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.

FREDERICK RUSSELL OWES $160,000

An order establishing a payment schedule for restitution, fines and fees ordered as part of the 2007 conviction of Frederick Russell was issued May 20 in Whitman County Superior Court.

Russell, now 37, was released from state prison April 14 after serving a sentence on the conviction in Whitman County Superior Court for three counts of vehicular homicide and three counts of vehicular assault.

He is now residing in Chico, Calif., where he is under 18 months of post- release supervision by the California Department of Corrections.

A printout of the funds now due from Russell lists the total at $160,712. A total of nine recipients, which includes victims and insurers, are listed on the account. The restitution due totals $91,906 and the interest due now totals $68,066.

Russell’s conviction dates back to the June 4, 2001, accident on the Moscow-Pullman Highway which took the lives of three WSU students. Three other people in the multi-car accident received serious injuries.

Russell wasn’t convicted until 2007 because he fled the country and lived in Dublin, Ireland. He was located there in 2006 after he was featured on national missing person TV broadcasts.

Russell was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison, but he was allowed a third off the sentence for participating in rehab programs. He had been at the Larch Corrections Center in Yacolt at the time of his release.

The payment order calls for Russell to make $100 monthly payments beginning July 1. It will be stepped up to $250 per month at the start of next year.

Tekoa WOMAN SENTENCED

Lucy Fay Terry, 26, Tekoa, was sentenced to 180 days in jail with all but seven suspended after she pleaded guilty to reduced charges of third degree theft and first degree criminal trespass Friday in Whitman County Superior Court. The charges involved a break-in at C & D’s Bar & Grill in Tekoa Feb. 16. Terry, who was an employee at C & D’s at the time, forced open the back door of the bar and took bottles of wine. She was originally charged with burglary.

Terry was credited with one day served in jail after her arrest and ordered to begin serving the remaining six days immediately after sentencing.

She was also ordered to pay $750 in restitution to repair the door of the bar and $700 in fines and fees.

Terry told the court Friday she had already undergone evaluation and treatment for alcoholism while she was on pre-trial release.

She was allowed to convert the remaining 173 days of the sentence to public service hours. The court granted a request from Prosecutor Denis Tracey to not allow Terry credit for service with the Tekoa Ambulance because she is already a volunteer with that organization.

CLARK TO RETIRE

Kathy Clark, secretary of the Colfax Chamber of Commerce for the past three and one-half years, has decided to retire. Chamber President Jeanelle Miller in a report to members credited Clark with being a cornerstone of the organization. Clark plans to remain in Colfax and continue to serve the chamber as a volunteer.

Clark was raised in Colfax and returned here in 2007 to take care of her father, the late Tom Zaring.

Miller reported the chamber is now beginning the search for a replacement.

The chamber is also seeking donations of office furniture in advance of their planned move to The Center building next to the library. The move will be made when work on the front facade of the building is finished.

UPTON CROSSWALK GETS FLAGS

A new set of red crosswalk flags has been posted at the Upton Street intersection on Main Street. A request to add the flags to the downtown crossing was made at the May 18 City Council meeting by Councilwoman Jeannette Solimine after the accident which seriously injured Larry Harris of Colfax May 15 at the intersection.

Harris was moved out of the Sacred Heart intensive care unit early last week.

IMPERSONATION SENTENCE

Derek B. Jones, 30, Pullman, was sentenced to 30 days in jail May 15 after he pled guilty to charges of criminal impersonation and negligent driving in the first degree. The conviction dates back to February of 2014 when Pullman Police responded to a report of a motorist who had driven into a stone wall on NE Reaney Way.

They located the defendant at the scene, and he initially identified himself as his brother. Jones was initially charged with drunken driving. He was also ordered to pay $800 in fines and fees.

Jones was arrested on a warrant which was issued after he failed to appear in court Jan. 2 for a pre-trial hearing.

SENTENCED TO 30 DAYS

Drew Hall, 26, Colfax, was sentenced to 364 days in jail with all but 30 suspended, after he pled guilty in superior court May 15 to a reduced charge of solicitation to possess a controlled substance. The arrest report said officers found one hydrocodone pill at Hall’s residence last Sept. 18. Hall was placed on 12 months of unsupervised probation after he finishes his sentence. He was also ordered to pay $1,000 in fines and fees.

Hall was originally charged with delivery of a controlled substance. The arrest report said deputies went to Hall’s residence on Park Street after Brandon Daniels, 26, also of Colfax was arrested late Sept. 18 in Colfax. He was originally stopped on Main Street when Deputy Michael Jordan observed him driving while talking on a cell phone. The arrest led to a subsequent search of Daniels and the alleged discovery of two hydrocodone tablets in his pocket. The report alleged Daniels said he had purchased the tablets from Hall.

A charge of possession of hydrocodone, filed against Daniels April 10, was dismissed April 24.

ONE-WAY NETS PARKING GAIN

Colfax gained two parking spaces May 20 when one block of Spring Street, located between Mill and Main, was marked off for diagonal parking. The one block was also converted to one-way traffic eastbound with the diagonal stalls marked to accommodate traffic approaching from that direction.

Police Chief Rick McNannay noted the one block of Spring Street had a total of 10 spaces marked for parking parallel to the street. He added that the diagonal spaces, which are more convenient for parking, are also expected to cut down on the amount of wasted space which results from misuse of space by drivers who have trouble with parallel parking.

The conversion of the parking spaces has been rated as an experiment which will be in place at least until the start of September after the last farmers’ market session is conducted on the Spring Street block west of Main Street next to the library.

That other Spring Street block was also marked off for diagonal parking, but the city dropped that plan when they learned some of the property which makes up the west side alley could be privately owned. A temporary centerline which was painted along the Spring Street block west of Main has been painted over.

CHARGES FOLLOW Malden ARREST

Four charges were filed in superior court May 20 against Eric Lee Thompson, 42, after two deputies and a state trooper responded May 17 morning to a report of domestic violence in Malden. According to the arrest report, Thompson was reported to be using the pickup truck he was driving to stop his girlfriend who was walking from one residence to another along Broadway in Malden Sunday morning.

Formal charges are unlawful imprisonment, fourth degree assault, driving with a suspended license and reckless driving.

According to the report, Amy Baird, who had been in a dating relationship with Thompson, had left her residence in Malden after refusing to go with Thompson to Spokane. The sheriff’s office received a report of a man and woman yelling at each other and of a green pickup truck “peeling out.”

Officers located Baird in Malden and she told them Thompson at one point wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to get her into the truck. The report said tracks also indicated Thompson had driven the truck off the street in an attempt to stop her from walking to another residence in town.

Deputies later located Thompson at his grandparents’ residence in Malden. When they went to the residence nobody answered the door. The report said his grandfather eventually came out of the house and said Thompson had locked himself in the bathroom in the residence.

After officers located Thompson in the residence, they initially arrested him on a warrant which had been issued on a charge of driving with a suspended license. He reportedly admitted he knew of the outstanding warrant, according to the arrest report.

DOG ALARM RESPONSE

A Colfax officer at noon May 20 responded to a report of a car alarm sounding in a car parked in the 200 block of N. Mill Street. The officer determined the alarm had been triggered by a restless dog which had been left in the car. The owner came out to the car and allowed the dog out, according to the police report.

CITY TO ASSIST IN TRACK WORK

Colfax City will be expected to participate in the school track project once it gets underway, Councilman Al Vorderbrueggen reported to the city council May 18. Vorderbrueggen, who heads the city park board, pointed out the city has a link to the track project because it is on city Schmuck Park property.

The park board and members of the C-Town project, which is heading the fund drive for the track, met that Monday before the city council session.

Vorderbrueggen reported discussion is underway to possibly change some of the property use around the track to provide more parking space.

He credited the C-Town project with now raising funds in excess of $200,000 for the track project.