Bulletin column - Sept. 30, 2010

These reports are from the previous four issues of the Daily Bulletin in Colfax. They are reprinted here for the benefit of Gazette readers who reside outside of Colfax. Some accounts have been updated.

City will look for pipe grants

Andy Rogers, Colfax Public Works director, said he plans to undertake a search for grant sources to repair or replace the water main which links the city’s artesian pumps at Glenwood with the pump station at the end of Clay Street. Rogers told the city council members at their last meeting city crews have been called out more and more to repair leaks in the aging pipe.

Rogers said his research indicates crews have made 18 repairs to the line over the last 10 years.

Future of the line at one time was in doubt before the city completed negotiations to purchase the Glenwood wells from descendants of the Mitchell family who previously leased the well to the city under terms of a 100-year lease. The city at one time considered drilling a new well at Colfax and transferring the state water rights from the Glenwood production. Ownership of the water rights by the city was a key factor in negotiations to purchase the wells.

Rogers has pointed out Glenwood’s artesian production provides the city with water at ground level without pumping cost. The water is pumped up the east hill to the Big Blue reservoir on the west hill.

Most of the failures in the line appear at the joints. Replacing the line, or segments of the line, or installation of a liner are among options for repairing the line.

The Glenwood line is among capital expense projects in the spending list for income off proposed rate hikes in the city’s utility bills. A decision on the proposed hikes will be on the agenda for Monday’s city council session.

Trial date reset for Estes

A Dec. 13 jury trial was scheduled Friday for Monte Dale Estes, 53, one of the first suspects arrested in the Oakesdale area drug and theft cases last spring. Estes had been ordered to appear in court Friday after failing to appear for a readiness hearing Sept. 8 in advance of a trial which had been set to begin Sept. 13.

He was ordered to show cause why an arrest warrant should not be issued after he failed to appear for the mandatory court date Sept. 8.

Estes was arrested Feb. 8 at his residence on the Farmington Road. The arrest report alleged he had been cooking a batch of methamphetamine at the time officers arrived at the residence.

Estes was formerly charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine and possession of stolen property, a generator/welder.

The investigation report on Estes said deputies had received tips of burglaries and thefts which were connected with drug use in the Oakesdale area.

Estes pleaded not guilty to the charges Feb. 26. He waived his right to a speedy trail, and trial dates have been set back after both sides have told the court a resolution of the case was in the works.

Estes is represented by Charles Kovis of Moscow.

Wreck suspect charged

Sarah Kathleen Miller, 28, Clarkston, pleaded not guilty Friday in superior court to charges of driving under the influence and second degree malicious mischief. Miller was released on her own recognizance Monday after being arrested at the scene of a rollover accident Sept. 18 on Highway 271 north of Oakesdale.

The arrest report alleges Miller struggled with officers at the scene and damaged a side window in the back of a Washington State Patrol car where she was placed after being arrested.

Her trial has been scheduled for Dec. 13.

Pullman robbery charge filed

A charge of first-degree robbery was filed last Thursday in Superior Court against Randy A. Norberg, 28, Newport. A warrant for his arrest without bail was issued by the court.

The charge involves allegations Norberg in the early hours of Aug. 10 broke out a window and entered a residence on NW Parkwood Drive in Pullman and threatened the occupant with a gun. The alleged victim told officers he fled the apartment after the intruder went to another room.

The report said the alleged victim recognized a van and its driver as he fled to a neighbor’s residence. Mark S. Heltsley, who was subsequently identified as the driver of the van, was arrested in Spokane two days later. He allegedly told Pullman police in a jail interview that he had dropped Norberg off at the Pullman residence Aug. 10 with instructions to look inside and see if anyone was home. He said when Norberg climbed back in his van they argued about Norberg’s entry into the residence on the way back to Spokane.

Heltsley allegedly told Pullman police they had gone to Pullman that night to recover a computer they believed the Pullman resident had stolen.

Colfax judgment set aside

A $20,027 district court default judgment against the Roger Deacons and Deacon’s Medical Equipment of Colfax was set aside by Judge John F. Strohmaier of Lincoln County after a hearing in superior court here last Thursday. He ruled the judgment should be set aside because the Deacons did not have proper legal representation at the March 10 default hearing in district court and the weeks leading up to it.

The March 10 default judgment had been awarded on a suit filed by Kim DeHart, former manager of Deacons in Colfax. Her suit alleges the funds are due her for unpaid wages and for reimbursement for use of her own funds to pay creditors of the business in the last weeks of her employment in August and September of 2007.

Clarkston Attorney David Gittins in his motion to set aside the judgment said the Deacons’ former attorney, the late Ronald B. Webster of Colfax, was unable at the time to properly represent the Deacons because of illness. Gittins filed a declaration by Karen Carter, Webster’s long-time legal secretary, who detailed Mr. Webster’s difficulties in working at his office after he was injured in a Feb. 17 fall at his office.

Colfax Attorney Ronald Shirley said in a pre-hearing statement he had been hired by DeHart Jan. 27 of this year after she dismissed her original attorney. Shirley said in his review of the suit, which was filed two years earlier, he discovered Webster had never filed a formal answer in district court. He said he advised Webster that an answer had not been filed and allowed extra time in the legal process for Webster to do so.

On the day of the district court hearing on the default motion, Webster was in the hospital. Teresa Keene, who had her own practice in space she rented from Webster, attended the session but was unable to explain to the court why an answer to the suit was never filed.

Gittins also included a declaration and records by Tracy Gingerich, bookkeeper for Deacons and also bookkeeper in the years prior to 2005 when DeHart was hired to manage the business. The declaration was presented to show the defense could present a case in the event Judge Strohmaier decided to set the default judgment aside. The declaration alleges DeHart was paid in full up to the time she left the business and that she had also drawn pay in excess of her own salary rate at that time.

Judge Strohmaier remanded the case back to district court for trial. He pointed out nothing in the record shows District Judge Douglas Robinson was fully aware of Mr. Webster’s condition at the time he allowed the default judgment. The judge did allow DeHart $300 additional costs incurred for pursuing the default judgment.