Briefs July 20, 2010

Man pleads not guilty in slaying

IDAHO FALLS - An Idaho Falls man accused of killing his mother in March then taking off for Cambodia has pleaded not guilty.

Thirty-four-year-old Nathan Helburn is facing one count of first-degree murder for allegedly killing his mother with a knife at her home.

Helburn entered the plea Monday in 7th District Court.

Police found 61-year-old Mary Helburn dead in her home March 9 during a welfare check. She was last seen four days earlier.

Investigators focused on Nathan Helburn and later traced him to Cambodia, where he was arrested by federal agents. He was returned to the United States days later.

Toddler who fell into canal dies

BOISE - An 18-month-old girl has died a week after falling into an eastern Idaho canal.

Preslee Jo Sullenger was playing with friends near the Jefferson Hills Golf Course in Rigby when she fell into an irrigation canal on July 9.

She drifted for a mile and a half before a farmer spotted her. She was hospitalized at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, where she died Friday.

Funeral services are planned Tuesday morning in Rigby, according to her obituary.

Green garbanzos: Idaho's next crop?

BOISE - Genesee farmer Doug Moser began growing garbanzo beans in 1979, and for years ate them green fresh out of the field.

It made him wonder why he couldn't harvest and market the beans while they were still at their sweeter, nuttier stage, before they turned blond. The Idaho Statesman reports that it took some trial and error but eventually, he pioneered a method of processing them while in the green stage, blanching and freezing them so they can be available in stores year-round.

- The Associated Press