Around Oregon/Idaho
Thursday, July 30, 2009 10:39 AM PDT
Ore. woman sentenced for role in meth ring
EUGENE (AP) — A 33-year-old Springfield woman has been sentenced to almost four years in federal prison for distributing methamphetamine. Police arrested Maribel Flores-Chavez last year after seizing cash, scales and packaging material from her home and a pound of meth from a storage unit. Flores-Chavez pleaded guilty in April and was sentenced in Eugene this week by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Hogan. Hogan sentenced two of her co-conspirators to prison earlier this year. The woman’s husband got four years on a drug charge in 2007.
Rupert woman charged with 11 sex crimes
BURLEY (AP) — A 26-year-old Rupert woman charged with 11 sex crimes against children has been scheduled for a preliminary hearing on some of the charges Friday.
Emily Kay Thurber is charged with one count of lewd conduct with a child, one count of sexual battery of a minor child, two counts of sexual abuse of a child, three counts of statutory rape and four counts of criminal conspiracy. Prosecutors say the charges stem from incidents between 2005 and 2008 with two victims.
Pomeranian puppy snatched from child
CHUBBUCK (AP) — Police in Chubbuck say they’re searching for a woman who snatched a puppy out of the arms of a 5-year-old girl.
Sgt. Robert Butterfield says the little girl, Sadie Austin, was a the local park with her grandmother when the dognapping occurred Tuesday. He says the child was working on a craft project when a woman asked if she could hold the 11-week-old Pomeranian puppy.
ACLU reviews charter school’s plans to use Bible
BOISE (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho is reviewing a new public charter school’s plans to use the Bible as a primary source of teaching material. ACLU of Idaho director Monica Hopkins says the agency wants to make sure the state is not funding or endorsing a specific religion.
Nampa Classical Academy will open in the fall with more than 550 students. The school plans to use the Bible as part of Western civilization history classes and says the text will be taught for its literary and historic qualities, as part of a secular education program. Academy founder Isaac Moffett says the Bible is one of many historical religious texts from which students will read. Others include the Quran and the writings of Confucius.
Portland fish killed in domestic disturbance
PORTLAND (AP) — Assault and animal abuse charges have been filed against a 27-year-old man accused of attacking his ex-girlfriend and killing her pet fish.
The Oregonian newspapaper reports that Donald Earl Fite III was in court Monday stemming from a domestic assault at his ex-girlfriend’s Portland apartment.
According to court documents, Fite shoved the woman against a wall, grabbed her hair and tossed her into a bathtub last week. The woman fled, but returned to find her fish on the floor with a knife through it.
