Year packed with news

SANDPOINT — From new faces, resignations and retirements, to fires, rescues and arrests, there was no shortage of news in 2018.

This is the first in a series looking back at the top stories of the year, starting with January. Stories are listed in no particular order.

- Paramedics received an advanced life-support call following a traumatic injury at a remote waterfront outpost at 7 a.m. on New Year’s Day. The only way to access the residence at Lake Pend Oreille’s Whiskey Rock Bay was by boat. Advanced EMT LeDon Sacksteder and paramedic Chip Albright rendezvoused with sheriff’s marine patrol vessel at Garfield Bay so they could be taken across the lake to Whiskey Rock. While the EMS crew was assessing the patient and preparing for the person to be transported, a large group of neighbors took it upon themselves to shovel and blow snow, which created a path back to the dock. The patient was transferred to a crew from Timberlake Fire which transported the patient to the hospital. The total time of the call for the BCEMS crew approached four-and-a-half hours.

- A Bonner County man facing felony charges turned up missing on Jan. 1. Brandon Scott Cramer was scheduled to undergo a preliminary hearing on Jan. 10 on aggravated assault charges for allegedly threatening two people with a pistol near Oldtown on Oct. 17, 2017. The felony charges against Cramer were dismissed after defenses witnesses provided him with an alibi during a prior preliminary hearing. The charges were dismissed without prejudice, which enabled to the state to re-file them. Cramer turned up later in the month in Montana, where he was booked into the Flathead County Jail.

Three people who testified on Cramer’s behalf, meanwhile, faced perjury charges for their testimony, according to court records. Megan Albertson, Wendy Jo Cramer and Steven Craig Walkup were each charged with a lone count of perjury, a felony. The trio is accused of perjuring themselves while testifying on behalf of Cramer. Wendy Jo Cramer, who is Brandon Cramer’s sister, was also accused of committing battery during the incident.

- Selkirk Fire, Rescue and EMS celebrated its third birthday after the Sandpoint and Sagle fire districts entered into a joint powers agreement on Jan. 2, 2015. Westside Fire District joined as well in October 2016. Through the agreement, Selkirk maintains a consistent level of funding while providing a regional approach to fire protection. Going from three individual departments to acting as one big fire department, Selkirk consists of 22 career firefighters and fluctuates between 30 and 40 volunteers at any one time. While change can be difficult for some and the transition is slow for entities to embrace a regional approach to fire protection, Selkirk Fire Chief Ron Stocking said the agreement has worked to the benefit of the departments and the community.

- In accordance with strategic priorities established by City Council in 2017, Sandpoint took on the role of parking enforcement after ending its contract with Diamond Parking.

To oversee the enforcement, the city hired on Angela Tennison and Ryan Daniel as the new community resource officers.

- Joel Aispuro and John Darling were sworn in on Jan. 3 as the City Council’s newest members.

Returning Council President Shannon Williamson took the oath as well. In their first order of business, Williamson was selected to continue her role as council president.

Darling and Aispuro took over for former council members Bob Camp and Stephen Snedden.

- The McFarland House, the stately dwelling at the corner of S. First Avenue and Superior Street, became the new home of the LillyBrooke Family Justice Center. LillyBrooke, which is patterned after the national child advocacy center model, will serve as something as a hub for abused children in Bonner and Boundary counties. Children who disclose abuse will be able to do so in a setting that is closer to a home than the sterile confines and pale lighting of an office space.

- Mandy Evans, executive director of Panhandle Animal Shelter, was selected as one of the 50 honorees for Idaho Business Review’s 2018 Women of the Year.

Evans has served in a leadership role at PAS since January 2011. During her tenure, the shelter has become a more prominent non-profit in North Idaho, which has allowed PAS to increase the number of animals assisted from 1,200 to more than 5,000 a year. PAS is also recognized for its innovative approach to animal welfare. Evans believes PAS’s focus should be on supporting the community to prevent animals from having to enter the shelter, and the Home to Home program aims to do just that. Home to Home is a website managed by PAS where the North Idaho community can post pictures and information about their pets online for free. The pets go right from one home to another, hence the name Home to Home.

- Leniency was denied on Jan. 5 for a Bonner County man who was sentenced to up 15 years in prison for lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor. Matthew Herrick Carlin, 50, was originally charged with three counts of lewd conduct against a girl in 2014, when she was between the ages of a 5-6 years old. The charges did not emerge, however, until 2017.

Carlin entered an Alford plea to a single count of lewd conduct to resolve the case against him.

- The Sandpoint High School Bulldog varsity boys and girls basketball team hosted a “think pink” night on Jan. 9 in place of the school’s traditional red-and-white colors. The first “Breast Cancer Awareness Night” held during the game was in support of Coach Duane Ward’s wife, Marilyn Ward, who had recently found out she had breast cancer. Marilyn Ward often helped out the girls team by making pillows for road trips and showing her support at every game. The event brought awareness and support for all breast cancer patients, as well as raised money for Celebrate Life, a local nonprofit.

- Phil McNearney was sworn in Jan. 8 as the newest member of Ponderay City Council. Also sworn in was returning council member Kathy Osborne, who was appointed to council by Mayor Steve Geiger nearly two years prior. McNearney took the seat of Karen Engel who, after four years on council, decided not to run for another term.

- Scott Rhodes, who was implicated in the distribution of racist propaganda at Sandpoint High School in November 2017, was also suspected of placing threatening phone calls to city officials in Alexandria, Va. According to a Sandpoint Police report obtained through a public records request, Rhodes was identified by an Alexandria investigator after tracing the phone number used to a California-based publishing company. When he called the number, he received a recording indicating he had reached the desk of Scott Rhodes, according to the Dec. 26 report by Sandpoint Det. Eric Ryan. The phone call made from the associated number was a recording in German, according to the report, and was later determined to be a recording of Adolf Hitler.

- The U.S. Forest Service gathered public comment on a proposal to conduct exploratory drilling for silica near the southern end of Lake Pend Oreille. Pend Oreille Silica Inc., a Montana company, sought approval to drill a pair of exploratory holes of up to 200 feet. If the probing successfully reveals mineralization of value, the company may submit a plan for additional exploration and potential development of the discovery. The drilling would be conducted in Bonner County on Green Mountain, which overlooks the southeastern edge of the lake north of Lakeview.

- A Ponderay man accused of pulling a gun on a fellow motorist during a traffic dispute was given a suspended jail sentence on Jan. 9. Kit C. Crider was charged with exhibiting a deadly weapon, a misdemeanor, following the confrontation on Eastgate Drive on Aug. 8, 2017. A couple told Ponderay Police they were nearly struck by Crider’s sport utility vehicle at the four-way stop at Bonner Mall Way and Eastgate. The male half of the couple believed they were at fault in the near-collision and gestured apologetically. A brief argument ensued and the couple said Crider pointed the gun at the male’s face. Crider disputed that account, telling police that he drew the semiautomatic pistol and raised it in the air to demonstrate that he was armed, the affidavit said. Crider, 60, appeared during a pretrial conference in Bonner County Magistrate Court where he pleaded guilty. Judge Tera Harden imposed a 30-day sentence with the entirety of the term suspended, court records show. He was fined $300 and placed on probation for six months.

- Doug Bopp retired from Southside Water and Sewer District, a career that began in the fall of 1984. Bopp said he didn’t have a bucket list for retirement, because as busy as he had been for the past 33 years, he had a five-gallon bucket full of lists instead. First and foremost, he planned to spend time with family.

- Sandpoint High School students created several works of art, each representing an article in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Bonner County Human Rights Task Force and Pend Oreille Arts Council partnered for the 13th year in a row to create the “Art for Human Rights” student exhibit in an effort to bring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the attention of students in the area.

- A golden Labrador retriever was fished from Chuck Slough after becoming stuck in a hole in the ice on Jan. 15. The rescue call was reported at approximately 12:45 p.m. in the pre-100 block of Canoe Cove Lane. The dog was struggling in roughly 4 feet of water. A resident of the neighborhood used a kayak to scoot across the ice to the marooned dog, but could not make it back to shore with the dog in the kayak, said Selkirk Fire Rescue & EMS Battalion Chief Kevin Amorebieta. A Selkirk firefighter in a ice-rescue suit ventured onto the ice and helped haul the man and dog to safety.

- Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall filed a motion on Jan. 11 asking for a 45-day extension to file notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Jacob Corban Coleman, a Washington state man accused of stabbing a cab driver to death in Kootenai. Coleman, a 20-year-old from Puyallup, is charged with one count of first-degree murder for the slaying of Gagandeep Singh on Aug. 28, 2017.

- Ryan Luttmann announced his resignation from his position as Sandpoint Public Works director on Jan. 16 after accepted a position with Century West Engineering. His last day with the city was Feb. 2. He was later replaced by Amanda Wilson, who continues to serve as Public Works director for the city.

- A preliminary hearing was postponed Jan. 18 for a Sandpoint attorney and his son, both of whom were implicated in a felony battery case. Rex Finney, 43, was charged with two counts of aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm. Adam Finney, 21, was charged with one count of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm. The pair was accused of breaking a man’s collarbone or aiding and abetting one another in perpetrating the crime. Rex Finney was further accused of kicking another man in the head. The charges arose from a confrontation inside and outside the Cabinet Mountain Bar & Grill in Clark Fork in April 2017.

- A Sandpoint man charged with two counts of rape and a count of sexual abuse of a minor dodged an extended prison term on Jan. 16. The alleged misconduct dates back to April of last year, according to a criminal complaint. Caleb Daniel Barber, 20, was ordered to stand trial after one 15-year-old testified that he had sex with her without consent following a party in Oldtown.

Barber entered into a pretrial settlement agreement which saw the dismissal of one rape count and the sexual abuse count in exchange for a plea to the other rape count. Barber entered an Alford plea to the offense, which means that he admits no wrongdoing but concedes he could be convicted if his case went before a jury. Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Nick Lapire agreed to a recommended 10-year prison term at Barber’s sentencing hearing, court records indicate.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.