New museum, CF scholarships make headlines
What a year is has been.
From a decision by Coldwater Creek to delay development of a new Sandpoint campus for the University of Idaho due to plunging stock prices to a proposed right of way agreement between the Idaho Transportation Department and BNSF for the Sand Creek bypass route, it's been a year of major events in Bonner County.
While the decision to delay the Sandpoint campus and the proposed right of way agreement are major, possibly community-changing events, they are by no means the only such landmarks of the community's growth.
There is the creation of the Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center and its addition of Camp Invention to the arrival of Jaycee's Race to the construction of a more visible landmark in Panhandle State Bank's new building where Harold's used to stand.
There is the community's rallying around Sgt. Brandon Adam, who made his first visit home in November after he was injured on a Baghdad street in May. There is the issue of water adjudication and its potential impact in North Idaho.
The Rock Creek Mine continues to make headlines as does The Festival at Sandpoint, which celebrated its 25th year of mixing up-and-coming artists with legendary performers. And, on the political front, it has been a year of change, with both Sandpoint and Ponderay residents voting new mayors into office.
A murder case wrapped up as Christopher Alan Lewers was sentenced for his role in the first-degree murder of Christopher Elliott West and another case began a husband and wife were charged in the fatal shooting of a Priest Lake man.
And, for the first time since Sandpoint's early days as "Hang Town," the city filed prostitution charges.
Property valuations stabilized and longtime resident Harp Turnbull bequeathed his estate to the county to establish a trust to improve local roads.
Where do those stories stand today? Is the Sand Creek bypass route any closer to construction? Will the UI's Sandpoint Campus ever be built? Below are updates on those items and the others selected as the Daily Bee's top stories of the year.
The top 15 stories, as determined by Daily Bee staff are, in no particular order:
? University of Idaho update (18 acres, Coldwater Creek)
? Rock Creek Mine
? Jacey's Race
? Bird Museum/Invention Center
? PSB building
? Byway
? Brandon Adam
? Adjudication
? Murders (Lewers convicted; Browns charged in Breaw case)
? Prostitution ring
? New mayors in Sandpoint
? Harp and Dolly Turnbull estate donated to county
? Property valuations stabilize
? Edith Schuyler creates Clark Fork High School student college endowment
? Festival at Sandpoint's 25th anniversary