Bulletin column - Oct. 7, 2010

City votes 4-3 to pay bill

Payment of a $12,116 bill from the Spokane law firm of Evans, Craven and Lackie was approved on a 4-3 vote of the city council Monday night. Council members David Nails, Jeremiah Roberts and Jeannette Solimine voted against paying the bill. The Spokane firm was hired to represent the city in the civil service appeal by Ralph Walter who was fired as fire chief July 2.

The city council last month voted against paying an earlier $2,709 bill from the law firm, but later changed its vote after an executive session called by City Attorney Bruce Ensley.

The Walter hearing began Tuesday.

Okanogan suspect rescued

Casey D. Cardenas, 20, Okanogan, was booked into the county jail at 10:02 a.m. Saturday after he was pulled from a wrecked car which plunged into the South Fork of the Palouse River in downtown Pullman. Officers said Cardenas lost control of the Acura RSX he was driving during a police chase on Grand Ave. in Pullman which reached speeds of 70 miles an hour.

According to the arrest report, the Acura landed upside down in the river. Pullman Police Officers and a Sheriffís deputy attempted to roll the car over and rescue the driver. A Pullman Fire Dept. crew arrived at the scene and were able to get Cardenas out of the wreck. He was taken to Pullman Regional Hospital for treatment before being brought to the jail here.

Deputy Sheriff Keith Cooper said he first observed the Acura cross the center line when it pulled onto Stadium Way from Valley Road. He pursued the car which was stopped in the McDonaldís lot on Stadium Way. After initial contact, Cooper asked the driver to exit the car, and instead the driver put the Acura in gear, went around a Pullman Police cruiser and turned south onto Grand. The driver then attempted to turn right onto Whitman Street and lost control of the car which went through the parking lot of Audio Concepts and then into the river onto its top. Deputy Cooper said about six inches of the bottom of the car was above the water in the river.

Cardenas was released on his own recognizance after a first appearance in court Monday.

Three arrested in meth cases

Three people were booked in jail Sept. 29, as the result of an investigation into two alleged sales of methamphetamine. Arrest reports filed in court said members of the Quad Cities Drug Task Force used an informant to purchase the drugs. The report said two transactions were set up after they had received reports methamphetamine was being sold in the Colfax area.

Arrested were Judson R. Doak, 22, and Holly J. Herne, 22, both Colfax, and Terril J. Wallace, 44, Stites, Idaho.

In a first appearance in court last Thursday, Doak and Herne were allowed pre-trial release on their own recognizance. Wallace was ordered held on $50,000 bond.

Wallace was booked into jail at 9:27 p.m. Sept. 29 on charges of delivery of methamphetamine, distribution of a drug to a person under 18 and involving a minor in a drug transaction. Formal charges were filed against him Monday in superior court.

The arrest report alleges a 17-year-old female was with Wallace when the informant purchased the drugs. The juvenile girl allegedly told QCDTF officers Wallace had injected her with methamphetamine on the day of the drug transaction. The report alleges Wallace admitted injecting the juvenile girl with meth, but told officers he did it just once. He told the drug officers he “wanted her to have it done right,” the report said.

Doak and Herne, who were identified as girlfriend/boyfriend, were allegedly involved in a separate undercover meth sale to an informant.

Formal charges have not been filed.

Collision trial nears

An order approving expenditure of public funds for the trial of Victor Jacob Marley was approved Sept. 29 in superior court. Marley, 39, Milton Freewater, faces two charges of vehicular homicide involving the deaths of a Lewiston couple in a head-on collision on the Walla Walla Highway south of Dusty. The Sept. 19, 2009, accident took the lives of Ronald and Frances West of Lewiston.

According to the Washington State Patrol report, a 2006 Chevrolet Blazer driven by Marley collided with a Toyota Camry which was driven by Ronald West. The state contends Marley, who was driving southbound crossed a double yellow line on a curve while attempting a pass and collided with the Toyota. Marley, who was taken to a hospital in Spokane, told officers he was en route home from Moscow at the time of the accident.

The $3,302 will be used by an expert witness to prepare material and travel here for the trial which is now slated for Oct. 19. The petition noted Marley has already spent some of his own funds for his own defense but needs the additional money.

The Wests died at the scene of the accident. Marley was flown by Medstar to Spokane. Results of tests on blood samples indicated alcohol and drugs were not a factor, according to a report in the file.

Return of the sidewalk

A crew from subcontractor Five Star Concrete, Inc., Spokane, last Thursday rebuilt the sidewalk in front of the former shop building at Main & Upton which is now owned by the county. Part of the building is being converted into office space for the county auditor’s elections staff.

The sidewalk replaced a drive-in entrance which was used for trucks of Harrison Electric and later Greg’s Electric when those businesses occupied the building. The entrance was also used for years by customers of Feldman Brothers Tire when they operated a service center in the building.