Special Olympian among year's top stories

From city engineers and Special Olympics, to fires and collisions, 2018 was a busy year.

This is the seventh in a series looking back at the top stories of the year, continuing with the last part of June and into July. Stories are listed in no particular order

- James Albert Raftery III was charged with aggravated assault for firing a handgun at a Sandpoint retirement facility June 9.

- Peter Franklin Goullette, charged with vehicular manslaughter at the felony level, in addition to reckless driving, was ordered to serve 10 years in prison. Goullette fatally struck Katherine K. Stelzer and seriously injured Zualita Updike as the pair walked along McGhee Road in Ponderay on June 30, 2016. Stelzer and Updike were on a break from their jobs at Litehouse Foods.

- Tactical parking by a Sandpoint Police officer Heather Trumble brought an abrupt end to a high-speed chase that morphed into a foot pursuit on June 15.

- Wendy Jo Marie Cramer, a Bonner County woman charged with committing perjury in a criminal case against her brother, was sentenced to nine days in jail.

- Selkirk Fire Rescue & EMS firefighters were dispatched to a structure fire at Garfield Bay that began with a shed catching fire. The conflagration then spread to an occupied cabin and the forest surrounding the buildings, said Selkirk Chief Ron Stocking. The fire was reported shortly after 11 a.m., June 21, on Bozo Boulevard, which lies at the end of West Garfield Bay Road.

- Road repairs began after rain-on-snow events in 2015 wreaked havoc on Lightning Creek Road near Clark Fork and Boulder Creek Road in Boundary County.

- The Newport Rodeo Association hosted the 69th annual Newport Rodeo with a couple of changes, including the return of the family carnival and an alternate parade route.

- Lake Pend Oreille School District adopted a $34.9 million budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

- Construction began on Kitchen Ponderay, a commercial kitchen in the Bonner Mall — a long-term project and passion of Paul Kusche, who recently retired from his position as executive director of the Bonner County Economic Development Corporation.

- The Idaho Department of Lands granted BNSF Railway Co. permit approval to construct a second railroad bridge across Lake Pend Oreille. The proposal remains subject to federal permit review, in addition to review by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

- Panhandle Antique Tractor and Engine Club agreed to fund a new poultry and rabbit barn for the Bonner County Fair, and in turn, would remodel and move into the old one.

- The Bonner and Kootenai county human rights task forces issued a joint statement condemning remarks made by a white supremacist Scott D. Rhodes which falsely label the region as “very white” and “very racist.” Rhodes, who recently relocated from California to northern Idaho, has been identified as the person responsible for the distribution of racist flyers and compact discs in Sandpoint, including at Sandpoint High School.

- “Sorry for the mess,” was stated on signs on Cedar and Oak streets, as roads and sidewalks were torn up in the midst of the many construction projects around town, including the first phase of the downtown revitalization project and the Oak Street bike path project.

- Bonner Homeless Transitions and Bonner Community Housing Agency announced a partnership that would expand the local rental pool for low-income families and keep transitional housing available in Sandpoint for homeless women and families.

- A Washington state couple filed suit against Bonner County for a landslide that destroyed their home overlooking Lake Pend Oreille. Lee and Myola Stewart’s vacation home on Talache Beach Road was wrecked in March 2017 when the hillside behind their home broke loose.

- Nicholas William Shuff and Tiffany Faith Mistelski were charged with grand theft by possession of stolen property for allegedly stealing a local construction company’s trailer. The duo were swiftly apprehended after a surveillance video was posted of the heist via social media on June 28.

- Jacey’s Race board members announced 4-year-old Morgann Swansen and 18-month-old Adelin Starkey as the event’s 2018 beneficiaries.

- The Sandpoint Lions Club announced that there would be four grand marshals in the 2018 Fourth of July parade, as local law enforcement officers recently injured in the line of duty were selected for the honor. Bonner County Sheriff’s deputies Mike Gagnon and Justin Penn, and Sandpoint Police officers Michael Hutter and Eric Clark, will shared the title of grand marshal.

- Bryson Gerald White was charged with felony drug possession and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia for allegedly receiving heroin through the U.S. mail.

- Michael Ryan McDermot was charged with grand theft after he was implicated in a burglary in which more than $20,000 worth of property was stolen from a home at Lake Pend Oreille’s Garfield Bay in September 2017. McDermott also faced a burglary charge for stealing a wakeboard from Goodwill in Ponderay in March 2018.

- An Athol man was killed after being struck by a motorist on U.S. Highway 95 on June 29.

Idaho State Police said Dallon Bogart was driving northbound and nearing the intersection with Bayview Road. John S. Janke ran eastbound into the highway and was struck by Bogart’s Cadillac sedan in the northbound lane of travel, according to ISP. Janke, 60, was pronounced dead at the scene. Bogart and passenger Amanda Swenson, both 29-year-olds from Spokane Valley, Wash., were wearing seat belts and were not injured.

- Idaho State Police rescued a North Idaho man on July 1 after he crashed his car during a high-speed chase in western Bonner County. Yancy Ryan Pugh was charged with eluding law enforcement at the felony level because speeds reached 120 mph during the pursuit, according to court documents.

- Bonner County commissioners voted unanimously on July 3 to abolish the Sandpoint and Priest River airport advisory boards and create a single board for both facilities.

- The LillyBrooke Family Justice Center received $20,000 in donations from Jack and Mary Jo Ambrosiani of the Ambrosiani-Pastore Foundation. LillyBrooke, which is operated by the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office and the Victim Advocate Services Team, is a support tool for victims of domestic and sexual battery.

- The Idaho State Draft Horse and Mule International Show, typically held in September, was moved to July in 2018. Among other reasons, the date change put the show back-to-back with the Big Sky Draft Horse Expo in Deer Lodge, Mont., which was held the weekend before.

- Sandpoint hired Dan Tadic as the new city engineer. Tadic came to Sandpoint from a career as a city engineer in Sitca, Alaska.

- Joseph Leland Schauwecker, 17, faced a felony battery charge after being arrested on a shoplifting charge, for allegedly kicking a Ponderay Police officer who arrested him at Walmart, according to court documents.

- After representing the Priest River Panthers and Idaho at the Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle, Cody Schryver brought home three medals. Schryver, 27, rose to the occasion on the biggest of stages, winning gold medals in the 50 meters (9.19) and standing long jump (1.37 meters), and a silver in the softball throw (24.71 meters).

- The Big Creek bridge project was underway on East River Road, with the goal of easing the burden of native fish during their journey up Big Creek, a tributary of the Priest River. The project came about as a fish mitigation project with contributions by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Kalispel Tribe and Bonner County, said Bonner County Road and Bridge director Steve Klatt.

- Fatbeam made its first water crossing, installing fiber lines across the Pend Oreille River under the Long Bridge, as the company continued its 49-mile fiber infrastructure mission for the Lake Pend Oreille School District.

- Stephen Lott was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder for the premeditated killing of his wife in Bonner County in 2004. Lott, 48, made an initial appearance in Bonner County Magistrate Court on July 5 via videoconferencing with the jail. Judge Debra Heise sustained Lott’s $1 million bail and appointed a public defender to represent him, court records show.

- Panhandle Animal Shelter broke ground on its donation and sorting facility that was built over the course of the summer to aid the organization’s thrift store, which provides 84 percent of the operating revenue for the shelter.

- The Sandpoint Teen Center lost its long-time home as the building sold before the group had a chance to purchase it themselves. It had been the goal of teen center officials over the previous year to raise funds to purchase the building, said Jim Payne, teen center board president. While the fundraising had gone well, Payne said they had not raised even half of the $340,000 the building ultimately sold for.

- Opponents of a second BNSF Railway bridge across Lake Pend Oreille marched in protest of the bridge on July 7.

- A pair of Sandpoint live streamers found their footing on Facebook and are expanding their reach on the popular social media platform. TheRayvan live stream was created by 12-year-old Bridger Andres and his father, Brad, who manages and sets up the video feed of his son playing the video game, “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.”

- Two cabins were destroyed by structure fires July 8 on South Diamond Park Road in Priest Lake. No injuries were reported and North of the Narrows and Coolin-Cavanaugh Bay fire district officials said a lack of wind prevented the fire from being any more catastrophic.

- Priest River Chamber of Commerce officials announced changes to the 2018 Timber Days celebration, including changes to the parade route and a venue change for the logging competition. In related news, the annual Run for the Berries, which is held during Timber Days festivities each year, had an additional purpose of suicide awareness and prevention.

- The annual Kidstock event, which is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Priest Lake Education Foundation, was held at Hill’s Resort.

- The East Bonner County Library District broke ground on its new garden, with the goal of bringing the community together to explore, create, grow, share, connect, and learn in a beautiful interactive community garden setting.

- Bonner County commissioners unanimously adopted a series of contested land use code amendments on July 11. The changes increase the size of setback variances which can be granted without public hearing and grants amnesty to subdivisions of land which don’t comply with county code. The latter item moves the date for which a parcel may legally exist to Nov. 18, 2008, the date of the last overhaul of Bonner County’s land use code.

- A process spanning two years culminated in the adoption of a strategic plan by Sandpoint City Council members. The five broad priorities outlined in the plan include responsive government, resilient economy, sustainable environment, vibrant culture and livable community.

- Shawn William Walker was charged with aggravated assault for allegedly threatening a man with a hunting knife outside Walmart on July 17.

- A Boundary County man was sentenced to 14 years in prison on July 19 for his role in a 2014 standoff near the Nevada ranch of anti-government activist Cliven Bundy. U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro in Las Vegas imposed the sentence after Todd Engel was found guilty in 2017 of obstruction and traveling across state lines in aid of extortion.

- Ann Nichols, director of East Bonner County Library District, was named Idaho Library Association’s Librarian of the Year for 2018. In addition, Amanda Ruff, information services coordinator for the library, was named paraprofessional of the year; and Suzanne Davis, youth programming and services coordinator, was awarded the ILA scholarship as she was attending the University of North Texas in the Masters of Library Information Science program.

- The Priest Lake Museum kicked off its Heritage Series, detailing the history of logging in Priest Lake.

- Sandpoint city officials once again took up turf talk regarding War Memorial Field, as council members face a decision of whether there will ultimately be artificial or natural turf installed at the field. The options in the July draft report include installing artificial turf at Memorial Field with no upgrades to other parks as the cost is estimated at more than $2 million; or installing natural turf at Memorial Field with complete reconstruction of the field, and then phasing field improvements across all of the city’s fields at Great Northern, Centennial and Travers parks as well.

- Rape and felony assault charges were dismissed against 17-year-old Payton James Cox, who was being prosecuted as an adult. Cox was charged after allegedly pointing a loaded shotgun at two teenage girls during a Super Bowl party at an Oden-area home in February. Cox allegedly sexually assaulted one of the girls after the shotgun incident, according to court documents.

- Cary Kelly was named chairman of the board for the Lake Pend Oreille School District. Former chair Geraldine Lewis was named co-chair.

- Following a 50-year career in the timber industry, Priest River’s Doug Cook was named Bull of the Woods during Timber Days.

- Erik Robin Bruhjell, 22, of Sandpoint, was killed in a head-on crash on State Route 395 north of Spokane on July 20. Washington State Patrol said in a news release that Rebecca A. Clemmer was northbound on the highway when she crossed into the southbound lane of travel and into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The driver of the southbound vehicle, Bruhjell, tried to avoid the collision, but Clemmer’s Chevrolet Cruze collided with Bruhjell’s Mazda MZ3 on the southbound shoulder.

- The permitting phase got underway for the proposed silicon smelter south of Newport with a review under Washington’s State Environmental Policy Act being conducted by the Washington Department of Ecology.

- Wild Idaho Rising Tide appealed an Idaho Department of Lands encroachment permit that was granted for a second BNSF Railway Co. bridge across Lake Pend Oreille. The environmental group filed the action in 1st District Court on July 20, court records show.

- The Idaho Department of Lands confirmed reports that somebody had been attempting to collect fees from visitors heading to a natural water slide near Priest Lake. Reports surfaced earlier in the month that someone was attempting to charge for access at the popular feature near the Lion’s Head Campground in the Priest Lake State Forest. In response, security patrols were increased in the area.

- The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal filed by the city on behalf of Sandpoint Police officers who shot and killed a woman during a confrontation in 2014. Jeanetta

Riley, 35, was killed outside Bonner General Health after refusing commands to drop the knife she was holding and walking toward the officers. Officers were summoned to the hospital after dispatchers received a report of a woman making death threats. Riley’s family filed a lawsuit alleging her civil rights were violated by the use of excessive force by law enforcement.

- Megan Marie Albertson was ordered to serve 30 days in jail on charges of perjury after she provided an alibi defense for Brandon Scott Cramer, who was accused of threatening two people with a pistol south of Oldtown in 2017.

- Two people were injured a collision on U.S. Highway 95 on July 29. A vehicle and a motorcyclist crashed head-on in front of the View Café shortly before 7 p.m. Both vehicles caught fire and were separated by about 100 yards after the crash, which started a brush fire.

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