Bulletin Column: Oct. 19, 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.

BRETVELD JOINS CITY STAFF

Steve Bretveld resigned his city council seat at the start of Monday night's meeting prior to joining the city staff as Building and Community Development Associate. Bretveld will take the position vacated by Irving Trejo, who resigned in September to take a position in Snohomish County.

Bretveld was one of three council members scheduled to leave the city council at the end of the year. He was completing one term in office.

Councilman Al Vorderbrueggen, who served as mayor pro tem at Monday's meeting, said he would leave a decision on filling Bretveld's vacant seat on the council up to Mayor Todd Vanek when he returned.

City Attorney John Kragt noted that his research indicated Bretveld would not have been required to resign the seat. He also noted the procedure to fill the vacant seat could be left up to the mayor.

The city has four meetings remaining this year, with annual approval of the budget as a major factor on the agenda.

Crystn Guenthner, who is on the Nov. 7 ballot for the position two seat vacated by Bretveld, was present at Monday's city council session. Council members suggested she could be appointed to the seat after the election. Guenthner and two other unopposed candidates to date have not been challenged by write-in candidates and are expected to be elected in the Nov. 7 vote.

Bretveld told the council Monday night he has closed down his home inspection business. He will continue to serve part-time as assistant pastor at First Baptist Church. Councilman Jim Kackman, who noted he supported the appointment, said he hopes Bretveld obtains certification for home and commercial inspections.

Those certifications are not required for the city position which Bretveld will fill.

After announcing his resignation from the council, Bretveld left his seat at the city council table and took a seat in the spectator section. Reminded by a council member that residents are not required to stay for the duration of a session after their part of the agenda is finished, Bretveld smiled and left the session.

TWO HURT IN ROLLOVER ACCIDENT

Two people were taken by ambulance to Whitman Hospital Friday afternoon after an accident caused by hail and slush on the roadway. According to the report by Trooper Bruce Blood, Wesley E. Schatz, Bothell, was driving a 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis northbound at 1:35 p.m. when he lost control in the hail and slush on the roadway three-and-one-half miles north of Colfax on Highway 195. The Mercury slid into the northbound ditch and flipped onto its top.

Joan M. Schatz, a passenger, was also transported from the scene to the hospital.

---Jessica Harris, Grangeville, Idaho, was unhurt at 6 p.m. Friday when she lost control of a 2013 Dodge Dart on highway 195 two miles north of Colton after hitting a deer. She was driving southbound when the deer ran onto the the highway and struck the right front of the Dart.

ARRESTED AFTER TWO WRECKS

Kenneth Bowman, 30, was booked into the county jail late Friday afternoon after he was arrested in Pullman as a suspect in two hit and run accidents. According to the Pullman Police report, Bowman was arrested in the parking lot at Safeway after he allegedly left the scene of a three-vehicle accident at the intersection of S. Grand and Bishop Boulevard.

Bowman was also suspected of being the driver of a Chevrolet Uplander which had previously been involved in a two-vehicle accident at Main and Grand in Pullman. Reports from the first accident said the Uplander in that accident left the scene with one flat tire.

The driver of a vehicle which was struck at the Bishop Boulevard accident sustained injuries and was taken by ambulance to Pullman Regional Hospital for treatment.

The report said witnesses from the second accident were transported by an officer to the Safeway lot and identified Bowman as the driver of the Uplander.

A check on Bowman's license came back with a report that it had been suspended, the report alleged. He also has an outstanding arrest warrant from King County.

CITY, HOSPITAL WORK ON NEW AGREEMENT

The city of Colfax and Whitman Hospital are now working on a new agreement for police security coverage at the hospital, City Administrator Dodd Snodgrass reported to the city council Monday.

Council members approved extending the present agreement, which had officially expired at the end of September, until a new agreement can be drafted. The original three-year agreement was signed in 2014.

Chief Rick McNannay said the original agreement was negotiated after the hospital became concerned about security following a series of incidents in the emergency room. McNannay noted staffing gaps in the department ended some of the city services in the original agreement, but officers still make a daily security check at the hospital and also assist with security training.

Under the agreement, the hospital has made payments to assist police payroll.

HUNTING SEASON OPENER

Whitman County Sheriff's office logged six complaints related to hunting over the weekend, with the start of hunting season.

Complaints Saturday were logged at 8:16 a.m about trespass from Pat Old Road in the Pullman area, 9:38 a.m. from Highway 23 in the St. John area about possible poaching, at 4:11 p.m. about trespass on Endicott Road and 6:30 p.m about shooting from the roadway along Stephen Road in the Rock Lake area.

The possible poaching complaint was investigated by the state fish and game department.

Sunday reports were logged at 9:36 a.m. from Steptoe Butte about a possible shooting in the state park and at 12:43 p.m. from Warneke Road about trespass in the Uniontown area.

HINOJOS SENTENCED TO SIX MONTHS

Alex Hinojos, 28, Colfax, was sentenced to six months in jail Friday after pleading guilty to an amended charge of malicious mischief. The sentence was recommended by both sides under terms of a plea bargain agreement in which the state dropped an initial second charge of burglary.

Hinojos has been in jail since Sept. 20. He was arrested after he reportedly broke windows out of a house and a car with a bat at a residence on East Street in Colfax. A bat with glass embedded in it was subsequently found at the scene, according to the Colfax Police investigation report.

The six-month term is the maximum Hinojos could have received for the malicious mischief conviction under the state's standard sentencing range.

Defense attorney Steve Martonick said Hinojos is expected to be transferred to Spokane County where a warrant has been issued for his arrest. He will be allowed to serve the six-month sentence from the Colfax case concurrently with any sentence which may come from the Spokane case.

A restitution hearing for the amount of damages sustained by the victim's car and house will be set at a later date.

YOUTH ADMITS SCHOOL THREAT

The 14-year-old Colfax youth who was arrested and jailed after posting threats to take a gun and shoot up the high school pleaded guilty to a felony harassment charge Oct. 12 in juvenile court. The court granted the youth's petition to delay final disposition on the case for one year and was allowed release under certain conditions.

The year-long delayed disposition order continues the court-ordered ban that the youth not go within 100 feet of Colfax High School. The court set a hearing date next July to review the youth's status with the school.

Deputy Prosecutor Merritt Decker said it was his understanding the youth intended to take online classes.

The order did allow the youth to go Schmuck Park and to the Colfax swim pool next summer.

He was also ordered to undergo a mental examination and comply with any treatment recommended. The pre-hearing ban on possession of firearms was also extended for a year.

The youth was also ordered to complete 150 hours of community service with no less than 15 hours completed each month.

Decker said the maximum jail time the youth could have received would have been 30 days, and he had already served 21 days prior to the disposition order. The year-long delay in final disposition of the case, the equivalent of sentencing in adult court, provides a year of probation supervision.

The boy was arrested late Sept. 21 after students at the school reported to the school counselor that he had posted the threat on Snapchat. One of the students also said the youth had showed him a weapon.

The threat came in the days following the school shooting at Freeman High School, and the Colfax youth in his Snapchat posting made reference to the Freeman shooting.