Cusick and Newport basketball teams continue post-season play See pages 1B - 2B
The Newport Miner
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the voice of pend oreille count y since 1901
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
www.pendoreillerivervalley.com
Volume 109, Number 2 | 2 Sections, 16 Pages
75¢
New executive director starts at chamber Position funding grant expires; board meets goals
and so far, there are no plans to renew it. Smith said she believes the chamber is close to By Michelle Nedved self sufficiency and with new Of The Miner fundraisers planned for 2012 and an increased membership, NEWPORT – A new executive the chamber should be able to director is at the helm of the pay for the executive director Greater Newport Area Chamber position. of Commerce. Barry Seward Seward, 42, has a long family began his new position Thurshistory in chambers of comday, Feb. 9. merce; his father has been the He replaces Krista Dinatale, executive director and president who started the position in of four chambers. early March 2011 and resigned “It’s just what I know,” earlier this year “It’s just a beautiful town. Seward said. to take another Seward job. She was the Everyone here has been said he is chamber’s first experienced so friendly.” full-time execuin website tive director. design, sales, Barry Seward Last year, Executive Director, Greater Newport publishing chamber presiand online Area Chamber of Commerce dent Barb Smith marketing. and her husband Most recently Phil Gordon, granted the he facilitated www.bizspokane. chamber $25,000 to fund the com, a website that provided executive director position. The business listings, events, clasgrant had stipulations attached sifieds, real estate listings, auto to it, all of which were met listings and volunteer inor exceeded by the board formation for the Spokane of directors, Smith said. metro area. It is no longer “Personally, I am very functioning. impressed with the Prior to that, Seward strides the chamber has said he was an Internet made in the past year or marketing consultant See director, 2A so,” Smith said. “Our board has been fully committed to our members and community…” The grant runs out the end of February,
Miner photo|Don Gronning
Veteran radio announcer Chuck De Bruin has been broadcasting Newport’s basketball games, both home and away, on the school’s radio station KUBS 91.5.
Radio announcer brings Newport games to home Broadcaster gives play by play of Grizzly basketball over the airwaves By Don Gronning Of The Miner
Miner photo|Michelle Nedved
Barry Seward, the new executive director of the Greater Newport Area Chamber of Commerce, stands downtown Newport on his first day on the job, Thursday, Feb. 9.
By Don Gronning Of The Miner
NEWPORT – The board of directors of the Newport School District heard that the results of a $34,616 energy audit at their board meeting Monday, Feb. 13. As expected, the district heard that key parts of its 30-yearold heating ventilation and air conditioning system at the high school needs replacement. Board
See school, 7a
By Michelle Nedved Of The Miner 80
NEWPORT – Pend Oreille County is receiving a $625,000 grant to be used over the next five years to help reduce substance abuse. Underage drinking, prescription pain killer abuse and marijuana use are on the rise, and trends in Pend Oreille County show a higher
See grant, 2A Miner graph
This graph shows alcohol use in Pend Oreille County youth compared to youth statewide. The percentage of youth who have reported trying alcohol between the ages of 11 and 15 is higher locally than statewide.
Onset of Alcohol Use by Age
10 or Younger 11 to 15
70
60
Of The Miner
40
30
20
10
0
Emergency management department could move to IT building By Janelle Atyeo
50
LOCAL
STATE
LOCAL
8th Grade
|| Agencies close for Presidents Day
Never
17 or Older
STATE
LOCAL
B R IE F LY
NEWPORT – Presidents Day is Monday, Feb. 20 and government agencies and schools will be closed. No mail will be delivered, and the post office window will be closed. The Newport and Priest River city councils will meet Tuesday at 6 p.m. instead of Monday. The Selkirk School District Board of Directors moved its monthly meeting to Feb. 28, at 6 p.m.
Branch LeClerc Creek Road are once again open for use. The roads have been closed since December 2011 due to heavy log truck traffic combined with narrow roads, limited pullouts for passing, and winter driving conditions. Forest officials remind visitors to drive carefully and anticipate rapidly changing road conditions. For more information contact the Sullivan Lake Ranger Station at 509-446-7500.
Road closure lifted
Lithgow to speak at property rights meeting
METALINE FALLS – The Colville National Forest has lifted the temporary closure on three roads in the LeClerc Creek drainage. The U.S. Forest Service portion of the Middle Fork LeClerc Creek Road, the Hanlon Cutoff Road, and the Forest Service portion of the East
CUSICK – Pend Oreille County’s director of community development, Mike Lithgow, will speak at a meeting of the Pend Oreille chapter of the Citizen’s Alliance for Property Rights Wednesday, Feb. 22. The meeting will be held at the American Legion hall in Cusick, starting
STATE
12th Grade
10th Grade
When several members of the Newport boys basketball team were suspended earlier in the year for violating team rules, De Bruin doesn’t avoid it. He straightforwardly asks Newport boys coach Jamie Pancho about the missing players. It is a part of broadcasting, he said. When De Bruin was approached by Newport School District superintendent Jason Thompson about broadcasting high school games, De Bruin let See announcer, 2A
County may mothball building
Grant helps community fight substance abuse
Percent of Students
Energy audit reveals much
NEWPORT - It’s about 3 p.m. before a Newport High School basketball game. Radio announcer Chuck De Bruin is preparing to broadcast a game that won’t start for another two hours. “I want to be sure I’m there on time,” De Bruin said of his early
arrival. “I’ve always been that you hear at the televised home way.” games. For people After the who have been W h at ’s N e x t: equipment Hear the Grizzly basketball following the is set up, De broadcast at 91.5 KUBS FM when Grizzly basketBruin will go the Newport teams play at region- do a pregame ball teams, De als in Moses Lake Wednesday, Feb. interview Bruin’s broad15. The girls play Chelan at 5:45 casts on the with each of p.m. and the boys play Okanogan school district’s the Newport KUBS radio, 91.5 at 7:30 p.m. coaches. The FM, are a way interviews add to hear the action if they can’t get another dimension to the broadto the game. For Concept Cable cast. De Bruin doesn’t gloss over viewers, it is De Bruin’s voice that anything that affects the teams.
NEWPORT – Pend Oreille County was recently hit with a $900 monthly utility bill for a building that is mostly empty. That sparked a discussion about mothballing the building and relocating some county departments. For some time, county officials have been discussing the need for more office space, but funding
issues have held them back from remodeling and building projects. Such was the plan for revamping the brick building at 231 S. Garden Ave., where the Northeast Tri-County Health District used to reside. Needing the space for its own offices, the county terminated the lease with the health district. After a professional inspection of the vacated building it was found that a number of upgrades for ADA accessibility and to fix the leaking roof were needed before county offices could move in. That proved too costly, so for
See county, 2A
||
at 6:30 p.m. Lithgow was invited to speak at the meeting. He will discuss the current Shoreline Master Program, as well as the proposed Shoreline Master Program the county is developing. “It is important for us to do educational outreach,” Lithgow said. Public comment on the Shoreline Master Program will be accepted until March 16. The draft plan is available on the county website at www.pendoreilleco.org/ county/shoreline_master_program_update.asp.
Pike meeting set for Thursday USK – Northern pike is the topic of a public meeting set for Thursday, Feb. 16 from 6-8 p.m. at the Usk Community Hall, 2442 Black Road in Usk. The Washington De-
partment of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Kalispel Tribe of Indians will share information about plans to reduce the number of pike in the Pend Oreille River. Starting this spring, angler incentives will be put in place. There will be pike tournaments, and the fish will also be removed with gill nets. Studies of the pike population were conducted over recent years. Between 2004 and now, the population has gone from about 300 to more than 10,000. At its meeting earlier this week, the WDFW commission removed northern pike from its designation as a game fish, classifying it as a prohibited species that cannot be transported to state waters. A meeting on the same topic will be Wednesday, Feb. 15, 6-8 p.m. in Spokane Valley at CenterPlace, 2426 N. Discovery Place.
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