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.

Palouse FLOOD ‘NORMAL’

Flooding of the North Fork of the Palouse River at Palouse Monday sent water into the Lions Club Park and just over the bank at Hayton Greene City Park on the opposite side of the river. The water hit a high mark at about 11 a.m. Monday. Water levels were reported to be dropping Tuesday morning.

The Palouse Lions Club Park is on the east side of the North Palouse River. It is located along the west side of Highway 27 where it departs Palouse toward Pullman.

Monday’s warning from the National Weather Service predicted the flood would start at mid-morning and recede overnight. Flood level for the North Palouse is over 15 feet at the gauge in Potlatch.

U.S. Geological Survey charts Friday morning showed the North Palouse River gaining water flow after a steep increase all week. The reading at 7:30 a.m. put the flow at 3,040 cubic feet per second. Readings show the volume evening out after the meter went over the 3,000 mark.

At Hooper, the reading Friday was 4,750 cfs with the chart also showing a steep climb over the previous two days. On the Hooper chart, which includes the South Fork and North Fork and other tributaries downstream, the volume topped 2,000 cfs early March 5, and 3,000 cfs early March 6 and 4,000 cfs late March 6.

The USGS chart for the South Fork of the Palouse River showed it hit a top mark just over 300 cfs at about noon March 6. The reading at Pullman for 7:30 Friday morning was 256 cfs.

OAKESDALE DRUG SENTENCE

Anthony G. Hopkins, 60, Kennewick, was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $2,800 in fines and fees after pleading guilty to a charge of possession of methamphetamine last week in Whitman County Superior Court.

The 24-months was the top end of the state’s standard sentencing range. Hopkins was listed with an offender score of eight for prior convictions in Spokane, Benton, Franklin and Okanogan counties.

The arrest report said Quad Cities Drug Task Force members went to a residence in Oakesdale Jan. 21 to conduct a warrant search and Hopkins was among people at the residence at the time. It said people in the residence were ordered “to the ground” and Hopkins was observed trying to separate himself from a small plastic container which contained a baggie of methamphetamine.

The report said the powder in the baggie had a purple color, and Hopkins had the same color on his hands.

It added Hopkins denied coming to Oakesdale to sell the drug.

WALKER

SENTENCED

TO 6 MONTHS

John L. Walker, 42, Oakesdale, was sentenced to six months in jail March 5 after he pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of methamphetamine. The arrest report said Walker was arrested after deputies responded to a report of alleged marijuana sales to students at Oakesdale High School. The deputies learned from informants that Walker was the source of the marijuana.

During a Jan. 21 warrant search of Walker’s residence deputies said they found containers of marijuana and a container of methamphetamine.

The sentencing report noted Walker had a prior conviction of possession of psilocybin mushrooms in Spokane County.

He was also ordered to pay $1,800 in fines and fees. He was allowed work release while serving the sentence.

SEWAGE SPILL

IN HANGMAN

Residents living downstream from Tensed, Idaho, have been advised to avoid contact with Hangman Creek. The notice was issued Saturday by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality after they were informed that undisinfected waste water was going to be pumped into the creek at Tensed.

Hangman Creek flows through Tekoa on its way north through Latah and eventually goes into the Spokane River.

The Idaho DEQ report said Tensed’s waste water lagoons were in danger of overflowing due to flooding and the untreated sewage had to be pumped into the creek to avoid “catastrophic failure” of the treatment lagoons.

Colfax HOSTS

LITTLE GUY WRESTLERS

Colfax gym Saturday was packed with junior wrestlers for an all-day Little Guy wrestling tournament. The action featured wrestlers from all over the area in age and weight brackets from five years through junior high.

The day’s activities started with weigh-ins at 7:30 with competition starting at about 10 a.m.

Wrestlers competed on eight different mats which were marked off on the main floor, and the junior high wrestlers who competed on the Colfax team were on the balcony.

Irwin Hall, father of late Doug Hall, was honored with a special presentation near the start of the competition. Doug Hall was the long-time coach of the Colfax Little Guys program and for many years headed the Little Guys events in Colfax.

Colfax FLAGS CHEER ON TEAM

Colfax parents and fans Saturday organized a “wave the flag” operation for the Colfax girls’ team. Flag wavers were posted along Highway 195 all the way to Spokane to wave the blue Bulldogs flags as the team bus headed north to the championship win over Toutle Lake Fighting Ducks at the Spokane Arena.

Organizer Kitty Goodwin said flag wavers were located at 14 locations along Highway 195 with the first one at the Cedar Street entry onto the highway and the last one at the entrance to the arena parking lot.

One of the big assistants was Tom Sheer who recruited Steptoe residents to participate. Goodwin noted some of the flag wavers did double duty by waving at one site, passing the northbound team bus and waving at a second site closer to Spokane.

After Colfax won the title, Bulldog flags were also posted along Main Street in Colfax to greet the returnees.

McBRIDE

SENTENCED

TO 68 MONTHS

William P. McBride, 50, Oakesdale, was sentenced to 68 months in prison March 6 after a jury convicted him of charges of second-degree burglary and theft of a motor vehicle.

McBride’s sentencing included an offender score of nine based on an extensive record which included a 2010 burglary conviction here.

In addition to the 2010 burglary conviction in Whitman County, the sentencing brief filed by Senior Deputy Prosecutor Dan LeBeau listed six convictions in Spokane County and one in Oregon.

The jury found McBride guilty of charges of taking a Kawasaki motorcycle owned by Dominic Petrovich of Rosalia and burglarizing a unit at J & B Storage at Tekoa which was rented by Fred Wagner.

Both victims attended McBride’s sentencing and LeBeau read written statements from each victim. McBride was ordered to make restitution of $3,695 with $3,125 to Petrovich for estimated repair costs on the 2001 Kawasaki motorcycle and $570 to Wagner of for items taken from the storage unit that are still missing.

McBride in June of 2010 was sentenced to 25 months in prison for a burglary in January of that year. At that time his offender score had been placed at six for the violations in Spokane County. He was also ordered to pay more than $11,000 restitution to the victim in the 2010 burglary.

McBride filed a notice of appeal and a motion for an order of indigency which was ordered by the court for costs of an attorney in making the appeal.

A warrant of commitment to the state prison system, also filed with the court, credited McBride with 64 days of jail time served since his arrest.

CHASE SUSPECT LOSES PANTS, SHOES

Two charges of obstructing were filed March 4 in juvenile court for a 17-year-old Seattle youth who allegedly fled a traffic stop and led Pullman and campus police on a chase which included stops at two apartments in the Chief Joseph apartment complex. The report alleges the youth pulled a rental car into the parking lot at Chief Joseph when an officer attempted to stop the rental car he was driving. He stopped and ran into an apartment in the C building of the complex which was occupied by an ex-girlfriend. She told officers she had allowed him to drive the car which had been rented in her name.

The report said the youth and another man went out the front of the unit in the C building at the complex and an officer grabbed a pant leg of the suspect as he attempted to scramble up an embankment. The report added the suspect shed his pants and shoes and ran into an apartment in the E building of the complex. Police later arrested him at that unit where six people were present.

The two charges were ordered dismissed later pending a plea bargain agreement.

COUNCIL OKAYS PARKS PLAN

Colfax City Council March 3 approved a five-year plan for the city parks. The plan includes results from a survey of residents two years ago, and it lists future projects including a possible community center and development of a South Palouse River trail.

Councilman Al Vorderbrueggen noted one of the survey responses showed more than 60 percent support for a levy in the event the city formed a separate parks district. He noted the survey made a point of putting the levy question in front of the residents.

Response was 143 in favor and 93 opposed. The parks survey was posted on-line with hard copies also available at city hall.

Topping requests for improvement was more walking and biking trails with 109 of the 236 respondents placing it at the top of their list. Rated second was a request for improved restrooms which was listed as number-one by 96 respondents. Number three on the list was a community center which was the top pick of 76 respondents.

Another survey response noted of the 255 people who answered the question, more than half, 131, said their families did not use the city pool.

The survey report noted more than 34 percent of the participants were 67 and more than 29 percent were in the 57-66 year age range.

The plan for capital improvements lists $9,000 in spending for this year. It lists $561,000 for next year with $120,000 for new restrooms at Schmuck Park and $360,000 for a campground at McDonald Park. A $50,000 project for the Codger Pole is also listed for next year.

One of the long-range projects on the park plan is a $5 million swimming pool and community center project for 2019, the last year on the five-year plan.

Actual revenue for the parks department does not include that level of funding, but the projects have been included in the plan under requirement for future grant applications.

BREAK-IN

AT UMC CHURCH

Colfax police March 4 responded to a report of a break-in at the United Methodist Church on Mill Street. The door on the north side of the church, which serves as an entry to the office area, had been forced open. The door lock was damaged and an undisclosed amount of cash was taken.

EVANS WILL

ENTER PLEA

Sheila Ray Evans, 33, Tekoa, was scheduled for an entry of plea and sentencing Friday in superior court. Evans has been charged in connection with the burglary investigation in the north part of the county at the end of last year.

She has been charged with second degree burglary and possession of methamphetamine.

Two other suspects in the burglaries, Kenneth Himes and William McBride, have been convicted in connection with the burglaries. Himes was sentenced to three months in jail after pleading guilty to two charges, and William McBride was convicted by a jury.

Arrest reports on the Evans case said deputies found stolen items at her residence in Tekoa. She told deputies she suspected the items had been stolen and wanted them out of her house. Arrest reports alleged deputies later learned she had played a role in the burglaries.

WSP TRUCK

FIRE REPORT

The driver of the pickup which burst into flames the evening of March 2 on Highway 195 was Benjamin W. Cordell, Spokane. The Washington State Patrol report said Cordell was driving a 1998 Chevrolet Silverado pickup north at 6:25 p.m. when he started to smell smoke and pulled the truck over to the northbound shoulder of the highway just past mile marker 44.

Colfax fire crews reported the truck was fully engulfed in flames when they arrived at the scene.

—Drivers of two Honda Accords were unhurt Friday afternoon in a collision at an intersection on Highway 195 and the Genesee Spur road about 4.5 miles south of Uniontown. According to the WSP report, Robert D. Nelms, Lewiston, was driving a 2000 Accord westbound on the spur road and skidded though the intersection into the northbound lane of 195 and hit the passenger side of a 1994 Accord driven by Louis Scudiero, Pullman. Road conditions were reported bare and dry.

—Pedro Lerma-Valenzuela, Pullman, complained of a sore neck after he lost control of a 2004 Nissan pickup while driving on Highway 195 about a mile north of Colton Sunday night at 8:40 p.m. He was driving northbound and the Nissan went out of control on black ice, slid across the highway and back to the northbound lane and into the ditch where it struck an embankment.