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.

EWU VOLUNTEERS TO VISIT

Colfax Saturday will be one of three area towns to participate in Eastern Washington University’s Summer Service Plunge. Teams of EWU volunteers— including students, faculty, staff and alumni— will lend a hand to the Colfax Parks Department to assemble playground equipment at Schmuck Park, do general cleanup and construct a free library structure.

The EWU plunge here has been heralded by 24 EWU street banners which have been mounted on the small display poles on the streetlights along Mill Street.

The group will construct a small library loan book structure which will be located in the area of the swimming pool. Materials for the structure have been donated by Friends of Whitman County Library. The library book house was designed as part of WSU’s Rural Design Initiative program.

Another project will be finishing the restoration of the brick walkway around the Codger Pole in Codger Park.

Other EWU teams will be at Colville and Walla Walla, according to Molly Ayers at the EWU Office of Community Engagement.

CRANE TILT BLOCKS ROAD

Sheriff’s deputies Tuesday morning responded to a report of a crane which had gone off Ryan Road which is located west of Union Flat Creek. Initial reports said the crane mishap had left just one part of one lane of the road open.

The road has been used by motorists in the Union Flat Creek area west of Colton as a detour around the Hatley Bridge project which is on the Pullman-Wawawai Road along Union Flat Creek.

Removal of the crane was expected to take most of the day, and motorists were advised to stay off Ryan Road and use alternate routes to get around the Hatley Bridge job.

Ryan Road was expected to require repairs after the crane is righted and removed from the scene.

CHARGES CITE CASINO GAMBLING

Charges of first degree theft and money laundering were filed Friday in superior court against Jennifer Lea McDougle, 45, Pullman. She is charged with taking rental funds from her employer while managing the Emerald Downs Apartments in Pullman and using some of the money for gambling at Zeppoz Casino in Pullman.

The investigation report filed with the charges included an investigation conducted by a Washington State Gambling Commission agent. According to the commission report, the manager of Zeppoz relayed a report of the suspect’s alleged gambling after he had been informed by her prior employer that she was suspected of taking the funds out of the apartment proceeds.

The report said the alleged incident would be considered money laundering and casino managers are required to report such a violation to the gambling commission.

The report alleges McDougle used rental and deposit payments made in cash for gambling at the casino. It added she altered other payments, including advance rental payments, to cover the use of the cash payments.

The aggregate amount of the missing rental funds exceeded $5,000. Filed with the first degree theft charge was an official notice that if the suspect is convicted the prosecutor will seek a sentence beyond the state guidelines because of the amount of the loss.

FIRST RAIN IN 40 DAYS

Rain fell for the first time in 40 days during the night Friday and into the day Saturday for short durations. The NRCS gauge in Colfax recorded .06 of an inch of rain. Last rainfall recorded was .04 on May 31.

POLITICS IN PARADE

Signs of the approaching primary election appeared in the Concrete River Festival Parade in Colfax Saturday. Family members and friends of J.W. Roberts, one of the challengers in the three-way race for mayor, appeared in the parade and other events wearing campaign T-shirts.

Incumbent Todd Vanek was also aboard a pickup truck at the back of the parade.

State Rep. Joe Schmick of Colfax made a proxy appearance on behalf of Rep. Mary Dye of Pomeroy, the temporary appointee to the seat.

The truck entry by Pasco’s Richard Lathim, also one of the candidates in the Aug. 4 primary for a one-year term for the Ninth District seat, proclaimed an endorsement from the Whitman County Sheriff.

Dye and Lathim, both Republicans, and Kenneth Caylor of Othello appeared at a candidate’s forum Tuesday in the meeting room of Umpqua Bank on North Grand in Pullman.

Mayor Vanek, and challengers Roberts and Don Henderson, are slated for a forum Wednesday, July 22, at the Norma McGregor room of the library in Colfax starting at 7 p.m.

RAIN TAKES TOLL ON FESTIVAL

Rain and cooler weather took a toll on parts of the Colfax Concrete River Festival over the weekend.

Largest weekend crowd at Schmuck Park assembled Sunday for the combined church service which was followed by a barbecue. Members of as many as seven churches participated in the program.

The festival’s Friday night attractions at the city hall lot brought out a large crowd to watch the demonstration by the Rolling Hills Derby Dames and to enjoy the beer garden and car cruise which went on into the night. The cruise brought out a long line of hot rods, late model modifieds, restored trucks, one mountain biker and one skateboarder.

Saturday morning at Schmuck Park had a slow start with thin turnout for the car show and few customers for food booths and other attractions.

More people turned out as skies cleared, and the Color Run and park concert by Keith Niehenke and the Hankers drew more people.

Relay for Life, which marked a slow start, picked up participants later in the event’s 10-hour run.

DAGGY HALL SMOKE RESPONSE

Pullman firefighters responded to smoke alarms which sounded in Daggy Hall on the WSU campus at 2 a.m. Friday. When they arrived at the scene fire crews discovered enough smoke had been collected in the building to require use of breathing masks and tanks.

They conducted a room by room search of the campus building for approximately one hour but could not find a source of the smoke. The smoke in the building activated three detectors and a beam detector.

The fire crews did find two fire extinguishers that had been discharged and several empty beer cans in the hallway of the building.

The smoke had dissipated within 30 minutes and the building was turned over to the WSU police department to conduct an investigation.

HIGHWAY 26 BRIDGE TO CLOSE

The Department of Transportation’s weekly update reported that starting Monday drivers should expect delays 24 hours a day at the Y intersection. The Highway 26 bridge will be closed and all traffic from Highway 26 will be rerouted to the Highway 195 intersection.

One-way traffic with flaggers and pilot cars will be on Highway 195 from Colfax to Dry Creek Road, and motorists should expect delays of up to 20 minutes.

Friday night at the start of the Concrete River Festival, project work was suspended along Main Street, but paving work continued on the highway north of the Cedar Street entrance.

Highway 195 traffic was stopped Saturday for the Concrete Festival parade which started at 10 a.m. The last parade units turned off Main Street at the Island Street intersection in 26 minutes.

Paving on the first segment of the Highway 195 project, from the Highway 27 intersection south of Pullman to the Babbitt Road intersection south of the Albion Road intersection, appeared Sunday to be finished and striping in place.

Work on Highway 27 from Palouse to Garfield is listed for striping and guide post installation this week.

ALADINA TRIAL MOVED BACK

Trial date for the rape charge against Ruddy Aladina has been moved back a month to Aug. 17. Aladina had been scheduled for a trial next Monday. Aladina’s defense attorney, Steve Martonick, asked for the one month delay Friday because he said they needed more time to prepare for trial. He explained more time was needed because they were having difficulty locating witnesses during the WSU summer break.

Aladina’s trial date had been set after a June 5 court decision ruled statements Aladina gave to officers at the time of his arrest can be used at trial. The defense had sought to have the statements suppressed.

SMARTPHONE RULING PENDING

After a brief hearing Friday morning, Judge David Frazier Friday said he would need time to issue a ruling on a petition by Robert Knott of LaCrosse to fine the sheriff’s office for violating the state’s public records act. The petition contends deputies failed to turn over records of calls which were made on smartphones related to Knott’s DUI arrest. The arrest was contested in a motion to suppress evidence obtained after Knott was arrested. The motion was denied and Knott later pleaded guilty.

Judge Frazier said records of smartphone calls and text messages were subject to the state’s public records act, but he also found that the request for the records was made after they had already been destroyed.

Knott’s attorney, Will Ferguson, argued that under state law the records should have been retained for two years. He said they were unaware until April that deputies had made calls on the smartphone and had sent at least one text message. They seek payment of a penalty at the state rate of $100 per day.

Judge Frazier said his decision on the arguments could involve either a dismissal of the petition or a determination of damages.

LUDEN WAIVES TRIAL RIGHT

Eric Luden, former WSU student who is charged with second degree murder of his father in Pullman, waived his speedy trial right Friday morning in Whitman County Superior Court. Luden was scheduled for a readiness hearing prior to his previously set trial date of July 20.

He waived his speedy trial right through Nov. 30, and a hearing was scheduled for Sept 11 to set a new trial date.

Luden, 24, was arrested after Pullman police responded May 30 to a report of an unconscious man at Luden’s apartment. Police were unable to revive the man who was identified as Luden’s father, Virgil “Cliff” Luden, 58, Sammamish. The state’s case alleges Mr. Luden was struck in the head numerous times with a pot.