Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
County Commissioner Michael Largent makes a plea to bank customers for "bail money" as grandson Mason Largent and Tyler Kuhl look on.
Eight people were incarcerated the morning of Dec. 13 in a high-ceilinged nook of Columbia Bank, with bars made of black ribbon.
By 10 a.m., six had been bailed out, leaving County Commissioner Michael Largent and Tyler Kuhl, owner/operator of Napa Auto Parts in Colfax.
Then they allowed in the grandson, Mason Largent.
Time ticked by and customers passed in and out of the bank, some stepping over to interact.
"Do you not work at the courthouse?" said one.
"Sorry, I'm gonna leave you sit there. I don't believe in your cause," said another.
Commissioner Largent remained, looking on through the black bars as another customer walked through the entry doors and toward the tellers.
"Can you bring the deposit over here first?" Largent called out.
He looked to another customer walking out, as she paused to choose a peanut butter cookie.
"You're just here for the cookies...?"
Bail donations went to Columbia Bank's "Warm Hearts Winter Drive," with the money to remain in Whitman County, distributed to entities such as Council on Aging and Town of Endicott.
In the end, the effort raised $745, going beyond the required $50 in donations to "bail out" any one person.
The inmates mostly used phones to call out and seek help.
"It was wonderful. It was very successful," said Teri J. Kneale, Columbia Bank personal banker.
The program is in its fifth year, with each branch doing something different.
This was the first year Colfax used the jail mode.
Largent made it out near 11 a.m. after a deal brokered with his daughter-in-law for return of the grandson.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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