Bulletin Column April 27

-Liz Nelson photo

Down the line

A grain train heads through Endicott last Thursday. The train is operated by Watco’s Palouse River & Coulee City line. Endicott, St. John and Thornton are on the Pleasant Valley branch of the Watco operation. The WAMX markings on the engines are designations for another Watco company. Watco also operates the Great Northwest Railroad which runs from Lewiston down the Snake River to Ayers.

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.

TODDLER HURT IN FIELD

ACCIDENT

Sheriff’s deputies and Endicott Fire Department volunteers responded to a report Monday of a toddler who was injured in a field accident near Endicott. Sheriff Brett Myers said the accident involved a three-year-old who fell from a moving tractor and was struck by a fertilizer applicator which was being towed behind the tractor. The sheriff said the youngster was leaning against the side door of the tractor cab when it unexpectedly opened.

A Colfax ambulance crew received a report at 12:23 p.m. Monday and responded to the scene.

The youngster was flown from the scene by a Life Flight helicopter to Providence Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane. He is now out of the hospital an expected to make a full recovery.

CORONER REPORTS ON HAY DEATH

Whitman County Coroner Peter Martin Monday afternoon issued a cause of death report for a Burbank, Wash., man who was found dead in a pickup truck in a field in the Hay area March 19.

Martin said a preliminary finding determined the cause of death was hypothermia due to exposure to extreme cold temperature. The man was identified as Dale Lee Robertson, 62, Burbank.

Martin said Robertson was believed to have died in the pickup truck he was driving when it became stuck in the field March 5, two weeks before he was discovered.

Robertson was discovered by Terry Miller who went out to check on his fields when conditions improved to the point where he could operate an ATV. The discovery of Robertson’s body was entered on the sheriff’s log at 5:09 p.m. March 19.

Martin said a report on the discovery of Mr. Robertson had inadvertently been delayed while his office awaited a report from a toxicology lab which is still pending.

He noted family members reported Mr. Robertson was known to go on drives to remote locations in his four-wheel-drive pickup truck. He said the fuel tank in the truck was empty, and Robertson was believed to have remained in the truck with the engine and heater running until it was out of fuel.

The Miller farm is off Beacon Road, which runs northwest out of Hay.

FAIR MANAGER WALKS OUT

OF SESSION

Palouse Empire Fair Manager Bob Reynolds Monday night walked out of the fair board meeting after an exchange about the availability of restroom facilities for the plowing bee April 15-16. Stan Riebold, one of the organizers of the bee, loudly questioned why the fair’s restrooms in the former gun club building on the north end of the grounds could not be put into service.

Teams participating in the plowing bee use the arena barn area on the north end of the grounds to rest their draft teams. Reynolds explained that the gun club restrooms could not be put in use because the drainage field for the septic system had failed.

After Riebold continued to insist the system could be repaired, Reynolds said he did not think the fair staff members should be subjected to that type of questioning and left the meeting.

The board continued to discuss the facility and other agenda items, and Reynolds later returned to the meeting and said he feels the fair board needs to talk about how they treat staff members. He also passed out copies of a December report from Palouse River Rock on the pros and cons of undertaking a repair of the gun club facility. He also said he thought he was being criticized for pursuing an option to install a vault toilet in that part of the fairground, and fair board members replied that was not the case.

Other board members noted Riebold was the only one who was involved in the earlier exchange, and Riebold apologized, but he noted organizers of the plowing bee were supplied with a garden hose for approximately 60 head of horses, and participants had to walk to the community building to use the restrooms and wash their hands.

Reynolds then told fair board members he was going home “to cool off” and left the meeting again.

At the end of the agenda, member Nathan Moore requested the board go into an executive session, and that was allowed after a 10-minute break. The board did not reconvene to take any formal action after discussing ways to approach controversial topics during the session, according to Janet Schmidt, who chaired the meeting.

THREE

ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES

Three suspects were arrested Friday on drug charges after deputies conducted a warrant search of a residence south of Colfax and confiscated methamphetamine, scales and approximately $3,000 in cash. Also located at the scene was a motorcycle which had been reported stolen from northern Idaho.

Arrested were Nikolas Erickson, 26; Tasylia Elliott, 24, and Kathleen R. Elliott, 42.

Erickson was booked into jail on probable charges of possession of methamphetamine, delivery of the drug and possession of the stolen motorcycle. Both women were charged with possession of methamphetamine.

According to the deputy’s report, the case developed when an informant reported drugs were being used and sold at the residence which was a former shop building along Highway 195 which had been converted into a residence. The informant said she was concerned because two pre-school children were living at the residence. The youngsters at the residence were placed in the custody of the state’s child protective services.

The three suspects were allowed pre-trial release on their own recognizance after a first appearance in court Friday.

GALLEGOS ARRESTED AGAIN

Eli Gallegos, 59, Colfax, was arrested Friday after deputies conducted a warrant search of a residence along Highway 195 south of Colfax Friday and arrested three suspects on drug charges.

Gallegos was arrested on a probable charge of trafficking stolen property and booked into jail at approximately 8 p.m. Friday.

According to the arrest report, Nikolas Erickson, one of the suspects at the scene, told deputies a Yamaha motorcycle which was confiscated at the scene, was brought to the residence by Gallegos. Erickson told the deputies Gallegos had brought the motorcycle out to the residence for Erickson to sell because Gallegos owed Erickson approximately $1,000 for loans and drugs which were “fronted” to Gallegos.

The deputy’s report noted Erickson gave his account of the motorcycle despite the fact that the information supports a probable charge against Erickson of possession of stolen property.

Gallegos was booked into jail at 8 p.m. Friday. He was previously arrested Feb. 4 in Colfax on a charge of residential burglary and now faces a trial June 12. His bond for pre-trial release in the motorcycle case was set at $10,000.

LACY

SENTENCED

TO 10 YEARS

Clifford N. Lacy, 66, former Oakesdale resident who pleaded guilty March 24 to child rape, was sentenced to 120 months in prison Friday in Whitman County Superior Court. Lacy pleaded guilty to the charge March 24, but his sentencing was delayed until Friday to allow for preparation of a state pre-sentence report which was ordered by the court at that time.

Two other charges against Lacy, indecent liberties and child molestation, were dropped as part of a plea bargain agreement. Last May, Lacy was sentenced to 57 months in prison on a child molestation charge involving a different victim. According to the investigation report, deputies began investigating the case involving the second victim after monitoring a telephone call between Lacy, who was then in jail on the first charge, and his wife.

The 120-month sentence ordered Friday was the lowest on the standard range Lacy could have received for the conviction. However, after he completes the prison time, Lacy will still have to go before the state review board for indeterminate sentences.

Included on the court record was a letter written by Lacy to the two juvenile victims in which he said he was ashamed of his conduct. He said he allowed Satan to get control of his thinking.