North Idaho Briefs July 27, 2012
Annual Body by Scotty block party tonight
POST FALLS - The 18th annual Body by Scotty Block Party appreciation event will be from 6-9 tonight at the business, 311 E. Third in Post Falls.
The free event includes a chicken and ham dinner with beverages, music by the Rhythm Dawgs and kids activities.
The party has grown from 300 to about 3,500 and is the largest company-sponsored event of its kind in the area.
Tips received at the bar will benefit the Post Falls Food Bank. Leftover food will go toward homeless camps in the area.
Body by Scotty is a full-service vehicle collision repair and towing business.
Sand Creek Byway set to open today
SANDPOINT - The long-awaited and highly anticipated opening of the Sand Creek Byway is set for this morning, the Idaho Transportation Department announced.
Crews will prepare the road and remove barriers for northbound traffic on the roadway by about 8:30 this morning. By 9 a.m., north- and southbound lanes of traffic are expected to be open.
Crews will then turn attention to the bike and pedestrian trail along Sand Creek. Everything is expected to be open for use by mid-afternoon.
The byway, in conjunction with other important roadway improvements, will maximize mobility and provide a safe, long-term solution to traffic congestion problems in Sandpoint, including a non-stop, through-town corridor for commercial truck traffic.
The contractor for the $106 million project is Parsons RCI, of Sumner, Wash. Construction started in 2008.
That's not a gun in his hand, it's a cell phone
KINGSTON - Shoshone County sheriff's personnel and the Idaho State Police responded to report of a man holding a woman and child at gunpoint on Tuesday only to discover the man wasn't armed and dangerous.
He had a phone.
"There was a little mistake," Undersheriff Rod Plank said. "It was a mischaracterization. They thought they saw a gun, but it was a cellphone."
The cellphone-gun confusion took place in Kingston around the Hunt Gulch area around 10 a.m., according to scanner reports. Police surrounded the house before the confusion was cleared up.
Plank said there was no reason to believe there was anything violent or otherwise illegal at the scene, and no arrests were made.
Department of Lands seeking volunteers
The Idaho Department of Lands is asking Kootenai County residents to help guard the state's resources.
The agency has developed the Health Endowment Lands Protection program, where volunteers will patrol parcels of state endowment trust lands to protect against resource damage.
Volunteers can patrol small or large blocks of land on a short or long term basis. They will monitor the types of recreation taking place, inform recreators about the importance of the land and promote fire safety. The volunteers will also pick up litter and give feedback to the agency on damage or inappropriate land use.
Areas to be patrolled extend from the Washington-Idaho border to the Fourth of July pass, and Athol to Worley.
Citizens interested in volunteering may contact the department by calling 769-1577, or http://www.idl.idaho.gov/Areas/Mica.htm.
Seventeen Kellogg buildings hit by vandals
Seventeen buildings across the city of Kellogg were tagged with graffiti on late Monday or early Tuesday, Kellogg Police Chief Dave Wuolle said.
Wuolle said the same person apparently did all the graffiti tags and added police have a few leads.
The graffiti-tagged buildings were mostly area businesses, but the Kellogg Public Library and the Kellogg campus of North Idaho College were among the buildings hit. Others hit include the liquor store, Ron's Sportsmen, Shoshone Glass and the Inland Lounge.
There may be more buildings that were tagged by this week's prolific graffiti culprit, but only 17 have been reported, Wuolle said, but some public property was also hit.
Some of the bridge fillers were tagged, along with several signs throughout town.
Wuolle said the culprit really "messed up" Kellogg.
"We've got some pretty upset business owners, some upset residents and some upset police," Wuolle said. "(The culprit) messed up the city of Kellogg."