Top stories of 2011
<p>Hundreds turned out to listen and offer input at a presentation on the City of Coeur d'Alene's proposed McEuen Park renovation during a February 10 meeting at Woodland Middle School.</p>
<p>Spc. Tristan Nielsen kneels at the gear of Sgt. Nathan R. Beyers and Spc. Nicholas W. Newby during their memorial service July 16, 2011.</p>
<p>The Idaho Army National Guard Honor Guard carries the casket of Spc. Nicholas W. Newby during a honorable transfer ceremony on the tarmac of the Coeur d'Alene Airport in July.</p>
<p>A statue of the Hindu idol Ganesha, part of the Coeur d'Alene Arts Commission project Arts Current, had created some controversy among some North Idaho groups who protested the project's dedication ceremony.</p>
<p>A bomb disposal technician approaches a sport utility vehicle Tuesday, June 15, 2011, that had a suspected explosive device attached to the underside of the vehicle. A service station worker found the device when it was brought to the Fast Lane Quick Lube on U.S. Highway 95 and Bosanko Avenue.</p>
<p>James Pond, of Post Falls, won $250,000 in the Idaho Lottery Mega Millions drawing in August.</p>
<p>A heavy equipment operator for MDM Construction, Inc. moves dirt September 7, 2011, during construction on the North Idaho College education corridor project near Northwest Boulevard in Coeur d'Alene. Crews continued to work on new and existing roadways in the area on the north end of the campus into November.</p>
McEuen Field. McEuen Field. McEuen Field.
The future of McEuen dominated the headlines in 2011 and was No. 1 in our stories of the year. The proposal to redesign the downtown field commanded a community's attention from start to finish.
There were heart-breaking happenings, too, with the deaths of two Lucky Friday miners and two Coeur d'Alene soldiers. The peace and quiet of Benewah County was shaken by three killings.
There were the controversial issues, one over a Hindu statue in downtown Coeur d'Alene and education reform. And the changes in the political landscape at the state and local levels was often on page one.
Here's a look back at the top 10 stories of the past 12 months.
1. McEuen Field
Six days into 2011, the conceptual design for McEuen Field was unveiled to the public.
Since then, discussion and controversy surrounding the proposed multi-million downtown park redesign has remained at full throttle.
The plan - a decade in the making and a chief reason why the city formed an urban renewal agency in the late 1990s - replaces the boat launch, blacktop and baseball field with grass, waterfront promenade, pavilion, playground and many other features.
But the what-could-be $39 million price tag was too much for some people to swallow, and many people supported a public advisory vote on the plan. The City Council didn't see it that way. It said it was the council's decision to handle polarizing, tough topics like McEuen.
In May, when the decision to adopt the park plan came to the council, the meeting was moved to the Woodland Middle School gym to handle the huge crowd. It passed 5 votes to 1.
In November, City Council candidates Dan Gookin and Steve Adams each grabbed easy victories. Both campaigned against the city's handling of the plan, as did incumbent Ron Edinger, who retained his seat easily.
Heading into 2012, the city said it won't take up McEuen Field decisions until the council-elects take their seats. At last check, the city was working on a deal to replace the boat launch near the Beachouse restaurant on Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive, and was close to nailing down what phase one - or the footprint - of the project would be.
It could cost up to $17.2 million, and the city could have $15.6 million in revenue already secured.
2. Lucky Friday unlucky
The streak at Hecla Mining Co.'s Lucky Friday mine of 25 years without a fatality ended in 2011.
The mine suffered a series of three bad accidents in 2011.
On April 15, a collapse occurred, killing 53-year-old miner Larry Marek.
Rescue efforts continued 24 hours per day to reach him, as the company hoped he had survived the cave-in and he was trapped behind a massive rock pile. His body was pulled from the mine April 24.
Then, on Nov. 17, as part of construction of a shaft, two workers were hurt. The two contract workers were drawn into material that was moving underneath them.
Both were taken to a hospital, and one was treated and released.
On Nov. 19, Hecla announced that Brandon L. Gray, 26, a worker for contractor Cementation U.S.A., had died.
On Dec. 14, a rock burst at the silver mine injured seven workers, who were taken to North Idaho hospitals. The company attributed the rock burst to seismic activity.
3. Local soldiers die in Iraq
Soldiers serving with the Post Falls-based 145th Brigade Support Battalion, part of the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team, returned home a few months ago, but the mission came with a heavy cost.
Two Coeur d'Alene soldiers - Sgt. Nathan Beyers, 24, and Spc. Nicholas Newby, 20 - were killed on July 7 by an improvised explosive device.
A third soldier, Staff Sgt. Jason Rzepa, 30, of Hayden, sustained leg injuries during the attack that resulted in a double amputation below his knees.
Rzepa (pronounced Zeppa), who recently received his prosthetics, is temporarily home before heading back to a military hospital in Texas.
The community and emergency response agencies rallied to support families of the fallen soldiers.
During a ceremony in Post Falls, Rzepa received the Purple Heart.
Staff Sgts. Ryan Rogers, 30, Post Falls, and Gregory Wilson, 37, Boise, each received the Army Commendation Medal for their actions in assisting Rzepa.
4. Elections and politics
The times, an old folk singer used to sing, they are a changin'.
Idaho's election landscape took on a whole new look in 2011, ushering in a slew of new rules for anyone who wants to cast a ballot.
Not in any particular order, voters now have to register as Republicans to vote in the Republican primary, Presidential support will be decided on March 6, Super Tuesday, though a caucus, the entire state's legislative districting map was redrawn - a plan which many people challenge - and counties are in charge of all municipal elections.
Locally, Republicans influenced the nonpartisan municipal races in November, as all seven of the Kootenai County Reagan Republican backed candidates won seats in three different cities.
In North Idaho, the Republican party appeared to show a rift. A new conservative group, United Conservatives of North Idaho, formed at the end of the year, supported in part by Rally Right members. Some Republicans feel the Rally Right influence is taking the party to Constitutional Party platforms. Just as UCNI was forming, a group of North Idaho business people and civic supporters formed a new political action committee to financially support "reasonable" Republican candidates, called North Idaho Political Action Committee.
5. Benewah Murders
Benewah County Prosecutor Doug Payne was in office for 17 years, and in that time there was one murder. Then 2011 happened.
Within 2011, there have been three murders in the county.
It started April 17 in Plummer, early in the morning.
A Spokane man, Antowyn D. Swiney, 37, was brutally stabbed to death while staying at his girlfriend's house within the Coeur d'Alene tribal housing in the south part of Plummer.
Four people were arrested on felony charges for the killing. The primary suspect, Jody A. Miller, is charged with first-degree murder and is scheduled to be tried early in the new year.
A month later, a woman was jailed for allegedly killing her uncle, 43-year-old Robert D. Marek, at his home nearly 8 miles south of St. Maries along Highway 3.
Melisa R. Bates was charged with first-degree murder. Marek was shot with a handgun and beaten with a metal rod. Authorities believe he was killed on May 15. Marek's body was burned in his backyard in a hastily arranged fire pit.
On Christmas day, an 18-year-old woman was shot in the head and killed by a man who is reportedly her boyfriend.
Joseph D. Herrera, 28, a lifetime resident of St. Maries, has been charged with second-degree murder for allegedly killing Stefanie A. Comack at his parents' home across the street from St. Maries Middle School.
Herrera has reportedly told authorities the shooting was an accident.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for the coming weeks, when more details will be revealed.
"They say these things happen in threes," Payne told The Press earlier this week. "So I hope this is the end of it."
6. Year of the grizzly
Big bears were big news in 2011.
First a homeowner in Porthill, at the U.S.-Canada border, shot and killed a 2-year-old male grizzly on his property on May 8 and was charged in U.S. District Court in Coeur d'Alene.
The case drew national attention as gun enthusiasts rushed to the defense of Jeremy M. Hill, who said he was trying to defend his family when a mother grizzly and two offspring wandered onto his property.
In September, the U.S. Attorney's Office, in Boise, dismissed the criminal charge. Hill agreed that under provisions of the Endangered Species Act and related regulations, he committed a violation. He paid a $1,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced that dismissal of the criminal charge in favor of the citation was based in part on Hill's prompt notification of his actions to state wildlife officials.
Olson said that during the course of the investigation, state and federal wildlife officials were unable to establish the location of Hill's children when the bears were first sighted in the yard, about 40 yards from his home.
Then, on Sept. 16, a black bear hunter was thought to have been mauled by a wounded grizzly, before it turned out the hunter was shot and killed by his partner who was trying to protect him.
Steve Stevenson, 39, of Winnemucca, Nev., died. Ty Bell, 20, also of Winnemucca, wounded the grizzly, thinking it was a black bear.
Bell and Stevenson followed a blood trail into a thick, brushy area where the bear turned on them at close quarters.
The two hunters were in the remote, rugged Purcell Mountains that straddle northeastern Idaho and northwestern Montana.
A forensic study of blood on the bullet that killed Stevenson revealed it initially struck the grizzly. The bear was also killed.
7. Hindu statue
All the statue did was stand on the corner of Sixth Street and Sherman Avenue.
But if art's point is to start a discussion, Ganesha, that pot-bellied, elephant-faced Hindu god, sure did.
The statue was part of the city's ArtCurrents program, a revolving display of public art placed downtown. Protesters protested on grounds that the piece was un-Christian and not in tune with American values, while supporters said art's point is to broaden horizons and celebrate difference.
Stories of the protest went viral - reaching India outlets, and people held signs next to the statue calling for its removal. Others just wanted their picture taken next to it.
The art display is set to change by summer 2012. Meanwhile, Ganesha is still there.
8. Lottery luck strikes
The Idaho Lottery called Kootenai County one of the luckiest counties in the country this year.
Holly Lahti in January split the second-largest lottery jackpot in United States history worth $380 million with a man from Ephrata, Wash.
Lahti, who was 29 at the time living in Rathdrum and a mother of two, elected to take the one-time cash option of $120 million. After taxes, the amount for the Mega Millions prize was nearly $80.7 million.
Her winnings were clouded since attorneys believed her estranged husband, Josh Lahti, was entitled to some of the money.
Holly has not spoken publicly about the winnings.
Other locals having lottery luck included Hayden's Clifford and Helena Jordan, who claimed a $1,000,000 Mega Millions prize, Post Falls' James Pond, who had a Mega Millions ticket worth $250,000, and Coeur d'Alene couple Ralph and Jody Paul, who had a $145,000 Wild Card jackpot win.
9. Steele gets life sentence
Edgar J. Steele found out this year he would live the rest of his life behind bars.
Steele, the attorney who represented high-profile clients like the Aryan Nations' onetime leader Richard Butler, was found guilty of hiring a hitman to kill his wife, a plot that was never carried out.
Steele, 66, spoke for nearly an hour and a half at his sentencing hearing Nov. 9.
Steele had already been behind bars since June 11, 2010, the day he was arrested.
A federal jury in Boise in May found he paid his handyman, 50-year-old Larry Fairfax of Sagle, in silver to put a massive pipe bomb under her SUV so it would blow up when she was driving. Fairfax would get more if he killed Cyndi's mom, too.
The jury listened to audio recordings of Steele making statements to Fairfax, confirming his participation in the murder-for-hire plot. Fairfax testified that he had installed the pipe bomb under Cyndi Steele's vehicle, at Edgar Steele's direction.
Fairfax pleaded guilty and was sentenced in May to 27 months in prison for possession of an unregistered firearm and manufacturing a firearm.
Fairfax went to the FBI about the plot when he realized he was in over his head with Steele.
10. Education changes and advances
The Legislature approved public schools chief Tom Luna's education reforms that weaken teachers' bargaining rights.
Among the other changes in Luna's "Students Come First" reforms included introducing merit pay for teachers and shifting money from salaries to classroom technology such as laptop computers and online education as a graduation requirement.
But union-backed ballot measures set for a vote in November 2012 will ask Idaho voters to overturn Luna's sweeping education reforms.
Other education efforts took a leap forward when the education corridor in Coeur d'Alene opened and the construction of the Kootenai Technical Education Campus (KTEC), a professional-technical high school on the Rathdrum Prairie, started.