History from Here

About Frances Sleep Judge Without a Court In 1969, after several years of debate and consideration, the Idaho Legislature modernized the state's lower court system. Under the new system,  all probate, justice of the peace, and municipal police courts were eliminated and their functions transferred to the District Court . The District courts, in turn, transferred these functions to a newly-created structure of magistrate courts .  ( Spokesman-Review , January 13, 1971, p. 2)   “The new court system,” according to District Judge James G. Towles of Wallace, as quoted in an article in the June 11, 1970, edition of the Sandpoint News-Bulletin , “will avoid the division of jurisdiction which hampered the efficiency of the present court system, reduce the number of judges of the lower courts and confine their work to judicial business on a fulltime basis and improve the training and salary schedules, thereby attracting the best possible personnel at an ultimate saving of ...

  Sandpoint News-Bulletin , November 10, 1966 About Frances Sleep Meeting Chair In mid-November 1966, just days after being re-elected Bonner County’s Probate Judge in the general election, Judge Sleep presided over the annual meeting of the Idaho Conference of Social Welfare in Boise. If accounts of the proceedings in the Idaho Statesman are accurate, Conference President Sleep oversaw a rancorous meeting. First, Idaho Governor Robert E. Smylie insulted a group of Idaho housewives, and then the conferees nearly censured the Idaho Department of Public Assistance and its director.   An account of the Smiley insult incident is in an article in the November 18 edition of the Idaho Statesman . Unfortunately, it so confusing that an exact sequence of events is difficult to determine. The Idaho Conference on Social Welfare, it seems, had invited the governor to speak at its annual meeting – something he had done in the past. In 1966, however, Smylie was unable to appear in-pers...

  Judge Sleep, second from the left, with state and federal advisors for the Bonner County Family Services Project. Project Supervisor Ferrell Brown is standing on the far right. Sandpoint News-Bulletin , April 1, 1965 About Frances Sleep Incorporator In 1965, as winter turned to spring, Frances Sleep and four others incorporated a new organization under the name of the Community Organization for Progress. Sleep’s co-incorporators were Everett D. Hofmeister, Joe C. Swendig, Royce S. Fuhriman, and Donald W. Largent. According to an article in the March 20 edition of the Spokesman-Review , the purpose of the new corporation was “to promote projects under the federal economic opportunity act, the manpower development and training act and the area redevelopment act.” The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 , the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962 , and the Area Redevelopment Act of 1961 were weapons in the War on Poverty that President Kennedy declared and Preside...

Frances Sleep, seated on far right, and other members of Idaho's Manpower Advisory Committee, Boise,  Idaho Statesman , December 19, 1963 About Frances Slee p Award Winner In January 1962, as she had the year before, Judge Sleep presided at the annual meeting and luncheon of the Idaho Press Women in Boise. Although she was not re-elected president, she did receive several awards for her writing and photography, including first place for a news story published in a magazine and second place for a feature story published in a daily newspaper. In the category of “feature picture in a magazine,” Judge Sleep took the top prize. Unfortunately, the publications in which her award-winning stories and photos were published are not known. ( Sandpoint News-Bulletin , March 8, 1962, p. 13) Community Development Supporter In April, Judge Sleep endorsed a proposal to build a ski resort in Bonner County. “I, for one,” she wrote in a statement published in the April 5 edition of the Sandp...