From awards and marches, to injuries and arrests, 2018 was a busy year.

This is the third in a series looking back at the top stories of the year, continuing with March. Stories are listed in no particular order.

- A permit application was submitted for a second BNSF Railway bridge across Lake Pend Oreille. BNSF Railway said in 2016 that it was considering a second bridge linking Sandpoint and Sagle to alleviate bottleneck conditions on the 110-year-old bridge on the east side the U.S. Highway 95 Long Bridge. The Idaho Department of Lands announced two public hearings in May to gather comments on the proposal.

- An oasis of convenience, nourishment and community in a remote portion of Bonner County was severely damaged by fire on March 1. The Vay Mart & HooDoo Creek Café suffered catastrophic interior damage after a fire broke out after the business closed for the night at around 7:30 p.m.

- Dean Charles Smith was arrested after he allegedly threatened the woman during an altercation off Highway 41.

- A Sandpoint man was killed and two police officers were injured in the early morning of March 5 in a shootout on the city’s west side. Officers Eric Clark and Michael Hutter were each shot twice. Clark was taken to Kootenai Health where he underwent two surgeries, and Hutter was taken to Bonner General Health where he was treated and released. Brandon Theodore Kuhlman, 28, died at the scene.

- A sentencing hearing was reset for Adam Deacon Foster, a Blanchard man accused of wounding two Bonner County sheriff’s deputies in 2017. Foster was scheduled to be sentenced in 1st District Court in March, but the hearing was reset for May 11 so Foster could undergo a court-ordered mental health evaluation.

- William Joseph Juettner was scheduled to stand trial in March in Bonner County Magistrate Court, but the proceedings were shifted to May so Juettner could undergo a mental health evaluation. Juettner, 75, was charged with discharging a firearm toward another without causing harm, a misdemeanor.

- Marge Thomas, Lynn Piper and Roberta Rice were honored as long-time participants of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, dedicating their time to the East Bonner County Library District. For their service of more than 1,000 hours in the program, Thomas and Rice received RSVP Presidential awards as volunteers bid farewell to the program and its director as the grant funding for RSVP ended March 31.

- Clark Fork Junior/Senior High School instructor Mike Turnlund outlined the “smashing success” of the school’s mastery-based education model after four years in the program. The Idaho Mastery Education Network is now a cohort of 18 school districts and charter schools that are pioneering mastery-based education at a total of 32 school sites. Teachers, students and administrators from across Idaho gathered in the Capitol Rotunda on Feb. 23 to demonstrate the approach to education that measures student learning by mastery of content.

- Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall filed notice that he intends to seek the death penalty against a Washington state man accused of repeatedly stabbing a cab driver and allowing the man to slowly bleed to death. Marshall put the defense in Jacob Corban Coleman’s first-degree murder case on notice that the state intends to prove aggravating factors in the slaying of Gagandeep Singh.

- A Naples autism therapist was arrested for defrauding her clients. Krista Louise Kreiger-Hurst was charged with two counts of grand theft and two counts of financial transaction card fraud. Kreiger, 48, was accused of unlawfully obtaining a woman’s financial transaction card last year and running up $3,193 in fraudulent charges at local and online businesses, in addition to cash withdrawals, according to a Ponderay Police affidavit.

- Sandpoint High School’s annual science circuit was off with a bang with the traditional ignition of a hydrogen-filled balloon. The Science Circuit is centered around STEM — science, technology, engineering and math. SHS honors chemistry, physics and AP environmental science students spent the school year researching their topics for the event. Over the years, the Science Circuit has raised over $10,000 in grants and donations from community members that has strengthened the science curriculum at the high school and made the event possible for students.

- A Spirit Lake man was fatally injured after colliding with a tree branch while snow biking with friends near Priest Lake, according to Bonner County sheriff’s officials. The victim was identified as 31-year-old Corey Glen Magers, a lifelong northern Idaho resident.

- While awaiting trial in a vehicular manslaughter case, Peter Franklin Goullette was arrested for allegedly forcing his way in to a Sagle home and attacking a man with a baseball bat. Charges continued to pile up throughout the month of March, as he was later charged with witness intimidation and two additional counts of violating a no-contact order as well.

- More than 100 Sandpoint High School students joined thousands of students across the country who walked out of class for 17 minutes for the 17 people who were killed in the Parkland, Fla., shooting a month prior.

- The Idaho Higher Education Tour hit Sandpoint, Priest River, Clark Fork and Bonners Ferry high schools in March. Seven Idaho institutions, as well as the military, were represented in the effort to start the discussion of college and career readiness with high school juniors.

- Schweitzer Mountain Resort announced an extended season due to the bountiful snowpack.

- A Priest River Lamanna High School senior took up an opportunity serve as a pitman for Paul Gladden of Gladden Racing in the 2018 National Hot Rod Association Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., a massive, high-profile event.

- The Lake Pend Oreille School District continued its strategic planning process in the effort to drive future decisions of the district by outlining needs and goals over the short- and long-term. The first steps in the process included developing a strategic planning committee and seeking public input to establish priorities for the five-year plan. Approximately 70 community members participated in meetings, and 1,200 participated in an online survey. As facilities were a recurring theme, LPOSD officials began the process of putting together a facility advisory committee.

- Sandpoint High School named two valedictorians for the class of 2018 — Katherine Kaul and Catherine Brenner, as well as two salutatorians — Cienna Roget and Abby Johnson.

- Two years after its inception, the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office Community Force Neighborhood Watch has grown to 700 members strong, with 12 volunteers, 35 groups and 53 watch captains across the county.

- Ponderay City Council unanimously approved a special use permit for a modern indoor shooting range along U.S. Highway 95 south of Bronx Road, the first of its kind in Bonner County.

- Priest River Police arrested a suspect in multiple reports of vehicle thefts during the months of February and March.

- Flames swept through the building at the corner of Highway 41 and East Fourth Street South at about 6:30 p.m. on March 19, destroying a residence that also served as commercial space for a variety of uses, including a bar, a church and classic vehicle restoration. There were no injuries, although a firefighter was treated and released from a local hospital after battling the blaze, according to West Pend Oreille Fire Chief Les Kokanos.

- A Newport man was arrested on allegations that he threatened a woman with a knife and held her against her will earlier this year. Joshua Don Haney is charged with aggravated assault, second-degree kidnapping and misdemeanor domestic battery.

- Five Southside Elementary students took first place at the North Idaho FabSLAM regional competition in Lewiston on March 3 for their 3D printed snowshoe design that comes apart to fit easily into a backpack. The Transportation Explanation team consisted of fifth-graders Olivia Moore, Sadie Etzwiler, Payton Jackson and Ruby Jiles, and sixth-grader Grace Moore.

- Local students joined communities across the nation in a “March for our Lives” event through spurred by students in Florida after 17 people were killed in a school shooting in Parkland, Fla. Supporters of the Second Amendment also gathered in a “March for our Rights” event.

- Idaho Hill Elementary Principal Susie Luckey was named the 2018 National Distinguished Principal for Idaho for her “outstanding contributions to the community and to the education profession.”

- Of the 88 students who participated in the North Idaho Science and Engineering Fair, 33 were from Priest River Lamanna High School. Although they didn’t take first place in order to go the International Fair, four groups of PRLHS students won multiple prizes.

- Sandpoint named Will Love the new girls basketball head coach on March 22, promoting him from an assistant role to replace Duane Ward in guiding the emerging program. Love, 40, was born and raised in Sandpoint, and played hoops in high school. He was an assistant for four years in the boys program under Tyler Haynes, including three as the JV head coach, and spent the past four years as an assistant coach under Ward, bringing home a pair of third-place trophies in the process.

- A Sandpoint man was injured after he collided with another vehicle on U.S. Highway 95 on March 23. Idaho State Police said Robert Johnson was northbound in a 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass when he drove left of center and crashed into a southbound 2013 Toyota Tundra. Johnson’s midsize sedan continued northbound and went down an embankment, where it struck several trees.

- The LOR Foundation awarded the city of Ponderay $100,000 to assist in the development of the “Field of Dreams,” formerly known as “McGhee Sports Complex” on Highway 95. The foundation also awarded Sandpoint $500,000 for its effort in purchasing the University of Idaho property, though the city was subsequently unable to obtain the rest of the funds needed to purchase the land.

- Washington Elementary second-graders took their concerns over intersection safety at their school to Sandpoint City Council, with the hope of eventually getting some rainbow crosswalks. While the colorful crosswalks ended up being, in part, too expensive, several other safety measures have been implemented at the school since the kids spoke to city officials.

- Eric Rampton Wood, accused of opening fire on teenage anglers fly fishing on Priest River, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, and an amended charge of discharging an aimed firearm causing injury, a misdemeanor. Wood was originally charged with a felony charge of unlawfully discharging a firearm at an occupied vehicle, unlawful possession of a firearm and felony injury to property in connection with the Sept. 13, 2017, incident which left one teen with a gunshot wound to his leg. An alleged accomplice, Leo Michael Inwood, was also charged with a felony firearms offense, in addition to charges of evidence concealment and felony malicious injury to property.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.