COEUR d'ALENE - ConocoPhillips investigators continue to probe for reported irregularities in the diesel fuel and unleaded gas pipeline near Cataldo, as results from tests conducted over the weekend haven't pinpointed the possible problem.

Jeff Callender, a ConocoPhillips spokesman, said Sunday that results from a special acoustic testing device didn't show any signs of a leak, but the company will continue its investigation by testing the line with water.

"We don't want to jump to conclusions, it's just one of our tests hasn't shown any irregularities in the line or a any sign of a leak," he said.

The company has replaced the fuel in the 6-mile stretch of the Yellowstone Pipeline between Enaville and Cataldo with water. It will run water through the same stretch of pipe at a higher pressure level, which should make it easier for the company to spot any possible irregularities. The fuel was never removed from the 10-inch diameter pipeline, only flowed farther up the line.

Results from those tests could be released today.

A cylinder divider, known as a "pig," separates the water from the fuel.

The company has been investigating the pipeline after a slow drop in pressure was detected Oct. 1, raising questions about a possible leak.

Callendar also said fuel hasn't been detected outside the pipe, but as a precaution floating booms have been placed across the Coeur d'Alene River in two places and absorbent material along the bank in a third location.

ConocoPhillips is currently trucking its fuel to its distribution center in Spokane.

Workers immediately shut down the pipe when the pressure drop occurred Oct. 1, and that valves at each end of the section have been closed. Workers have been walking the line every day and airplane surveillance is being used to spot any problems. Daily water samples from the Coeur d'Alene River have all come back clean, Callendar said.

Callendar couldn't say how much fuel was cleared from the line, or how much fuel could have leaked should there be one. The pipe carries fuel from the company's refinery in Billings, Mont., and is piped to Missoula, where it's loaded in trucks and taken to Thompson Falls, Mont. From there it goes into the Yellowstone Pipeline and to Spokane.

He said the company doesn't expect any supply disruption.

Although he has applied for funding to study in Turkey more than once, Sommer says he doesn't feel he chose Turkey as his focus, but that it, rather, chose him.

"The first time I visited Turkey it was on a family vacation, and it was the year after 9/11," Sommer wrote in an email interview with The Press.

His family was living in northern New Jersey on Sept. 11, 2001, within close proximity of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Sommer was 16 when his family spent two days in Turkey, and he recalls feeling anxious about visiting a Muslim country.

"The Turkish people were so nice, friendly and helpful that I remember being embarrassed by the time I left for having felt any apprehension at all. I think this initial experience inspired me to choose Turkey again when the opportunity for me to study abroad came up," Sommer said.

One of his life goals has always been to be fluent in another language, any other language, and Turkish has become it. The language is challenging, Sommer said, but he is making good progress and hopes to have met his goal by the time his current grant, through the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) program ends next year.

Meghann Curtis, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Academic Programs, said Turkey, one of 65 countries where the program is offered, has one of the largest Fulbright ETA programs in the world. This year, there are about 60 ETAs, placed in about 20 universities, mostly in rural areas, throughout Turkey. Sommer is at Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University.

"Devin has been placed in Canakkale, a city in the rural northwest of Turkey which is close to the site of ancient Troy, so the region is very rich in history," Curtis said. "Devin's colleagues in Canakkale benefit from his expertise as a young, native speaker of English, while Devin himself has the chance to learn more about Turkey's rich culture and history."

Sommer says this is an exciting time in history for Turkey, mainly due to a broad shift in foreign policy and relations with the West.

"Turkey is currently the only democratic Muslim country, which makes it unique, and also very important, unique in the sense that there is really nothing else you can really compare it to, and important because it illustrates that Islam is not at odds with democratic ideals, a free society and the modern world," Sommer said.

Turkey's economy experienced 11 percent growth last year, he said.

"Turkey is also starting to embrace the Muslim aspect of its cultural identity a little bit more. In fact, it will be really interesting to see what Turkey's role becomes as the politics and societies of other Arab countries develop in the wake of the recent revolutions," Sommer said. "Egyptian youth have already started looking to Turkey to aid in the development of their currently evolving government."

Sommer graduated in June from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., with a bachelor's degree in language and diplomacy, after he returned from his spring stint in Turkey. From March to May he was teaching and doing volunteer work in Istanbul, with his Gilman scholarship funds.

He brought a bit of the Lake City with him into the classroom there - the children's storybook "Mudgy and Millie," featuring the moose and mouse's adventures in Coeur d'Alene.

With his younger students, Sommer used the book to teach numbers and nature vocabulary. As a reward at the end of class, they would play a 15-minute game of hide-and-seek, like the storybook characters do. The student seeker counted in English, and then called out that he was coming in English. "For my 13- to 14-year-old group I used it to practice reading, speaking, pronunciation, and I think I used the text to teach simple past tense lessons," Sommer said. "These students thought Mudgy was some kind of mutant camel. It was pretty funny."

Sommer hopes to one day have a career as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of State.

He'd like to see more U.S. citizens reaping the benefits of international travel and study.

"I had so many friends right out of high school that thought the military was their only option. I want to encourage people to make studying abroad a component of their college careers, because international experience is a significant part of getting a truly augmented and well-rounded education," Sommer wrote. "There are some things you just can't learn from a book. You don't even need to attend a four-year school to make international study a part of your education. The experience is accessible to anyone who wants it enough."

That includes students enrolled in schools like North Idaho College, a two-year community college, Sommer said.

He is one of six Idaho and 24 Washington college students to participate in the Gilman scholarship program this year.

There are five U.S. students from Idaho colleges and universities, and 60 from Washington colleges and universities, who were awarded Fulbright grants for this academic year.