Bulletin column - July 29, 2010

Birch headed for prison

Dustin M. Birch, 37, was sentenced to prison Friday, July 23, in Whitman County Superior Court after he pleaded guilty to four charges of selling marijuana. Birch received the year-and-a-day sentence, which places him in the custody of the state Department of Corrections.

He was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine plus $800 in fees and costs.

Birch was charged with selling marijuana in four instances between October and December of last year. The buyer was an undercover informant.

Drug officers also obtained a warrant and searched a Pioneer Street apartment in Pullman where Birch was residing Dec. 18. They alleged they discovered marijuana plants and other drug evidence. The report notes a roommate in the apartment had obtained a medical permit for marijuana use and Birch was listed as a caregiver.

A sentencing report on Birch listed two prior convictions with the latest being a 2007 case here on a charge of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. Birch was assigned an offender score of two on conviction of the first count Friday and the score mounted to five as he was convicted of subsequent counts. He was originally charged with six counts, but two were dropped prior to Friday’s plea bargain.

The arrest report on Birch noted the informant learned Birch was supplied marijuana by Robert Richter of Maple Valley. Richter was arrested Nov. 30 in Albion and members of the Quad Cities Drug Task Force said they found more than nine pounds of marijuana in his truck along with more than $32,000 in cash. Richter was sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay $16,600 in fines and fees.

Fire crews roll on calls

Colfax fire crews were called out at 2:27 p.m. Sunday, July 25, by a report of a vehicle fire on Highway 195 at mile 41 just north of Colfax. The fire started in the engine compartment of a truck. The fire was extinguished when the crew arrived at the scene.

A crew was dispatched at about 10 a.m. Sunday morning by a report of a fire caused by a downed power line on the Prune Orchard road. An Avista crew was summoned to repair the line.

Scouts land two sturgeon

Nine Colfax scouts and four leaders embarked on a Hell’s Canyon fishing trip with Dr. Mike Frostad of Pullman over the weekend. They landed a three-foot and six-foot sturgeon and other fish during the trip. The big fish were released.

They launched at Heller Bar and went upstream on the Snake past the Salmon River confluence.

Rosalian hurt in harvest wreck

Caitlyn Jeske, 21, Rosalia, sustained lacerations to her face, legs and hands July 22 when she was ejected through the windshield of a truck in a harvest accident near LaCrosse. A Colfax ambulance brought her to Whitman Hospital after conducting a rendezvous with a personal party which started for the hospital from the scene of the accident.

According to a report by Deputy Sgt. Rick McNannay, the 1975 Ford truck she was driving went out of control when she missed a gear change and then exhausted the air supply to the brake system. The truck became airborne over a ditch and struck an embankment on the opposite side.

Rogers to serve 60 days for violation

Pamela Rae Rogers, 37, Pullman, was sentenced to 60 days in jail July 23 after she admitted violating a condition of her sentence by attempting to send a letter to her co-defendant.

Rogers attempted to send a letter to Michael Schaub from a drug treatment center in the Spokane Valley where she was assigned after being allowed a drug offender sentence alternative for treatment. She was assigned the DOSA treatment after she and Schaub were convicted of being in possession of property stolen from several Pullman homes which were unoccupied during the holiday season.

July 23 was the second time Rogers has been ordered to serve jail time for violating terms of her sentence. She and Schaub were each sentenced to 45 days for exchanging notes when both were at the Spokane Valley treatment center.

Schaub was then moved to a treatment center in Chehalis, and Rogers returned to the Spokane Valley center where she was apprehended June 17 attempting to send a letter to Chehalis.

Judge David Frazier also restored a court order forbidding contact between Rogers and Schaub. He had previously ruled the two could have contact if permitted by the Department of Corrections. At the time she attempted to send the letter, she had not received any DOC permission.

In a statement she read to the court, Rogers said she wanted to be a mom and not a junkie. She noted she had been free of drugs for 160 days.

The judge ordered Rogers to serve the full 60 days without being credited for any good time. She was returned to jail to finish out the 60 days before being transported back to the treatment center.

Mustang said stolen

Aron Mikhael Taylor, 32, Nine Mile, was booked into the county jail late Sunday, July 25, by Deputy Sgt.

Donald Anderson on a charge of possession of a stolen vehicle.

Anderson’s arrest report said he was driving southbound on Highway 195 near the Idaho border south of Uniontown when he observed a northbound black Ford Mustang which logged a 74 mph radar reading.

He turned around and stopped the driver.

Anderson said a radio check revealed the Mustang had been reported stolen in Spokane.

He said the suspect presented papers that he was the registered owner of the car, but an additional check on the Spokane listing alleged the Mustang had been repossessed and then turned up missing from the repossession lot.