NIC President Bell

Big News for NIC!

Oh my goodness, College President Priscilla Bell must be so thrilled at the news that $6 Million dollars should be refunded to NIC for the pre-paid rent on the Mill site property!  She is desperate for money.  She recently traveled to Boise to beg the legislature for more funding, and she even asked billionaire Warren Buffett to donate an important piece of railroad land near the Mill site, which Ms. Bell said the college could not afford to buy.

The newly discovered $6 Million refund could go a long way in helping these financial needs. Maybe now the college won’t keep raising our taxes in this tight economy when folks are already paying the inflated NIC taxes that jumped 32% when the college took Foregone taxes, they said at the time, in order to purchase the Mill site.   (more…)

(NOT Mary Souza!)

Mary Souza’s Newsletter

I went to the McEuen Field Open House at NIC Thursday night, presented by the City.  What a show!  It was awesome!  There were so many fancy features! I can’t stop using exclamation points because of all the amazing things we have the opportunity to get!  And we don’t need to worry about how to pay for them!  Isn’t that great?!

Parks Director Doug Eastwood actually said to the overwhelming crowd that filled the room to capacity, with standing room maxed all around the edges, all across the back, out the door and completely covering the upper landing of the NIC Student Union building…it was an enormous turnout…anyway, Doug said, “Once the project has been generally accepted by the public and the city council has given its approval, then we’ll figure out how to pay for it.”

It was a Nancy Pelosi moment!  (Just pass the bill then we’ll figure out what’s in it!)  (more…)

Mary Souza’s Newsletter

I hope you are having fun in this wonderful sunny weather.  This is what makes the winter worth enduring!

Just so you don’t lose touch with what our fair City is doing during the summer, I thought you’d better be aware of a law they have just altered.  One of my alert readers sent this info—thank you–which I then confirmed on the City’s web site.  The changes to this law were approved by the City Council and signed by the Mayor on June 1st.

The law, quoted below, controls the use of alcoholic beverages within the city.  You can see from the first paragraph that it is illegal to have an OPEN container of alcohol on any public property.  Now read the second paragraph.  It states that it’s illegal to have ANY container, whether open or not, on public property.  Notice that they took out the term “public park” and substituted “public property”.  (more…)

Priscilla Bell

Mary Souza’s Newsletter — Follow Up!

Dear Readers,
My newsletter from last Friday was about NIC’s abrupt firing of Dr. Robert Ketchum, the respected director of NIC’s Work Force Training Center in Post Falls.  The previous evening, the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce held its annual banquet, and Dr. Ketchum attended, as did  NIC’s President, Priscilla Bell.  (I bet they weren’t sitting at the same table!)

Several of my newsletter readers were at the Chamber banquet and emailed me with their outrage at what happened.  Here’s a sampling of their candor:  (more…)