Bulletin Column: Sept. 14, 2017

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.

Colfax SCHOOL COUNT AT 581

Total enrollment for Colfax schools stands at 581 students, with 294 in the first six grades at Jennings Elementary and 92 in the seventh and eighth grades. Enrollment for the high school grades is 195.6 full-time equivalent students, Reece Jenkin, district business manager, reported to the school board Monday night.

The total of 581 exceeds the budget projection by 21.69 students which will mean more-than-anticipated per-student revenue from the state for the district.

SALTESE SCHOOL

CONNECTIONS

A feature story in Sunday's Spokesman Review about the restoration of the former Saltese School in the Spokane Valley has Colfax connections. The restoration project is being done by John and Alyson McLean, who operate Blue Room Architecture and Design in Spokane.

John McLean is the son of Gordon and Tresa McLean, who resided in Colfax when he was administrator of Whitman Hospital & Medical Center. John is a member of the 1991 class of Colfax High School and worked for Colfax Public Works and KCLX radio while he was studying architecture at WSU. He and Alyson met at WSU. They have operated their business for about 11 years.

Gordon McLean, who was administrator of the hospital in Colville after leaving Colfax, is now retired and residing in Lincoln City, Ore. Tresa McLean died in 2005.

The Saltese School, which was built in 1900, is located in the southeast corner of Spokane Valley in an area known as Saltese Flats south of Greenacres.

Many of the early-day students at the one-room school were members of the Courchaine family. One of the descendant families, the Dan Courchaines, resided in Colfax, and their son, Danny Courchaine, was a member of the 1981 Colfax football team which won the state A championship in the King Dome.

FOUR INJURED IN 270

COLLISION

Four people were injured in a three-car accident on the Pullman-Moscow Highway late Friday night. The accident four miles west of Pullman closed the highway for six hours, into the early morning hours Saturday.

According to the report from the Washington State Patrol, Elizabeth T. Cramer, 29, Moscow, was driving a 1998 Chrysler Town & Country westbound at 11:40 p.m. when she crossed the left turn lane and center lane of the highway and hit two cars in the eastbound lane.

The Chrysler hit a 2000 Honda Accord driven by Noreide S. Aguilar, 20, Boise, and a 2017 Mini-Cooper driven by Alexander S. Blackburn, 22, Los Altos, Calif.

Cramer and Naomi Williams, a passenger in the Honda, were flown to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.

Aguilar, the driver of the Honda, and Kimberly Hartwick, a passenger in the Cooper, were taken by ambulance to Pullman Regional Hospital.

The report from the WSP district office said Cramer is suspected of driving under the influence and driving distracted.

WOOD FACES CHECKS CHARGE

Clinton R. Wood, 28, Pullman, has been summoned to appear in court Friday after being charged with forging checks in the name of a former employer in the Colton area. He faces 12 counts of theft in the second degree and 12 counts of forgery.

According to the investigation report by Sheriff's Sgt. Keith Cooper, Clinton is alleged to have taken check blanks out of the office of his former employer, made out the checks to himself and forged the employee’s signature. The checks were allegedly cashed at an employees' credit union office in the Pullman Walmart.

The employer noted all checks written on the account go through a machine in the office so the ones allegedly forged by Wood were obvious, the report said.

The employer estimated the total value of the alleged loss was in the $24,000 range, according to Sgt. Cooper's report.

MOEDT AGAIN SOUGHT ON WARRANT

Another warrant has been issued for the arrest of Johannes Moedt, 47, the Spokane Valley resident who now owes $13,698 in restitution and interest which he was ordered to pay after a 2009 conviction on two charges of child rape. Moedt was arrested Aug. 23 on a warrant in Spokane and two days later told the court he has not had income with which to make the payments on the sum due. He was initially ordered to pay $6,520, with most of it in reimbursement for investigation costs and expert witness costs in preparation for a trial which was dropped after he opted to plead guilty to both charges. The sum has since grown to $13,698 with interest charged at 12 percent on the balance due.

After finding Moedt had failed to make the payments, the court set an Aug. 30 hearing to determine whether Moedt had been willful in his failure. Court records show Judge Gary Libey issued another warrant for Moedt's arrest after he failed to appear Aug. 30.

An affidavit filed with the court Sept.6 said copies of the warrant have been sent to Moedt at three locations in Spokane and to his defense attorney.

BURGARD RETURNS FOR CITY STINT

Andy Burgard, retired Colfax building inspector, has agreed to help out at City Hall while city officials complete hiring of a replacement for Irving Trejo, who resigned to accept a job with the engineer's office in Snohomish County. Trejo served as Colfax Building and Community Development Associate for more than two years after completing studies in civil engineering at Washington State University.

The city had planned to use the inspection services from the county during the interim. County Inspector Dan Gladwill has offered to assist if needed in the coming weeks while a search for Trejo's replacement is underway.

SALMON FLOTILLA ON THE RIVER

A "Save the Wild Salmon" gathering was scheduled to start at Chief Timothy Park near Clarkston Friday. The gathering was expected to begin at 6 p.m. for camping. Guest speakers spoke Saturday morning before the 10 a.m. launch.

After the morning talks, the flotilla planned to depart from Chief Timothy and paddle a six-mile round trip downstream to Steptoe Canyon and back.

This was the third annual flotilla gathering. The first one was two years ago at Wawawai County Park.

CAR-TRUCK COLLISION

Extensive damage was sustained by a 2004 Toyota Corolla in an accident in the S. 700 block of Main Street near the Pullman Highway intersection Thursday morning at about 8 a.m. Driven by Lauren Olin of Colfax, the Toyota was southbound next to a truck and trailer being driven southbound by Octavio Garza, Othello.

The Toyota hit the rear wheel of the trailer which was traveling in the left lane.

Colfax officer Matt Malakowsky said he received conflicting accounts of which vehicle crossed out of its respective lane into the path of the other vehicle.

COURT

DISMISSES PROSSER MAN

Drug charges against Jason McCorkindale, 36, Prosser, were dismissed Sept. 1 in Whitman County Superior Court. The dismissal followed an Aug. 10 court ruling that evidence found in a search of the vehicle McCorkindale was driving at the time of his arrest be suppressed. The vehicle was stopped May 27 on the Walla Walla Highway just outside of Colfax.

The court determined the deputy making the arrest lacked sufficient cause to extend the arrest after the Prosser man exited the vehicle.

The vehicle he was driving was registered to the previous owner, and McCorkindale told the deputy after he was stopped that he had just purchased the vehicle. According to the account, the prior owner's license had been suspended.

KAMIAK

CAMPGROUND CLOSED

The campground area at Kamiak Butte County Park was closed Friday until further notice because of high fire hazard.

Kamiak Park and the Bill Chipman Trail have been under fire restrictions since July 3, and Wawawai County Park has been under fire restrictions since June 10.

Cooking with charcoal briquettes or a gas grill will still be an option in the day use area of the park.

PRINCETON DRIVER HURT

Lea Kemper, Princeton, Idaho, was injured Sept. 2 just east of Colfax when the 2001 Dodge Durango she was driving rolled off Highway 272 one-half mile east of Colfax. According to the Washington State Patrol report, she was driving westbound at 2:40 p.m. and went onto the shoulder of the highway, into the westbound ditch and through a fence.

--Sonia Tovar, Kennewick, was unhurt Sept. 4 when the 2014 Ford Flex van she was driving collided with a deer on Highway 26 at 8:25 p.m. seven miles west of LaCrosse. According to the state patrol report, she was driving westbound when the deer ran into the roadway.

--Issac Hicks, Spokane, was injured Sept. 2 when he lost control of a 2008 Jeep Cherokee on Highway 195 three miles south of Rosalia at 5:07 a.m. Hicks was driving southbound when he went off the highway into the southbound ditch and rolled, according to the report by Trooper Michael Murphy.

ALLERGIC REACTION

AT FAIR

A Colfax ambulance was dispatched to the Palouse Empire fairground Friday at 11:13 a.m. for a patient who reportedly sustained an allergic reaction. The patient was transported to Whitman Hospital.