Bulletin Column Jan. 19

Winter creeping up on the Codgers

The carved faces of the Codger Pole warily eye the snow level as repeated snow storms and cold temperatures have resulted in rising snow banks. The Codgers were relieved this week when warmer weather kept the snow from reaching their chins.

These reports are from the previous three 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.

POLE CRASH BLOCKS 271

Highway 271 between Oakesdale and Rosalia was blocked Sunday afternoon when a car slid out of control and collided with a power pole one mile north of Oakesdale. Both the car and the pole remained in the road after the accident.

According to the report by Trooper Bruce Blood, Laddiego Duncan, 44, Endicott, was driving southbound on Highway 27 at about 4 p.m. in a 1999 Dodge Caravan and failed to stop at the sign at the intersection of highways 27 and 271. The Caravan went through the intersection and knocked down the power pole. An Avista crew was called to the scene to clear the pole.

SENTENCING SET FOR

CHILD RAPE

A Feb. 17 sentencing date has been scheduled for Joshua J. Lewandowski, 36, Spokane, after he pleaded guilty in Superior Court Friday to a charge of raping a four-year-old boy at LaCrosse. Under terms of a plea bargain agreement, Prosecutor Denis Tracy will recommend to the court a 93-month sentence, the minimum the defendant could receive under the state’s standard sentencing range. Lewandowski has been held in jail here since he turned himself in to the sheriff’s office Nov. 17. He has been jailed in lieu of posting a $100,000 bond.

He has requested to be sentenced under the state’s sexual offender sentencing alternative, and the court ordered an evaluation be made by Feb. 6 and a Department of Corrections pre-sentence report be complied and submitted to the court by Feb. 13.

According to the sheriff’s office, the investigation into the case began early Nov. 16 when they were notified that a four-year-old from LaCrosse who had been admitted to the pediatric emergency room at Sacred Heart Hospital was a possible victim of sexual assault. The victim has been residing at LaCrosse where the suspect had also been residing since early November, according to the sheriff’s report.

Lewandowski in the report was described as an ex-boyfriend of a sister of the victim’s mother.

HOW MUCH SNOW UPSTREAM?

Predictions this week of a “pineapple express” weather front bringing thawing temperatures and rain leads to a question on how much snow has accumulated in the Palouse Basin. Shirley Hathaway at the Palouse Lodge, which is located south of Emida, Idaho, on Highway 6, reports they now have about five feet of snow outside of their residence.

The lodge, which now serves as a conference center, is the former site of the North & South ski area.

Hathaway reported the snow has kept falling and falling, and depth at the lodge normally can range from 3.5 to 5 feet, although in some years it has been up to 10 feet.

Her spouse, Lane Hathaway, has been working this week to clear snow off the roofs at the lodge in anticipation of what the weather front might bring next week. Rain could be expected to condense snow and add to the weight load on top of the lodge structures.

A posting on the NRCS Snotel website lists water equivalent content for the snow measurement site on Moscow Mountain at 13.1 inches. That is rated at 117 percent of the median for the site, determined over a 30-year period.

NEW CHARGES FILED AGAINST LAWRENCE

New charges were filed in superior court Jan. 10 against Lewis A. Lawrence, now 27. Prosecutor Denis Tracy charged Lawrence with possession of a weapon as a prisoner and threatening to kill jail staff members.

Lawrence is back in jail here for a new trial in the 2009 case in which he was convicted of attempted murder. His conviction was overturned on appeal, and last Friday he entered pleas of not guilty by reason of insanity on three charges of attempted murder.

The new charge filed Jan. 10 alleges a member of the jail staff discovered two “stabbing type” weapons in Lawrence’s cell in the jail. The pointed weapons, which appear to have been made with rolled up paper, were allegedly found in his cell along with a spoon which had been fitted with a handle that appears to have been made with cloth segments taken from jail bed sheets.

The report said Lawrence had already been placed on lockdown status at the jail for assaulting another prisoner.

Lawrence has been scheduled for a Feb. 28 re-trial on the attempted murder charges. He entered not guilty pleas last week in front of Adams County Judge Stephen Dixon.

The 2009 attempted murder charges against Lawrence date back to March of 2009, when he allegedly shot into a Pullman apartment with a shotgun. One of the occupants in the apartment sustained a facial wound from one of the shotgun blasts. In the first trial here on the 2009 charge, Judge William Acey of Asotin County presided.

Lawrence was convicted after a jury trial in April of 2010 and sentenced to 300 months in prison by Judge Acey.

His conviction was appealed through the state’s Division III court in Spokane, and then at the state supreme court, which reversed the conviction with a mandate sent back to the court here Sept. 26 of last year. Lawrence’s appeal was submitted on an argument of competency at the time of his trial.

ADMITS Tekoa CITY HALL BREAK-IN

Mark Trevino, 29, Tekoa, pleaded guilty in superior court Friday morning to a charge of burglarizing Tekoa City Hall Oct. 24. He entered the plea as part of a plea bargain agreement in which the state offered to drop two theft charges which had also been filed against him.

Judge Gary Libey postponed Trevino’s sentencing until Feb. 10 to allow for his defense attorney to present a request for a drug offender sentencing alternative.

Under terms of the plea bargain agreement, the state will recommend a 51-month term which would place Trevino in the state prison system. Trevino faces the lengthy term recommendation because of his extensive criminal record.

The dismissed theft charges involved a heavy duty computer tablet, which is used for reading meters for Tekoa utility bills, and fuel cards.

One of the evidence items in the case was the discovery of a footprint outside of the city hall location where deputies determined entry was made into the building.

Judge Libey Friday morning denied a request from Trevino to be released on a short furlough. He told the court he had to make arrangements for the return of an interlock device which had been installed in his car. The company that owns the interlock device has threatened to take action against him because he still has the device in his car at Tekoa.

DRUG COMBO IN STUDENT DEATH

A cause of death finding for a WSU student who was found dead in his room Oct. 24 was acute intoxication due the combined effects of methadone and alprazolam, according to a report issued Jan. 11 by County Coroner Pete Martin. The deceased, Brock Danual Scott Lindberg, 21, Wenatchee, was found in his room at a WSU fraternity house. Coroner Martin said the manner of death was accidental.

STATE SNOW BLOWERS

OPEN 27

State highway crews used two rotary snow blowers which have been stationed here to open Highway 27 between Fairfield and Tekoa. The section of highway was opened at about midnight Jan. 11.

The district crew has a rotary blower from the Kent district which is stationed here during the early winter months. That blower and a truck-mounted blower were used to cut through the drifts between the two towns.

The state blowers leave a vertical wall when they cut through drifts and then throw the snow. The walls left on the cuts were in the eight to 10-foot range.

Some of the heavy drifting on Highway 27 has been in the area south of Latah, with another bad section between Latah and Fairfield.

The blower from Kent usually gets returned to that district in February. It then is used there to open mountain passes which are closed for the winter. The truck-mounted blower remains in this area.

STATE

TROOPERS RESCUE

DRIVERS ON 27

State troopers early Wednesday, Jan. 11, rescued four people who were stuck in vehicles on Highway 27 south of Latah. Trooper Greg Birkeland was dispatched at 1 a.m. He was unable to locate the slide-off scene but contacted a state grader and plow, and they worked their way north on 27 and located two vehicles stuck in snow drifts and were able to get the drivers out of their vehicles and into Birkeland’s patrol car.

Conditions worsened, and Birkeland and the plow and grader turned south to try to get to Tekoa. At one point, the grader and plow both became stuck.

Drivers of two other stuck vehicles on 27 south of Fairfield were rescued by Trooper Eugene Trevino, who had been dispatched at 5:30 a.m. Trevino had to hike in near-whiteout conditions to get the drivers out of the stuck vehicles and transport them to Fairfield. The WSP report Jan. 11 noted the two rescues on 27 are a reminder of how conditions can change on two-lane rural highways and urged motorists to check on road and weather conditions before starting out on a trip.

State crews which started the snow blower operation were delayed until the stranded vehicles were removed.