Should County, Taxpayers Be Coming To Amend’s Defense?

Spokane County voters decided emphatically this month that the job of county coroner will expire when incumbent Dexter Amend’s term does two years from now. Meanwhile, the antics that seem to have fueled the 82 percent vote to replace the elected coroner’s office with an appointive medical examiner system are the same ones that have inspired various lawsuits against Amend and the county and have prompted the state Medical Quality Assurance Commission to go after Amend’s medical license. Spokane County commissioners have no choice but to defend lawsuits in which they are named co-defendants, but in Amend’s case, they also are spending county taxpayers’ money to intervene in the medical license case.

Given that the coroner needn’t even be a physician, is there a valid reason why Amend’s relations with the Medical Quality Assurance Commission should be a county taxpayers’ affair?

The incredible hulks

What’s a concerned neighbor to do? That’s what Larry Steinmetz was wondering when he called “Bagpipes” about what he considers an eyesore near his northwest Spokane home.

According to Steinmetz, one of his neighbors has six cars, plus a boat and a motorcycle, in his yard - not to mention two vehicles the family drives.

“Two of them are totaled out,” he said.

The proper route, he thought, would be to notify local authorities.

“We have code enforcements in the city of Spokane that say you can have only X amount of unrunning vehicles in your yard,” said Steinmetz. “Well, I’ve called Code Enforcement several times and complained about it, and they don’t do nothing.”

The last time he called, he said, a woman on the phone suggested he take a photograph of the property and date it, verify the address and send the photo to the city office.

“Don’t they go around to check violations?” Steinmetz asked. “Why do I have to do that?

“Why do we buy those guys cars to get around in? To go to lunch? To go to coffee? BS! They should come out and inspect it and look at it.”

There you have one Spokanite’s story about neighborhood beautification. Is it a legitimate complaint?

, DataTimes MEMO: “Bagpipes” appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. To respond, call Cityline at 458-8800, category 9881, from a Touch-Tone phone; or send a fax to 459-5098 or e-mail to dougf@spokesman.com. You also can leave Doug Floyd a message at 459-5577, extension 5466.