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.

CITY EYES PARK PLAY ITEMS

Colfax Park Board plans to purchase about $25,000 in new play equipment for the upcoming season. Councilman Al Vorderbrueggen, who serves as the head of the city park board, reported to the city council the board plans to make the purchases in the upcoming weeks to take advantage of price discounts offered by suppliers at this time of year.

Vorderbrueggen noted the last time the city installed new play equipment in the parks was in 2003.

The purchases will be made out of a capital fund which has built up in the park department budget.

Vorderbrueggen said the number-one site for a installation will be Lookout Park at the top of the Thorn Street hill. He said an aging wooden play structure is scheduled to be removed.

Other potential sites are Eells Park and McDonald Park. He noted the park board has received many requests from parents who would like to see play equipment available at McDonald for use by younger siblings when the older brothers and sisters are playing in team sports at McDonald.

BALLOT RETURN AT 20 PERCENT

Return of ballots for the Feb. 11 election was expected to top the 20 percent mark Tuesday. After Monday’s count of returns over the weekend, the election staff has logged 3,914 ballots for a return of 19.4 percent. The total count of ballots returned from Pullman precincts was 1,491.

As of Tuesday, the election office has mailed out 20,166 ballots. The number has increased over the initial mailout with registration of new residents and transfer of voters from inactive to active status. One of the big factors moving voters to the active list is an update on mailing addresses.

Deadline for ballot returns is the Feb. 11 election date.

CHOIR WINS AT REGIONALS

Colfax High choir students placed first in the regional solo and ensemble festival Saturday in Pullman. Soloists were Eric Eng and Holly Rimbey, sopranos; Katie Largent, mezzo soprano, and Nicole Wiley, alto.

Largent, Eng and Lauren Claassen sang as a trio. The CHS large group entry included Lizzy May, Kindra Kneale, Kelly Ward, Brittany Lewis, Alison MacDonald, Clare Jacobs, Claassen, Eng, Rimbey, Largent and Wiley.

The wins qualify the students to compete at the state event in April. Judges Saturday were members of the WSU music faculty.

COLLISION ON 127

Drivers involved in a car-truck collision on the Walla Walla Highway were unhurt Sunday night. According to the Washington State Patrol report, Breton A. Griffin, West Richland, was driving a 2003 Volkswagen Passat northbound at 9:50 p.m. and lost control in a curve on the highway.

Steven D. Riggle, Walla Walla, who was driving a 1993 Dodge pickup southbound, attempted to evade the sliding Passat and went into the ditch on the southbound side of the road, but the Passat continued out of control and struck the truck two tenths of a mile south of the mile 18 marker.

—Kache Palacio, Pullman, was injured Sunday evening when he lost control of a 2004 GMC utility truck on Highway 195 about eight miles north of Colfax. According to the WSP report, Palacio was driving northbound at 7 p.m. and lost control of the truck in the snow. The truck rolled on its top in the northbound ditch.

A Colfax ambulance crew responded to the scene, but Palacio declined to be transported.

LAST LAZCANO CASE SENTENCE

Eli J. Lindsey, 38, Washtucna, was sentenced to 90 days in jail Friday after pleading guilty to a charge of obstructing justice in assisting the Lazcano brothers. Lindsey was the last defendant to be sentenced in connection with the Dec. 27, 2011, fatal shooting of Marcus Schur, 23, Rosalia, at Malden.

Lindsey was sentenced by Judge Maryann Moreno Friday afternoon after the Spokane judge sentenced Daniel Lazcano to 27 years in prison following his Dec. 18 conviction for first degree murder.

As part of a plea bargain agreement, a second charge against Lindsey of rendering criminal assistance was dismissed.

Lindsey was allowed to work off the jail time with 720 hours of community service. He was ordered to make monthly reports of service hours and have the total finished by Dec. 1. He was also ordered to pay $700 in fines and fees.

Judge Moreno was assigned to preside after Lindsey’s attorney, L. Rusty McGuire of Ritzville, petitioned for a change of judges.

Lindsey had been allowed release after he turned himself into the sheriff’s office April 6, 2012.

According to the arrest report, Lindsey, a former step-dad of the Lazcano brothers, drove his truck to the Pine City area after being advised by L. Travis Carlon that the Lazcanos had shot Schur. He drove Carlon to Spokane, and Carlon threw the AK-47 rifle, which has been used to shoot Schur, off the Meenach Bridge into the Spokane River.

CRASH RAPS POWER LINE

Pullman rescue crews worked for 30 minutes Saturday morning to rescue the driver of a Chevrolet Blazer which slid out of control and struck a power line pole in a rollover accident along the Albion-Pullman road. The driver of the Blazer, Mark A. Brown, 44, Pullman, was taken to Pullman Regional Hospital for treatment of non life-threatening injuries.

The impact on the pole broke an insulator and threw a circuit breaker at the Shawnee sub station. The damaged pole remained upright and rescuers had to use extraction saws to get the driver out of the wrecked Blazer.

According to the report from Sheriff Brett Myers, Brown was driving the 2000 Blazer eastbound at about 9:40 a.m. when he lost control near the Christian Road intersection. The Blazer crossed the centerline and went off the roadway where it struck the power pole.

TWO HURT ON 195

Two people were taken by ambulance to Pullman Regional Hospital Friday morning after a car-truck accident two miles north of Pullman. Injured were Nicholas E. Wilson and Santana M. Wilson both of Moscow. According to the Washington State Patrol report, Nicholas Wilson had been driving a 1994 Toyota pickup southbound and pulled onto the shoulder of Highway 195 two miles north of Pullman.

Ravi K. Tadapaneni, Pullman, driving a 2008 Toyota Corolla southbound struck the pickup truck and Nicholas Wilson who had been outside of the truck.

Highway conditions were reported as snow and slush.

DRUGS, GUN ARRESTS AT

PULLMAN

Two people were booked into the county jail early Jan. 30 when Pullman Police served a search warrant at a residence in the 200 block of NW Larry Street in Pullman.

Tanner A. Gatlin, 20, Colfax, was arrested on probable charges of illegal possession of a firearm and possession of controlled substances. The report said officers found a black and silver hand gun under a seat cushion in the house. The officers also alleged they found approximately 10 grams of heroin and six grams of methamphetamine in the residence.

Also arrested at the residence on probable charges of drug possession was Jennifer Charawell, 27, Pullman.

A police SWAT team was activated for the arrest because of alleged threats Gatlin made with the gun.

SEARCH CREDITED FOR 129 DAYS

Brandon Search, 20, Pasco, who was sentenced Jan. 24, to 14 months after pleading guilty to charges of burglary and assault in Pullman, was allowed credit for 129 days served in jail here after his arrest in Pullman. Search will be sent to the state Department of Corrections.

He was convicted of entering a residence on NE D Street in Pullman and hitting a woman in the nose after she woke up and realized a stranger was in the residence.

Driver unhurt

Luis E. Oceguera, Pullman, was unhurt Jan. 30 when he lost control of a 2004 Nissan Altima 8.7 miles south of Colfax. According to the WSP report, he was driving southbound at 10:50 p.m. when the Nissan went out of control and slid backwards into the ditch.