Sheriff pleads guilty to theft
Adams County Sheriff Richard Leo Green pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of misdemeanor theft after being accused of using a county credit card to make unauthorized purchases starting in August 2003.
He was sentenced in 3rd District Magistrate Court to 90 days in jail, all of it suspended.
Green must pay a $300 fine, court costs and do 200 hours of community service.
Initially, Green was charged by the Idaho attorney general with nine felony counts of misusing more than $1,000 in public money, then trying to conceal the transactions. Prosecutors agreed to a plea bargain after the state Court of Appeals earlier this year ruled only public officials with a “clear legal duty to keep public money safe” can be prosecuted for misuse of public funds.
“We were left with only the general theft statute to use,” said Deputy Attorney General Steve Bywater.
Green had been accused of misusing $1,247.93. He has admitted using a county credit card for two personal purchases: one for $32.68 and another for $18.55. He blamed his own sloppy record-keeping for his failure to pay the bills before the county did and said he no longer uses his official county credit card for personal purchases.
Moscow, Idaho
Group to petition for charter school
The group planning to open a new charter school in Moscow has withdrawn its application to the Moscow School Board and will instead submit its plans to the state.
The board of the Palouse Prairie School will apply for charter-school status for its Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound School with the Idaho Public Charter School Commission in November.
The Moscow board seemed intent on rejecting the application, said Bill Rivers, spokesman for the proposed charter school.
“We asked for the board to establish a process for negotiations, but the board didn’t seem to want to talk to us,” Rivers said. “We didn’t see how we could have good faith negotiations, and it seemed like it would be better to go to the commission.”
State law requires any group planning to start a charter school to start with the local school board. If the local board is unwilling to grant a charter, the group may then petition the state panel, which makes the final call on charter schools.
Under state law, no more than six new charter schools can be started each year. The limit likely means that the proposed Moscow school could not start until 2008.
Student campaign to aid food banks
A student group at the University of Idaho is planning a week-long campaign against hunger.
The War on Hunger began on campus Monday. Organizers will host food drives this week to collect items to stock the shelves at regional food banks.
Mary Barstow, 21, said Idaho ranks eighth among the 50 states in the percentage of residents who miss meals and don’t have enough money for a steady source of food.
“It takes so little to make such a huge difference,” she said.
Last year, more than 700 families came to the Moscow Food Bank for help, said director Linda Nickels. When the site opened 30 years ago, about one person came in per week.
“In the beginning, it was meant to be an emergency pantry,” Nickels said. “Now it’s become a food source. We are the other grocery store.”
Denice Wade, 22, a senior UI, said she is working to help the War on Hunger on campus because she remembers when her own family was in need.
“I remember my mom telling me not to tell anybody we had reduced lunch,” she said. “It was a pride issue.”