Ready to blossom at 100 article from the Lewiston Morning Tribune

              Sunday
August 4, 2002
Parade
3      Magazine.
Inside
Twins
among
winners
-Sports, Page IB
Plenty
to see
at Deary
— Northwest, Page 1C
Partly
sunny
LEWISTON MORNING TRIBUNE
Seven sections
Serving north central Idaho and southeastern Washington since 1892
Ready to blossom at 100
Clarkston leaders say their city
is poised for an economic boom
City leaders and business owners say Clarkston is poised
to become a recreation and tourism destination, and the
city's acres of flat, vacant land are well-suited for industrial expansion.
Clarkston, incorporated 100 years ago today, encompasses a
little more than a square mile and is home to 7,337 residents.
Often described as a bedroom community to Lewiston,
Clarkston is considered a small town in an urban area. It has
grown slower than its sister city across the Snake River in both
population and commercial expansion.
While developers spend millions of dollars blasting rock and
moving earth in Lewiston to make room for large chain stores,
acres of Clarkston's flat land remain empty and ripe for development.
Clarkston officials point to Washington's business and occupation tax and a
higher sales tax on
the Washington
side of the river as
detriments to drawing more large businesses to Clarkston.
The sales tax difference between
Lewiston and Clarkston is 2 percent
Idaho charges 5 percent and Clarkston's
sales tax is 7 percent
on nonfood items. No
sales tax is charged
on food.
"We would welcome almost any
business with open
arms," says Clarkston Mayor Donna
Engle. "But the state
of Washington has a
(business and occupation) tax and that's
a reality. We canjt
compete with Idaho.
Idaho will win out
almost every time."
The business and
occupation tax is
Washington's version
of an income tax for
businesses. But unlike income tax, it
taxes gross revenue
regardless of overall
profit
"I can't see any big
merchandisers mov-
From the early 1900s, with the new dirt
streets and a few cars, through 2002, Clarkston Is making improvements by (top to bottom) turning the former airport into a port
district, building a new high school auditorium and a new library arid welcoming a
stream of tourists like those on the Queen of
the West cruise boat.
See 700, Page 3A
Read
more about
Clarkston in
today's issue
of the
Tribune.
Stories
about
Clarkston
and its 100th
birthday
appear in the
Business
section,
Sunday
A.M. and a
special
section
devoted to
the town's
history.
For some, the livin' is easier
Tax situation isn't all that draws people to Clarkston from the Idaho side, but it helps
You might guess that Philip
Presnell, founder of Lewis-
ton's largest local accounting firm, moved to Washington a
decade ago to escape paying taxes on his retirement income.
But you would be wrong. Presnell and his wife, left Idaho because no condom in iums were
available in Lewiston,
Their two-story home with a
daylight basement bad grown too
large for them. As the first owners of the residence, they planted
about 400 trees and shrubs on the
grounds that sloped down to the
10th green of the Lewiston Golf &
Country Club course.
"We intended on traveling and
going south in the winter," said
Presnell, 79. "We felt we just
couldn't keep it up correctly."
The small town atmosphere of
Asotin County is something Presnell said he and his wife, Ruth,
appreciate. "Clarkston is a nice
community. Once we made the
move, that was it."
Tribune!Kyle Mills
Ruth and Philip Presnell
But even though if s just a river
that separates the two communities, Presnell acknowledges the
financial advantages of Washington are great He saves thousands
each year on income taxes.
Like the Presnells, most families consider factors other than
income tax in choosing where to
locate, Su Brown, a Lewiston certified public accountant, said.
People usually live in the same
state where they work, Brown
said.
Residents of Idaho and Washington pay federal income tax.
Washington residents pay no
state income tax, but they still
have to pay Idaho income tax if
they work or own rental property
in Idaho. The rate is the same as
for Idaho residents.
The difference is a Washington
resident wouldn't have to pay income tax on interest from savings
accounts or dividends from stock.
Brown said.
Sometimes people will choose
to live in Washington if they want
their children to attend college in
the state so they can pay lower instate tuition, Brown said.
"Retirees typically want to live
on the Washington side because
there is no income tax," said
Loris Profi tt, a Lewiston Realtor.
Couples who like to hunt and
fish usually want to be in Idaho,
Profitt says.
There's more public land avail-
See Easier, Page 3A
Cost of living
Meet the Smiths and the Johnsons. They're fictional retired couples,
with identical income and assets. The Smiths -live in Nez Perce
County, the Johnsons in Asotin County. The table compares the
couples' tax liability.
John and Jane Smith, both 65, live and work in Nez Perce County.
Assets Taxes
Income: $58,400 $2,663 (State)
Home (Normal Hill or Elks Addition): $150,000
2001 Ford Explorer SUV XU
2000 Honda Accord
Boat trailer
Custom Weld 16-ft. tiller boat w/50hp outboard motor
Two fishing licenses w/steel head cards
Senior citizen discount, 5-year residency _ ,  ,
Total
$3,290
$61.50
$61.50
$10.25
$22.50
$32.50
$6,140
Joe and Sally Johnson, both 65, live and work in Asotin County.
Assets Taxes
Income: $58,400 $0
Home (in Clarkston): $150,000 $2,289.49
2001 Ford Explorer SUV XU $33.50
2000 Honda Accord $33.50
Boat trailer $33.50
Custom Weld 16-ft. tiller boat w/50hp outboard motor $555
Two fishing licenses w/steelhead cards $47.80
Total    $2,992.79
Tribune gapNc/Susan Enge
Surprising discovery could be key to heart attacks
i Researchers say inflammation is even worse for the heart than cholesterol
BOSTON — Worse than cholesterol? Hard to believe, perhaps,
but the top health concern of
millions of Americans is about to be
trumped by what doctors say is an
even bigger trigger of heart attacks.
The condition is low-grade inflammation, which may originate in a variety of unlikely places throughout
the body, including even excess fat.
New federal recommendations are
being written that will urge doctors to
test millions of middle-aged Americans for it.
effects is causing a top-to-bottom rethinking of the origins and prevention
of heart trouble. Doctors call it a revolutionary departure from viewing
the world's top killer as largely a
plumbing problem blamed on cholesterol-clogged arteries, the standard
theory through the modern era of cardiology.
"The implications of this are enormous," says Dr. Paul Ridker of
Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital. "It means we have an entire other way of treating, targeting and preventing heart disease that was
essentially missed because of our fo-
The discovery of its surprising ill   cus solely on cholesterol."
In the past year or two, experts say,
the evidence has become overwhelming that inflammation hidden deep in
the body is a common trigger of heart
attacks, even when' clogging in the arteries is minimal. Now the main question is: How aggressively should otherwise healthy people be tested to
find and treat it?
The new recommendations are still
being drawn up, but they will offer
the first formal blueprint to answer
this, probably sometime in the fall.
Doctors writing them say they will almost certainly recommend broad
testing.
Inflammation can be measured
with a generic $10 test that looks for
high levels of a chemical called C -reactive protein, one of many that increase during inflammation. Experts
expect it to quickly become a standard part of physical exams. As a result, many people ordinarily considered at low risk will probably be put
on statin drugs, which lower inflammation as well as cholesterol.
No one disputes the importance of
cholesterol. Yet half of all heart attack
victims have levels that are normal or
even low. Clearly, something big was
missing from the equation, and that
appears to be inflammation.
Ridker estimates that between 25
million and 35 million healthy middle-aged Americans have normal
cholesterol but above-average inflammation, putting them at unusual
risk of heart attacks and strokes.
A series of landmark studies by his
team, beginning in 1997, suggest inflammation is more important than
cholesterol at triggering heart attacks. They found those with high levels of C-reactive protein have twice
the risk of people with elevated cholesterol.
High amounts of the protein also
predict increased risk of heart attacks and strokes years before they
occur, even when cholesterol levels
are low. Having both inflammation
and high cholesterol together is espe-
See Heart, Page 3A