ElderHelp's Lucas resigns

Tom Lucas has resigned as president and executive director of ElderHelp of North Idaho.

Lucas, who has been the nonprofit's president about 15 months, is leaving the area for the winter.

"Thanks to all of you for putting up with all of my craziness and I will check back in when we get back in town to see if there is anything I can do to help," he wrote in a note to the ElderHelp board.

John Corcoran, ElderHelp of North Idaho founder, will resume his duties as president and executive director.

He said there are also openings on the group's board of directors, and encourages anyone interested to apply.

Corcoran said ElderHelp will not be delivering boxes of food to seniors this winter, but will be delivering meals to an estimated 85 shuts-ins on Thanksgiving. Volunteer drivers and food donations are needed.

Food donations can be dropped off by Saturday at United Way of Kootenai County, Prairie Avenue Christian Center and Tomlinson-Sotherby's International Realty.

Info: John Corcoran, 929-9292

Post Falls OKs well project

POST FALLS - The Post Falls City Council on Tuesday night approved a well replacement project expected to cost $249,800, including design and construction.

The new well will replace the two existing old ones at Brett James Field that were drilled in 1948.

The old wells are corroded and produce 400 and 1,100 gallons per minute. The new well will have the capacity to pump 2,500 to 3,000 gallons per minute and include a generator for backup power in case of a power outage.

The council is also expected to approve a contract on Dec. 6 with two consultants to develop a parks and recreation master plan. The cost for the service is still under negotiation, but is expected to be around $130,000.

GreenPlay is a Colorado parks and recreation planning firm, while Verdis is a local planning and landscape architecture firm led by former Post Falls community development director Gary Young.

KCSD conducting impaired driver emphasis

The Kootenai County Sheriff's Department is conducting an impaired driving emphasis focusing on alcohol and drug impaired drivers.

Starting today and continuing through Nov. 27, deputies will be patrolling at various locations around the county, "strictly enforcing impaired driver laws to help reduce the number of injury accidents for our county."

In 2010, there were 96 impaired driving fatalities in Idaho. More than 45 percent of all Idaho fatalities were the result of an impaired driving crash.

Eluding suspect pleads guilty

SANDPOINT - A Post Falls man pleaded guilty Nov. 7 to eluding law enforcement and possession of methamphetamine.

Cody Eugene Ford is scheduled to be sentenced in 1st District Court on Dec. 19. He faces up to seven years in prison on the eluding charge and up to five years on the meth charge, according to the terms of a plea agreement.

Ford, 21, is also admitted to his probation in a pair of unrelated felony theft cases. The sentences for the probation violations would run concurrently with the eluding and meth sentences.

Ford was charged with eluding after leading a Bonner County sheriff's deputy on a high-speed chase on Highway 200 in May. The chase continued on Trestle Creek Road, where Ford crashed his vehicle and fled in the forest.

Otter names Batt to fill Takasugi's seat

BOISE (AP) - Southwestern Idaho resident Gayle Batt will fill the seat of state Rep. Pat Takasugi, who died earlier this month.

Gov. Butch Otter named Batt to the post on Friday.

Batt, a resident of Wilder, filled in for Takasugi during the 2011 Legislature as he battled a rare form of cancer.

During the session, Batt was a Republican member of the House Business, State Affairs and Agriculture committees.

She is a former president of the Food Producers of Idaho and the Canyon County Republican Women.

Batt is married to lobbyist Roger Batt and lives on a farm where they raise 20 acres of hybrid sweet corn seed.

Man sent to prison for money laundering

BOISE (AP) - A 46-year-old former Idaho car salesman is headed to federal prison after pleading guilty in federal court to money laundering charges.

Joseph Monte Johnson of Idaho Falls was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Boise to 40 months in federal prison and $6,000 fine.

Prosecutors said Johnson tried to sell two cars for $55,000 to undercover agents posing as drug dealers in an Internal Revenue Service sting operation.

Johnson, the former finance manager of West Coast Car Company in Boise, in 2008 and 2009 agreed not to use buyers' real names and said he wouldn't file required Internal Revenue Service forms.

Following the IRS sting, two other employees were also charged.

Michael J. McCormick of California and Kurt Bates of Detroit face trial in April 2012 in the case.

Australian poachers nabbed

BOISE (AP) - Two Australian hunters termed intentional violators by Idaho game enforcement officials and who pleaded guilty to breaking hunting regulations have each been fined about $5,000, had their hunting rifles confiscated and been banned from ever hunting in the state again.

Anton Kapeller, 58, and Darren Tubb, 43, of Tasmania received the sentences in 4th District Court as part of the culmination of a nine-day sting operation that was years in the making.

"We have had information since the late 1990s from other hunters in the area that this group had been killing animals before the season and leaving meat to waste on the hill," said Idaho Fish and Game District Conservation Officer Marshall Haynes.

Another Tasmanian hunter, 18-year-old Samuel Henley, was banned from hunting in Idaho for four years and fined $2,333

Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials say Kapeller hunted in Idaho for 20 years and acted as a guide. He pleaded guilty to unlawful killing of an elk, possession and transporting an unlawfully taken elk, and aiding in the take of a closed-season elk.

Tubb pleaded guilty to taking an elk during closed season, wasteful destruction of game and transferring a wolf tag. Henley pleaded guilty to taking closed-season game and aiding in the taking of closed-season game.

Officials said a bull elk was killed on Oct. 28 in Elmore County days before the season opened.

In a news release, Fish and Game said the three were taken into custody Nov. 3 and, in an expedited process, bonded out of jail six days later.

Idaho is a member of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, which includes 35 other states that honor hunting and fishing license revocations issued by other states. That means Kapeller and Tubb are banned for life from hunting in those states as well. The member states include the entire western United States.

Haynes said law enforcement officials are still investigating possible violations from previous years.

"Mr. Kapeller and his associates have made dozens of hunting trips to Idaho during the past two decades," Haynes said. "Our investigation continues, and we would very much appreciate hearing from anyone who might have information about animals killed by this group in the last few years."