Bulletin: Dec. 14, 2017

Another record year

Colfax Volunteer Firemen reported to the city council Dec, 4 they have already set another record for call responses this year. The total, as of that meeting, was 998.

The record number of runs was set last year with a total of 948. That number was pegged after the volunteers discovered a numbering error in the logs for last year.

The department hit the 1,000 mark for responses Dec. 6 at 3:28 p.m. when they responded to a call of a sick person at the River View Apartments in Colfax.

Chief Craig Corbeill also reported Dec. 4 for the first time in several years the department has signed on two cadets. The cadet program has been dormant for several years. The volunteers are also recruiting new members, he reported.

Council adjusts budget

Colfax City Council Dec. 4 approved a $38,419 extension in the budget for the police department for the current budget year. Most of the deficit stemmed from a drop in anticipated revenues from traffic tickets issued to motorists by the department.

Chief Rick McNannay said the time consumed responding to calls took time which otherwise would have gone to traffic patrols. He said police have logged responses to 2,578 calls to date for the year. He said average time consumed for response to a call is in the range of three hours, and some cases can consume days.

City Finance Director Chris Mathis told the council a lag in revenue in other funds is expected to deplete the city’s reserve funds by the end of the year. The city had a $92,000 reserve in the general fund as of the start of the year, and that is expected to drop.

In some cases, the city received unanticipated revenue over the year, and that will help offset the expected drop in reserves.

Rite set for Alvin C. Haas

Alvin C. Haas, retired Fairfield area farmer, died Dec. 5, 2017, at the age of 87. Mr. Hass was known around Whitman County for the years he refereed basketball games. He was a referee for 16 years and also served in seven state tournaments.

Born in Tekoa May 23, 1930, to Martha and Carl Haas, he graduated from Fairfield High School with the class of 1949 and served in the U.S. Army in Korea. He returned home to resume farming. In 1967 he and others purchased Cornwall Machinery which later became Bistate.

Surviving are a son, James; a sister, Margaret Towne, and three grandchildren.

A funeral service will be Friday at 1 p.m at the Fairfield Community Church. A graveside service will be at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Rosewood Cemetery.

Three hurt in head-on collision

Three people were injured early Monday night in a collision on Highway 195 6.2 miles south of Pullman.

According to the Washington State Patrol report, a 2004 Toyota Camry driven by Markous Kelp, 26, Pullman, collided with a 2011 Toyota Prius driven by Wanda Nuxoll, 55, Lewiston.

She and Donald Nuxoll, 60, who was also injured, were taken by ambulance to St. Joseph's Hospital in Lewiston, and Kelp was taken to Pullman Regional Hospital.

According to the report, Kelp was driving northbound at 6:06 p.m. and pulled into the oncoming lane to attempt a pass in heavy fog and collided head-on with the southbound Prius driven by Wanda Nuxoll.

Highway 195 was blocked until 8:21 last night.

The WSP district report said Kelp could face a charge of negligent driving for attempting to make the pass in the fog.

Six vehicles in Friday crash

A total of six vehicles were involved in an accident north of Cashup at mile 54.5 on Highway 195 Friday morning at 7:47 a.m. Five people were injured in the chain reaction accident and were transported by Colfax and Steptoe ambulances to Whitman Hospital in Colfax.

The accident, which was south of the Oakesdale Road intersection, happened in icy and foggy conditions, according to investigating Trooper Jim Retzer.

A southbound 2003 Freightliner armored truck driven by Saif Al-Hmeyrat, 23, Spokane, slid out of control on the icy highway, crossed the highway, struck the guardrail on the northbound side and then came to a halt in the northbound lane. The other five vehicles were all northbound and collided in the blocked highway.

Al-Hmeyrat was not injured, but a passenger in the truck, Joshua Shaffer, 26, was injured.

The first to collide with the stopped truck was a 2007 Mazda mini van driven by Ahmed Hamzah, 44, Pullman. He crested the hill in the fog and hit the armored truck. The Mazda came to a stop on the southbound shoulder partially blocking the southbound lane. Hamzah was unhurt, but a 10-year-old girl, Fadak Jazmin, Pullman, was injured in the mini van.

She was later taken by ambulance from Colfax to Spokane.

Robert L. Spence, 73, Puyallup resident driving a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado pickup, was driving northbound and attempted to avoid the accident but struck the front of the armored truck. He was not hurt.

Marcy Sager, 41, Colfax, driving a 2001 Ford Windstar van northbound was also unable to stop and struck the armored truck. The Windstar came to a halt blocking the highway.

Two passengers in the Windstar, Othelo Quilang, 70, and Julie Quilang, 66, were also injured. They are Sager's parents.

Leticia N. Lopezortiz, 39, Los Angeles, approached the scene driving a 2010 Freightliner truck northbound and was unable to stop and struck the Windstar.

Todd Krause, 43, Colfax, approached the scene in a 2016 Ford F150 pickup truck and collided with the side of the Mazda driven by Hamzah which had stopped on the southbound shoulder after being the first to hit the armored truck. Krause was not injured.

Rosalia man hurt in ice crash

Robert B. Morgan, Rosalia, was injured Friday morning in a one-vehicle accident on Highway 195 in the area of the Trestle Creek Road intersection. According to the report by Trooper Jim Retzer, Morgan was driving in the same icy and foggy conditions which led to a six-vehicle pileup on Highway 195 about an hour later about three miles farther south on the highway.

Morgan was driving a 2001 Suzuki Grand Vitara SUV southbound at 6:45 p.m. when he lost control on the black ice. The Suzuki slid across the oncoming lane, left the roadway on the east side and rolled onto its top.

Morgan was transported by the Rosalia ambulance to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane for treatment.

--Miriam Froese, Spokane, was uninjured when she lost control of a 2006 Ford Ranger pickup truck on the same stretch of Highway 195 in the same same conditions about two minutes before the big accident started north of Cashup.

Froese was driving southbound when the Ranger went out of control on the ice at mile 55.4, which was between the other two accident sites. The pickup hit the guardrail on both sides of the highway and came to a halt against the guardrail on the southbound side.

Crashes into pole

Cody Nickerson, Spokane, was unhurt Sunday night when he drove through a stop sign on Highway 27 north of Oakesdale and collided with a power pole and a speed limit sign on the opposite side of the highway.

According to the Washington State Patrol report, Nickerson was driving a 2001 Ford Explorer southbound on Highway 27 at 7:20 p.m. and failed to observe the stop sign where 27 intersects with Highway 271 a half mile north of Oakesdale.