Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Oakesdale
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.
BALLOT
CHECKOFF
A total of 615 ballots have been prepared for mailing Friday for the Oakesdale School District’s $7.1 million bond proposal for schools. Election office staffers report they checked off each ballot against a list of registered voters to make certain a ballot has been prepared for each of the voters in the district.
The checkoff procedure was done in the wake of reports from the last election that some registered voters never received a ballot.
Deadline for returning the ballots will be the April 22 election date. Oakesdale school directors are asking district residents to approve a $7.1 million bond issue over 26 years.
The mailing includes 453 to Oakesdale precincts with 299 in the town precinct and 154 in the rural precinct. A total of 162 will be sent to Farmington with 106 in the town precinct and 56 in the rural precinct.
This is the second time the school bond measure has been placed in front of the school district voters this year. In the Feb. 11 special election, the proposal failed to get a 60 percent approval with the tally of “yes” votes just over 54 percent.
The proposal has been reduced from the $7.16 million sought Feb. 11. Also, the project proposal now calls for construction of a new elementary school building instead of a remodeling. Other buildings would be remodeled.
HIT & RUN REPORT
Colfax police late Monday morning responded to a report of a hit and run report at the intersection of Fairview and East Street on the south hill. The driver was located at his residence on Clay Street where he said he was intending to call in the accident. Extent of damage to the car was loss of an exterior door molding.
The driver told Chief Rick McNannay he opted to leave the scene and call in the report from home to avoid a confrontation after he saw a witness calling in the report on a cell phone. McNannay said he apparently hit the sign while attempting to back out of the way of a truck. He was not cited.
FORSTER
CREDITED FOR 335 DAYS
Jacob P. Forster, 32, who was sentenced March 25 to almost six years in the state prison, has been credited for 335 days served in jail here awaiting resolution of the charge against him after his arrest. Forster, who was originally charged with attempted murder, was sentenced to a total of 69.75 months after he pleaded guilty to attempted first degree assault as the result of a plea bargain agreement. He was charged with attempting to put a cardboard box over the head of his spouse and inject toxic gas while she was sleeping.
The credit was listed on a warrant of commitment to the state department of corrections which was filed with the court here.
REPAIRS ON VAULT COVER
A faulty cover on a highway vault at the south end of Main Street has been replaced with a temporary cover. A crew from AT&T installed the temporary cover last week.
The communications vault is located under the southbound lanes at the curve of Highway 195 near the S. Main intersection.
AT&T crews installed a new cover after working on the vault last year, and it broke, according to Andy Rogers, Colfax public works director. The faulty cover has been a source of noise when southbound traffic crossed it.
Rogers said AT&T plans to return to the scene later, remove the temporary cover and install a higher grade cover on the vault which should hold up better to the traffic flow.
DANTINI BAIL REMAINS
A May 19 trial date was slated for Amanda Dantini Friday after she pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of heroin in Whitman County Superior court. She was booked into jail here March 20 after Pullman Police reported they had found syringes containing a dark substance at a residence on NW Clifford Street where they had gone with a warrant to search for stolen property.
Judge David Frazier declined a motion to reduce Dantini’s $5,000 required bail for pre-trial release because she had been convicted of vehicular assault seven years ago. The judge said he declined the motion because of a public safety concern.
Cory A. Coppedge, 27, Seattle, and Rebecca F. Gatlin, 18, Pullman, who were both arrested with Dantini at the residence, also entered not guilty pleas to the same charge, possession of heroin. They have also been scheduled for May 19 trial dates.
MORRISON ON HOUSE ARREST
Kerry E. Morrison, 27, Pullman, the suspect in the window smashing incident at Radio Shack on S.E. Bishop Blvd in Pullman early Saturday, March 22, was allowed release from jail Friday on house arrest status. He will be placed in the custody of his father who was required to sign an agreement to not let him leave the residence alone and to report any suspected violations.
Morrison was arrested by Pullman Police after they allegedly identified him on surveillance recording at the Radio Shack when the front door glass was shattered by a baseball bat. The proprietor was in the back of the store when he heard the glass shatter and saw the suspect leave the scene.
Morrison also made a brief appearance in court Friday when he was scheduled for a restitution hearing from a Feb. 7 conviction which involved damaging Pullman police cars with a bat. The hearing was continued.
Colfax CLEANUP WEEK
A community cleanup week has been scheduled for April 11-19, according to a report sent out by Mayor Todd Vanek. He urged residents to participate in picking up litter, sweeping sidewalks and curbs, trimming trees, and raking and removing leaves left over from last fall.
City crews will pick up yard waste, including branches up to one inch in diameter, in different sections of town during the week. Dates include the southeast section of town April 14, southwest April 15, downtown including Clay, Park and Morton streets April 16, west side April 17 and the north end April 18.
Larger branches up to three inches can be brought to the waste-water treatment plant up to 4 p.m. Thursday.
Whitman County Landfill will offer half price rates during the week for non-yard items.
Residents are also encouraged to contact the police department to arrange for towing away vehicles.
DOUGHERTY BALKS ON PLEA
William Dougherty III, 30, the suspect in the large marijuana grow operation on Carothers Road which was raided last September, declined to enter a plea Friday morning, March 28, in superior court. Dougherty, who had been summoned to appear in court, initially refused to move to the attorneys table when his name was called from the docket.
He instead said he wanted to file a motion challenging the court’s jurisdiction. Judge David Frazier then ordered Dougherty to proceed with the first appearance or be arrested by deputies.
Dougherty took a seat at the table and presented his written motion for change of jurisdiction which the judge read and denied. The judge ruled the motion lacked any legal argument and again cautioned Dougherty to cease objecting to the first appearance procedures.
He then advised Dougherty that he had a right to file an appeal on the denials of his motion for a change of jurisdiction.
Dougherty has been charged with manufacturing marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. The arrest report alleged agents seized 45 marijuana plants with 32 of them growing in a large temporary greenhouse structure that had been erected on the site.
While advising him of his rights, the judge noted the state has asked for an exceptional sentence for Dougherty, if convicted, because of the alleged scale of the grow operation.
The local Quad Cities Drug Task Force agents cooperated with federal Drug Enforcement Agency agents in conducting the drug raid. The case was turned over to the District Attorney’s office for filing in US District court, but it was never filed because of a policy that evolved from voters’ approval of the marijuana initiative in Washington.
COMPUTER TRACED TO BELLEVUE
A charge of possession of stolen property in the second degree was filed Tuesday, March 25, in superior court against Stefan Taiyo Lindeman, a former WSU student. The charge alleges Lindeman was in possession of an Apple Macbook Pro which was reported stolen last April from the Holland Library.
The report said campus police received a tip on the case last June when a member of the Seattle Police department had purchased an Apple Macbook which had been advertised on Craigslist.
The numbers on the computer allegedly match the numbers listed by the owner when it was reported stolen at WSU. The report alleged the suspect was located through records acquired via warrants dealing with use of the computer in the past year.
PAY CHECK THEFT CHARGE
Charges of forgery and second degree theft related to payroll checks at McDonald’s in Pullman were filed March 24 against Jonathon F. Crass, 25, Colfax. The investigation report said Crass was a former shift manager at McDonald’s.
The report alleged the investigation started when a former employee came to the McDonald’s to get her final pay check at the end of 2012 and was told she had already been paid. She insisted she had not been paid, and the owner of the McDonald’s subsequently determined the paycheck had been deposited by Crass.
Additional investigation determined checks for 16 other employees had also been cashed by Crass, according to the report. Total amount of the checks was $1,965, according to the report.
APPRAISERS POST NOTICE
Appraisers from the county assessor’s office are now working in the northeast segment of Whitman County. The staff is required to make physical inspections of property once every six years.
The appraisers are now working in Malden and have already checked properties in Rosalia, Oakesdale, Garfield, Farmington and Elberton. Rural property inspections will follow.
Main reason for the inspections is to ascertain if new structures or additions have been added to properties which do show on the records in the present file.
Appraisers wear blue identification vests during the inspection and are driving gray vehicles with Public Works Department identification.
One of the vehicles is a Ford 150 pickup truck, and one is a Ford Escape.
The northeast area being inspected this year begins at the Idaho state line and continues west beyond Highway 195 north of Colfax. It then goes north to the Spokane County line but excludes the Tekoa area.
Appraisers in the assessor’s office rotate their work over six different sections of the county in the four-year period. They plan to be finished with the present appraisals by June.
REALTORS OFFER SCHOLARSHIP
Whitman County Association of Realtors is again offering a $1,000 scholarship to a graduate of a high school in the county who plans to attend Washington State University. Applications must be postmarked by April 25. Students must be accepted to WSU, have a letter of recommendation from a school official or a non-relative and write a short essay explaining “what I want to study and why.
Applications are available electronically:
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