02:36 PM MST on Thursday, January 12, 2006

Associated Press

SALMON -- The prosecutor of Lemhi County in central Idaho has asked the Idaho Attorney General's Office to investigate the sheriff over allegations he was consuming alcohol while participating in a search and rescue operation.

The investigation was prompted by a letter to officials from a volunteer who claimed that Lemhi County Sheriff Sam Slavin was drinking during an unidentified search and rescue operation.

Slavin was the target of a failed recall effort last summer that stemmed from his guilty plea to misdemeanor drunken driving last year in Boise.