-way to Tiger Pass south of Ione. This is opening up some other potential service areas in north Pend Oreille County for the PUD.

When the system is completed, retail provid-

ers will offer their services using the new fiber or by other means. Most local providers are say-ing that the cost will probably vary according to how the service is delivered. The PUD board has set a wholesale price to the RSPs of $50 per household. This will have to be absorbed in their businesses costs and passed on in some way to customers. How all this will work isn’t clear yet.

A whole lake herbicide treatment was un-dertaken, keeping the herbicide levels at an optimum level for several weeks in order to get an effective kill. The district continues to em-ploy divers to survey the lake for milfoil, some seasons needing only to hand pull weeds, other times determining that areas need to be treated when the plant density warrants. These con-tinued efforts have been funded with the help of two Department of Ecology Aquatic Manage-

ment Program grants as well as voter elected levy funds.

A requirement of the CCWF grant was that there had to be public access to the lake. In or-der to meet that requirement, the district, with assistance from an Aquatic Lands Enhance-ment Account Grant, purchased and developed land formerly used as the campground for the Sacheen Lake Resort. The Myers/Harter Sanc-tuary has a dock, picnic tables, grill, toilets, a climbing structure as well as a volleyball court and nature path.

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Seattle. Tricia Shoblom, DOE environmental special-

ist in the northwest regional office in Seattle, was first contacted by people in Pend Oreille County and helped organize the effort to get a sample and test it. She had asked Tri County Health to get the sample because health districts usually do that for DOE. They appar-ently didn’t have anyone available so DOE sent someone from Spokane.

The test came back as non-detectable for tox-icity, Shoblom said. It did detect Asterionella which is a major group of algae that do not produce toxins. There wasn’t the blue-green algae associated with toxins.

Matt Schanz, from the Tri County Health District Colville office, said he was called by DOE to take a sample but couldn’t get it done

in a timely way. He said the district does take samples but DOE is responsible for tests. The district would post health warning signs if it was determined there were toxins.

Diamond Lake resident Bob Tully, who has been struggling with high water problems at his property, told the Pend Oreille County Commissioners Monday that there is a strong possibility that the high water is causing the algae bloom. He said the water has only dropped a few inches from its high point last year.

Tully said the Diamond Lake Improvement Association would most likely test the water quality since it didn’t appear anyone else was doing it. The association does this twice a year.

He said he was at the boat launch during the bloom and anglers were reporting it all around the lake. It has cleared up now but he fears it could come back again.

ALGAE I

SACHEEN I

FIBER I

MARINE I

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9



would also require a written justification by a qualified professional and additional conditions of approval may apply.

• A variance, where shoreline buffers could be reduced with the approval of the county and the Department of Ecology. These would be rare.

A setback by itself may not accomplish the

protection of the shoreline the Department of Ecology wants. For instance, if the setback is stripped of vegetation and fertilized, the shore-line wouldn’t be protected.

Commissioners will hold three public hear-ings, one in each commissioner district. The dates of the hearings have not been set yet but the meetings will occur before the comment period ends so that people can make comments on the record at the hearings.

SHORELINES I CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16


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Usually a deputy and a marine tech pa-trol together. The state has recognized the county’s marine patrol efforts by giving them more funding, Youk said.

“We’re one of six counties in the state where the marine budget was increased,” Youk said. Last year the county per-formed 500 boat inspections. “That’s pretty important to the state.”

The county will get $40,000 from the state this fiscal year, he said, up from about $30,000 last year. Part of that

money is federal money. The marine patrol spends a lot of time

on the more populated lakes, such as Dia-mond Lake and Sacheen Lake, but it also gets to some remote lakes.

“We pretty much patrol any waterway,” Youk said.

Enforcement of the county’s no wake ordinance falls to the marine division. The no wake ordinance is in effect on Diamond Lake and Bead Lake because of the high water from the rainy spring. The no wake

zone on Sacheen Lake was lifted. A ticket for violating the no wake

ordinance costs $66. But not many tickets have been written, Rusho said.

“I think we’ve written one,” he said. In order to write the ticket the deputy must see the violation.

There are more boaters in the county now than in the past, Rusho said.

“We’re seeing a big increase in the number of boaters on the river,” he said. The smaller lakes are also getting more congested.

The bottom line for the Marine division is safety for boaters. The boat inspections have saved lives, he said.

“They definitely drop the stats on drowning,” he said.

RE-ELECT DIANE WEARPend Oreille County Commissioner

District 1 DEMOCRAT

paid for by ReElect Diane Wear • Brad Wear, Chair

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I have been and continue to be involved in and dedicated to lake stewardship and the surrounding natural environments; as well as supporting recreational activities that allow safe and sustainable uses, while fostering a strong sense of community along the way.

BY DON GRONNINGOF THE MINER

DIAMOND LAKE – Summer is a time for recreational fires, which come with certain rules and obligations under Pend Oreille County’s burn ordinance.

The fire must be attended, be on improved land and be no larger than 3 feet by 3 feet and no taller than 2 feet. There must be a firebreak or non-combusti-ble surface at least 3 feet around the fire. There must be either 5 gallons of water present or a charged hose, along with a shovel.

If the fire gets away, the property owner is responsible for fire suppression costs, under the county’s law.

According to South Pend Oreille Fire and Rescue Chief Mike Nokes, it really isn’t the recreational fires that are a problem.

“It’s the burn piles that get away,” he said.

Nokes said there are precau-tions that must be taken with recreational fires. In addition to making sure the recreational fire isn’t too big and the other requirements are met, people making a recreational fire should look up.

“Don’t start them under trees,” he said.

The county’s burn ordinance is tied to the state Department of Natural Resources policy. When the DNR imposes a burn ban on DNR lands within Pend Oreille County, the ban will also apply to county lands, with the exception provided for properly attended recreational fires.

When the DNR bans fires in their campgrounds, all recre-ational fires will also be prohib-ited.

The South Pend Oreille Fire and Rescue does not write tickets when there is a violation, Nokes said.

“We’re not a ticketing authori-ty,” Nokes said. If they find a rec-reational fire violation, they will refer the matter the Pend Oreille County Sheriff. Deputies can write a $125 ticket for the first offense in a calendar year, $250 for a second offense offence and $500 for violations after that. If it really isn’t a recreational fire and is more of a debris fire, DNR will be notified, Nokes said.


Recreational

fires permitted

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CALENDAR OF EVENTSWEDNESDAY, JUNE 13

Watershed Planning Group MeetingThe planning group for the Middle and Little Spokane

Rivers (the Department of Ecology’s Watershed Resources Inventory Areas 55 and 57) will meet from 9 a.m. to noon at the Spokane County Conservation District office, 210 N. Havana. WRIA 55 includes Diamond and Sacheen lakes as well as Eloika Lake, Dry Creek, Deer Creek, Deadman Creek, Dragoon Creek and the Little Spokane River. Visit www.spokanecounty.org/wqmp/projects.

JUNE 15-16‘The American Dream’

Northwoods Performing Arts presents the final weekend of their spring choral show, “The American Dream (As Time Goes By).” A dinner is served at 6:30 p.m. with the show following at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to the dinner show are $20. Tickets for the show only are $12 for adults and $10 for seniors and children, available at Seeber’s Pharmacy in Newport or by calling Terri or Zola at 208-448-1294.

SATURDAY, JUNE 16Sacheen Lake Association Annual Meeting

The Sacheen Lake Association will hold its annual meeting at the Sacheen Lake Fire Station at 10 a.m.

SATURDAY, JUNE 16Diamond Lake Clean Up

Meet at the South Shore Store at 8 a.m. to help with this clean up, sponsored by the Diamond Lake Improvement Association. Coffee and doughnuts will be provided.

SATURDAY, JUNE 16Barbecue Lunch

Get to know your neighbors and learn about the lake community with a free barbecue lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs. The Diamond Lake Improvement Association is sponsoring the event at John Hernandez’s Quonset hut on Highway 2, starting at noon.

JUNE 17-23Boy Scouts Japeechen Rendezvous

Scouts age 14 and older will spend a week at Camp Cowles camping, eating, sleeping and work-ing like they would have in the 1830s. They’ll travel back to the 1825 Hudson Bay Company’s trapper camp located on the farthest end of Diamond Lake: Japeechen. During the same time, the National Youth Leadership Training will take place.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20Diamond Lake Water and Sewer

The water sewer board will have its second meet-

ing of the month at 10 a.m. in the District Office, 172 South Shore Road.

THURSDAY, JUNE 21South Pend Oreille Fire & Rescue

The fire district that covers Diamond and Sacheen lakes, as well as the Deer Valley, Camden and Fertile Valley areas, meets at 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month at Station 31, 325272 Highway 2, Diamond Lake.

SATURDAY, JUNE 23Boating Safety Class

A boating safety class will take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Sacheen Lake Fire Station on Highway 211. To register, contact Linda Walters at 509-447-0446.

SATURDAY, JUNE 23Fertile Valley Road Clean-up

The Sacheen Lake Association is organizing a roadside clean-up on Fertile Valley Road. Meet at the Myers-Harter Sanctuary at 9 a.m.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27Sacheen Ladies of the Lake

The philanthropic and social group meets the fourth Wednes-day of each month at noon at various locations. Call president Maria Bullock at 509-998-4221 to find out where. The group raises money for various causes. Visit sosacheen.tripod.com/sacheenladiesofthelake.

TUESDAY OR THURSDAY, JULY 3 OR 5, TBADiamond Lake Water and Sewer

The water sewer board will have its bi-monthly meeting at 10 a.m. in the District Office, 172 South Shore Road.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 4Diamond Lake Half Marathon

The fourth annual Fourth of July Half Marathon starts at the South Shore Store at 7:30 a.m. Last year there was also an optional one-mile swim at the public boat launch starting at 6:15 a.m.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 4Independence Day

Celebrate the nation’s birthday with the annual boat parade spon-sored by the Diamond Lake Improve-ment Association. Participants line up at the Beach Club around 1:30 p.m. They’ll go around the lake in a counter clockwise fashion. A fireworks display from the barge in the middle of the lake begins around 10 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 11Diamond Lake Improvement Association

The monthly meeting of the DLIA is held at 6:30 p.m. at the fire station on Highway 2. Visit www.diamond-lakewa.org. The meeting is held a week later this month due to the Independence Day holiday.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 11Sacheen Lake Sewer and Water

The water and sewer board will have its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. at the Sacheen Fire Station, Highway 211. The meeting is held a week later this month due to the Independence Day holiday.

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