Bulletin Column Feb. 23

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.

REVELSTOKE MUSICIANS RETURN

High school musicians from Revelstoke, B.C., returned to Colfax Wednesday for a five-day stay while they attend and perform at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho. The group will include 40 students, four adults and the bus driver.

Revelstoke has made the trip to the festival on alternate years and had been expected last year but decided not to make the trip.

Revelstoke is 359 miles north of Colfax.

The band resides at the Siesta Motel during its stay and commutes to the festival at Moscow.

The Revelstoke booking fills all but one room at the Siesta.

Top Notch proprietor Pete Koerner said arrangements for the band’s stay here have been made through an educational travel agent in Australia.

The Top Notch will have 30-minute shutdowns while the band makes its breakfast stops. The first one was Wednesday. Thursday through Saturday the band will have breakfast from 7:30 to 8 a.m., and on Sunday’s departure day they will dine from 8 to 8:30 a.m.

NEW HIGH FOR N. PALOUSE

The National Weather Service predicted flow for the North Fork of the Palouse River would hit 15.42 feet on Wednesday. That put the river into the minor flooding bracket for the river’s posting. Last Friday, the North Fork topped out at 15.13 feet at the USGS gauge at Potlatch.

The North Fork was running at 4,110 cubic feet per second at 7 a.m. Tuesday after topping 9,000 cfs Friday.

The South Fork of the Palouse at Pullman was predicted to hit 4.12 feet Wednesday compared to 5.5 feet Friday.

Prediction for the Palouse River at Hooper was 12.83 feet Wednesday compared to 12.9 feet Friday.

SECOND

SUSPECT ADMITS

BURGLARIES

Christina Erlewine, 24, Clarkston, the other defendant in the burglary spree which hit six victims at Endicott, St. John and Lamont Sept. 24, pleaded guilty Friday in superior court to two charges of burglary and one charge of second degree theft. The theft charge was amended from an original charge of burglary under terms of a plea bargain agreement.

Erlewine was sentenced to eight months in jail with credit for time served. The same sentence was assigned to her co-defendant in the case, Justina Buffington, who pleaded guilty Feb. 10 to the same revised charges.

Also, Erlewine was ordered to pay the same amounts of restitution to the six victims. Amounts include $1,195.47 to the Endicott school, $827.78 to Trinity Lutheran Church at Endicott, $802.78 to the Endicott Library, $940 to Christian Life Assembly at St. John, $795.37 to Lamont Middle School and $100 to the Lamont Community Church. The restitution orders make both defendants responsible for paying the restitution.

Erlewine was represented by John Hart, who was appointed by the state.

Warrants for the arrest of Buffington and Erlewine were issued here Oct. 3, and they reportedly turned themselves in to the sheriff’s office in Redwood City, Calif., the seat of San Mateo County. The two suspects reportedly had left this area and were residing in Daly City, Calif.

They were brought from Redwood City to the jail here via a series of prisoner transfers made by law enforcement agencies along the way. They were booked into jail here Nov. 30.

FRIDAY

MORNING

ACCIDENTS

A non-injury accident was reported on wet road conditions Friday morning at 4:20 a.m. 25 miles south of Colfax on Highway 195. Near milepost 36, Wayne Green of Otis Orchards was driving a 2002 International Tractor-trailer northbound and struck an unoccupied 2000 Subaru Impreza parked on the northbound shoulder.

The Subaru is registered to Pavlo Rudenko of Colfax.

Another non-injury accident occurred in icy road conditions at 7 a.m. Friday morning, 1.1 miles northwest of Oakesdale on State Route 271. A 2005 Ford Focus wagon driven by Lori King of Farmington was traveling northbound when it fish-tailed and slid into the northbound ditch. The vehicle was towed to Colfax Body.

HISTORIC BUILDING

SURVEY

UNDERWAY

A historic building survey commissioned by the City of Colfax is underway, paid for by a $10,000 grant from the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.

Ann Sharley, co-owner of Architectural History & Archaeology of Spokane Valley, began work last week to evaluate more than 50 buildings on a five-block section of Main Street.

The purpose is to ultimately determine whether buildings may be eligible for listing on Colfax’s Register of Historic Places, the state register or National Register of Historic Places.

Sharley was in town again Friday taking pictures and writing down observations of the buildings. The architectural descriptions she creates note items such as what the foundation and walls are made of, the shape of the roof, type of roofing material (if can be seen), types of windows and doors and more.

“Colfax has some very nice and fairly-well preserved buildings,” Sharley said.

She estimated that by the end of Friday, she would be half-finished with her field work.

The architectural historian/archaeologist met with the Colfax Historic Preservation Commission in December. Simultaneous to Sharley’s work, the group is doing in-depth research on the history of Colfax buildings.

PULLMAN LIBRARY

HOLDS DESIGN CONTEST

Pullman’s Neill Public Library is holding a contest for local artists to design its next T-shirt. Entries will be sorted into age groups, 0-11, 12-17, and 18+. The design’s theme should be about literacy.

Artwork will be on display March 13-31 for community voting to determine the top three designs in each group. The winner, chosen by library staff and Friends of the Neill Public Library board members, will receive $100 cash and a free T-shirt of their own design. Entries are due March 12. For contest rules, go to pullmanfnpl@ gmail.com

MEASLES CASE CONFIRMED

IN WHITMAN COUNTY

Whitman County Health Director Troy Henderson confirmed Feb. 16 that a case of measles has hit Whitman County. The health department announced the county has had a lab-confirmed case with a possible exposure window to the public dating from Feb. 2-11.

A notice from the department has been sent to the medical community in the county, including to school nurses, with nurses and secretaries being advised to look out for strange rashes.

The health department is advising that all suspect cases should be reported immediately to the department.

Henderson said the confirmed case was in a child who had one of the two measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shots. A first dose of the shot is recommended in children aged 12-15 months, while the second dose is administered between 4-6 years of age.

Henderson said measles is normally very contagious, spreading through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. He noted, however, that with the infected child already having had one dose of the vaccine, the case was “very mild.”

Henderson said the risk to the public is considered low because of how mild the case was, but the child was at two public events prior to diagnosis. The two events were Play and Learn at the Whitman County Library on Friday, Feb. 3, from 10-11:30 a.m. and the book fair at Jennings Elementary the evening of Thursday, Feb. 9. Anyone who is not immune to measles via vaccination is advised that there is a risk of developing measles. Symptoms include a fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes, with a rash of tiny, red spots following.

The measles case here follows a statewide mumps outbreak, with several of the cases having hit in Spokane County. According to the Washington Department of Health, 469 confirmed cases of mumps have hit the state since October, with 200 of those reported in Spokane County. No cases have been reported in Whitman County.

LAW FIRM ANNOUNCES

KRAGT AS PARTNER

The Colfax branch of the law firm Carpenter, McGuire & DeWulf, P.S. has announced John M. Kragt as a partner in the firm, as of Jan. 1. Kragt’s work consists of ag law, estate planning, probate administration, business planning, municipal, small government and employment law.

He works in the Colfax office every Thursday and the first and third Mondays of each month. He serves as Colfax city attorney.

A 2003 graduate of Ritzville High School, Kragt earned a B.A. from the University of Alabama in 2007 and his law degree at Gonzaga (2011).