Bulletin Column

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.

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HIGHWAY

PROJECT DUE

- JULY

A highway reconstruction project on Highway 195, including the Colfax segment south of the Cooper Street intersection, is expected to get underway in July, City Administrator Carl Thompson reported to city council members Monday night. The state plans to open bids on the project May 3.

Thompson said last week’s meeting dealt with preliminary talks on water and sewer lines which are under the highway segment. He said the state intends to keep two lanes of traffic open on 195 during the project with a flagging operation on the site. The project is expected to have an impact on harvest traffic.

Excavation for the project will go down two feet for the first 600 feet in the city. That will include placement of new base rock under the highway. Total length of the project from Cooper Street south will continue to mile marker 129.4. Except for the first 600 feet, the rest of the project will involve a normal resurfacing project. Thompson said the state plans to begin the project by boring core samples on the highway. A call for bids will be issued April 9 by the DOT.

RR CROSSING

TO REMAIN

Colfax City council members Monday night questioned whether or not removal of the South Main railroad crossing would be part of the upcoming highway project. The rail crossing is inside the construction zone which has been planned for this summer. City Administrator Carl Thompson said plans now call for the railroad crossing to remain in place. Fate of the crossing has been in question since an August, 2006, harvest fire burned out the timbers on the railroad bridge west of Risbeck to sever the Colfax-Pullman rail link on the former Union Pacific line.

Thomas Brash, assistant project engineer, Tuesday said removal of the track crossing would require an extended documentation process which could not be completed before the start of the paving project this summer.

He said the plan now calls for the paving project to be placed close to the rails to allow quick removal of the crossing if and when the state takes the rail link out of commission.

The bridge was destroyed in the August, 2006, fire which also took out the Risbeck Grain elevators. Sections of the severed Colfax-Pullman rail link have been used for rail car storage at different times for the last six years with most of the cars moved onto the line from the Pullman end. The state owns the right-of-way.

The former Colfax-Pullman railroad route last year was eyed as a potential trail route as an extension of the Pullman trail system. Pullman trail supporters were particularly interested in extending the trail system to Albion via the railroad route which follows the river grade into Pullman.

CITY WILL MOVE $500,000

Colfax city council Monday night voted to transfer $500,000 of its reserve funds to AmericanWest Bank to be placed in a money market fund. The move was approved in an effort to realize more interest income from city reserve funds.

City Treasurer Mark Clinton reported AmericanWest Bank offers an interest rate of .35 percent on money market accounts over $100,000 which is higher than the .25 rate offered by Columbia Bank.

The city has sustained drops in revenue because interest rates paid by banks and the state’s Local Government Investment Pool have dropped. Current interest rate paid by the pool, where the city has approximately $1.3 million of its reserve funds invested, is now .1394 percent.

City income from invested funds has dropped from $80,000 when rates were in the six percent range 10 years ago to an anticipated $3,500 today off approximately the same amount of reserve funds.

CITY REQUIRES RABIES SHOTS PROOF

Colfax now requires proof of rabies vaccination as part of the annual dog licensing procedure. The vaccination requirement follows a new state law which requires dog owners to have their animals vaccinated.

The city to date has issued 22 dog licenses during March, the month designated for registering the town’s dog population. Normally 150 to 200 dog tags are issued in the city. Fee for the registration is $5 for spayed or neutered dogs and $12 for dogs who haven’t been spayed or neutered.

ARREST FOLLOWS FRAT DANCE REPORT

Brian F. Romer, 21, was allowed release on his own recognizance Monday after being booked in jail here on probable charges of indecent liberties and unlawful imprisonment early Sunday morning. He was ordered to have no contact with the victim.

A Pullman Police report said the victim reported she had been grabbed and groped while attending a dance at the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity Saturday night on college hill. She told officers she was held against her wishes. The report said the alleged victim was able to identify the suspect from an internet photo.

Monday’s pre-trial release order will expire if formal charges are not filed by Wednesday under the 72-hour rule.

FIRE CAUSE SAID ELECTRICAL

Colfax Fire Chief Ralph Walter said the cause of the Feb. 9 fire which destroyed a storage building along with cars, boats and a trailer has been determined to be from an electrical source. However, he said the extent of damage to the building and its contents left investigators unable to determine whether the fire started off of the electrical system in the building or in one of the vehicles in storage.

Walter told the city council Monday night Farmers Insurance, the agency which covered the structure, hire a forensic investigation study the scene of the fire. That study determined the cause to be electrical.

Walter added that finding aligned with a determination made by a Pullman investigator who checked out the scene the day after the fire.

The chief at the previous city council meeting said a formal report on the fire cause would remain pending until the investigators from the insurance company completed their work at the fire scene.

BNP THEFT

SUSPECT

SENTENCED

Aaron N. Hudson, 38, St. Maries, Idaho, was sentenced to four months in jail Friday after he pleaded guilty to being in possession of stolen property as part of a plea bargain agreement. Hudson was originally charged with burglary and theft in connection with a Dec. 14 entry at BNP Lentil in Farmington.

Tools, equipment and hunting trophies which were mounted in the BNP office were reported missing. The missing hunting trophies were eventually recovered from a taxidermy shop in Coeur d’Alene.

Before Hudson was sentenced, Prosecutor Denis Tracy read a statement from Dan Bruce who described his reaction when he discovered the elk and deer hunting trophies missing from the office. His statement noted the trophies represented memories of past hunting trips with family and friends, some now deceased.

Hudson’s past criminal record placed him with a score of three on the offender scale. In addition to the four-month sentence, he was ordered to pay $2,800 restitution and other fees and costs. Hudson was allowed until March 16 to begin serving his jail time.

Also charged in the BP case is Craig A. Bowmer of Plummer. Hudson told the court Friday Bowmer is his half-brother.