Hearing postponed in county v. city gun ban suit

By Lyndsie Kiebert
Reader Staff

A status conference in the lawsuit between Bonner County and Sandpoint regarding the Festival at Sandpoint weapons ban was postponed Nov. 26 because the judge in the case, Kootenai County District Court Judge Lansing L. Haynes, fell ill.

The conference, which serves as a meeting between attorneys and the judge to set a timeline for future proceedings, has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 1:30 p.m. at the Bonner County Courthouse.

When asked whether the postponement would affect how the county moves forward with litigation, seeing as the new date is even closer to Festival season, Bonner County Commissioner Dan McDonald told the Reader, “I don’t think it should.”

“We aren’t interested in stopping the Festival from happening; in fact, it’s just the opposite, we want the Festival to carry on,” he said. “The question is only the legality of violating the state law by banning possession of firearms on public property.”

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