Bulletin Column

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.

Aftermath

Crews continue to clear the tracks north of Palouse where a Washington & Idaho freight train derailed April 20. Grain cars on the train went off the tracks about one-and-one-half miles north of Palouse where the line runs along the east side of the North Fork of the Palouse River. Extensive excavation along the uphill bank was required to get heavy equipment to the the derailment. The train included cars of lumber from the Bennett Lumber Mill at Harvard, Idaho, and three grain cars from Palouse Grain Growers. Four of the five lumber cars, which were at the back of the train, were disconnected and are now parked downgrade from the wreck scene.

The grain cars, which were leaning after they jumped the tracks, have been separated, and the two engines advanced a short distance up the grade to allow restoration work to be done on the tracks. None of the cars in the train spilled.

JAZZ BAND WINS AGAIN

Colfax High School Jazz Band again came home with a first-place trophy after winning at the Mt. Hood jazz festival in Gresham, Ore. Director Mike Morgan said this is the first time in 25 years that Colfax has placed first at Columbia Basin College in Pasco and at Mt. Hood in the same year.

Sara Whelchel again won an outstanding soloist award on tenor saxophone, and Riley Kincheloe won an outstanding soloist award on alto saxophone.

Colfax competed against eight other bands which were placed in a competition group made up of bands in two different population brackets.

The Colfax High School jazz band concert will be tonight, May 10, at 7 p.m. in the Colfax auditorium. Nine seniors will be honored during their farewell performance.

CITY

ACCEPTS NORTH

FLAT BID

Colfax city council Monday night officially accepted the bid of Motley and Motley of Pullman for rebuilding Oak Street and a section of Cedar Street in the North Flat. Public Works Director Matt Hammer said the contractor plans to begin work on the project June 4.

Motley and Motley was the lone bidder on the project, however Hammer said their bid was under the estimate for the job. The contract was signed at $1,472,298 after negotiations trimmed the amount from the original bid of $1,644,994.

Hammer reported the original fund grant from the Transportation Improvement Board of more than $913,000 has been supplemented by an additional $103,000 with adjustments for inflation and a revised plan for a more extensive rebuild of the streets. The revised TIB funding places the city's five percent local match requirement on the project at $53,000.

Hammer added the Motley bid for the water and sewer line segments of the project were each approximately $10,000 under the estimate.

NEIGHBORS RENEW

COMPLAINTS

Residents on Cromwell Street in Colfax Monday night renewed complaints about a neighboring residence on S. 211 Cromwell which has been the subject of prior nuisance complaints for debris which has collected in the yard.

Florence Teitrick told the city council the neighborhood now has to listen to the constant barking of dogs which she said have been kept in the house which is not currently occupied. She said junk and debris continues to remain on the grounds around the house.

Milton Groom said his records show neighbors first complained about the residence 16 years ago, and the city still hasn't taken care of the problem under its nuisance code. Groom said he has concluded any action against the property over the years seems to start only after neighbors complain at a city council session, but the city never seems to carry through with enforcement.

He pointed out the littered property impacts the value of other houses in the neighborhood. Old furniture and mattresses, debris and litter are part of the eyesore. Both Teitrick and Groom invited council members to visit their residences on Cromwell and check out the view of the neighboring residence.

Police Chief Rick McNannay said he visited the property Monday and a warning was posted for the dog complaint.

Officer Matt Malakowsky has issued a citation for the yard debris which allows two weeks for removal of the nuisance before a $250 fine is imposed. He pointed out three of the two-week citations can be issued before the property becomes subject to additional action.

McNannay said enforcement can reach the point where the city removes the nuisance or hires out removal and the cost results in a lien against the property.

City Attorney John Kragt pointed out cities have to take action under the due process outlined in their ordinances. He also reported Ritzville has adopted an ordinance under which three civil citations under Ritzville's nuisance ordinance can lead to a misdemeanor charge in criminal court.

TIMBER FIRE RESPONSE

Colfax and Albion fire crews responded to a timber and brush fire on Upper Union Flat Road Saturday at 3:19 p.m. Fire Chief Craig Corbeill said the fire at the Jeff Johnson residence burned between a quarter and a half acre after it started off as a controlled burn and went along a fence row and into trees.

Johnson resides on the hillside above Upper Union Flat Road just west of the intersection with Hamilton Hill Road.

Pumper trucks from Colfax and Albion responded to the scene. Two tankers and a utility truck also responded from Colfax.

The volunteers were able to knock down the blaze soon after arriving at the scene, but spent more than two hours on the scene to make sure the fire was out.

REAR-END ACCIDENT

IN COLFAX

Drivers of two cars were unhurt Saturday in an accident on the Highway 195 entrance into Colfax between the Mill Street and Main Street intersections. According to a report by Colfax Police Officer Corey Alcantar, Whitney Weis, Genesee, stopped a Mazda CX she was driving in the northbound lane at 5:58 p.m. for backed up traffic at the Main Street intersection. The back of the Mazda was hit by a 1988 Subaru Legacy driven by Jessica Faunce, Colton. She was cited for following too close.

The accident happened when traffic in Colfax was particularly heavy with many motorists traveling through Colfax after the end of the semester at WSU and Saturday commencement services.

ROSALIAN FOUND DEAD AT WRECK

Christopher M. Brown, 62, Rosalia, was found dead at the scene of a one-car accident on Highway 27 north of Tekoa Friday.

Trooper Brandon Kendall said the car in which Brown was driving sustained minor damage, and they are now awaiting a coroner's report to determine if a medical episode was involved in the death.

Kendall reported Brown was driving a 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier northbound at 11:47 a.m. Friday when it went off the west side of the highway near Fairbanks, which is about one-and-one-half miles south of the county line.

The Cavalier went down a 200 foot embankment and came to a halt in mud near Hangman Creek.

Mr. Brown was taken to Kramer Funeral Home of Palouse, where Coroner Annie Pillars is doing an investigation to determine the cause of death.

COLLEEN RHUBY

SENTENCED

Colleen Kay Rhuby, 53, Steptoe, was sentenced to 30 days in jail Friday after she pleaded guilty in superior court to a charge of criminal impersonation. Rhuby was assigned an offender score of two with two prior convictions in court here last year.

Rhuby pretended to be the owner of checks which had been stolen by her children, Nicholas and Megan Rhuby. She falsely told Money Tree they were authorized to cash the checks.

Nicholas, 23, and Megan, 21, are now in jail serving time on theft charges involving checks and a vehicle taken from their grandparents. Some of the checks allegedly taken were on an account of the Steptoe Community Club for which their grandmother served as treasurer.

Colleen Rhuby was allowed release on her own recognizance Feb. 16 after a first appearance in court. She began her jail term Friday after entering her plea of guilty.

FUN RUN FOR BRAZIL

A Bustin’ 4 Brazil fun run will be Saturday, May 12. The event will start at Schmuck Park at 8:30 a.m. and participants have the choice to run a 4K or an 8K course.

First Baptist Church is sponsoring the race as another fundraiser for their plan to send mission teams to Camp Victoria in Brazil. They plan to send one team to the camp in July and one team in January. First Baptist has been a long-time supporter of the mission team which runs the camp.

The First Baptist mission teams will do construction work at the camp and also assist the camp staff.

Entry fees for the run will be $20 for adults and $10 for youths. The starting time will be 8:30 a.m. and prize drawings will be done at 9:45.

For more information, contact Lori Brown at 509-432-1405 or Tammy Lewis at 509-288-2564.

SUSPECT

GOES OUT

BACK DOOR

Antonio Albonza, 23, Pullman, pleaded not guilty in superior court Friday morning to a charge of burglary early May 2 of a residence in the 1000 block of NE Monroe in Pullman. The arrest report said Albonza was arrested in an alley behind the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity after he allegedly went out the back door while an officer waited to interview him at the front of the building.

A second officer, who had been assigned to cover the back door, detained Albonza with a taser gun, according to the arrest report.

The alleged victims at the Monroe Street residence called police at 4:50 a.m. and reported Albonza had entered their residence. He was not located at the scene, but officers who knew him from an investigation a week earlier knew he resided at the fraternity and went there in an attempt to locate him.

NOTED

COMPOSER BORN HERE

Music composed by Colfax native Morten Lauridsen will be included in the program for a Spokane Symphony Chorale concert June 10 in Spokane at the Westminster UC Church. Lauridsen, 75, has been a faculty member with Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California since 1967. He was born in Colfax Feb. 27, 1943.

Among other composers to be featured in the concert will be Aaron Copland, Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim. Lauridsen was named an American Choral Master by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2006 and received a National Medal for the Arts at the White House in 2007.

ALLEGED THREAT BY SHOTGUN

A July 23 trial date was set for Tristan Hauck, 21, Pullman, after he pleaded not guilty to charges of possession of cocaine and harassment Friday in superior court. The charges were filed May 3 after Hauck was arrested early May 2.

According to a Pullman Police report, officers responded to a residence on NE Oak Street after receiving a report from a resident that Hauk had threatened to shoot him with a shotgun. The alleged victim said he met Hauck at Stubblefield's bar in Adams Mall and received the threats later by phone calls and texts.

The cocaine charge alleges police found a packet containing the drug in Hauck's wallet while he was being processed at the police station after his arrest.