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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SUPERIOR COURT DOES FIRST REVIEW

The Whitman County Superior Court did its first ever review, according to court personnel.

For this year, the court continued 54 cases which means people who are behind in payments. People getting bench warrants for not complying with judgments and sentences numbered 51. Twenty people paid in full and two people were sent to jail.

The compliance review hearing was Dec. 21. Court personnel said this is the first year they have begun to monitor.

CHIEF DEPARTS

Colfax Fire Chief Ralph Walter officially ended his employment with the city at midnight Monday. Walter, who had been employed with the city for a total of 10 years, resigned from city service Friday as part of a negotiated severance agreement which followed mediation and settlement of his damage suit against the city.

The $120,000 settlement agreement and the severance package were approved in a special meeting of the city council. Mayor Todd Vanek after the meeting said Walter’s resignation from the chief’s job was not required under terms of the settlement mediation, but both sides decided to negotiate terms of the departure with the severance sum at $20,328 based on net salary for five months and medical insurance for three months.

The settlement figure resolved a damage suit that Walter filed against the city in June. It alleged he sustained damage when he was fired from the chief’s post in 2010 and then restored to the job after the start of a civil service hearing.

Walter began service in the fire department in 1998 and departed four years later to head the Fire District 10 in Spokane County at Airway Heights.

He returned here in 2006 to take the chief’s job.

Walter today said he plans to remain in Colfax and plans to continue in fire service as Homeland Security instructor in Washington and Idaho and a proctor for the Region 8 International Fire Service Accreditation Council in the Tri-Cities. Walter said he will also be on-call for the new Med-Star ICU ambulance service based at the Moscow-Pullman Airport.

BAIL SET AT $25,000

A $25,000 bail sum for pre-trial release was set Dec. 24 at the initial court appearance of Bartlett R. Phillips, 40, Steptoe. Phillips was arrested on probable charges of burglary and malicious mischief after an officer responded to a report Dec. 23 on Fairview in Colfax. The arrest report filed with the case alleges Phillips kicked in the front door of his ex-wife’s residence and entered the residence. The report alleged officers found a boot print on the door.

MARCH TRIAL

DATE SET

A March 18 trial date for Steven D. Crandall, 43, Endicott, was scheduled in superior court. Crandall pleaded not guilty to two charges, assault and assault of a child, both with domestic violence.

Judge David Frazier granted a motion from Defense Attorney Teresa Keene, to remove a $5,000 bail and allow Crandall pre-trial release on his own recognizance.

As a condition of pre-trial release, Crandall was ordered to not go within five miles of Endicott where he has allegedly threatened neighbors. Crandall told the court he plans to reside with a brother in Colfax.

A temporary order for protection of family members was issued by the court Dec. 17.

SNOWMOBILE RIDER HURT, ARRESTED

Brian A. Berntgen, 22, Oakesdale, was taken by ambulance to Whitman Hospital on Christmas Day after sustaining neck lacerations in a snowmobile accident on Trestle Creek Road just outside of Oakesdale at about 3 p.m. According to a report by Sheriff Brett Myers, Berntgen was riding a 1991 Yamaha Phazer eastbound on the shoulder of the snow-covered roadway when he lost control of the machine. It veered off the roadway into the ditch and went through a barbed wire fence which cut his neck.

Sheriff Myers said after treatment and release from the hospital, Berntgen was booked into the jail on probable charges of driving with a suspended license and violating a court order. According to the report, Berntgen was arrested five days earlier driving with a suspended license and violating a court order. He was later allowed release on condition that he not drive a snowmobile on public roads, the sheriff’s report said.