The Spokesman-Review from Spokane, Washington • 4

Spokane, Wash. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Tuesday, October 1, 2002 Page B3 REGIONAL NOTES Groups say CdA Basin pact illegal minty Lines The groups want the ETA to amend its $359 million cleanup plan by dropping its formal agreement to work through the new commission and we are working with all the stakeholders to implement our record of decision, the 30-year cleanup plan for the Basin, Steiner-Riley said. The seven-member commission met for the first time with all its members last Friday in Coeur dAlene. It has one non-voting seat for Washington. With the help of a large technical support group, it is supposed to oversee much of LPAs massive cleanup plan.

Washington state officials have also signed on to the EPA agreement to work through the commission. In contrast to the Idaho agreement, Superfund law sets a clear legal standard for cleanup and doesnt allow local representatives to veto EPA cleanup decisions, said Cope of USP1RG. The groups accuse the Bush administration of ignoring Superfunds existing provisions for local public input and deciding to cater to interests hostile to Superfund. Activists say Bush administration agreement caters to interests hostile to Superfund By Karen Dorn Steele Stuff tiler The Bush administration's decision to put the Superfund cleanup of Silver Valley mine wastes in the hands of an Idaho commission is illegal, six prominent environmental groups say. In a letter Monday to Sens.

Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, they asked for congressional oversight and an independent investigation into the legality of the unprecedented commission. The groups also want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to amend its recently released $359 million cleanup plan by dropping its formal agreement to woik through the new commission. The makeup and powers of the Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission set an alarming precedent that could undermine how the Superfund law works across the country, said Bonnie Gerstring of the Mineral Policy Center in Washington, D.C., a group that advocates stricter environmental standards for mining companies. Others signing the letter: Lois Gibbs, a nationally known activist at the Love Canal Superfund site in New York; Debbie Sease, legislative director of the Sierra Club; Grant Cope, staff attorney for U.S.

Public Interest Research Group, founded by activist Ralph Nader; Barbara Miller, director of the Silver Valley Peoples Action Coalition in Kellogg; and Robert Pregulman, executive director of WashPIRG, a Washington state group. EPA doesnt think its agreement with Idaho is illegal, said Cara Steiner-Riley, an EPA regional attorney in Seattle. We have reserved all our (Superfund) authority Karen Dorn Steele can be reached at 459 5462, or by e-mail at karendspokesman.com Road work ahead Bonner County Priest Lake Three forest roads In the south end of the Priest Lake Ranger District will be closed for repair. Temporary traffic control signs will be posted. The roads will be closed in succession, starting today with the Hammond Ranch Road No.2291 for about two days.

Work starts next on the Cooks Road No. 1308 for about a day. Then the crew will move to the Solo Road No. 659 for about a day. For more information, contact the Priest Lake Ranger District office at (208) 443-2512.

Boundaiy County Bonners Ferry The county Parents as Teachers program will hold a service project at the Boundary County Extension Office from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 3. Volunteers of all ages are invited to paint wooden toy blocks and sew cloth bags to hold them.

The gifts will be delivered to local churches. Fabric for the bags is needed. Donations may be left at the extension office. To register, call (208) 267-3235. Kootenai County Coeur dAlene University of Idaho Professor Ron McFarland will be a guest scholar as part the "Lets Talk About It reading and discussion series, at 7 tonight at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.

McFarland will lead a discussion about the book Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt. The autobiographies series continues through Nov. 12 at the library, 201 E. Harrison Ave. Fran Polek will lead the next discussion on West With the Night by Beryl Markham on Oct.

15. Latah County Moscow Patti Allen recently closed the Moscow Barber Shop, a business she has owned since 1989. Allen is going with her husband to Anchorage, Alaska. She will pursue a job with an airline. Shoshone County Kellogg After 33 years in the business, Bill Manthos, also known as The Greek, retired as a salesman for Dave Smith Motors in the Kellogg office.

He has been a sales manager for the last six years. MONTANA Lincoln Libby County law enforcement will be strictly enforcing laws involving vehicles traveling in the roadside ditches, especially on Farm-To-Market Road. The decision was made following a recent meeting with representatives from the Highway Patrol, the Department of Transportation, the county Sheriffs Department, the county Attorneys Office, State Rep. Eileen Carney and residents along that road. Farm-to-Market homeowners were concerned about near misses with kids and adults speeding along the ditch on motorcycles and ATVs.

WASHINGTON Adams County Rilzville Thanks to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ritzville Public Library has new equipment. The library purchased two new computers and a laser printer to be used for public access. Part of the 1 1 ,000 grant is in software, training and technical support and is available only to libraries participating in the State Partnership Program, Ferry County Republic The county has hired Vista Conservation Resources Inc. to replace 113 light fixtures in the county Jail. Vista will install a high-quality reflector system, low energy lamps and high-efficiency electronic ballasts.

It will cost $6,223 and the county hopes to make its investment back quickly. Grant County Moses Lake Grant County International Airport has gone wireless. Travelers needing wireless communications systems will be able to tap into the latest technology as they wait for their flights. Laptops can connect to the Internet via a radio signal inside the aiqjort terminal. The Port of Moses Lake is responsible for the upgrade.

Lincoln County Wilbur Animal owners are invited to tomorrow nights Town Council meeting. The major discussion on the agenda will be Ordinance 396, which will incorporate animal ordinances and possibly add some new regulations. One of those laws would require cat owners to purchase an ID tag and would allow residents to trap nuisance cats. Tagged cats would be let go. Cats without ID would be considered wild.

Pend Oreille County Newport The city has purchased long-term care insurance in case retiring Police Chief Bill Clark ever needs it. Clark, who abruptly i removed himself from active duty to immediate retirement two weeks ago, has told the city he is applying for disability retirement through LEOFF 1, a plan by the Law Enforcement Officers and Fire Fighters Retirement System. If he is deemed to be disabled, the city would be liable for up to six years of long-term care. Stevens County Chewelah Residents are urged to give blood today at the annual Chewelah Valley Lions Club blood drive. The Inland Northwest Blood Center staff will be at the Civic Center from 2 p.m.

to 6 p.m. Lions members remind all that it takes only half an hour to donate blood. IDAHO Benewah County PlummerWorley The PlummerWorley School District has a new attendance policy that mandates students be in school at least 90 percent of the school year. Absence from school for any reason will count j1 toward the days allowed absent. For more information, call the district office at (208) 686-1621.

Traffic control manager Lori Barrick directs cars on 1-90 westbound near the Maple Street exit on Monday morning while crews replace a sign bridge spanning the interstate. The westbound Lincoln Street off-ramp will be closed this morning from 8:30 to 10:30 and the eastbound Monroe Street on-ramp will be closed from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Work will continue throughout the week. Some of the information in County Lines comes from readers tips and from community newspapers.

For items outside Spokane County, send yourtips by fax to County Lines, (509) 459-5482, by mail to County Lines, The Spokesman-Review, P.0. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-2160, or by e-mail to newsspokesman.com. For items in Spokane County, send tips to Voices, The Spokesman-Review, same fax number and mail or e-mail addresses. Search for students remains goes on it 1 I Hanford cleanup milestone reached questioned those close to Hendrick and those who had associated with him the night before he disappeared. Now we're going to go back over the entire case, said Moscow Police Capt.

Don Lanpher. Were going to get information back on the existing bones, and go back to the task force to determine our strategy. The task force includes officers from the Mow-cow Police Department, the Latah County Sheriffs Office, the Idaho State Police, the FBI, officials from Nez Perce County and the Lewiston Police Department. We probably will be looking at everybody we were looking at before or talked to before," Lanpher said. Moscow police had nothing to report from the weekends extensive search.

Neither the police nor the Sheriff Office will say where Hendricks skull was found. They say the search area is on property owned by Potlatch Corp. and that only officers and search and rescue personnel have permission to be there. Authorities hope to find more bones, answers about how Wil Hendrick died By Hannelore Sudermann Staff writer MOSCOW, Idaho Forensic anthropologists, mapping experts and cadaver dogs continued the search for the remains of University of Idaho student Wil Hendrick at a remote Latah County site over the weekend. Hendricks skull was found by hunters on Sept.

7. Searchers later went back to the site and found a lower jaw that was identified as Hendricks through dental records. Police say other than an increased effort to search the area with 45 people over the weekend, theres nothing new to report. Though the local media have been describing the case as a homicide, the Moscow Police Department has yet to determine the nature of Hendricks demise. Investigators are hoping that the discovery of the rest of his remains may shed more light on how he died.

The police are considering the case a death under suspicious circumstances. Hendrick was last seen alive at a party on Jan. 10, But the state Department of Ecology said it will need several days to verify that the goal was achieved. Hanford officials said of the approximately 3 million gallons of liquid nuclear wastes, just over 1 million had been pumped out of older tanks between 1998 and last November. But an additional 1.25 million gallons have been pumped out since.

There are 16 of 149 single-walled tanks that still contain some pump-able liquid wastes, officials said. Fifteen of those tanks are already being pumped and the last is scheduled to begin in October. The goal is to have only 2 percent of the liquid remaining in single-walled tanks by Sept. 30, 2003, I lanford officials said. Associated Press Workers at the I lanford nuclear reservation have removed more than 2i million gallons of liquid radioactive wastes from older I underground tanks, leaving 550,000 gallons to be removed by 2004, officials said Monday.

Were going to get that last i 550,000 gallons out of the ground, vowed Ed Aromi, president of CII2M Hill Hanford Group, the main contractor on the tank farm. The Energy Department was fac-. ing a Sept. 30 deadline imposed in a consent decree after the state complained about the slow pace of Hanford cleanup. Hanford officials said they beat the deadline, which called for only 18 percent of liquid wastes to remain in the single- walled tanks, by two days.

Photo courtesy of the Latah County Sheriff Office Police officers, forensic anthropologists and cadaver dogs combed this Potlatch Corp. property over the weekend for the remains of Wil Hendrick, the Ul student who disappeared in 1999. His skull was found three weeks ago. 1999. The disappearance of the well-liked 25-year-old shocked friends and family.

After they found his car abandoned downtown with the keys inside, they feared he had been hurt or killed. Shortly after he vanished, police visited and Hannelore Sudermann can be reached toll-free at (866) 332-3674 or by e-mail at hanneloresspokesman.com. victims closer Service aims to bring churches, domestic violence Many pastors have not been helpful to abused women, says director of ecumenical group abused are members of the same congregation. "That's what makes it a difficult pastoral stance, said Tudor. You're a pastor to the whole family.

You dont want to alienate anyone." Still, Tudor is optimistic that her woik is bearing fruit. Half of the people who registered to attend a daylong conference on domestic violence being held today at the Providence Center for Faith and I leafing are members of the clergy or affiliated with a church. She hopes that pastors come to the sen ice and become inspired to speak against domestic violence so women know they are approachable. I think many are sympathetic, but they dont speak of it openly. for her own abuse.

It really betrays that ultimate trust that exists between you and your pastor, said Gruis. They really believe, when theyre told to go back, that God is against them. Gruis organization helped 7,000 women and children last year. The latest numbers from the Spokane County Domestic Violence Consortium are that 34 percent of all Spokane County residents have been victims of domestic violence at some point in their life. The Rev.

Brenda Tudor of Centenary United Methodist Church has been working to improve the relationship between churches and victims of abuse for years. It can be a struggle for pastors who have no training in the issue to deal with such complex problems, particularly if both the abuser and the A healing service for women who looked for help and were turned away will be held at 7 p.m. tonight at Central United Methodist Church, 518 W. Third. The service, sponsored by the Spokane Council of Ecumenical Ministries, also will feature local members of the clergy.

Kateri Caron, director of the council, says that for years many pastors have not been helpful to abused women. You would just be amazed at the number of people who are just told to go home, Caron said. Its a strange heritage for the church. Its our Puritanism or something, I dont know. Pat Gruis, director of the YWCA's domestic violence program, has had numerous contacts with women who were told by their pastors to go home, that it would get better.

That response, said Gruis, presumes the woman is, in some way, responsible By Nina Culver Staff nriter Ann knows how difficult it can be for women to get help from religious organizations when theyre in a domestic violence situation. When she was struggling to free herself from abuse at the hands of "her lesbian partner, a local religiously oriented shelter refused to let her in the door. There was no question that her sexual orientation was the reason she was referred to another program, said Ann, who asked that her last name not be used. Other women seeking help at religious organizations say they've been deterred by an underlying message that they should go home and try to be better wives. Nina Culver can be reached at (509) 459 5487, or by e-mail at nmacspokesman.com..