The Spokesman-Review from Spokane, Washington • 6

Americans support mining, survey finds tailor its messages with the public and politicians. We hope to build support for mining, Raulston said. In the past we were putting out information that people were not that interested in, or using a lot of technical industry terminology that was not meaningful to people, she said. Mining has long been an industry on the decline in the United States, with many companies going overseas to find and develop new mines. High costs and tough environmental rules are the main reason for the exodus.

titanium, to computers, aerospace and a wide range of high-tech industries. People dont have to be educated on that, they understand it, Raulston said. The association has already redesigned its Web site to reflect lessons from the survey, she said. New advertising is also being developed. The survey found that radio ads that point out the products made possible by mining, and focus on hardships people would suffer without those products, were not popular with the public because they were Continued: MlnlngA8 Sept.

11, which made many people realize the country is vulnerable to outside forces, said Carol Raulston, vice president of communications for the association. While the poll did not specifically ask about terrorism, tne association is making that deduction, Raulston said. There is very strong support across the country for using minerals found here in this country, she said. There is no support for relying on international sources for those. The March survey of registered voters was the associations first national look at attitudes on mining, Raulston said.

The industry will use the survey to better Among the key findings of the survey, people who do not live near mining sites base many of their attitudes on conditions in the 1930s or 1940s, on old labor disputes, or from movies such as Coal Miners Daughter. They are really wedded to old images, Raulston said. People who live in mining districts, which are mostly in rural areas, are more familiar with technological improvements and environmental reclamation work, she said. They are more supportive of the industry. There is wide understanding across the country about the importance of products that are mined, such as gold, copper and Mining group points to reluctance to depend on other nations for resources By Nicholas K.

Geranios Associated Press Mining, long one of the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in the country, is trying to clean up its image. A recent survey for the National Mining Association found that Americans have a generally favorable opinion of mining, the Washington, D.C.-based trade group said. Part of the reason is the terrorist attacks of Let the sun shine Cleaner averts prom night catastrophe HUCKLEBERRIES Harding Family Center In Coeur d'Alene. Wimte lfa OetatedI The Spokesman-Review For a buck, French Cleaners saved prom night at my house. Thats all it charged to remove a large water spot on my 16-year-olds dress, just hours before the big night.

The stain began as a tiny mark that sent our Junior Miss postal a day or two earlier. To soothe the savage beast, my wife tried a mix of water and soda to remove the mark. It did but left a larger stain that wasnt noticed until the night before the prom. We didnt tell Little 16, hopin prayin the spot would vanish when dry. It didnt.

So, we slipped the dress to Frenchs Cleaners first thing Saturday. The cleaners was up to the task. And Sis didnt find out about the family crisis until we handed her the dress, spick-and-span. Her bright smile, however, made everything worth it. Tongue-tied patriots The request made to reporters by the teen tax rebels who tossed tea into Lake Coeur dAlene to protest the state income tax? Like dont make us like sound like idiots.

They wanted us like to take out like all of the likes if we quoted them. Which is like hard to do once you like get into the flow of their patter The best reason the teens gave for doing away with income tax for them? Nearly all teenagers who pay taxes get that money back in tax refunds The worst? 1, Teenagers will love the IRS; 2, Teenagers do not owe anything to society; and 3, Teens will not have to spend the time, agony and frustration filling out their taxes. Glory days? During her glory days, new S-R reporter Taryn Brodwater was an outspoken Lakeland High student and crusading newspaper editor. So she experienced a reunion of sorts Wednesday when she interviewed Lakeland School District super Chuck Kinsey. In Taryns previous life, Kinsey was her high school principal.

Began Taryn: Well, Mr. Kinsey, I think its been awhile since Ive been in your office. Kinsey: Thats right, you did spend a lot of time in my office. They never forget, do they? Downtown Christmas A galaxy of spai kling lightsAll glitter through the blackest nights And glow like hope for that day when Theres peace on earth, good will to men The Bard of Sherman Avenue. Party pooper After the Coeur dAlene High prom Dec.

14, dozens of teen couples visited Dockside tor dessert only to learn the menu consisted of a piece of carrot cake and four servings of creme brulee. The topper? The fridge was down. Read: no ice cream. In other words, the clock had struck midnight Huckleberries was unnerved by that prep photo of sheriffs Capt. Ben Wolfinger on a Wallace High wall.

Wavy, medium-long, brown hair, parted in the middle. Glasses. Golly-gee grin. My, how we change If the police could cite you for being a lousy comedian, you'd have interesting wallpaper, Dave e-mailer Huckleberries: If CPD Blue behaved itself, Id have a harder time finding material. Huckleberries Rosalie Biggs had seen it all in her 29 years with the city finance department until Tuesday.

Thats when an envelope arrived from Martin and Vivian Chesnut, containing a check for 10 to buy coffee for your lounge. Why? The Chesnuts appreciated the city of CdAvs good service. And so should we Obviously, Inn at Priest River management had a specific target for a recent readerboard message. And I luckleberries paraphrases: Sorry, Gordon. No, its not listed.

Im still married. Owner Gary Sanders is trying to interest the Kalispel Tribe into building a casino at Coolin. Mebbe the odd message has something to do with that flap Last week, S-R office manager Bob Myklebust was fined $1 because Rotarians thought he had leaked an item to I luckleberries. Twasnt so. Myklebust, however, should be fined another buck for whining to Huckleberries about the injustice he suffered ISPers are grateful for the $3,000 donated by Kiwamans and the Kootenai County Substance Abuse Council.

That translates into four portable breath testers thatll remove drunks from the road. Or ho, ho, ho, off to jail you go Bumpersnicker: Using Continued HuckleberrlesA8 North Idaho congregation commemorates return of the sun candlegrove.com. At their root: an ancient fear that the failing light would never return unless humans intervened with anxious vigil or antic celebration. A group of North Idahoans rekindled that link to the pagan past Sunday when they joined together to celebrate the winter solstice in Coeur dAlene. Members of the North Idaho Unitarian Universalist gathered at the Harding Family Center to give thanks for what Sue I Iansen-Barber called the awakening of the newborn sun.

The official solstice was Saturday evening. Continued. SolsticeA8 By Adam Lynn Staff writer For thousands of years before the birth of Christ, people of the northern hemisphere gathered in late December to celebrate. From the green hills of Ireland to the red adobe deserts of the American Southwest, they brought boughs clipped from evergreens into their houses, exchanged gifts and gathered for feasts. The occasion: The winter solstice, the day the Earth tilts the northlands the farthest away from the sun, the day with the fewest hours of sunlight each year.

It was cause for celebration because it could get no darker. The sun would shine longer each day until the summer solstice, when it would shine the longest of all. Many, many cultures the world over perform solstice ceremonies, according to the Web site INNOVATORS Tour guide in world of math By Kristen Kramer Staff writer Gregg Sampson hasnt always been a math maven. The creator of the wildly popular Math is Cool competitions graduated from a small high school that he said couldnt provide the same opportunities as larger schools. Teacher wins award for popular Math is Cool contests Trigonometry was the highest math class offered, and that was an independent study course.

But during his senior year, teacher Jeff Miller (now principal at East Valley High school) happened to mention that he thought Sampson was good at math. I didnt even really like math, said Sampson, a math teacher at Lewis and Clark High School. If he hadnt said that I probably wouldn't have gone into the world of math. But he did. And for the past eight years, Sampson has been providing opportunities for Washington students to discover their own math talents.

In appreciation of the countless hours he has donated to Math is Cool competitions he said it probably averages two to three hours a day Sampson was presented a 2002 Rudy Award on Tuesday. Continued: Innovators A8 Christopher AndersonTtie Spokesman Review Lewis and Clark High School math teacher and Rudy Award winner Gregg Sampson waits at the door to his classroom for his precalculus class to show up. I'anm Accuracy watch The Spokesman-Review is committed to accuracy in all of its news reports. If you think we have made an error of fact in any report, call (509) 459-5430 during business hours. Confirmed.

factual errors will be corrected on this page. Contact the North Idaho office: (208) 765-7100, toll-free (800) 344-6718; fax (208) 344-6718; e-mail newsspokesman.com Online regional news: www.spokesmanreview.com J-.