The Times-News from Twin Falls, Idaho • 14

B-4 Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho Tuesday, March 28, 1995 Idaho School DEQ official quits over job protection loss Briefly Republican Sen. Jim Risch of Boise, who served on Batt's transition team last fall, said the Division of Environmental Quality needed change in that direction more than any other. Teasdale said he was leaving on amicable And while it is the Legislature's prerogative to decide which jobs will be protected and which ones will be patronage, Teasdale said he believed injecting the perception of politics into jobs like his could disregard the technical and scientific background they require. that he has no intention of letting poli tics affect the appointment of people to the jobs that will lose the state's equivalent of civil service protection. The bill pushes above 1,600 the number of employees in the state's work force who are not protected by the personnel system.

Although Batt expressed reservations about some of the jobs included in the bill, he accepted it as part of his attempt to make government more responsive to the public. And one of the bill's chief proponents, LEWISTON (AP) North-central Idaho's regional administrator of the Division of Environmental Quality has decided to resign in the wake of legislation stripping his job of civil service protection beginning July 1 Gregg Teasdale of Lewiston said he decided to return to school to obtain another advanced degree after lawmakers added his and about 60 other relatively high-level state jobs to the ranks of patronage. Gov. Phil Batt, who signed the law last week, has repeatedly emphasized howroom sample rules targeted LEWISTON (AP) Some school district superintendents want grade and attendance requirements eliminated for participation in high school sports now that home- schoolers will be able to play without meeting those requirements. Potlatch Superintendent Donald Armstrong, who represents the state's north-central region on the Idaho High School Activities Association board, will take the proposal to the sanctioning association in a bid to equalize requirements for taking part in extra curricular activities between home-schoolers and public school students.

The movement is the result of passage earlier this month by state lawmakers of a so-called dual enrollment law that allows home-schoolers or students in private schools to take advantage of academic and nonacademic programs in public schools. In the case of sports or other nonacademic activities, the students must only pass an undefined test to be eligible. Gov. Phil Batt signed the bill into law last week. Public school students must be passing five courses and meet specific attendance requirements to be eligible to play sports or take part in other nonacademic activities.

With dual enrollment, home-schoolers need not take any courses in the public school to play on varsity sports teams as long as they past the test. And the superintendents believe that should now be the only requirement for enrolled students as well. While the bill was approved overwhelmingly in both houses, a handful of critics, including one school teacher, warned that it spelled the end to enforcing eligibility requirements on public school students. The legislation was in response to the activities association's refusal to allow a home-schooler to participate in varsity track. Critics contended legislation was the wrong way to go about it, but they were outvoted.

The state Board of Education will eventually become involved in the issue because someone must determine what kind of test home-schoolers must take to be eligible for sports. State Schools Superintendent Anne Fox, who campaigned to make provide public school access to home-schoolers, was denied money she sought to test every student annually. Some local school officials estimate that the testing process for home-schoolers could cost $1 million statewide money they say cash-strapped school districts just do not have. School seeks OSHA training status BOISE Eastern Idaho Technical College is being proposed as a regional training center for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Officials at the Idaho Falls school have been working with the Department of Energy and the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Institute to develop a program meeting the standards set out by OSHA last December.

If accepted, the program would make Eastern Idaho Technical College the regional training center for Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. "If realized, the center will help eastern Idaho, the community, the college and the INEL," said Frances Grant, who heads the INEL Institute for Lockheed-Idaho Technologies Co. Students find work at homeless center POCATELLO Many college students take it easy during spring break. A group of 19 Idaho State University students did not. They flew to Atlanta and are spending their break working for community service organizations, including a center for homeless children.

The students say it has given them a new outlook. Community service center director Linda Burke said the goal is for the students to return to Pocatello with greater sympathy for others and ideas for working in their own communities. The project continues through the end of this week. "It has been a real eye opener for all of us," Burke said. "It's been really interesting.

We've shared a lot. We've done a lot of reflecting." Teen receives jail time for phone sex calls COEUR d'ALENE A 17-year-old Spirit Lake youth will serve up to three years in juvenile detention after admitting he made thousands of dollars of calls to telephone sex services and billed them to Hayden residents. Kootenai County Magistrate Judge Robert Burton on Friday sentenced the youth to custody which could extend until his 21st birthday. The Spirit Lake youth turns 1 8 this week. Under current juvenile laws, his name will not be made public because he is a minor.

The teen earlier admitted making $17,000 in calls to a phone sex line last fall, billing the calls to more than 50 Hayden residents. Canyon County faces 6th escape attempt CALDWELL Canyon County's 2-year-old jail faced its sixth escape attempt Sunday, and Sheriff George. Nourse said he will appeal for funds to reinforce the escape-prone jail-Sunday, jailers noticed some metal ceiling tiles in the shower area had been peeled back. After further, inspection, authorities found would-be escapees had ventured into the jail's crawl spaces and punched holes through sheetrock, which led to the jail's roof. "It appears possible that an escape attempt was planned to occur within hours," Nourse said.

Authorities had no suspects in the apparent attempted escape, but investigators were taking fingerprints. The incident happened in the medium-security section of the jail. 9-year-old dies after being hit by car RIGGINS A 9-year-old Riggins girl died Sunday after she was struck by a vehicle while crossing U.S. Highway 95 about 15 miles south of Riggins. Kayla Carling was taken by ambulance to the hospital in McCall, where she was pronounced dead, according to an Idaho State Police dispatcher.

He said Carling ran out from the west side of the road into the path of a vehicle pulling a 19-foot boat. Witnesses said the driver of the vehicle tried to avoid hitting the girl, but was unable to stop. Woman dies as a result of crash injuries COEUR d'ALENE An 18-year-old Coeur d'Alene woman injured in a traffic accident Thursday died Sunday. Jennifer Stokes died in the intensive care unit at Kootenai Medical Center, where she had been in critical condition for three days. She was hospitalized after being hit while trying to turn.

Her car was hit by a van driven by James Peck, 33, Newman Lake, Wash. The Idaho State Police said Peck, who was southbound on Northwest Boulevard, tried unsuccessfully to swerve out of the way. Compiled from wire reports 1 fmmmmmtm. Selected Floor Samples, 20-50 Off! There comes a time jn the life of every sample to retire fromashovvrooml WOP 7 atch out when you hear auctioneer Lyle if Masters say: "Do you feel anything coming on?" That means he's looking for a bid. After 36 years of calling "Sold!" on everything from livestock to antiques, Lyle knows the difference between talking fast and fast talk.

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But as Idaho Steelhead and Salmon Unlimited presented the letter's to Batt administration officials, Northwest Power Planning Council member Mike Fields reiterated the administration's commitment to find a balanced plan that restores the runs without destroying the Idaho economy. Sportsmen's spokesman Mitch Sanchotena reiterated the group's support for the power council plan to implement drawdowns at the downstream dams a plan that has fallen into disfavor since Batt and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber came on the scene after last fall's election. But Sanchotena also repeated the call for major modifications of the downstream dams and asserted his organization's agreement with Batt that restoration of both steelhead and salmon runs cannot demand major contributions of Idaho water. "We are not the problem and we should not be the solution," he said.

"The same eight dams that are killing our salmon are killing our steelhead. The dams need to be fixed." Field, who was present for the sportsmen's event at the state Capitol, said the administration is working with all interest groups to come up with a recovery plan that is founded on scientific information and does not require all of Idaho's water. But he conceded that there was no way a plan could be fash-' ioned to meet the demands of every interest group. FARMERS NATIONAL BANK "A Tradition You Can Count On" Buhl 543-4351 914 Main Street 890 Twin Falls Wendell 734-1500 536-5271 Shoshone St. East 160 South Idaho.