Bulletin Column Aug. 18

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.

CITY SEEKS NFL FIELD GRANT

Colfax has applied to the NFL Foundation for a grant to redo the Colfax High School football field. City Administrator Michael Rizzitiello reported to the city council Monday night the grant application has been submitted among a series of requests which were sent out last week before application deadlines.

Rizzitiello said he just recently learned of the grant program which is part of the NFL Foundation operation. He said the grant program provides for either grass or synthetic coverings for fields. The NFL program provides for an advisory team which would help determine what type of surface to install here in the event Colfax is awarded the grant.

The city’s grant application to the NFL foundation for the football field is $250,000.

Also among the grant requests is an application to the Environmental Protection Agency for a Brownfield planning grant. The funds would be used to plan a course of action in the event realignment of the intersections of Highways 26 and 195 at the north end of Colfax advances.

A revision of the intersection has been proposed in connection with poor condition of the Highway 195 and Highway 26 bridges at the intersection.

Rizzitiello noted the commercial property at the intersection has been in use as a service station for decades and work at the site could lead to discovery of contaminated soils. Among long-range proposals for the intersection is a possible relocation of the Sunset Mart to make space for reconfiguration of the junction of the highways into a straight T intersection.

PRIMARY WRAPS UP

AT 7,260

Final ballot count for the primary election was 7,260 after members of the election canvassing board reviewed stalled ballots Tuesday morning. The board approved 127 more ballots for the count.

Farmington’s $12,000 street levy proposal, which had been in limbo since the first ballot count, failed to get 60 percent approval with 26 yes and 19 no votes for 57.7 percent. The other Farmington proposal, for $8,000 to bolster the current expense fund, passed with 64.4 percent approval.

Final count of the fifth district congressional race showed just a 403 vote gap between Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Joe Pakootas with 3,040 for the incumbent and 2,637 for the Democratic challenger.

The canvassing board disqualified 1,550 ballots, including 1,404 which were returned as undeliverable, 23 which were returned without signatures, 92 with a too-late postmark, 24 with questionable signatures and seven in the other categories.

Bill Bryant, the Republican challenger to Gov. Jay Inslee, finished with 45.23 percent of the vote, and Inslee finished with 42.07. The Bryant lead finished at 224 votes.

In the contested race for ninth district state representative, Republican incumbent Mary Dye finished with 49.87 percent of the vote with 4,680 ballots, and Jennifer Goulet, Pasco Democrat, finished with 39.26 with 2,710. Pullman Republican Hailey Roemer finished with 721 votes for 10.45 percent and will not advance to the ballot for the Nov. 8 general election.

CITY RECEIVES EXCELLENCE AWARD

Colfax City Council Monday night received the Association of Washington Cities excellence award. It was presented by KC Kuykendahl, a Waitsburg City Council member who is on the AWC board. He noted Waitsburg and Colfax face the same growth problems with both probably having the same population count in 1910 as they did in 2010.

The AWC award is a photo of the Perkins House which includes a small AWC logo in one corner.

A video of the Colfax entry, which was played at the AWC conference, was shown at Monday night’s council session. City Administrator Michael Rizzitiello and Valoree Gregory, Colfax unified executive director, appeared in the video along with Nancy Cochran and Sarah McKnight, SEWEDA manager.

Kuykendahl noted Colfax was selected for cherishing its past while looking forward to its future. Main Street promotion, First Thursday events and the tours of St. Ignatius and upstairs downtown spaces on Colfax were among items pointed out in the video.

‘OKLAHOMA’ SET FOR CHS STAGE

“Oklahoma” will be presented for the fall musical at Colfax High School. The Rodgers & Hammerstein classic will be presented Nov. 17-23 in a production which will include third through sixth grade students, junior high and high school students.

Director Cary Cammack said this will be the third production of Oklahoma he has presented. This year’s production will mark his 25th year of directing plays at CHS.

Auditions for the show will be Thursday, Sept. 1, with elementary and junior high students scheduled to start at 6 p.m. and high school students scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Audition information will be available during school registration next week.

COLLISION AT INTERSECTION

Drivers of a pickup truck and a car involved in a collision Friday night at the intersection of Highways 27 and 195 south of Pullman were unhurt.

According to the Washington State Patrol report, Walter Lueth, Las Vegas, was driving a 2007 Toyota Tacoma pickup southbound on Highway 195 at 9:05 p.m. approaching the stop sign at the intersection. The truck rolled past the sign as Lueth attempted to turn north toward Pullman.

The pickup went through the intersection while Kamerlyn Burt-Blackleter, Pullman, was driving north in a 2014 Ford Focus and attempted to avoid a collision by going onto the shoulder. The back of Toyota hit the front of the Focus. Lueth was unable to gain control of the Toyota and it hit the front of a building, causing significant damage to the structure.

FIREWORKS AT GRANITE POINT

Deputies and a crew from Fire District 14 Saturday at 11 p.m. responded to a report of a wild land fire at Granite Point near mile marker 16 on Wawawai Road. Fire volunteers doused the fire which covered approximately one acre.

Deputies were able to locate individuals who admitted to lighting fireworks at the scene of the fire and leaving the location without calling in a fire report.

Sheriff Brett Myers said his office will request a filing of unlawful discharge of fireworks against the suspects.

Granite Point was the ignition point of the Aug. 2 fire which eventually covered more than 11,000 acres and involved a five-day battle which involved 300 firefighters on both sides of the Snake River.

ED LUST,

Colfax CODGER, DIES AT 94

A memorial service for Ed Lust, 94, a Colfax High School graduate who returned in 1988 to play in the Codger Bowl, will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Evergreen Fountains on N. Mamer Road in the Spokane Valley. Mr. Lust died July 26 at Evergreen Fountains. Mr. Lust was a telegrapher and radio operator for the Burlington Northern Railway and retired in Harrington.

Born Aug, 21, 1921, to Adam and Annie Lust in Diamond, he started school in Endicott, and the family later moved to Colfax where he attended high school. He was a member of Colfax football and basketball teams and also competed on the track team for which he was an outstanding sprinter. He later attended Eastern Washington State College.

He and Mina Buchanan were married May 30, 1942, at the home of his parents in Colfax. She died in 1988.

He married Elaine Van Gelder Oct. 11, 1997.

Mr. Lust served as a radio operator in Europe during World War II and was part of Gen. George Patton’s campaign in Europe.

Surviving are his wife, Elaine; five children, Mona (Larry) Marlett, Spokane Valley; Grace (Craig) Moeller, Harrington; Clain, Lacey; Donald, Purvis, Miss., and Bruce, Veradale; eight grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren.

The family suggests memorial donations go to the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery, 1004 8th Ave., Spokane, 99202.

TWO HURT IN ACCIDENT

Deputies and a Colfax ambulance crew responded at 10:43 a.m. Saturday to a report of an accident on Prune Orchard Road approximately two miles west of the Highway 195 intersection. Two juvenile patients were transported to Whitman Hospital and Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries.

The driver of the 1994 Ford Explorer, a minor, said she lost control of the vehicle on a sharp corner. It rolled once before coming to a halt on its top.

The driver was cited for violating the underage passenger restriction for an intermediate driver’s license, according to Sheriff Brett Myers.

GUN

POSSESSION CONVICTION

Chris Amonson, 34, Chatteroy, was sentenced to six months in jail Friday in superior court after pleading guilty to a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm. Amonson was arrested Jan. 13, 2016, in Palouse after the van he was driving was stopped for driving across the centerline.

He was charged with illegal possession of a gun found in the van because he is a felon with two prior drug convictions involving methamphetamine. The prior convictions led to an assignment of an offender score of two which could have led to a sentence of up to 12 months.

Amonson told the court Friday possession of the gun was not intentional. He said he had been advised that the gun had been left in the van by another individual. After he was stopped Amonson subsequently advised the officer the pistol was in the van. The gun, a Ruger .22, turned out to be loaded with five cartridges, according to the arrest report by Palouse Officer Joe Handley.

Prosecutor Denis Tracy filed the charge against Amonson two days after his arrest. Defense Attorney Steve Martonick April 20 filed a motion to suppress evidence in the case. The motion argued Officer Handley lacked sufficient cause to stop the van in the Jan. 13 arrest.

According to the court record, Amonson failed to show up for the motion to suppress hearing May 5, and a warrant for his arrest was issued. He was arrested on the warrant May 30 by Spokane Police and booked into jail here July 27.

Amonson was given credit for time served and also ordered to pay $800 in fines and fees.

AMBULANCE CALLS FOR HEAT

Colfax ambulance crews responded to two calls of suspected heat exhaustion over the weekend. Saturday, they responded to a residence in the 600 block of N. Main but the resident declined transport to the hospital.

Sunday they responded to a report from Rosauers at 7:54 p.m. and transported a patient to the hospital.

GRACIE

BENEFIT

AT HILL-RAY

A benefit barbecue and hootenanny for Gracie Veitenheimer, the nine-year-old Colfax girl who was injured when she was hit by a truck May 27 in an accident on the S. Main bridge, received more than $1,200 in donations Friday for medical expenses. The benefit was at Hill-Ray Plaza.

Gracie has been receiving treatment for extensive injuries to her right heel which she sustained when she fell under a truck after falling off the sidewalk while attempting to get on her bike on the S. Main bridge.

The benefit was organized by Virginia Cheney, a long-time friend of Gracie’s mother, Heather Veitenheimer. She worked in conjunction with Gary Young, Hill-Ray administrator.

Young reported 87 people attended the benefit. Performers included Kirk Schmick of Spokane, Tim Stamper of LaCrosse and the Palouse Ukulele players.

Proceeds from the barbecue, which were helped by donated supplies, will also be added to the benefit fund.

ROBBERY

SUSPECT JAILED

Andrea Mount, 25, Peck, Idaho, was sent to jail Friday morning in superior court and ordered held on $500 bond. Mount was one of two suspects in an alleged robbery last May in Pullman.

A warrant was issued for her arrest after she failed to appear in court Aug. 5 for a pre-trial hearing on the charge of second degree robbery. She had been scheduled for trial Aug. 15.

Mount Friday told the court she thought the hearing date was Monday and she showed up that day. The court also learned that she had failed to contact her court-appointed attorney before the Aug. 5 hearing which was slated to determine readiness before the trial date.

The charge against Mount stems from a May 23 Pullman case in which two women reported their purses had been grabbed out of grocery carts which they had been unloading in the lot at Safeway on Bishop Boulevard. The car which was allegedly used by the suspects was identified with an Idaho license plate, and the suspects were later arrested after a chase in Moscow.

Judge David Frazier Friday morning set a new trial date for Sept. 19 and a new readiness hearing date for Sept. 9, but after noting Mount faced a serious felony charge he set bail at $500 as an incentive for her to meet with her defense attorney and pay attention to trial dates.

DEER ACCIDENT ON 127

Craig R. Davis, SeaTac, was unhurt Aug. 10 when the car he was driving collided with a deer on the Walla Walla Highway south of Dusty. According to the Washington State Patrol report, he was driving a 2005 Ford Focus southbound at 8:05 a.m. when the deer entered the roadway from the west side and collided with the car near mile marker 17.

NEXT LIBRARY MEET SEPT 19

In accordance with library bylaws, the board of trustees for Whitman County Rural Library District will not meet in August. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the library board will be Monday, Sept. 19, at 4 p.m. in the Colfax branch, according to Kristie Kirkpatrick.