Teacher accused of playing strip poker

A teacher at Coeur d’Alene’s Lake City Junior Academy has been accused of playing strip poker with several boys during a recent camping trip.

The teacher, 42-year-old Andy Armstrong, of Coeur d’Alene, has been suspended with a dismissal pending, said Twila Brown, principal at the private Christian school.

“When we learned of the incident, we took appropriate action,” Brown said Tuesday.

The school board was briefed on the incident and the steps the school took at a meeting Monday night, Brown added.

When reached at his home Tuesday, Armstrong declined to comment, saying he probably should speak with a lawyer first.

Brown called the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department on Saturday to report the incident.

According to the sheriff’s telephone call log, the strip poker card game is believed to have occurred between April 24 and 28 during a school trip to Camp MiVoden on Hayden Lake.

The principal told a sheriff’s deputy that Armstrong played the card game, in which losers must remove articles of clothing, with several boys.

Armstrong also told the boys not to tell anyone, according to the sheriff’s report.

The Upper Columbia Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church operates the camp and the Lake City Junior Academy.

Armstrong remained listed on the school’s Web site Tuesday as teaching physical education and science to fifth through 10th grades. He is listed as having 11 years of experience.

– James Hagengruber

and Scott Maben

Kootenai County

Public relations contract approved

The Kootenai County commission voted Tuesday to give a public relations firm a one-year contract to help publicize county news and broadcast various public hearings.

Commissioner Rick Currie voted against the $1,500-per-month contract with Taggart & Clarke Effective Communication, saying it’s too much money for taxpayers.

Commissioners Gus Johnson and Katie Brodie, who are up for re-election, voted to continue the contract that started in January as a three-month trial .

Brodie said the company will help the county broadcast coming hearings on the comprehensive plan.

Johnson’s challenger in the May 23 Republican primary, Post Falls City Councilman Todd Tondee, opposes hiring the firm as does Brodie’s challenger, retired county employee Rich Piazza.

If the firm goes over its $1,500-per-month limit, the commission can approve additional work that would cost $60 an hour.

Cynthia Taggart, the firm’s co-founder, formerly was a reporter for The Spokesman-Review.

– Erica Curless