Bulletin Column Oct. 27

Court not in session

Superior Court Judge David Frazier Monday stands in the courtroom which has been cleared of tables, benches, photos and electronic equipment in advance of a project to lower the ceiling, change the lights and heating ducts. See story below for details.

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 MAIL-OUT TOTAL

Total number of ballots sent out by the county’s election department Friday was 22,396. The elections office is expected to keep sending out ballots until the Oct. 31 deadline.

New residents or new voters can register and receive a ballot before the Oct. 31 deadline. Also, voters who are on the inactive list can request a ballot. Many voters land in the inactive file because they fail to report a change in address and ballots sent to a former address are not returned.

DYE LEADS MONEY RACE

Pomeroy Republican Mary Dye has posted a strong lead on the financial side of the campaign. According to an Oct. 19 summary report to the state’s Public Disclosure Commission, Dye’s campaign fund totaled $54,929 at the end of the reporting period, with $46,923 in expenditures to date.

Dye is running for a two-year term as representative for the ninth legislative district. She was elected to a one-year special term after being appointed to finish the term of Susan Fagan who resigned her seat in the legislature.

Challenger Jennifer Goulet, a Pasco Democrat, reported total cash at $11,600 with spending to date at $7,429.

The two candidate’s who are competing have been out paced by the district’s two incumbents who are running unopposed. The summary form filed for Rep. Joe Schmick of Colfax lists contributions at $109,586 and spending at $83,394.

The summary for Sen. Mark Schoesler lists contributions at $392,029 and spending at $220,000.

FAIR BOARD RE-ELECTS DUO

Greg Weber of Colton and Mary Beth Bothman of Rosalia were re-elected Monday night to three-year terms on the Palouse Empire Fair board. The board includes six members, with two each from the three county commissioner districts. The board also includes six ad hoc members who represent different groups in the county.

Fair manager Bob Reynolds said the board Monday night decided to check out a proposal under which school classes could make group entries into the fair. The group entries are viewed as a way of increasing arts and crafts entries in the fair.

Reynolds said the fair’s total entries tally in all departments this year is expected to be down by 600, with most of the decline in the home arts and 4H departments. The fair’s total entry in past years has been close to 5,000, but that has been dropping in recent years.

ACCIDENT ALONG 27

Lincoln Hill, Post Falls, was unhurt Friday when he lost control of the 2007 Nissan he was driving and went into the ditch along Highway 27 about 10 miles north of Pullman. According to the Washington State Patrol report, Hill was driving southbound at 7 a.m. in the rain, and the Nissan Frontier went off the west side of the highway and struck a metal culvert pipe in the ditch. It came to a stop on a field access road.

PULLMAN

DRIVER HITS DEER

Zachary S. Tankersley, Pullman, was unhurt when the 2000 Toyota 4Runner he was driving hit a deer on Highway 26 Friday 12 miles east of Washtucna. Tankersley was driving eastbound at 6:30 p.m. when the deer came onto the highway near mile marker 96, according to the Washington State Patrol report.

WSU STUDENT FOUND DEAD

Whitman County Coroner’s office is investigating the death of Brock D. S. Lindberg, 21, from Wenatchee. The decedent was found unresponsive in his room at a fraternity house in Pullman in the early hours of Monday, Oct. 24, 2016.

The cause and manner of death are still under investigation and will not be determined until an autopsy has been completed and toxicology results are available, according to a report Monday from Coroner Peter J. Martin.

JETTA ROLLS ON GRADE

Tiarra Prater, Cheney, and a passenger in the 2000 Volkswagen Jetta she was driving were unhurt early Saturday morning in a rollover accident near the top of the Highway 195 Buck Canyon grade north of Colfax. According to the Washington State Patrol report, Prater was driving down the grade at 12:30 a.m. in the rain when the Jetta lost traction on the wet roadway and began to cross the centerline of the highway. She over-corrected, and the Jetta went into the southbound ditch at the top of the grade. The Jetta came to a halt on its top.

COURTROOM WORK BEGINS

Remodeling work on the superior courtroom started Monday. The work in the courtroom is scheduled to take more than a month and is part of the McKinstry Company contract. Crews have already been at work with the heating and air conditioning system in the Public Service Building.

Bob Reynolds, county facilities supervisor, said the work in the courtroom will be the first major project there since the courthouse was opened in 1955. A key part of the project will be lowering the ceiling in the courtroom by approximately 10 feet.

The present ceiling height in the court room is 23.5 feet. That has provided the court with a stately appearance over the years, but it has also presented the county with heating and air conditioning costs and sound problems.

Reynolds said the work will include abatement of asbestos which is in the ceiling material of the room. IRS Environmental of Spokane will be sub contractor for the asbestos removal project. Hangers attached to the ceiling supports will be used to suspend the lower ceiling. The project also includes lowering ducts and electrical circuits and installation of LED lights.

Superior court sessions will be conducted in the district courtroom on days when that court is not in session. Court sessions will also be conducted in the Public Service Building.

Reynolds noted the county has previously installed recording equipment which is the same in both courtrooms, the commissioners room and the Public Service Building auditorium. That allows groups to change sites without having to key into different sound systems.

Court administrative offices and the clerk’s office will remain in operation on the second floor of the courthouse.

One task at the start of the project Monday morning involved moving the traditional long benches from the spectator section out of the courtroom. The heavy oak benches were placed along the upper hallways in the courthouse.

The courtroom part of the project is scheduled to be completed at the end of November.

ARRESTED FOR NON-PAYMENT

Sheila Evans, 36, Tekoa, was allowed release from jail Friday after being arrested on a warrant for failing to appear in court for a hearing for failing to make payments for overdue fines and fees and for restitution to victims. The warrant for her arrest was issued Oct. 14 after she failed to respond to an order to show cause why she did not appear for an earlier hearing date.

Evans was ordered to make payments as part of three convictions in 2014.

Friday the court determined she was three months behind in making $50 monthly payments. Total amount owed by Evans is $5,783.

The court payment order includes an interest charge of 12 percent.

Evans Friday told the court she did not receive the summons to appear, and the court determined the summons could have been sent to an address in Pullman where Evans had previously resided. Much of the restitution owed by Evans is to burglary victims in two of the convictions.

Most of the restitution amounts were also ordered to be paid by co-defendant Kenneth Himes, 37, Oakesdale.

Himes was sentenced in July to serve eight months in jail after being convicted on a charge of attempting to elude. That involved a chase in which Himes was riding a small motorcycle while being pursued by a deputy near the state line east of Tekoa.

BURGLARY SUSPECTS IN JAIL

The two Clarkston women who have been named suspects in a series of area burglaries, including six in Whitman County, are now in jail in Redwood City, Calif. The suspects, Christina Erlewine, 23, and Justina Buffington, 31, have waived extradition out of California.

Sheriff Brett Myers said the plan now calls for the two suspects to be relayed here through a series of prisoner "chain" transfers which could take them to several jails as they are relayed north. He said as of now they are scheduled for a transfer into Oregon Nov. 9. They could make several stops, but as they get closer to Whitman County, deputies could be dispatched to bring them to the jail here.

Women on the jail's corrections staff would be used to assist with the transport because the department does not have a female deputy.

Redwood City is the county seat for San Mateo County and is located just south of San Francisco. According to a report in the Oct. 20 St. Maries Gazette, the two suspects were located in Daly City where the suspects allegedly had been staying with the mother of one of the suspect's boyfriend. The report said a Benewah County deputy received an anonymous telephone call stating they were in California, and the deputy was able to trace the call to Daly City.

According to the St. Maries paper, Benewah County plans to prosecute charges there after the duo are brought here on the Whitman County warrants and prosecuted. Warrants were issued here Oct. 3.

Erlewine and Buffington are suspected of burglaries Sept. 24 in Endicott, St. John and Lamont. Three of the burglaries that night involved churches. They are also suspected of burglarizing churches in Sprague and Lind.