6A
| SEPTEMBER 26, 2012
THE MINER
Albeni Falls starting lake drawdown SEATTLE – The Lake Pend Oreille minimum winter lake level for 2012-2013 will be at 2,055 feet above mean sea level, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District water management section. The lake was at 2,061.6 feet as of midnight Sept. 20, and the corps is continuing to draft at Albeni Falls Dam in Oldtown with a goal of 2,058.5 feet by Oct. 15 and 2,056 feet by Oct. 31. The lake is expected to reach the 2,055foot level during the first week of November. The minimum winter lake level was determined after an annual interagency lake level meeting held Sept. 17 and a regional Technical Management Team (TMT) meeting for Columbia Basin fisheries Sept. 19. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) and the U.S. Forest Service requested that the corps draw Lake Pend Oreille down to a winter elevation no lower than 2,055 feet. The request specified that the drawdown be completed by Nov. 8 if reasonably possible, and no later than Nov. 15; and that the water level should not be dropped below the 2,055foot level for the duration of the winter.
Inflows are typically at their lowest levels in September and early October, but later fall rains and other considerations may require some outflow adjustments to reach the 2,055-foot lake level. Once reached, the corps expects to hold the lake between 2,055.0 and 2,055.5 feet through the end of kokanee spawning or Dec. 31, whichever comes first. New research by the University of Idaho is showing that the higher lake levels may not be helping kokanee like previously thought. Typically, water levels are kept high for kokanee spawning, giving the fish more access to gravely beds where they lay their
eggs. Some of the data, however, shows that the fish survived best in some year when the lake was drawn down to the lower level of 2,051 feet. They’re also seeing spawning taking place a deeper levels. Pend Oreille Basin Commission will host a meeting next week to discuss the new research. The public meeting is set for Oct. 5 at 10 a.m. at the Panhandle Health District conference room, 322 Marion St. in Sandpoint. IDFG will give a presentation. Lake Pend Oreille’s winter level is managed in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
FERGUSON | FROM PAGE 4A
drive as bad as teenagers, the nation’s riskiest drivers. However, nationwide, older drivers get into more fatal accidents than younger drivers. Baby boomers are expected to double the number of older drivers on the road, to 57 million, by 2030. COMMENT: I’ve long thought
National Marine Fisheries Service, Kalispel Tribe and IDFG to benefit reproduction of the lake’s kokanee population, as well as providing flows for threatened chum salmon in the lower Columbia. Kokanee, which are small, lake-resident sockeye salmon, are not native to the lake, but their population is at low levels and they serve as a food source for Lake Pend Oreille’s threatened native bull trout. The corps operates Albeni Falls Dam as a multiple-purpose project, providing flood risk management, power generation, fish and wildlife conservation, navigation and recreation.
Priest Lake drawdown to begin Oct. 8 COOLIN – Flows will increase down the Priest River when Priest Lake Dam at Outlet Bay is opened Oct. 8. The level of Priest Lake will drop three feet from its summer level of 3,427.64 above sea level to reach its winter level of 3,424.64 feet. The goal is to reach the winter level by Nov. 1, dam operator Karl Duncan said. Paddlers enjoy the Priest River in the fall. After mid-July, the river usually runs too low for canoes and kayaks to travel without
dragging the bottom. The river winds 44 miles along a southward course from Priest Lake to its confluence with the slackwater of the Pend Oreille River. The Priest includes Grade III, difficult, water at Binarch Rapids and Eight Mile Rapids. Grade II rapids are at Chipmunk Rapids and McAbee Falls. Information about access points is available through the Priest Lake Ranger District, 208-443-2512 or download a brochures at www. fs.fed.us/ipnf/priestlake.
First half of north-south corridor opens Oct. 2 that driver licensing should start at age 18 rather than 16 because just as those under 18 can’t buy a car, they aren’t responsible for what they do with it. Fat chance it’ll ever happen, considering how we spoil our teenagers. (Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69. Hansville, WA 98340.)
SPOKANE – The new Parksmith Road interchange will open to traffic Tuesday, Oct. 2, marking the completion of the first half of the North Spokane Corridor (NSC) just north of Spokane. In late August, the Francis to Farwell/Southbound Lanes project also wrapped up, meaning more than 5 miles of the planned 10-mile corridor are open to traffic. That means the project is only 5
miles away from linking the NSC with Interstate 90. A brief ceremony is planned for Tuesday, Oct. 2 at 11 a.m. to celebrate the milestone. The event will be held on the new Parksmith southbound freeway on-ramp. A parade of classic cars will be the first vehicles to use the new interchange. The event can be accessed from Market Street or Hawthorne Road. The event is open to the
public. Contractor crews working for WSDOT built more than 3 miles of new southbound freeway lanes, bridges, and interchange on/ off-ramps between Francis and Farwell Roads near Mead, including the new Parksmith Road interchange. The work included two new pedestrian/bicycle bridges and Children of the Sun trail connections.
LETTERS | FROM PAGE 5A
vulnerable members of our county – the elderly, disabled, and long-term ill – are receiving basic health care, baths, transportation to and from appointments, and skilled in-home nursing. These are just three examples of the varied responsibilities in which Diane Wear has been committed these last four years. Diane Wear does not only work hard for the county and all citizens of Pend Oreille County, but she works smart. She realizes that in this economy, one must not just work harder, but smarter. Vote for Diane Wear, Pend Oreille County commissioner, District 1. -Jerry and Peggy Johnsen -Cathy Retterer Sacheen Lake
Strike cartoon was in error To the editor: Your cartoon regarding the Chicago Teachers Strike is flawed. According to the Chicago Teachers’ Union the issues addressed in the strike did include both teacher wage and evaluation issues, but as important were their request that classrooms in low-income schools have heat, text books for all students, special
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education teachers for students with special needs and smaller class sizes. While all of these issues are vital to an environment where children can be expected to learn, it really upset me that your cartoon focused on teachers’ opposition to wages based upon evaluations. Wages based upon productivity is appropriate to Wal-Mart workers; it cannot work for “people jobs.” I am a nurse in Newport. If my wage package was based on outcomes I would not care for the very sick or dying patients as it could negatively affect my family’s income. Under this scenario, the “best nurses” would be those who refused to care for the very ill or dying. It is the same for teachers. Those teachers who have the most challenged students (disabled, extremely poor, etc.) face the same judgment as those teachers with more advantaged students. You should not think that productivity markers are the only evaluation markers for either wages or continued employment, as it never workers for
people oriented industries. It is important to note that in the case of the Chicago Teachers’ Strike, the teachers could have settled for an additional 4 percent wage/benefit increase prior to the strike, but pressed and receive a commitment from Chicago to provide heated classrooms, text books for all students, special education teachers and smaller classrooms (some class sizes were 41+ students), review to revise teacher evaluations, with only a 2 percent wage/benefit increase. The strike was supported by 66 percent of the Chicago parents because the teachers were committed to bettering the learning environment of all students, including those in very poor neighborhoods. This strike brought a real victory for Chicago students. -Susan M. Johnson Newport
Keep school zones safe To the editor: While patrolling the school zones this morning, Sept. 20, I had occasion to stop a dad for driving
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Sat., Oct. 6th
9 a.m. to 12 Noon $7.00 per foot boats under 8' wide & cars $8.00 per foot boats 8' & over, RV’s & Trailers One time charge Boats, RV's, Motorcycles, & ATV's will be removed on April 13th, 2013. Vehicles left beyond April 13th will be charged accordingly.
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and parking on the wrong side of the road in front of the elementary school. I explained to him that was unsafe. Rather than acknowledging his mistake, he replied he was just dropping off his kid and that he sees others do this all the time. The sad truth is that there is a small percentage of parents, and even some school staff, who don’t pay attention or see any danger in committing minor violations in school zones. They park too close to, or on top of, both marked and unmarked crosswalks; they drive and park on the wrong sides of the streets; and they drive faster than the 15 mph posted speed limit.
From my observations, some of this is just thoughtlessness. However, some simply don’t want to be inconvenienced by having to park a half block away before walking their young students to safety or attending to something at the school. Meanwhile, children are having to negotiate their way around obstacles while driver’s can’t see who might be ready to cross the street. And if a driver is going faster than the speed limit, we have the ingredients for a tragic event.
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Come on folks. Keep your brains engaged when driving or parking in school zones. We’re the adults and owe it to the kids to be responsible. P.S. If you’ve forgotten some of the basics about the rules of the road or parking, you can find a link to the Priest River City Code on the city’s website. There is a link to Idaho Code on the Police Department’s webpage. -Chief Ray Roberts Priest River Police Department
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