Elections, streets are among year's top news

SANDPOINT — From elections and street projects, to generous donations and kicking off the holiday season, Bonner County saw no shortage of news in 2017.

This is the ninth in a series looking back at the top stories of the year. Stories are listed in no particular order.

- The third annual “What’s Happening up North” summit on Nov. 2 focused on education with a theme of “Building a Smart Workforce.”

The summit is staged by the Bonner County Economic Development Corporation in conjunction with Headwaters Economics, Lake Pend Oreille School District, Panhandle Alliance for Education and Idaho Department of Labor. The event featured a number of notable speakers drawn from business and government, plus panel discussions and open forums to engage attendees.

- Big Mouth Presentations visited local high schools the first week of November, sponsored by Walk for HOPE, funded by the nonprofit's suicide awareness walk held each September.

Walk for HOPE was started by Jennifer Wyman in 2016 through Underground Kindness, a nonprofit organization focused on empowering students, supporting teachers, and connecting community within public schools.

- A Bonners Ferry woman was killed after she lost control of her vehicle north of Ponderay on Highway 95 on Nov. 3.

Idaho State Police said in a press release that Susan L. Rogers, 74, was northbound on Highway 95 near the northern city limits of Ponderay when she lost control of her 2000 Volkswagen Beetle and went into the southbound lane. A 2015 Isuzu tractor trailer, driven by William R. Lawson, 64, of Spokane, Wash., was southbound when his vehicle struck Roger’s vehicle on the passenger side. Both drivers were wearing seatbelts.

- Incumbents garnered the highest number of votes in November’s City Council elections in both Ponderay and Sandpoint.

Shannon Williamson will continue to serve on the Sandpoint council with 735 votes in her favor — nearly 2,700 voters turned out for the Sandpoint election. Joining her on council in January will be Joel Aispuro and John Darling Jr., who garnered 649 and 578 votes respectively.

In Ponderay, incumbent Kathy Osborne took the lead with 50 of the 130 votes cast. Phil McNearney will take over Councilwoman Karen Engel's seat as he garnered 42 votes.

- The city of Sandpoint partnered with OpenGov in November to launch the new online tool that brings visibility, openness and accountability to its financial operations, allowing anyone to access the last six years of finances through the city’s website.

- When revisions to the Sandpoint’s vacation rental ordinance were approved on Oct. 18, council members said it is an issue they would likely need to revisit.

They were not wrong as less than a month later, it was back on the agenda for City Council’s workshop-style council meeting. The workshop was scheduled to last one hour, so after an in-depth discussion about the 300-foot buffer, council was unable to give specific direction to staff regarding any one option.

- When University of Idaho officials announced plans to sell the 77-acre property on Boyer Avenue in September, people wondered what would happen to the property.

Sandpoint officials then began a series of workshops to determine what the public would like to see happen with the property, which brought forth several ideas, including that of a recreation center. On Nov. 15, City Council members approved of a $20,000 feasibility study for a YMCA recreation center on the property.

- The new bridge and roundabout on Schweitzer Cutoff Road opened just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Schweitzer Cutoff bridge replacement is a joint project between the cities of Ponderay and Sandpoint. The majority of the bridge project is funded through federal dollars, which it qualified for due to an extremely low sufficiency rating. The cities are responsible for a 15-percent match, or 7.5 percent each. The roundabout is Sandpoint's addition to the project and is funded by the city.

- The family that owns Sharon’s Hallmark celebrated 50 years in business in downtown Sandpoint this year. The building in which Sharon’s Hallmark now resides was purchased by Don Rench and his wife, Sharon McCormick, in 1967. At that time, it was the Bi-Rite Drug Store, catching the eye of the Wenatchee pharmacist.

- Kinderhaven once again dazzled the community with its annual Festival of Trees from Nov. 30-Dec. 2.

The Festival of Trees is Kinderhaven's biggest fundraiser, helping the organization continue as a community nonprofit "dedicated to supporting children in crisis and giving them back their right to thrive by providing a safe, secure home in which their emotional, physical and mental well-being are protected and enriched."

- The Sandpoint Teen Center got a big surprise on "Giving Tuesday," Nov. 28, when STCU officials stopped by with a check for $10,000.

The teen center serves as an after school drop-in center for youth in grades seven-12 and, on average, about 30 teens a day visit the center. The teens are provided with healthy snacks and a hot meal each day through the center's culinary program. The center also provides different activities throughout the week, such as games, bowling, yoga and an outdoor program.

- Determined opponents of the proposed HiTest silicon smelter near Newport took their case to Bonner County commissioners on Oct. 30.

Edmonton, Alberta-based HiTest estimates that the silicon smelter would employ as many as 150 workers when the plant comes on line. Erection of the metal plant could require as many as 400 workers, according to HiTest’s promotional materials.

HiTest owns a fully permitted quartz mine in Golden, British Columbia, and intends to process the material at the proposed Newport facility. The company estimates the metal plant will be able to produce 60 metric tons of silicon material. Roughly half of the silicon will be sold into the polycrystalline silicon market for use in and solar panels, which company officials say provides an offset to carbon dioxide emissions.

For every metric ton of carbon dioxide created during the production of silicon metal, nine times that amount is saved from being emitted to the atmosphere over the life of the solar panels, HiTest officials say. However, opponents are doubtful of the emissions estimates.

- As of Nov. 9, an arraignment hearing was pending for a Cocolalla man accused of striking a 7-year-old with a pickup truck while waiting at his bus stop. He later pleaded not guilty to the charges, clearing the way for a jury trial this month.

Jason Dwight Newsome is charged with failing to give immediate notification of a collision and driving without privileges. The misdemeanor charges stem from a collision on the morning of Oct. 26 in the 100 block of Gun Club Road, according to an Idaho State Police affidavit.

- A 20-year-old Washington state man accused of stabbing a cab driver to death in Bonner County pleaded not guilty on Nov. 13.

Jacob Corban Coleman’s plea sets the stage for a jury trial in 1st District Court in February 2018. He remains held without bond at the Bonner County Jail. Coleman is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the slaying of Gagandeep Singh on Aug. 28 outside a convenience store in Kootenai.

- The Idaho Water Resource Board adopted a resolution on Nov. 15 endorsing a series of project aimed at preserving access to Upper Priest Lake and ensuring a reliable water level on Priest Lake in drought years.

The endorsement follows a similar endorsement by the Idaho Lakes Commission. They include dredging in the Thorofare and construction of an impervious breakwater structure so motorboats can still access the upper lake. The height of the Outlet Bay Dam on the lower lake would be extended to increase storage capacity in times of drought.

- A Washington state man was ordered to serve up to seven years in prison for a violent domestic assault in Oldtown.

Michael Eugene Meyer will have to serve at least two years of the term before he can be considered for parole, according to the terms of the sentence imposed by 1st District Judge Barbara Buchanan on Nov. 13.

Meyer, a 56-year-old Newport resident, was charged with attempted strangulation, kidnapping and aggravated battery in connection with the Aug. 17 attack that ended when the alleged victim fled an East Second residence wearing shorts and a bloody scarf to cover her midsection, court documents indicate.

- David A. Dorland Jr. pleaded not guilty on Nov. 13 to burglarizing Wrenco Arms. His plea clears the way for a two-day jury trial in 1st District Court in February 2018.

Dorland is free on a reduced bond of $2,000 while the case is pending, court records show. Dorland, 25, is accused of forcing his way into Wrenco Arms, stealing a pistol and causing more than $1,000 in damages in the process, according to court documents. Wrenco Arms was broken into on Oct. 15.

- Mediation is was ordered in November in the case of a Blanchard man accused of shooting two Bonner County sheriff’s deputies who tried to arrest him.

Public Defender Janet Whitney and Deputy Prosecutor Katie Murdock moved jointly to voluntarily enter into mediation in an attempt to resolve the case against Adam Deacon Foster on Nov. 15. First District Judge Barbara Buchanan approved the motion the same day, court records show.

Foster, 31, is charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder for seriously wounding deputies Justin Penn and Michael Gagnon on Jan. 17.

- The Bonner County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a North Idaho man whose body was discovered in Colburn Creek on Nov. 24.

Deputies were summoned to the Bailey Road area after a motorist saw the body in the creek, said Undersheriff Ror Lakewold. The body is that of Amos John Kopas, 35. An obituary described Kopas as avid fisherman, hunter and motorcyclist.

Lakewold said it’s not clear what Kopas was doing at the creek, although it appeared his body was in the creek for at least a couple of weeks. Preliminary investigation suggests the death was accidental.

- Ponderay Police Det. Sgt. Mike Victorino said $9,000 worth of tires — an estimated 80 or so individual tires — were stolen from a secured outdoor storage area at Perfection’s location of U.S. Highway 95 on Nov. 24.

No other tire shops in the greater Sandpoint area or other Perfection Tire locations in the region reported break-ins around the time of the heist, said Victorino. The suspect vehicles include a Toyota Avalon-style sedan and a dark blue Dodge pickup truck pulling a tandem-axle trailer with wooden sideboards. The truck has lighter-colored bottom striping.

Authorities believe a female suspect was driving the sedan, while an adult male was driving the truck. The male’s image was captured by surveillance cameras at the Sagle Conoco.

- The Daily Bee’s managing editor, Caroline Lobsinger, began her annual series of stories around Thanksgiving, following the Sandpoint Lions Club Toys for Tots drive and their quest to raise $50,000.

The stories began with one of the most successful Turkey Bingo fundraisers, which raised a whopping $2,842.89 — more than $550 over last year’s total, which was $360 over the total from the year before that.

- Operation Wampus Cat came to a successful conclusion on Nov. 27 when Clark Fork High School teacher KC MacDonald watched the U-Haul trailer loaded with nearly 500 pounds of school supplies arrive at Jessup Elementary School in Houston, Texas.

MacDonald and his Clark Fork High School leadership students started collecting the school supplies this fall to help out young victims of Hurricane Harvey. After enlisting the help of local elementary school students, MacDonald ended up with more supplies than he could have imagined. With about 900 kids at Jessup Elementary, the more supplies the better, but there was just one problem — MacDonald needed to get hundreds of pounds of paper, pencils, markers, backpacks and more from North Idaho to Texas. Shipping them by mail was no longer an option.

So, with the help of more than 20 veterans across Idaho, Utah, New Mexico and Texas, the trailer arrived safely in Texas on Nov. 27. MacDonald flew down shortly before the supplies were delivered to the school.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.