Around Oregon and Idaho

Wednesday, December 2, 2009 10:24 AM PST

Monsanto, agencies sign cleanup pact for ID mines

BOISE (AP) — Federal and state agencies, an Indian tribe and the maker of Roundup weedkiller have agreed to develop comprehensive plans to clean up pollution at three defunct phosphate mines, officials said Tuesday. The pact, which was announced by the Environmental Protection Agency, requires Monsanto Co. to investigate pollution from its mines in Ballard, Henry, and Enoch Valley. A first proposed cleanup plan is expected by 2013.

Mines dotting Idaho’s rich phosphate belt came under scrutiny after livestock were poisoned by selenium starting in the 1990s.

Idaho lifts Silver Creek mercury advisory

BOISE (AP) — State officials are lifting a consumption advisory for trout from Silver Creek, a famous central Idaho fly-fishing stream, after learning that a 2007 laboratory miscue resulted in overestimated mercury levels. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare said Tuesday the 2-year-old recommendation to limit eating brown trout from the spring-fed tributary of the Little Wood River was due to a calculation error at a U.S. Geological Survey lab in Wisconsin. Author Ernest Hemingway fished Silver Creek starting in 1939, and thousands of anglers from around the globe follow in his footsteps annually to stalk the stream’s flighty brown, rainbow and brook trout. Catch-and-release rules are in place on much of Silver Creek, so eating too many trout generally isn’t an issue.

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Salem woman

describes escape from ex-boyfriend

SALEM (AP) — A 22-year-old Salem woman says she was able to talk her way out of a violent abduction by a suicidal ex-boyfriend by promising she’d stay with him and they’d be ‘‘Bonnie and Clyde.’’

The man fatally shot himself a short time later when he was confronted by a Marion County sheriff’s deputy after the woman fled and called 911, sheriff’s Lt. Sheila Lorance said Tuesday.

Brittany Caudle told deputies she went to the residence she had shared with 50-year-old Mickey Jarrell on Monday to pick up some belongings, believing he would not be there. She said he attacked and bound her with duct tape and zip ties, then eventually began driving her from Woodburn to The Dalles, Lorance said. Along the way, Caudle said Jarrell confessed to several robberies at the Woodburn Outlet Mall. She eventually persuaded him to turn back to Salem, saying she would stay with him.

Ex-Bellevue clerk sentenced for embezzlement

BELLEVUE (AP) — A former Bellevue city clerk will spend at least 180 days behind bars after embezzling almost $14,000 from the city between May and December of 2007.

Lacey Ann Loughmiller will serve time in a program meant to rehabilitate offenders, which normally means a stint at the North Idaho Correctional Facility in Cottonwood. Loughmiller pleaded guilty in October under a plea agreement with the prosecutor’s office to avoid a lengthy sentence.

The Mountain Express reported 5th District Judge John Butler gave Loughmiller a seven-year suspended prison sentence, fined her $1,000, placed her on probation and ordered her to repay the money she embezzled.

Coast Guard rescues 3 from fishing boat

COOS BAY (AP) — The Coast Guard has rescued three people from a sinking fishing boat near the entrance of Coos Bay, Ore. A crewman on the 38-foot vessel Manatee called for help Tuesday afternoon, saying the boat was taking on water.

Coast Guard Station Coos Bay launched a 47-foot motor lifeboat. The lifeboat crew pulled all three Manatee crewmembers aboard before the fishing boat eventually sank at the Coos Bay river bar entrance.

They were checked by medics but there are no reports of injuries.

The Coast Guard says there was no pollution and the sunken boat is not a hazard to navigation.

The ship’s master will be responsible for any salvage.