Diamond Cup receives transportation permit

COEUR d'ALENE - A transportation plan for the 2014 Diamond Cup received approval Monday and the Idaho Transportation Department issued organizers a permit for the Labor Day weekend event.

The plan approved by ITD includes the bussing plan to and from the event, signage along the highway in the vicinity of Silver Beach, and the requirements expected of the group for organizing and supervising other aspects of traffic control.

"Ironically, the ITD permit is one of the requirements for a marine-event permit set forth by the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office," a press release from Diamond Cup organizers said. "Sheriff Ben Wolfinger set a July 1 deadline for the submission of all necessary marine-event permit materials even though he knew that the ITD permit would not be issued until after his deadline."

In a letter Monday from Stephanie Hale at ITD to Diamond Cup president Doug Miller, she wrote that the permit is only conditionally approved.

"Obtain approval from pertinent law enforcement agencies for the specific event and forward the letters of approval to the department," Hale wrote.

Wolfinger has denied Diamond Cup a water-event permit, saying organizers failed to meet "several of the required criteria for the event by the July 1, 2014, deadline."

Diamond Cup organizers received a significant permit last week from the Idaho Department of Lands.

"Miller and his group continue to request Sheriff Wolfinger act in accordance with Idaho law by indicating his willingness to accept a completed application for a marine-event permit at least 30 days prior to the event," the news release said.

"(The) sheriff says he won't issue an approval because he didn't receive everything 60 days before the event - in direct conflict with Idaho code," John Magnuson, a Coeur d'Alene attorney who represents Miller and Diamond Cup organizers, wrote in an email to The Press Monday.

The group remains confident the event can still happen.

"However, timing could, by necessity, ultimately become an issue," the group said in the press release.