School board member intends to leave post
Terrie Beaudreau, a 20-year board member for Spokane Public Schools, announced Wednesday that she will resign June 15, four months before her term ends.
Fellow board member Don Barlow read her resignation letter at the end of Wednesday’s regular school board meeting.
Beaudreau said she has been planning vacations around school board meetings since 1985. She said she’s anxious to spend more time with her aging mother.
Beaudreau ran unsuccessfully for the Spokane City Council in 2003 against Bob Apple. She graduated from Rogers High School in 1966.
The board plans to appoint a new board member by June 22.
The existing board will select the interim board member.
Applicants must be at least 18, live in the district and be a registered voter.
Board President Barbara Richardson asked applicants to submit letters stating their background, resumes and documents explaining why they would like to serve. Application materials must be submitted by 5 p.m. May 26. Interviews will begin June 13. For more information, call (509) 354-5966.
Transit directors to meet with candidates for CEO
The Spokane Transit Authority Board of Directors will meet today with CEO candidates.
The special meeting at 5:30 p.m. will be on the second floor mezzanine at the Ridpath hotel. The meeting is open to the public.
Candidates are interviewing for the CEO position vacated by Kim Zentz, who left the STA to take a position as interim executive director of the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute.
The Iller Creek Conservation Area just grew by 80 acres.
The Spokane County Parks, Recreation and Golf Department on Wednesday spent about $200,000 on the land adjacent to the existing conservation area in the hills south of Spokane Valley’s Ponderosa neighborhood.
Iller Creeks now covers more than 875 acres.
The original Iller Creek Conservation Area and the new property were both purchased with Conservation Futures Program funding.
Conservation Futures money comes from a property tax assessment approved by county voters.
Maintenance of the new site will be paid for with a $10,000 endowment from the seller, the estate of Helen Carroll.
Valley teen pleads guilty in animal cruelty case
A Spokane Valley teenager who had been charged with running over a dog while assaulting the dog’s owner last July pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree animal cruelty.
Charles Price Dimit, 18, was tried a month ago on charges of second-degree assault and animal cruelty, but a jury was unable to reach a verdict. He was accused of running over William Abbott’s dog, Tiffany, while trying to hit Abbot with his car in the parking lot of the skateboard park near Fourth and Bernard.
Abbott’s testimony was undercut by the fact that he admitted being highly intoxicated at the time. He had been drinking and talking with Dimit when they had a disagreement.
Dimit faced a standard sentence of up to a year in the county jail, and Superior Court Judge Robert Austin gave him six months.
At his trial, Dimit claimed he ran over and killed the dog accidentally while trying to get away from Abbott.