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| April 14, 2007 9:00 PM

SANDPOINT — A snowboarder accused of battering a skier in a dispute over the proper way to drop into Schweitzer Mountain Resort's terrain park pleaded guilty Friday to a reduced charge.

Judge Justin Julian accepted Jacob William Whitaker's plea to disturbing the peace and fined him $1,000, $650 of which was suspended.

Julian also placed Whitaker on probation for one year, during which time he is forbidden from riding at Schweitzer.

Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Sarah Hallock-Jayne moved to amend the charge against Whitaker from battery to disturbing the peace because of an issue in proving the case.

The issue was not specified in court documents.

Whitaker, an 18-year-old snowboarder from Redmond, Ore., was accused of throwing punches at a skier and wrestling him to the ground in a headlock.

Whitaker told a sheriff's deputy the skier cut him off as he made his way toward a tabletop jump. He also accused the skier of throwing the first punch.

The skier, a 33-year-old from Post Falls, maintained he observed the proper terrain park etiquette and was not the aggressor in the dust-up.