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.

COMMERCIAL REMODEL

Wendy McGraw Monday applied for a building permit to remodel the commercial building at 301 N. Main. The building was the former location of LM Design shop.

McGraw plans to locate her Almota Road Photography business in the building. They plan to restore the building to its original appearance. Contractor for the project is Greg Stratton. Estimated cost of the project is $10,000.

1B PLAYOFFS AT COLFAX

Teams in the SE 1B league will play in Colfax starting next Tuesday. The SE, which includes Whitman County schools, has booked nine-game playoff grids for the boys and the girls. First rounds of the playoffs will be at the home schools with the highest seed starting tomorrow. The last five games on each side will be at Colfax starting next Tuesday with other rounds slated for next Friday and Saturday.

Games have been slated in the Colfax High School and Jennings Elementary gyms. Championship games will be next Friday, Feb. 21, and final games for the number-two qualification will be Saturday.

Undefeated Colton leads the girls league, and Garfield/Palouse tops the boys league. Number two in the standings are Tekoa/Oakesdale for the girls and Pomeroy for the boys.

MARCUS PLACE RENOVATION

Marcus Place Apartments are scheduled for an extensive renovation project in the coming weeks. The 18 apartments, which are located in two buildings on Lake Street north of Wall, were constructed in 1978 with a mortgage backed by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.

The renovation will be partly financed with a $260,000 loan from the Housing Finance Commission Capital Plus Program, a partnership with the Washington Community Reinvestment Association.

Dale Miller, housing development manager for Community Action Center, said the renovation is required to upgrade housing for low income senior citizens.

Community Action Center is the agency overseeing renovation on the project.

Marcus Place is the only housing in Colfax which provides rental assistance to low income senior citizens.

Quality Contractors LLC of Deary, Idaho, is the contractor on the project which is now underway. Washington Community Reinvestment Association is a nonprofit organization supported by more than 38 financial institutions doing business in Washington State.

TO PAY FOR POLICE CAR HITS

Kerry E. Morrison, 26, Pullman, was assigned a one-year suspended sentence after he pleaded guilty Friday in Whitman County Superior Court to a charge of malicious mischief. The charge involved breaking glass on four Pullman Police vehicles and an animal control pickup last Feb. 17.

Friday's sentencing for malicious mischief was the third in a string of cases involving Morrison. He was arrested after leading police on a high speed chase Feb. 18 on Highway 195 north of Pullman and onto the Parvin Road.

While Morrison was in jail awaiting resolution of the arrest for the police chase, he was charged with assaulting a jailer.

When Morrison was arrested after the chase, officers found a bat in the Chevrolet Malibu he was driving. The bat contained glass fragments believed to have come from breaking the windows of the police vehicles in the lot the previous day in Pullman.

Last April 19, Morrison was ordered to undergo a mental evaluation because of his alleged conduct in the arrests. He has been undergoing counseling as a result of that evaluation, and Friday, as part of the sentence in the malicious mischief case, he was ordered to continue with the counseling.

Friday's malicious mischief plea involved damage sustained by Pullman police vehicles which were parked in the lot. Two Ford Crown Victoria squad cars, a Ford SUV and a Ford 150 pickup truck were damaged. Also a Dodge pickup used for Pullman's animal control officers was hit.

Morrison was ordered to make restitution payments for the damage sustained to the five vehicles. The amount will be set at a restitution hearing.

He was placed on one year of unsupervised probation, and a review hearing was scheduled for June 27 to determine compliance with the court orders.

DRIVER ROLLS SUBARU IN DITCH

David A. Bjur, Lewiston, was unhurt late Friday night when he lost control of a 1992 Subaru Loyale on Highway 195 3.5 miles south of Pullman.

According to the Washington State Patrol report, he was driving southbound at 11:50 p.m. in snowing conditions. The Loyale went onto the shoulder of the highway and rolled down the bank. It came to a halt on its top.

PIPE BREAK AT ROSAUERS

A Colfax fire crew responded at 4:27 p.m. Feb. 6 to Rosauers where a sprinkler in the fire control system went off in the beer storage locker. A pipe in the system also broke causing water to spray in the cooler. The water break damaged several of the cardboard beer containers in the cooler.

SEEK TO ADD 'CYCLE THEFT

A motion to add theft of a 1997 Kawasaki motorcycle to the state’s case against William McBride, 50, Oakesdale, was filed Feb. 6 in Whitman County Superior Court. He was charged with taking the motorcycle Nov. 18.

McBride had already been charged with second-degree burglary of a locker at J & B Storage in Tekoa. The arrest report in that case said the investigation led deputies to a residence in Tensed where they discovered two motorcycles which were under a tent alongside a house. The motorcycles match the description of two taken from Rosalia. The report alleged identification numbers on the cycles indicated the registered owner of the cycles was the person who reported the thefts at Rosalia.

The motion to add the charge said it was not initially included with the burglary charge against McBride because at the time deputies did not have sufficient evidence to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

CHICKENS DEPART ZONING

A proposal to allow raising chickens in Colfax via a zoning variance system has been dropped, but the proposal is expected to take the form of a possible ordinance change, Mayor Todd Vanek noted at the Feb. 3 city council meeting. The chicken update was made after Donna Huntwork again appeared at a council session and inquired about the progress of the proposal.

She said she was inquiring because the season for raising animals will return with the end of winter. Proponents of the animal amendments have noted it would allow in-town youngsters to raise animals for display at the fair.

The proposal last year was assigned to the planning commission to develop a possible zone variance system which would allow for chickens and possibly other animals to be raised in some city zones under a conditional use system with variances issued by the police chief. That plan came to a halt when former mayor Norma Becker, who serves in the planning commission, pointed out that variances have to be issued by the city's board of adjustment.

OAKESDALE

DRIVER UNHURT

Debra D. Chazell, Oakesdale, was unhurt Wednesday, Feb. 5, when she lost control of a 1993 Mercury Topaz on Highway 271 three miles north of Oakesdale. According to the Washington State Patrol report, she was driving southbound at 4:50 p.m. and lost control of the Topaz after it drifted onto the shoulder of the highway. The car went into the ditch and hit an embankment.

FOUR MORE SENIOR

HONOREES

An addition to varsity players, the Jan. 31 Colfax senior night observance honored senior cheerleaders Jacee Thompson and Elizabeth Eakin. It also honored basketball players Dylan Griffin and Riley Huntwork who competed in the jayvee team this year.

Varsity basketball players honored were Nicole Sheer and Bailey Mackleit on the girls team and Daniel Tate on the boys team.

RECKLESS

DRIVING

CONVICTION

Richard Lee-Waddell, 22, LaCrosse, was sentenced to a year in jail with all but 30 days suspended Wednesday, Feb. 5, after he was convicted of an amended charge of reckless driving in Whitman County Superior Court. Waddell entered an Alford plea, under which a defendant does not admit guilt but concedes the state has evidence for a conviction.

The reduced charge of reckless driving follows a week-long trial last October which ended in a mistrial after the jury reported they were unable to return a verdict.

Lee-Waddell was charged after a Sept. 26, 2011, accident in which the car he was driving collided with a sheriff's patrol car driven by Sheriff's Sgt. Jody Hamilton-Young at the intersection of the Endicott Road and the fairground cutoff road at the north end of the fairground.

Lee-Waddell was initially charged with two counts of vehicular assault with Sgt. Hamilton-Young and Cody Rankin, who was a passenger in Lee-Waddell's car, as the alleged victims.

Judge William Acey of Asotin, who also presided at the October trial, allowed Lee-Waddell work release while serving the 30-day sentence. He also ordered Lee-Waddell to pay $700 in fines and fees and restitution. A hearing to determine the amount of restitution has been scheduled for April 8.

Last Nov. 1 Judge Acey declared a mistrial after the jury reported no decision following five hours of deliberation.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Bill Druffel argued at the end of the trial that Lee-Waddell drove in a rash manner without regard for the consequences. The state's case contended Lee-Waddell cut the corner at the intersection of the fairgrounds cutoff road and the Endicott Road. He was driving north on the cutoff road, which was posted with a yield sign, and Hamilton-Young was driving the patrol car south on the Endicott Road.

The state's case contended evidence at the trial showed Lee-Waddell was driving approximately 40 miles an hour just before the collision at the intersection and 37 miles per hour at the time of the collision.

Defense Attorney Randy Lewis of Dayton, who also represented Lee-Waddell Wednesday, argued Lee-Waddell failed to see the patrol car being driven southbound by Hamilton-Young because of grass and brush which had grown along the roadway.

Lee-Waddell was also placed on unsupervised probation for a year. He was ordered to make monthly payments for sums due and refrain from drinking. A compliance hearing was scheduled for next December.