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.

PARASAILOR SNAGS ON

BUTTE LINES

Whitman County sheriff’s deputies were called out to aid a parasailor who ended up tangled in power lines on Steptoe Butte Sunday evening. The parasailor told deputies he got caught in the lines after launching from the butte and was left dangling from his sail about six feet off the ground. The man reportedly released himself and dropped the final few feet without getting hurt. No power outages were reported.

ASSENBERG TRIAL MOVED BACK

The jury trial of Michael A. Assenberg, who was arrested in May of 2011 after drug agents conducted a warrant search of his Colfax residence, has been moved back to Oct. 15. Assenberg, who was scheduled for a pre-trial hearing Friday, waived speedy trial rights prior to the court’s setting the new date Friday.

Assenberg has contended he was a valid provider under provisions of the state’s medical marijuana law.

CITY POSTS STREET NOTICES

Colfax crews will post notices of parking restrictions next week with chip sealing planned on Thorn and Southview streets and dust oiling slated for city alleys, according to Andy Rogers, Public Works Supervisor.

The county chip sealing crew will do the work on Thorn and Southview streets through an interlocal agreement. A no-parking ban will be posted for the streets next Tuesday and Wednesday.

City crews will sweep and wash the streets from 8 a.m. to noon Tuesday. The next day, July 18, the county chip seal crew will be in operation between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. Rogers said the crew will redo segments of Thorn Street. The operation will continue about 2,000 feet on Southview.

Speed limit on the street will be dropped to 15 miles per hour to keep the new rock chip in place.

The city sweep and wash operation will move to the Colfax alleys July 18 from 8 a.m. until noon and a parking ban in the alleys will be in place at that time. Dust control application will be applied the next day, July 19, from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. and the speed limit in the alleys will be reduced to 10 miles per hour.

BOAT CRASH AT LYONS FERRY

Whitman County marine deputies responded to a report of a boat accident at about 5 p.m. Sunday at Lyons Ferry State Park. When they arrived at the scene they discovered a 22-foot ski boat which was partially submerged and destroyed. The boat ran aground about a mile east of the park, according to the report from Sheriff Bert Myers.

Deputies learned one of the passengers in the boat was thrown onto the shore after the boat came to a sudden halt. The passenger sustained minor injuries and declined to be transported by an ambulance for treatment.

Operator of the boat was identified as Vitaliy V. Romadin, Walla Walla. He is expected to be charged with reckless boating. Sheriff Myers said the department has confiscated the wrecked boat for additional investigation.

STREETLIGHT ON THE BLINK

Colfax commuters Monday morning encountered a four-way blinking stoplight at the intersection of Main and Wall streets. The light signal required a four-way stop.

Department of Transportation checked out the control box of the system Saturday evening and returned early Monday morning to make the repairs.

Traffic lights at the three Colfax intersections are activated by magnetic loops under the pavement on the side streets. Vehicles over the loops activate a control signal to change the lights which normally show green for the dominant traffic flow north and south on Main.

LAWRENCE ASKS TO CHANGE PLEA

Lewis A. Lawrence, the former Moscow resident who was sentenced to 75 years in prison in April of 2010, has sent a petition to the court with a request to withdraw his plea of not guilty and enter of plea of guilty by reason of insanity. Lawrence in his petition from the state penitentiary in Walla Walla said he now believes he was not competent to undergo trial because he suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome. He represented himself during the three-day trial.

Lawrence, then 22, was convicted of three charges of attempted murder which evolved from March 17, 2009, when he discharged a shotgun into a Pullman apartment.

Judge William Acey of Asotin County sentenced Lawrence to 75 years, the maximum under the state guidelines, after a stormy sentencing hearing in which Lawrence threatened one of his intended victims, Yuteson Fuaau. Lawrence said he made the threats under what he called the Nez Perce code. Fuaau’s brother, Michael Fuaau, was injured in the shooting.

During the sentencing hearing Lawrence’s foster mother said he was raised in their home since the age of six. She and another witness told the court Lawrence suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome. They noted funding for the treatment of the syndrome was cut off by the state of Idaho when Lawrence turned 18. She also told the court they decided to allow Lawrence to live on his own but later realized he had encountered problems.

In concluding the state’s case against Lawrence, Deputy Prosecutor Dan La Beau told the jury Lawrence discharged the shotgun into the Fuaau brothers apartment after Lawrence had become upset as the result of a retracted dinner invitation. Le Beau told the jury the Fuaau brothers’ had invited Lawrence to dinner at the apartment and asked him to bring a bag of rice for his part of the meal. He later declined to supply the rice and became upset when they then told him not to come.