Retired trooper Blood fills as chief

COLFAX – Bruce Blood has worn one uniform or another the majority of his adult life. Now he is donning another as the interim Chief of Police.

Blood was born and raised in Spokane. When he graduated high school in 1972, the Washington State Patrol had a requirement that troopers be at least six feet tall. At five feet, seven inches, Blood could not apply and joined the Air Force. He served as a navigator on a B52 bomber, including one year with the United Nations serving in Israel and Syria as a major.

"It was truly fascinating," he said of the countries. It was just after the first Gulf War,...