Bulletin: Oct. 26, 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.

FIRE TRUCK MISSED CALL

A 1994 Pierce pumper fire truck which was added to the Colfax Fire Department last month missed the response to last Monday's fire at the Hickman residence on Valleyview. The truck failed to start because it had a dead battery.

Fire Chief Craig Corbeill said something on the truck is suspected to be drawing power which drains down the battery. The department normally keeps battery chargers on trucks in the station but for some reason the 1994 truck, which was purchased from Keizer, Ore., had not been connected to a charger.

Fire volunteers switched to the department's ladder truck. Corbeill noted the ladder truck turned out to be the right truck to have on the scene because the ladder might have been needed to direct water down on the roof of the burning house in the event the fire advanced to the point where crews could not crawl onto the roof of the burning house to vent it.

MISSING CHEROKEE RETURNS

Marcus A. Snell, 20, Colfax, was booked into the county jail Oct. 18 after being arrested on a probable charge of taking a motor vehicle without permission. According to the arrest report by Colfax Chief Rick McNannay, the case began when he received a report from the Four Star Ag Shop that a 1993 Cherokee was missing from the employees' parking lot.

Snell reportedly became a suspect because he had a previous episode of taking the Jeep which was owned by his adoptive father.

According to the report, the owner was making a delivery in the Colton area and called the shop here to report he believed he had just seen his vehicle being driven along Highway 195.

McNannay's report said Snell later drove the Cherokee back to the shop lot and was arrested there. Snell was allowed release from jail on an exoneration order after formal charges were not filed within 72 hours.

SUNDAY

ACCIDENTS

ON 195

Evan J. Moore, Spokane, was unhurt Sunday when he lost control of the 1983 Chevrolet Blazer he was driving and went into the ditch of Highway 195 five miles north of Colfax. According to the Washington State Patrol report, he was driving southbound at 4:35 p.m. when he lost control of the Blazer which came to a halt on its side in the southbound ditch. A Colfax ambulance and rescue truck responded but they turned out not to be needed.

Lionnel B. Palomino, Quincy, was unhurt at 5:01 p.m. Sunday when the 2013 Toyota Corolla he was driving struck a deer on Highway 195 8.5 miles south of Pullman at 5:01 p.m. He was driving southbound and the deer ran onto the highway from the right side.

BOYER

TO CLOSE

FOR WINTER

Terri and Leo Haas, concessionaires at Boyer Park and Marina, have decided to terminate their contract with the Port of Whitman. They will mark their last day at Boyer Dec. 27. The Port has decided to close Boyer until a new concessionaire can be signed to operate the facility.

The Haas couple served as concessionaires at Boyer for the last four years. In a letter to customers and friends, they noted they have made some lifelong friends during their years at the marina.

They will provide the Port with a list of moorage customers who have made payments going into 2018 with dates of expiration listed according to fees which have been paid.

Port Manager Joe Poiré confirmed Boyer will be closed during the winter months. He said Boyer normally operates in the winter months on a limited basis.

He added the Port is now working out a plan to take reservations for people who want to book them in the coming months for next season.

TWELVE MONTHS ON DRUG

CONVICTION

Jory Dane Smith, 24, Pullman, was sentenced to 12 months in jail Friday on drug possession convictions. Smith, who originally faced eight drug charges, pleaded guilty Sept. 29 to four charges of possession of methamphetamine.

Smith had initially faced two charges of delivery of drugs for allegedly selling to a confidential informant used by members of the Quad Cities Drug Task Force. According to the case report, he was first arrested in Pullman March 30 and found to be in possession of prescription drugs, a small container of heroin and foil with heroin residue. The report said Smith wasn't taken into custody at that time on a promise to cooperate with the drug task force, but he didn't carry through with the promise.

He was a passenger in a Geo Metro which was stopped May 12 on Stadium Way. Among items found in Smith's possession were 26.5 grams of methamphetamine in four different packages and 10.1 grams of heroin in three packages.

Defense attorney Steve Martonick asked the court to allow Smith to participate in a first-time offender program which would shorten the length of his jail time. He told the court Smith was a drug addict and was doing drug sales to feed his addiction.

Judge Libey ruled the lengthy list of charges against Smith didn't fit the first-time offender profile. He noted the report showed Smith had actually been arrested twice on different charges.

The judge also denied a last-minute request by Smith to be sent to the State Department of Corrections with a sentence of a year and a day. The judge agreed to review Smith's one-year sentence for a possible reduction at some point in the future.

GALLER MOTION DENIED

A motion by Diane Galler to receive credit for community service hours to reduce her six-month sentence was denied Friday in superior court. Galler was sentenced Aug. 9 to six months in jail on a conviction of second-degree arson. She pleaded guilty to the reduced charge June 16.

Galler in her motion noted she had completed 92 hours of community service work and cited a provision in state law which allows use of community service credits to reduce jail time.

Prosecutor Denis Tracy in a response to the motion noted the law cited by Galler was limited to inmates serving time on non-violent offenses. He said second-degree arson is rated as a violent felony.

Galler was convicted for her role in burning down her former house in Tekoa Sept. 18, 2016. In addition to the six months, she was ordered, along with two other defendants in the case, to pay $20,898 in restitution.

Galler's release date from jail, with credit for good time, is Dec. 7.

RULING ON THORNTON DEATH

In a cause of death finding issued Sunday, County Coroner Peter Martin reports John Dale Larson, 36, died Oct. 15 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his Thornton residence. Manner of death was determined to be a suicide.

Martin said Larson had a history of anxiety, depression and chronic back pain. A sheriff's deputy responded to a report of the death on the Old Thornton Highway at 6:17 p.m. Oct. 15.

PERKINS HOUSE LEAKS

Return of rainy weather has also marked a return of roof leaks at the Perkins House. Frank White, one of the volunteers at the Perkins House for the Whitman County Historical Society, said the leak enters the house in the nursery room upstairs. They use buckets to collect the water and keep it from damaging furnishings in the room.

The room has been furnished to show what a nursery would have looked like in the early days.

Restoration of the Perkins roof was done with cedar shakes to match what was originally used on a house of that era. White noted the shakes have aged and curled since the restoration, which is the suspected cause of the leaks.

The society hires a contractor to clean the gutters and roofs. That is normally done after the leaves and pine needles drop in the fall.