Discrimination suit against NIC dismissed
A discrimination suit a former student filed against North Idaho College in 2005 has been dismissed.
Maria Emerson, 50, claimed in the suit that she was terminated from the college’s nursing program due to alleged discrimination based on her age, disability and South American heritage.
Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Larry Boyle said in dismissing the suit that Emerson’s claim of age discrimination was moot because “there were older students who successfully completed the nursing program.”
Boyle’s written opinion also rejected Emerson’s contention that she was discriminated against because of a hearing disability, saying she had never sought treatment or been diagnosed with a hearing problem.
Emerson had also claimed her instructor was “unfavorable” to her once the instructor learned she could speak Spanish. She said the instructor had quit putting “good” and “happy faces” on the assignments Emerson turned in, according to court documents.
Boyle said Emerson’s own testimony was that the instructor was “hostile” toward her before learning of her origin. He said the fact the teacher didn’t put happy faces on Emerson’s work wasn’t proof of discrimination.
The college’s attorney had argued that Emerson was terminated from the program because she turned in assignments late, failed to complete tests and contaminated a sterile area while visiting an operating room to observe.
– Taryn Brodwater
BONNERS FERRY
Sheriff’s Office sued over alleged abuse
A woman who says a Boundary County sheriff’s sergeant stomped on her leg and broke it is suing the county.
Elizabeth Giffin alleges in the suit that sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Goad responded to the Naples Trailer Park in October 2004 because of a dispute between Giffin and her neighbor over the use of a storage shed.
Giffin says in the suit that she was sitting on her porch when Goad parked his cruiser at the driveway to the trailer park and ordered her to “approach his vehicle.”
She said in the suit that when she was about 6 feet from the officer, he ordered her to turn around and approached her to place her in handcuffs.
Goad “grabbed and threw her to the ground,” Giffin alleges in the claim. She said that Goad stomped on the back of her leg when she tried to get up.
Boundary County Sheriff Greg Sprungl could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
Giffin and her attorney were also unavailable for comment.
The county filed a response to Giffin’s suit denying her claims.
– Taryn Brodwater
Post Falls
Woman reports overnight burglary
The home of a retired Post Falls woman was burglarized Tuesday morning while she was asleep in her bed, according to a Kootenai County sheriff’s report.
The burglar reportedly unscrewed the bulbs from the woman’s front and rear porch lights and entered her home on Stateline Road through an unlocked door, according to the report.
The woman said she awoke around 2 a.m. to her dog growling and got up to check her home.
She called 911 after discovering her purse, credit cards, video camera, cell phone and tools were missing.
About 15 minutes after she was awoken she heard a sound like a motorcycle’s exhaust, she told deputies.
She said that the only strangers who had been in her house recently were two men delivering furniture earlier that day for a local furniture store.
– Taryn Brodwater