Bulletin Column: Jan. 11, 2018

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.

ROTARY GIVES $2,500 TO POOL

Colfax Rotary Club will make a $2,500 donation to the drive to get the Colfax swim pool in operation this summer. Members of the club board approved the donation at their monthly meeting Monday.

The donation will go toward the $32,000 in outside funds which will be required to get the pool up and operating this summer. Deadline for raising the funds, under terms of the city's budget, is March 31.

The city opted to call for the outside funding because there are not enough reserves in the parks budget to cover the operation of the swim pool this year. Despite generating income from admissions and lesson fees, the pool each year operates at a loss.

The club's board of directors made the pledge with the idea of challenging other organizations and individuals to make a commitment to the fund drive.

Donations of funds for the swim pool are anticipated to go into an account which will be set up by the pool fund drive committee.

The aim is to keep the fund drive independent of city hall accounts, according to City Administrator Dodd Snodgrass.

LEWIS TO ASSIST POOL FUND DRIVE

Tammy Lewis, resident of Colfax since 1999, has volunteered to help lead the Colfax drive to generate $32,000 in donations to operate the Colfax swim pool this year, City Administrator Dodd Snodgrass reported to the city council Jan 3. Lewis said she would like to serve as a co-leader of the fund drive.

As part of its final budget, city council members decided to not operate the pool this year unless $32,000 in “outside funds” was obtained to bolster the city budget.

The city council's decision was made on a recommendation from the parks board, which determined at an earlier session that operating the pool would consume all of what remains of reserve funds in the parks department budget.

The city set a March 31 deadline for the $32,000 to be in place in order to launch plans for starting up the pool this summer.

The swim pool funding is also expected to be one of the topics at the next Colfax Parks Board meeting which will be Jan. 16 at 5:30 p.m.

Lewis is now an agent for Team Washington Real Estate. She previously served as public affairs manager for Schweitzer Engineering and as executive director of the Pullman Chamber of Commerce.

HIMES

SENTENCED

TO 25 MONTHS

Kenneth L. Himes, 38, Tekoa, was sentenced to 25 months Friday in Whitman County Superior Court on a conviction on a charge of possession of stolen property. Himes pleaded guilty to the charge Dec. 15. The 25-month sentence means Himes will be sent to the state Department of Corrections to serve his term.

Himes’ sentence was based on an offender score of nine-plus, which is the highest rating possible under the state's sentencing act. A total of 10 prior convictions were listed on his score compilation, with five of them in Whitman County and five in Spokane County. The convictions date back to 2014.

The high score meant Himes faced a sentencing range of 43 to 57 months, but he was allowed a Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative which allows him to receive a sentence of half the mid point of the range, which is 25 months. He will be required to meet specified treatment requirements under the drug offender program. Himes also faces 25 months of community supervision when he is released from prison.

The drug offender format allows the court to impose the original sentence in the event Himes fails to meet treatment requirements.

Defense Attorney John Hart filed the motion for the drug offender option. It was opposed by Deputy Prosecutor Merritt Decker.

The stolen property involved in the Dec. 15 conviction was a Troy-Bilt riding mower which was taken from a Latah resident. The arrest report said deputies eventually found the missing mower, which had been rigged for spraying, under a railroad trestle along Seabury Road.

Himes was linked to the missing mower when deputies received assistance from a Palouse area resident who said he had been asked by Himes to sell spraying equipment which had been on the mower, but the Palouse resident returned the equipment to the owner.

Deputies also had photos of the mower at Himes’ Tekoa residence from when they went there as part of another investigation.

In addition to fines and fees, Himes was also ordered to pay $2,882 in restitution to Daniel Keller of Latah, owner of the mower, and to Frank Keller of Tekoa. A pickup truck owned by Frank Keller sustained a broken window as the result of a rock throwing incident involving Himes.

As part of a plea bargain agreement Dec. 15, prosecutors dropped a charge against Himes related to the rock throwing episode, but the restitution was still included in the sentence.

GARFIELD MAN SENTENCED

Robert Lawson, 54, Garfield, was sentenced to six months in jail Friday after he pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of methamphetamine. Lawson had an offender score of three based on a 2012 conviction.

The sentence involved evidence found in a warrant search May 9 of Lawson's residence on Spokane Street in Garfield by Officer Joe Handley.

According to the arrest report, Handley received a tip that meth was being smoked that day at the Lawson residence when he made a traffic stop of a vehicle which was driving away from the residence at 12:41 p.m. The tip came from a passenger in the vehicle who was arrested on an outstanding warrant.

Handley obtained a search warrant and subsequently found the drug evidence in the house. He had been advised drug paraphernalia was hidden under a table in the house and that is where he found the evidence.

Lawson Friday was allowed work release while serving the six-month sentence. He was also ordered to pay $800 in costs and fees and a $2,000 drug fine.

CAR SLIDE AT HILL-RAY

A Colfax Police officer Sunday at 4 p.m. responded to a report of a stuck vehicle at Hill-Ray Plaza. An employee had parked on the grass hillside at Hill-Ray, and the car slid down the slope which was frozen beneath the wet grass. The owner attempted to recover the car with a pickup truck, but eventually had to call a tow truck to get the car back on the roadway.

Also Sunday, police responded to a report from a resident of Pine Street who saw a man running from his shop at about 6 p.m. The suspected intruder was described as a male, possibly 5-11, and was wearing a black hoodie-type sweatshirt. Police were unable to locate the suspect.

VALHALLA THEFT NETS

30 DAYS

Stuart H. Schmidke, 23, was sentenced to 30 days in jail Friday after he pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree theft in connection with a break in at Valhalla Bar & Grill in Pullman where he was employed as a cook. Schmidke was ordered to report to the jail by 1:30 p.m. Friday.

According to the Pullman Police report, surveillance tapes showed a man carrying a golf club throwing a landscaping block at a glass panel to gain entry to Valhalla at 2:50 a.m. July 30. An estimated $1,500 to $2,000 is believed to have been taken.

The report said Schmidke showed up at Mr. Z's casino the next day and purchased $1,100 in gaming chips. Employees at Mr. Z's noted the cash Schmidke used to buy the chips was bundled with a type of wrapper used at Valhalla.

Schmidke had originally been charged with second-degree theft and second-degree burglary.

FIRE TRUCK

IN SURPLUS AUCTION

Colfax Fire Engine Three, which was sidelined after the fire department purchased a newer pumper truck in Oregon, is now listed on an internet auction site.

Colfax Fire Chief Craig Corbeill reported to city council members that Engine Three has received a high bid of $3,575 with several days remaining before the auction closes.

Engine Three is a 1980 GMC truck with four-wheel-drive which the department purchased used. The truck's four-wheel drive feature made it attractive to Colfax for potential duty on the Colfax hills.

The GMC's slot in the Colfax fire truck lineup became limited when it failed to pass pumping capacity tests which are reflected on the department's fire rating. It was sidelined last fall when the department purchased a 1994 Pierce pumper from Keizer, Ore.

The GMC has been parked outside of the fire station since it was declared surplus.

Chief Corbeill said the department had planned to use proceeds from the auction of the GMC to help replace a thermal imaging camera which was destroyed in the Dec. 23 house fire on Main Street. Cost of replacing the camera has been estimated at $10,000, so the bids for the GMC are falling short of meeting the cost of replacing the camera.

CAR CATCHES FIRE ON 26

Brycen K. Baptist, Mililani, Hawaii, was unhurt when the 2003 Subaru Legacy he was driving caught fire near Dusty on Sunday.

According to the Washington State Patrol report, Baptist was driving eastbound when a fire erupted in the engine compartment at 3:30 p.m. 17.5 miles west of Colfax.

--Michael J. Kramer, Pullman, was unhurt Saturday when the 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier he was driving struck a guardrail on Highway 195 19 miles north of Colfax. According to the report by Trooper Bruce Blood, Kramer was driving northbound at 1 a.m. when the Cavalier slid onto the paved shoulder of the highway and struck the guardrail. The driver left the scene of the accident.