Fugitive arrested at mobile home

A Spirit Lake fugitive who fled from a Kootenai County sheriff’s detective Tuesday morning was arrested Wednesday evening at a mobile home near Rathdrum.

Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said officers found Stephen K. Nichols, 31, at the Scenic Mobile Estates, 28128 N. Highway 41, after receiving an anonymous tip. Nichols surrendered without incident after talking to officers for about 50 minutes, Wolfinger said.

Nichols was being questioned Tuesday morning about a minor theft, and when the detective started to handcuff him, he broke free and fled. The escape occurred at a Spokane County construction site near the Washington-Idaho border and led to a two-county manhunt.

After Nichols fled, deputies learned he was wanted in Texas for violating his parole in an attempted-murder conviction. Nichols will be held in the Kootenai County Jail until he can be extradited to Texas, Wolfinger said.

Coeur d’Alene

Meeting to focus on water issues

North Idaho water issues will be the focus of a water conference in Coeur d’Alene Friday.

The daylong conference will feature sessions including changes to water rights laws, new conservation measures enacted by Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene, shoreline protection and changing management rules for the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie aquifer.

The conference is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Lake Coeur d’Alene room at North Idaho College. It is being organized by the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce.

Registration costs $20 in advance or $25 at the door. To register, contact the chamber at (208) 664-3194 or www.cdachamber.com.

Colville Indian Reservation

Officers honored for drug busts

Ten law enforcement officers from three different agencies were recognized Wednesday by the U.S. Border Patrol for their work involving two major drug seizures on the Colville Indian Reservation.

The officers’ quick decision making was instrumental in confiscating 85 pounds of “B.C. Bud” marijuana on Feb. 19 and 315 pounds of B.C. Bud and 24,000 Ecstasy pills on March 15, said agent Robert L. Harris of the Spokane sector of the U.S. Border Patrol.

Both busts involved the drugs being flown into the United States from Canada by floatplanes

A floatplane dropped the drugs on Omak Lake in the first case, and on Soap Lake in the second, police said. No arrests were made in the first case. But the March 15 bust resulted in the arrest of two Vancouver, B.C., residents, police said. Sharmila Kumar, 37, and Shailen Varma, 25, were each charged with smuggling controlled substances.

The officers who were presented awards were from the Colville Tribal Police, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Natural Resources Enforcement Division and Confederated Tribes of Colville Reservation Game Division.

From staff reports