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.

ANIMAL

ORDINANCE ON HOLD

A proposed zone variance system which could allow Colfax residents to raise animals inside the city limits garnered a positive response Monday night from the Colfax Planning Commission, but it was placed on hold until Sept. 23. Commission members asked for the proposal to be completed before they vote to advance it to the city council.

The panel decided on the delay after noting any change now would be too late to help families who wanted to raise animals for the Palouse Empire Fair.

Prepared by Colfax Police Chief Rick McNannay, the variance procedure would require residents inside the city limits to submit a request for a zone variance to raise animals in the city. Most of the early requests for changes came from residents who want to raise chickens, but McNannay noted the variance system could be used for all types of animals and possibly for other short term exceptions to the zoning code such as concerts or the street cruising event which was part of Concrete River Festival.

McNannay said he would require applicants to do 90 percent of the work in making the application. He said animal keepers, for example, would be asked to get approval from their neighbors before making the application. The variance would require applicants to adhere to prior conditions.

McNannay said a variance for raising animals would be issued for a set time span, such as a year, and then be subject to a renewal. Applicants who failed to follow terms of their variance would not get a renewal.

Commission member Norma Becker said she could see a scenario in which a neighbor who initially agreed to allow chickens next door decides “after the fact” that the chickens are a nuisance and complains.

Becker noted over the last three days she has received comments from three people who said “people who are going to have chickens and animals should go out and live on a farm.”

Commission member Ron Braun said he knows people now who raise chickens inside the city limits without neighbors being aware of it.

Chairman D. John Henry said he would like to see the variance change to allow the city to hire goats to graze the banks of the river system in Colfax. Henry noted the sections of the river which are outside the channel system are in dire need of removal of weeds and brush.

City Administrator Carl Thompson said the goat browsing service is offered by an Albion resident to hires out the animals to clear weeds and brush.

Last night’s proposed variance form required applicants to agree to follow specific conditions which were said to be “listed above” but did not appear on the form presented to the commission.

Becker suggested the conditions be specified before the commission advances its proposal to the city council for consideration.

McNannay said he will aim to list the requirements, such as available space, in a uniform manner to avoid conflict.

Henry noted he recently attended a Palouse City Council session where one of the residents asked him why Colfax was considering a move to allow raising animals in town. He said the resident recounted her efforts there to end raising animals in Palouse.

RR SPIKE PULLER ARREST

David V. Reed, 43, Port Angeles, was booked into the county jail Sunday for malicious mischief to railroad property and other probable charges after deputies responded to a report of a man pulling up spikes from the railroad in the Kitzmiller Road area north of Pullman. According to the report from Sgt. Keith Cooper officers located 27 places where the railroad spikes had been removed. Damage to the rail line was estimated at $1,500, and Washington & Idaho Railroad suspended traffic on the line, the former Burlington Northern route which links Pullman to Marshall via Palouse and other towns on the east side of the county.

When officers arrived at the scene they saw Reed walking southbound along the tracks. Reed attempted to run southbound on the tracks and officers observed railroad spikes falling out of his pockets.

According to Sgt. Cooper’s report, Reed told officers he was removing the spikes to sell as scrap metal. During a search, deputies said they located burglary tools and heroin. They also located a cell phone which had been reported stolen from a vehicle on Stadium Way.

Other probable charges were malicious mischief, possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools, and possession of a controlled substance.

WINDOW SMASH CHARGE

A charge of malicious mischief was filed against Thanh Nguyen, 21, Pullman, Friday in Whitman County Superior Court. He is charged with breaking windows out of a parked vehicle. The Pullman police report said officers responded to a residence on Garfield Street located between Monroe and Indiana streets at 2:10 a.m. May 19. The report alleges witnesses identified Nguyen as the person who smashed out the windows of the car with a board.

Colfax POOL LESSON TALLY

Approximately 93 week-long lessons were taught by the Colfax swim pool staff during the four week stint this summer. The final session of lessons concluded Aug. 2. Pool Manager Connie Ellis said many of the students at the lessons attended for more than one week.

The pool staff also administered private lessons on request.

FORMAL CHARGES FILED

Three formal charges of delivery of methamphetamine were filed Wednesday, Aug. 7, in superior court against Marisa G. Furry, 39, Colfax. She was arrested Aug. 1 in Colfax on probable charges. The arrest report alleged Furry sold methamphetamine to an informant who was sent to make a controlled purchase to an apartment in the 600 block of S. East Street in Colfax.

She is charged with making two sales between April 15 and April 30 and one between May 1 and May 15.

One formal charge of delivery of methamphetamine has been filed against Ricky T. Frye, 38, who was arrested with Furry. He is charged with making a sale between April 15 and April 30 at the same location.

Eli Gallegos, 55, who was arrested in Colfax Aug. 2, has been formally charged with two counts of selling hydrocodone. He is charged with making one sale last March and one between May 15 and May 31. The arrest report alleges Gallegos sold hydrocodone which had been prescribed to him.

GRAIN SPILL AT LAMONT

Aaron Spuler, 38, Spokane, was unhurt Thursday, Aug. 8, in a grain truck accident at the intersection of Dewey Road and Highway 23 at 2:12 p.m. Deputy Vince Waltz reported Spuler attempted to avoid the crews who were working on the Highway 23 paving and the 1982 International he was driving went into the ditch and onto its side to spill a load of grain. Damage to the truck was estimated at $3,700.

ASSISTANCE AT HOSPITAL

Colfax Assistant Chief Dave Szambelan last Thursday, Aug. 8, responded to a call for assistance from Whitman Hospital. The hospital requested assistance at 12:30 p.m. because a patient in the emergency room was becoming agitated and unruly. The report said the patient appeared to be intoxicated.

PULLMAN LIGHT SIGNAL CRASH

Traffic signals at the busiest intersection in Pullman were knocked out last Thursday after a driver crashed into a signal pole and damaged a signal controller at Main and Grand. According to the police report, the driver lost control of the car which jumped the curb of the center island at the intersection and crashed into the light pole and controller. The driver, Shelaine Starrett, 26, Pullman, was not hurt. The police report said Starrett was driving in the center lane on Main and lost control of the car when she accelerated in an attempt to get into the right lane for a right turn north on Grand Street.

Pullman Public Works Director Kevin Gardes said four-way stop signs were installed at the intersection until the traffic signal can be repaired. City crews blocked the right-turn lane from Main to Grand Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to work on the signal and the pole. Detour signs were placed on Main Street directing westbound traffic to turn right on Kamiakian Street and then left on Olsen to access Grand and avoid the construction zone.

Gardes said the signal controller contains at least 50 wires that were severed and needed to be traced and spliced.

WHAT’S IN THE BACKPACK?

Amended drug charges against Benjamin J. Hayes, 20 Coupeville, were filed Aug. 7 in superior court. Hayes has been charged with possession of psilocybin mushrooms, marijuana with intent to deliver and being in possession of liquor as a minor.

The arrest report said Pullman officers on foot patrol in the campus hill area last Aug. 24 saw a man drinking a beer in the middle of the street at the intersection of NE Maple and NE Oak at 1:10 a.m. Hayes, then 19, and a student at Western Washington University, was wearing a backpack. In a subsequent search of the backpack, officers said they found a bong with marijuana residue and bags of marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms.

RESORT DONATES READING PRIZE

Grand prize for adult entrants in the library’s summer reading program will be an overnight stay for two at Coeur d‘Alene Casino and Resort. It will be included in a drawing for prizes. Adult finishers also have a chance at a second prize of a $50 Rosauers gift card courtesy of the Friends of Whitman County Library. To enter, adults are required to read and briefly review three books by Aug. 31. Finishers will receive a variety of prizes from local business sponsors. Entry forms are available at all 14 branch locations or online from the library’s website http://www.whitco.lib.wa.us.

ASSAULT BY CAR AMONG

9 CHARGES

Nine charges, including one for assault with a Ford Escort, were filed in superior court Monday agains Steven R. Root, 41, Thornton area resident who was arrested Aug. 6 near the Horn School rest stop on Highway 195 south of Rosalia. Deputies and troopers responded to the scene after they received a report of an injured female at the rest stop. According to the arrest report the injured female, later identified as Katrina Pritle, 18, Spokane, had been injured when she attempted to leave Root’s ressidence on Sunset Road near Thornton.

The victim said she walked from Sunset Road to Highway 195 via the road by the Thornton Cemetery where she caught a ride north to the rest stop. She declined medical assistance from EMTs when they arrived at the scene.

Deputies later spotted a red Ford Escort driving slowly by the rest stop and the victim confirmed that was Root’s vehicle. He was arrested after a brief chase on Highway 195.

The 18-year-old, who had sustained scrapes on the knees and elbow, told deputies she had been assaulted by Root when he tried to prevent her from leaving his house. According to the arrest report, the girl said Root at one point had bumped her with a car as she tried to walk away from the residence.

Pritle told deputies she had met Root in Spokane the previous day and agreed to go to Thornton to clean his house for $100. She reported seeing methamphetamine at Root’s residence and admitted she took a few drags off a pipe Root was smoking. The victim said Root became upset Aug. 6 when she wanted to leave after spending most of the night cleaning the house. She said at one point she was subjected to a body slam by Root who then held her down in the grass.

Justin R. Grouit, 35, Post Falls, who was in the Ford Escort with Root, was arrested on an outstanding Spokane County warrant on a charge of criminal trespass in the second degree.

Bond for pre-trial release was set at $75,000 for Root. Bail for Grouit was set at $25,000. Sheriff Brett Myers reported Root was held on a federal warrant for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.

Deputies obtained a warrant to search Root’s residence and located approximately 90 grams of methamphetamine, $1,500 in cash, three pistols, two long guns and drug paraphernalia, Myers reported.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Daniel Le Beau filed the nine charges in court Monday. The first charge, second degree assault, alleges Root assaulted the Pritle with the Ford.

Root is also charged with delivery of methamphetamine, two charges of possession of a stolen firearm and five charges of unlawful possession of a firearm as a convicted felon in Washington.

Grouit was charged with possession of methamphetamine.

COLTON DRIVER HURT

Cynthia Brown, Colton, sustained neck injuries Monday, Aug. 5, when she lost control of a 2001 Chrysler New Yorker on Highway 195 near Pullman. According to the Washington State Patrol report, she was driving northbound at 9:46 a.m. when the car went onto the shoulder of the highway, came back across both lanes and rolled into the southbound ditch. The Chrysler came to a halt 30 feet off the roadway.

CONCRETE RIVER FOLLOW-UP

Members of the Concrete River Festival committee met Tuesday, Aug. 6, night to discuss the plus and minus aspects of the festival two weeks ago. The group overall felt the festival was a big success, but they also plan to work on making improvements.

Members of the planning committee do plan to have the festival again next year. Kathy Clark, one of those present, said they plan to conduct planning meetings during the year. One topic on the agenda is possibly moving the festival to a different weekend.

Clark said other proposed events were considered and those could be added to enlarge the overall event.

Clark said members of the committee credited Mayor Todd Vanek for spearheading the two-day Concrete River Festival.

Mayor Vanek reported to the city council Monday night that planning for a future return of Hullabaloo could be added to the work of the committee. Hullabaloo has been coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce which canceled the fall event this year because of a lack of volunteers.