Show ' “ Saturday May 13 2000 The Herald Journal Logan Utah Page 9 In brio! Council rejects petition to unionize POCATELLO (AP) — The City Council has voted against recognizing a petition by four city departments to organize a union About 70 members of the street water water pollution control and airport departments asked the council at its regular meeting Thursday to recognize them as a union But in a special meeting held immediately after the first meeting council members unanimously nixed the request Councilman Bob Foster said con- -' ceras workers expressed during the meeting were “primarily relationship issues among departments" involving internal equity matters “I’m confident that with a change in some procedures and policies we can address the issues important to those departments” Foster said Those asking for union recognition said they expected the council to decide at its regular meeting May 18 whether to approve their request “It was a surprise to me to find a notice yesterday that scheduled a special session" said the departments representative Richard Steffens who is the directing business representative for the local machinists union “We're not happy with that at all 6-- 0 Two principals five teachers retiring from Preston district By Tucker Heap twenty-si- x years That’s how much teaching experience the Preston School District will be losing at the end of this school year With graduation less than three weeks away two principals and five teachers are rounding the final lap in their education careers Those retiring along with how many years they have worked in education are: A1 Koch 25 years principal Preston High School Kent Christensen 32 years head of the social studies department for achievement — a picture of their ' gym- nasium family DeVerl Baxter 36 years high school guidance counselor John Palmer 31 principal Preston Junior High School Carl Hoffman 31 junior high choral director Not wanting them to end their careers without showing its appreciation the school district held a reception Friday afternoon at Preston High School " “This reception is for each of the people who have been here longer than dirt" joked Marilyn Hoffman Carl's wife Peach and white colored flowers white pillars on sat on top of : - ‘ Educators recommend end to basic skills test 'l said ' to join meth fight SANDPOINT (AP) — Law enforcement officials are asking church leaders to join them in a cru-- ’ sade against northern Idaho’s ' : methamphetamitie problem “It’s ruining families” said Sgt George Gow head of a local police drug task force “It’s ruining little kids Kids are getting contaminated “That's where we need help from you folks” he told a gathering of two dozen clergy at Sandpoiht City Hall on 1iesday “ Mayor Pul Graves a former minister called the meeting 'Tve got a bully pulpit and I want to use it in calling die comtnu- mty together" he told the group ing that ihc Iowa Test of Basic Skills be phased out to clear the way for tests that would measure how students meet new education ' standards being developed for cle-r mentary and high school students' recommendThe committee also ed Wednesday using the Interact to deliver some standardized tests which would lessen the amount of time it takes to get results It takes about six months to get the results of most standardized ' tests Interact results can be delivered in about jhrcc days Internet tests arc alsb ihorc raitdom so stu- dents cannot memorize the test between the fall test time and spring Several educators who attended Church leaders watched video footage of clandestine meth labs and Wednesday's meeting also said teft-- - ing needed to advance with ttye were told about the dangers accompanying meth use and production from violence to dumping erf volatile chemicals Sandpoint Police Chief Bill Kice said die threat of prison time doesn’t seem to deter meth users and deal ers “It seems the best programs that are working in society are church-based- ” he said Kice encouraged church leaders to ask their congregations to look for signs of clandestine labs in their times Idaho is not alone vide Superintendent of Public Instruction Marilyn Howard said “We're making sure there's time for students to learn time to test what was learned and lime to work with them on what they dori’t '' know" Howard said She will bring the committee's recommendations to the state Board of Education whcnit meets May 17 : visitors at night and 18 The Board of Education will likely hear the recommendation hot will not take any action at the meet- i ment figures show nmn tips 752-21- 21 Ext 3030 Matt Crane left and Kevin Cassef of Idaho Falls toy to fig- ure out a solution for their entry’s technical problems in the on Wednesday at HiDcrest High School seems to be too much resistance (on some terrain) units were to turn consistently' said Matt The Lego-base- d ' BOISE (AP) — Leu than two weeks after controversy swirled over bias in the questionnaire used to formulate its primary voter guide the Idaho Christian Coalition on Friday disavowed the publication and urged voters to ignore iL “Had the questionnaires and the guides been submitted to the board in their present form the board would not have approved either" the coalition board oif directors said in a statement “Both have material defects” The announcement came the Interfaith Alliance of Idaho urged religious leaders across Idaho to refuse to distribute at their churches the voter guides it claimed “manipulate and distort religion to promote an exclusionary agen- u da” Coalition board member David Ferdi- nand said tens of thousands of the guides have already been delivered to the churches by the volunteers who put it together without board approval so his organization is contacting those churches to ask them to withhold distribution “This guide is not the official guide of the Idaho Christian Coalition" he said and if response from the churches re is not satisfactory another public statement disavowing the pamphlet will be made before the May 23 primary Alliance spokeswoman Rev Nancy Taylor of the First Congregational Church warned that despite claims the guides are educational they essentially endorse specific candidates so that pas-tors who associate their churches with the guides by distributing them risk the loss of their tax exempt status The Internal Revenue Service stripped the national Christian Coalition of its tax exemption in 1998 because distribution rtf voter guides at churches and other activities were too partisan to justify that status The organization sued earlier this year to get the status back claiming it was singled out by the IRS because it is a conservative group while liberal groups have been left alone But last summer a federal judge rejected claims by the Federal Election Commission that the voter guides and operations were partisan activities designed to aid Republi can candidates and should be treated as contributions under federal law Ferdinand said volunteer Matt Roet-tof Coeur d'Alene handled compilation of the information for the guides and arranged for their distribution er Ferdinand said the coalition has asked but has not been told who paid to have the pamphlets printed Roctter did not respond to telephone calls from the Associated Press Among the questions were a number about candidates’ characters including whether they had failed drug tests been convicted of breaking the law or owned a bar strip club or casino Candidates were also asked whether or they are conservative or liberal or believe God's laws have a higher authority than state and federal laws The questionnaire had become an issue in the two hottest campaigns pn the ballot — the race for the Republican congressional nomination in the first district and the bid by 4th District Judge Daniel Eismann to oust Supreme Court Justice Cathy Silak anti-aborti- on pro-choi- ce Test of Basic Skills js not with the test itself educators said but made to simulate lunar or Martian robot land rovers that traverse and explore varied terrain by use of remote tool and video screen observation The contest was spon-Thesored by the Idaho National Engineering and Environment Laboratory in conjunction with Idaho vocational schools Coalition disavows its voter ing The problem with the Iowa AP photo Technical troubleshooting Call reporter Tucker Heap its evalua- tests and the information they pro- Idaho’s five northern counties have IS percent of the state’s population of 12 million But they recorded 94 of the state’s 171 meth lab seizures lut year or SS percent Idaho Department of Law Enforce- CaclM Valley ini tion of standardized tests School districts nationwide are starting (6 discuss the pitfalls of standardized neighborhoods such as frequent m ' BOISE (AP) — A committee of educators1 business representatives and administrators is rccommcndr Churches asked short-ter- -- -- especially the 0 vote" Kevin Crawford of the street department r ' - ' 6-- ' ' Residents city and county offiOn the court where they had cheered' for students in athletics and cials and students congratulated assemblies it was their turn to he the hugged and laughed with each of the center of attention The tables for retirees and asked them the same each retiree formed a horseshoe that inevitable question “What are you going to do with toll led to a refreshment table1 serving that free time?” they asked brownies and sandwiches Each round table was decorated Everything from farming to travelwith a white table cloth On the edge ' ing was the answer “1 have mixed emotions about sat a small brown book each visitor could sign to show each teacher their retiring” Koch said “I’m going to V miss the students and faculty” appreciation I is the missed won’t hard What be “It was nice appreciated to know how they felt" Golightly said “I'm part of the job — the stress of helping struggling students going to miss the kids and the faculty “It's hard” Koch said 'They're but what I won't miss is the early morning meetings and after school heading down the wrong way and sometimes you feel there’s nothing tardy makeup" Even though none of them taught you can do At the end of the year the same subject they all had one you have to make a decision (jf whose going to graduate That hurtoi thing in common Placed at the center of the table was: their proudest that's tough: I won't miss that” school staff writer Two hundred each side of the entrance to the Preston High School Karla Kattani 27 years head of the English department for Preston High School Marvin Golightly 32 years head of the math department for the high th&t the information it provides is not ak helpful Because the test measures general knowledge without adjusting for a particular state's curriculum there is no way to determine if the cur- ' riculum is effective with students - GOP dominance has fallout in party strife COEUR D’ALENE (AP) — The overwhelming strength of the Republican Party in Idaho is creating internal strife as moder- ates strive to claim a share of the power from the party's right ring In one of the GOP's more recent areas of conquest — Kootenai County where it now controls every legislative seat and all but one county office — interest in party leadership posts is at an high A score of moderates are dud- lenging conservatives in party all-ti- precinct committee elections May 23 in hopes of asserting more influence on party policy some believe is veering too far to the right “It's extremely surprising" county election supervisor Deedie Beard said Republican leaders acknowledge there are philosophical dif ferences within the party but' ' they do not see it as negative “Our disagreement is not thing” County GOP Chair-man Bob Nonini said “It's a healthy thing We’ve done a good job of increasing the inter est in Republican politics ani£ that is why we need to get Republican candidates elected' Even conservative Don Mor- gan who leads the term limits j crusade in Idaho thinks the! interest reflects a high level df ! grassroots interest “I’ve never seen the kind of vibrancy that I'm seeing now" in the Republican Party Morgan said The lone Democrat county' Clerk Dan English clainp “there seems to be a lot of guer villa activism going on” insid£ the GOP But Republican state Sen Jack Riggs calls that assessment political |