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COEUR d’ALENE — For a person recovering from substance use disorder, a year of sobriety is made up of countless moments of courage and resilience. 

That’s how case manager Teighan Moore put it Thursday, as she gathered at the Idaho State Police District 1 office with police officers, attorneys, judges and others to celebrate a community member graduating from Idaho Law Enforcement Diversion, or ILED. 

The program is a statewide coalition of local initiatives that divert low-level, nonviolent offenders into substance use treatment instead of taking them to jail. Thursday’s graduate, who has not been named publicly, is the second Kootenai County resident to complete ILED. 

“Sobriety is not an easy path and it takes immense determination to overcome the challenges that come with it,” Moore told the graduate. “You have faced those challenges head on, inspiring many with your commitment to change and grow. Your journey is a beacon of hope to others who are struggling, showing them that recovery is possible and that a brighter future awaits.” 

Sgt. Ron Sutton read aloud a letter from the trooper who referred the graduate to ILED one year ago. 

“I just want you to know that I’m very proud of you,” the letter said in part. “You had to do a lot of hard work to get where you are today. It’s not always easy when you are struggling with addiction, but you did it. You overcame and for that, I am proud of you and happy for you and your family.” 

The graduate smiled as he looked out at the room full of people who had helped him along the way. 

“Thank you, everybody,” he said. “This was a great program.” 

Brandi Clark, an addiction recovery coach at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said ILED gives law enforcement another tool to combat the opioid crisis in North Idaho. 

“The goal we have as a team is to see people achieve recovery,” she said. 

The program has strict eligibility requirements, resulting in a small number of referrals. Those committing violent crimes and crimes involving firearms are not eligible for ILED. Trafficking, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and driving under the influence are ineligible offenses. 

Participants must be adults who have no felony convictions within the past 10 years. They must not be on probation or parole. Sex offenders and individuals who are subject to a no-contact order or civil protection order are not eligible. Referrals are voluntary. 

The program fills a gap in services, Clark said. Kootenai County has specialty courts offering voluntary, post-conviction programs for controlled substance offenders, but those programs are geared toward people who have a history of legal problems. ILED provides a path for low-level offenders, giving them an opportunity to get on a different path. 

In Kootenai County, ISP and the Rathdrum Police Department have adopted the program. The Coeur d’Alene Police Department is also expected to join, with officers having the option to refer misdemeanor drug-related offenders to ILED. 

Chief deputy city attorney Ryan Hunter said the program will affect whole communities, not just individual participants. 

“This is not just a change in our graduate,” he said. “It breaks a cycle that is generational.”

Clark said it’s gratifying to see the program’s second graduation. 

“It feels like such a huge victory, not only for our team but for the program moving forward,” she said. “If it helps at least one person, then we’ve done the right thing. Now we’re onto two, with more people still in the program.”

BOISE, Idaho — The Boise National Forest continues to use fire lookouts today as they have around eight staffed lookouts during wildfire season, these lookouts have also played a pivotal role in the history of fighting wildfire.

The story begins in 1908 when the Boise National Forest service started. A forest supervisor was walking towards a wildfire when he ran into Harry Shellworth who was working for the Boise Payette Lumber Company.

This partnership would build the first fire lookout in the area in 1908 on top of Bald Mountain, today it is called the Thorn Creek Lookout.

The CCC was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 as a means to get out of the great depression. Harry Shellworth saw an opportunity and went to Washington D.C. to advocate for CCC funding in Idaho.

The Shafer Butte Lookout had already been built in 1925, but the Quartzfire of 1931 ended up scorching much of the Boise Boise. The Civilian Conservation Corps went to work building the Boise Ridge Road as a fire break and for another access point to the lookout.

It’s still standing on top of what is now Bogus Basin Ski Resort. In total there were 163 CCC camps in Idaho with 20,000 people working on a variety of projects including lookouts that were now located all over Idaho on the top of mountain peaks.

Fire lookouts have always been the best way to catch a wildfire when it’s small. New technology has emerged including cameras and artificial intelligence to detect smoke, but people still man some of the lookouts in the Boise National Forest.

Many of the lookouts have been rebuilt from their earlier days while some like the Deadwood Lookout is available for people to rent out and stay in. That lookout earned a designation on the National Register of Historic Places, it’s also under threat right now from the Nellie Fire.

Idaho also has others that qualify for that designation like the Danskin Peak Lookout built in 1941 and Virginia Clifton is working to help preserve these historic lookouts.

If you want to learn more about how lookouts work and the value they provide here is a story we did on the Danskin Lookout.