The art of seven local high school students will be featured at The Gallery on Main in St. Maries this month.
They include Kalie Harvey, Kinzie Dittman, Emily Rottini, Ivy Ingram, Sam Mueller, Chad Martinell and Alix Reiss.
The work of advanced art students Kinzie Dittman, Kalie Harvey, Ivy Ingram, Sam Mueller, Chad Martinell, Alix Reiss and Emily Rottini of St. Maries High School will be featured at The Gallery on Main for the month of March. The students will be available to the public from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, March 6 at the gallery.
Emily, a senior, said art helped her get through grade-school.
“I couldn’t read as a child because I have dyslexia, so I used to draw words instead of write them,” she said.
She became more dedicated to art as she grew older and spent a summer at the Springdale School of Art in Burley when she was 15 years old.
“I served as a janitor and later also helped teach the youngest students (4-5 year olds) in order to pay for the classes that I took,” she said.
Emily enjoys drawing people with pencil above all else, but also enjoys painting with acrylics.
“I love to use pencil best, but it’s hard not to smudge it,” she said. “I mostly enjoy doing portraits and portraying human activity, people doing things.”
She plans to use her talent in a future career in the illustration field.
“I want to draw every day and get paid for it,” she said. “God gave me a gift, and I need to share that.”
Kinzie, a junior at St. Maries High School, said she has been drawing since she was three but didn’t become serious about her work until she was in middle school.
She also prefers pencil drawing. As an eighth grader she participated in an art show at the local gallery and more recently she has won a poster contest organized by the Benewah County Humane Rights Coalition for two years running.
Kalie, a senior, has also been interested in art since she was young.
“Since I was young, I have been complimented on my work,” she said. “I find art relaxing and a good way to express myself.”
Kalie prefers to paint.
“I love water color and acrylic paint is a close second,” she said. “I really enjoy painting portraits.”
The showing at the gallery this month will be a first for Kalie.
The public is invited to meet these up-and-coming artists from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday (March 6) at The Gallery on Main (within The Paperhouse) in St. Maries. The students’ work will be included in a special display and featured throughout the month.
A passion for flying and a desire to serve her country prompted this Kootenai High School student to apply for acceptance to the U.S. Naval Academy.
Katey Mae McInturff received notice of her acceptance into the academy last month.
The school, which receives more than 20,000 applications each year, has a 6 percent acceptance rate. Ms. McInturff will be one of about 1,200 in the freshman class this year.
Katey Mae McInturff, a senior at Kootenai High School, recieved notice of her acceptance into the Naval Academy last month.
Ms. McInturff received nominations from Rep. Raul Labrador, Sen. Jim Risch and Sen. Mike Crapo for the school. She plans to earn a degree in an English-related field before going into special naval training.
Once she has completed her traditional schooling, she hopes to become a Navy pilot.
“I’ve wanted to learn to fly since my grandfather took me up in his bi-plane when I was younger,” she said. “He flew me around a few times, did some aerobatics, loops and turns and even let me fly a little bit.”
Since then she’s been up in planes and has decided she likes it enough to try to make a living at it.
“I wanted to do something I like and also something where I could serve,” she said. “I like the thrill and excitement flying gives you and being in the Navy allows me the chance to give back a little bit of what I’ve been given.”
After research, Ms. McInturff decided to take a closer look at the naval academy and registered for a week-long visit last summer to the school in Annapolis, Maryland.
“After the academy, graduates get to name a preference for where they’d like to go for training,” she said. “About 80 percent get their first choice.”
Ms. McInturff has been enrolled in the Kootenai district since kindergarten. She serves as class president, is a member of The National Honor Society, and plays basketball, runs cross country and pole vaults for track in the spring. She is the daughter of Doug and Darcy McInturff.
Enjoy tacos and a game of bingo at the annual Hospice Family Bingo and Taco Feed Sunday, March 1 at the Eagles Lodge.
The taco lunch will begin at 12:30 p.m. with bingo to start at 1 p.m. Admission for the event costs $5 for adults or $2 for children ages 6 to 12. Children under 5 are free. The cost of admission includes a door prize ticket and one bingo card.
Robin Hodgson, director of Hospice of Benewah County, displays the flier for the Hospice’s Family Taco Bingo fundraiser, which is Sunday, March 1.
A St. Maries firefighter will travel to Seattle next month to compete in the 2015 Scott Firefighter Stair Climb.
This will be the fifth year Ronnie Dickerson has participated in the event, which is purported to be the largest firefighting competition in the world and raises money each year for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
“Every year after I do it I say I’m not going to go back,” Mr. Dickerson said. “But at each landing there are pictures in memory and when you see that the majority of the people in the pictures are 25 years or younger it breaks your heart.”
Ronnie Dickerson will compete in the 2015 Scott Firefighter Stair Climb in Seattle in less then two weeks. This is the fifth year he has participated.
Firefighters from across the country participate in the 69-story climb up the Columbia Center, the second tallest building west of the Mississippi, while wearing more than 50 pounds of firefighting gear, including boots, pants, jackets, gloves, helmet and self-contained breathing equipment.
Tim Kraack participated in the event with Mr. Dickerson for three years, but to due a knee replacement he no longer does the climb. Mr. Kraack still helps with fundraising and provides support to Mr. Dickerson.
“He changes out my bottle and he’s my coach. He goes and trains with me,” Mr. Dickerson said.
Mr. Dickerson said the climb is “ridiculously hard.”
“I do it for the people who can’t,” he said, adding he has been training since before December.
Last year, Mr. Dickerson completed the climb in 39 minutes 53 seconds.
“I took five minutes off my previous time last year and hope to do the same this year,” he added.
This year’s event is March 8, which means in less than two weeks Mr. Dickerson will be headed to Seattle. As part of competing in the event, he is required to do some fundraising to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
“I want to raise at least $1,500 because that guarantees me a spot in the stair climb next year,” he said. “If you lose your spot it is hard to get back in.”
Mr. Dickerson said people may make donations online at http://www.llswa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ff_home.
“Click on the donation tab and then you select the amount you want to donate,” he said. “You have to do $5 minimum. It will also give you the chance to put the donation under my name.”
Donations can be made locally at the St. Maries Fire Station, AmericanWest Bank or directly to Mr. Kraack or Mr. Dickerson. All donations must be made by March 28.
Mr. Dickerson said he has pictures of a few individuals he will be taking with him to pin up during the climb. Anyone who wants to give him additional pictures can do so.
“Just call me at 245-6639 or Tim at 689-3681,” Mr. Dickerson said.
He added he is dedicating this year’s climb to Joyce Sindt and Tish Knowland, both of whom died of cancer.
Thanks to the generosity of a few people and the work of many, the St. Maries community will have its very own hospice house this spring.
A 2,400 square-foot home, located across from the fire station on Jefferson Avenue was purchased by an anonymous person who is providing owner financing at a low rate for Hospice of Benewah County.
The move allows hospice to place all of its services at one location, and to expand its offerings, decrease overhead costs and become more financially self-sufficient.
Director Robin Hodgson stands with volunteers who are helping renovate this house and property to be used as the new location for Hospice of Benewah County.
Plans for the building include office space, a curiosity shop and storage for medical supplies and equipment.
Before that can be realized, much work must be done to the building and property including a complete renovation of the home, demolition of the unattached shop and landscaping.
“We have some volunteers helping with that but we need more,” Director Robin Hodgson said. “We need people to donate the supplies and others to do the work.”
Both skilled tradesmen and general laborers would be appreciated to help with the renovation. Material donations of appliances, furniture and building supplies including paint, flooring, siding, door locks and sheetrock.
Those with specific skills in carpentry, electrical, plumbing, demolition, sign-making and people to tend the shop once open are also needed.
Benewah County Master Gardeners have agreed to landscape the yard for the organization.
The biggest project onsite will be the demolition of a two-story garage/shop adjacent to the house.
“It is a very old, but unsound building with lots of stuff left in it including fans, hydraulic jacks, a huge, laminated beam and a lot of other equipment,” Ms. Hodgson said. “We’d like to sell the stuff and are willing to entertain offers. Once we get everything out of it we will need someone to tear it down.”
The attached garage will be turned into a curiosity shop to generate funds to help support day to day operations of the organization. Donated items will also be needed to fill the shop.
At this time the organization is focused on renovating the upper floor of the home. At a later time the group hopes to also renovate the downstairs portion and use it for a library and offer the bedrooms to those traveling to the area to visit with dying family members.
Currently the organization has an office across from the courthouse on College Avenue, and stores its medical equipment in a shed adjacent to the fire hall.
“I had this vision and God handed it right to us,” Ms. Hodgson said. “Eddie and Suzy Epler of St. Maries Realty heard about our need and found the good-willed investor and Gayle Wemhoff found the property that made the dream a reality for us.”
Organizers hope to have the building ready to open by the end of March.
“Obviously that depends on the number of volunteers we get and how quickly we can renovate the house,” Ms. Hodgson said. “This is huge for St. Maries to have something like this that they support and own. Hospice has been here since 1980 and never owned anything. “
Call the office at (208) 245-5734 between 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday for additional information.
Bob “Marz” Marzulli’s legacy will be honored as one of five to be inducted into the Idaho State Athletic Hall of Fame this year.
Dr. James Lynn, the chairman of the committee that oversees the hall of fame, said Mr. Marzulli was chosen because of his commitment to his community.
“We always choose people like Mr. Marzulli,” Dr. Lynn said. “Someone that does everything in town. I personally played football against him many years ago. He was quite a guy.”
He was born in Spokane in 1933 but grew up in Calder, graduating from St. Maries High School in 1952. Mr. Marzulli poured his life into the St. Maries community spending his time teaching, coaching and volunteering in various projects. He died Nov. 15, 2011.
The Idaho State Athletic Hall of Fame was founded more than 50 years ago and honors athletes, coaches and supporters from across the state who are nominated for exceptional qualities.
Mr. Marzulli will join another local man, Mitch Santos, as an honoree. Mr. Santos was inducted in 2004.
The induction will take place in conjunction with the North Idaho sports banquet in April. Dr. Lynn hopes that close friends will step forward to represent him at the presentation.
“It would be great if we could get a group of people to come over and show support for his induction and represent him at the ceremony,” he said.
Anyone interested in participating in and attending the event and/or representing Mr. Marzulli should contact Dr. Lynn at (208) 651-3240.
Ethan Hill
St. Maries Middle School 7th Grader
Winner of the 12-13 boys age group at the Elks Lodge Regional Hoop Shoot
1. At what age did you become interested in the sport of basketball?
I’ve played since an early age. Probably from when I was six or seven. I was always interested in basketball and played with the Upward Basketball Program out at the Nazarene church. And I’ve played AAU and now with the schoolís seventh grade team this year.
2. What made you want to compete in the local Elks Hoop Shoot free throw competition in St. Maries?
It was something my older cousin had mentioned to me. I think he’s a part of the Elks. It was my first time to compete in it. It was pretty fun. I got to compete with my friends.
3. After earning the trip to the regional competition, how often did you practice?
I practiced every day at basketball practice after school and played ball with my friends at their house. We usually have practice every day.
4. Tell us about your experience at the regional competition.
It was really exciting. The guy I went up against was really good. I was kind of nervous. We had 25 shots at first and we both made 19. Then we had a first shoot-off with five shots. He went first and made all five so I knew if I missed I would be going home. But I made five out of five. Then the second time he went he made five out of five so I knew I would have to do it again. The third time he went, he made his first shot and then missed his second and third. He made his fourth and fifth. Then I went. I made my first three and missed my fourth. I knew if I missed my fifth we’d go again so I just made the last shot.
5. How many total shots did you end up making at the regional competition?
39.
6. What are you doing to get prepared for state? And when and where will state be held?
Just what I regularly do. I get to play ball at youth group, and will continue to practice during the week with my seventh grade team. I’m a little nervous about going. This will be my first time ever at a big competition. State is Feb. 14 at Blackfoot. I just hope to play my heart out and do the best that I can.
7. What makes a good free throw shot since that is what the competition is based on?
You just have to be comfortable. You have to line up your foot with the middle of the basket, whichever side you shoot with. I shoot right-handed and so I line up my right foot with the middle of the basket.
8. Are you on a local basketball team? What position(s) do you play?
I play on the seventh grade team (at St. Maries Middle School). I played as part of the Upward program from kindergarten through sixth grade. Pretty much ever since I could. I’m doing pretty good this season. I average about 15 points per game. I play wing and sometimes a high post just depends on the play.
9. What do you enjoy about the sport of basketball?
I just enjoy hanging out with my friends and playing a sport that I like a lot. My goal is to get better at the sport.
10. Do you plan to play the sport in high school?
I want to play in high school. I’m trying to get good enough so I can play on the varsity squad when I’m a freshman and then I’ll be able to play with my brother, Brady Martin, who will be a senior.
Four local businesses return as sponsors for the Ray of Hope Breakfast, March 20. The breakfast, sponsored by Potlatch Corporation, is a fundraiser for Benewah County CASA. CASA provides volunteers for children whose parents are involved in the court system.
Ken’s Custom Body & Paint, The Paperhouse the St. Joe Valley Credit Union and Eimers’ Insurance of St. Maries joined Potlatch Corporation last week as sponsors for the event.
“Our initial response has been good and we know we will have several more local businesses will join us as sponsors,” Dan Hammes, who is helping organize the breakfast, said. “This really is something that deserves support and as with all credible charitable effort, we are certain the St. Maries business community will provide great support.”
The free breakfast is open to the public and will include a short presentation about the Benewah County CASA program.
“Over the next several weeks we contact potential sponsors. We hope to have a long list of contributors to recognize at our breakfast,” Mr. Hammes said.
For more information call the Gazette Record at 245-4538.
A local man made a global impact when he was sent to the front lines to fight the Ebola virus in Africa.
Dale Bates, recently returned from an overseas mission to Liberia, where he helped establish a field hospital tasked with providing care for health care workers who contracted the Ebola virus.
Mr. Bates has lived in the area for 20 years, working first for the Benewah Medical Center and now for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Dale Bates in the supply area of the hospital he helped establish in Liberia to care for health care workers who had contracted the Ebola virus.
His job entails monitoring grant-funded projects for community health centers, occasionally (once a year) it involves field work, where he is deployed to an area for public health disaster relief work.
Mr. Bates is part of a national force of more than 6,800 Commissioned Officers in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS).
“We all have a day job but we are also part of a deployable health force that provides emergency response to public health needs,” he said.
In the 19 years he has worked for the USPHS, Mr. Bates has been deployed to a number of locations including the east coast after Hurricane Katrina, the Mexican border, Liberia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Columbia, Haiti and Nicaragua.
“They are usually very unexpected calls,” he said. “I was standing in a stream north of Anchorage, Ala. fishing when I got the call to go to Liberia.”
Mr. Bates was in a team of 65 people tasked with taking a military-grade clinical care unit and turning it into a place to care for international and Liberian health care workers who had contracted the Ebola virus.
The group left for Liberia mid-October and returned in January.
Mr. Bates official duties included logistics and supply at the 25-bed hospital, but conditions made it necessary for him to assist with a variety of duties. He not only worked in supply, but infection control, safety, medical, lab, housekeeping, pharmacy, facilities, dietary and bug control.
Dale Bates suited up for work in the ward at an Ebola treatment facility in Liberia.
In his two months at the facility, Mr. Bates was able to spend less than two days away from his duties. The team ate ready-to-eat meals (MREs) and took turns working 12-hour shifts, commuting an hour each way from their living quarters and napping about five hours before returning to the hospital. They lived and worked in temperatures of 90 degrees with high humidity and lots of rain.
“Most of our equipment and supplies didn’t arrive until a week before we left, so we had to get really creative and make due with what we could find,” he said. “We had to make a lot of our own supplies and even some of our medicine had to be hand mixed.”
The nature of the virus made even basic tasks arduous.
“It took an hour just to take out the garbage, because you had to put on a suit, collect the garbage from two patient wards and then decontaminate before removing the suit each time,” Mr. Bates said.
The crew used large quantities of chlorine to disinfect everything and burned everything that came out of the wards where patients were kept.
“The chlorine vapors were incredible and it took a month for the bottom of my feet to heal from the chlorine that gathered in my boots,” Mr. Bates said. “It was certainly not comfortable, but we just had to suck it up. Chlorine is very effective at killing the virus, but it only takes a few to become infected.”
Approximately 60 percent of the patients who were admitted survived the virus.
“Just the fact that we had patients recover from Ebola and go back to the workforce to keep at it is a phenomenal accomplishment,” Mr. Bates said. “We didn’t have our first patient discharge for three weeks. We were all getting tired, and working for weeks in difficult conditions, but the moment the first patient put his handprint on that survivor board made it all worth it.”
Upon their arrival, 500 new cases of the virus was discovered each week. The week the team returned, that number had dropped to 100, and there were just four in Liberia last week. As of Jan. 28 the World Health Organization reported that 22,000 people had been infected with Ebola and 8,795 had died in three countries in western Africa.
“They have been successful in getting people into treatment and better at identifying patients with potential exposure,” Mr. Bates said. “The government has also done a good job at influencing the culture’s funeral traditions and convincing people not to have contact with the bodies of those who have died from the virus.”
Mr. Bates said this assignment was the most physically challenging deployment of his career. Their training involved teaching them to protect themselves and each person was screened for emotional strength.
The team was hand-selected by the Office of the Surgeon General.
“It is quite an honor to have been included,” Mr. Bates said. “You do your job a lot of times but this is one of those deployments where you really knew you were representing the U.S. and American people. Everyone on that team was the right choice. They all handled it well. It was the most incredible experience of our lives, and one that we hope to never have to repeat.”
The goal is to turn the hospital over to the Liberian government by late spring or summer.
Mr. Bates lives in St. Maries with his wife Sue, who is a maternal and child health nurse at the Benewah Medical Center. Together they have three grown children.
The St. Maries fire district honored four of their own at an annual banquet dinner earlier this month.
Josh Masterson was named Firefighter of the Year and Hadley McInturff Most Improved for the northern end of the district. Wesley Rice and Brian Bigelow received honors as Firefighter of the Year and Most Improved for the southern portion of the district.
Wesley Rice (left) and Josh Masterson (right) were named firefighters of the year for the St. Maries fire district. Brian Bigelow and Hadley McInturff were noted for being the most improved.
“The four were chosen by their peers for the honor,” Chief Larry Naccarato said. “They stood out from the group and earned the respect of their comrades.”
Mr. Masterson, who works for Mountain Plating by day, has volunteered for the local fire department since April 2013. He also instructs the junior class firefighters. Mr. Hadley, who drives a truck for a living, has been with the district since May 2012. Mr. Rice works for the city of St. Maries and has volunteered for the department the longest of the four, with more than four years on the crew. Mr. Bigelow, who works for Black Rock Ranch ,has been with the district since 2012. He is a captain with the department and is a certified EMT.
The St. Maries district has 31 firefighters, eight in training and eight junior volunteers spread across three stations in the district. Volunteers responded to a total of 108 calls last year.
