Information sought in apparent drive-by
Spokane Police are seeking information about an apparent drive-by shooting that left bullet holes in a parked vehicle.
Police received a report that shots were fired at a 1998 Ford Bronco around 2:30 a.m. Sunday on the 3300 block of East 18th Avenue. There were four bullet holes in the truck, which was parked outside the owner’s home, police spokesman Dick Cottam wrote in a press release.
Witnesses told police they saw a red four-door sedan in the street when the shots were fired. Several shell casings and two slugs were retrieved from the street and yard, police said.
Anyone with information Sunday is asked to call the Spokane Police Department at 242-TIPS.
Primary elections today for most Washingtonians
Voters in some parts of Washington head for the polls today, and some to the post office, for primary races.
Elections this year mainly involve local governments, including cities and towns, schools, water, fire and sewer districts. Most races are non-partisan, and primaries are only held for offices which have more than two candidates.
Many Washington counties have shifted to conducting their elections by mail, but Spokane, Lincoln and Whitman counties still have poll-site voting in areas with primary races.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mail ballots that have yet to be cast must be postmarked by 8 p.m. today.
Because of a new state law, voters at polls will be asked to produce identification before receiving ballots. Acceptable identification includes any government-issued photo ID or a document from a government agency or official institution such as a utility or a bank that carries the voter’s name. Voters without proper identification will be issued provisional ballots, which will be put in an envelope that is signed for later verification with registration records.
Police seek help catching scam artist
Investigators are seeking help finding a man who has been selling nonexistent advertising space on area high school sports calendars.
Several business people have reported giving checks to a man who said he worked for a local printing company, JLLOYD Printing, which apparently does not exist, Spokane police spokesman Dick Cottam said in a news release.
The man’s pitch sounds legitimate, police said. He seeks as much as $150 for advertising space on sports schedules, but no advertisement appears.
The latest ads were supposedly for Ferris High School, but reports have been received for similar frauds involving at least two other schools, Cottam said.
Anyone seeking to buy advertising in the sports schedules should first check with the school, Cottam said.
The suspected scam artist is described as a white man in his 40s or 50s. He stands about 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches. In one case, a victim said the suspect had bad teeth, Cottam said. Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call the TIPS Line at (509) 242-TIPS (8477).
19-year-old charged with vehicular homicide
George, Wash.
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office has charged a 19-year-old Royal City, Wash., man with vehicular homicide and three counts of vehicular assault following a fatal rollover crash early Sunday.
Eleazar Victoriano Tlatempa, 19, was charged after he failed to negotiate a curve in his 2000 Plymouth Neon on Road 11 SW, four miles southeast of George, about 1 a.m. Sunday, Sheriff Frank De Trolio said in a news release.
According to the investigating deputy, speed and alcohol were contributing factors to the crash. Ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene was 20-year-old Isreal Justo Vicente, of Royal City. He was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
Other passengers, all of Royal City, were 21-year-old Ceasra Delacruz, 20-year-old Delacruz Villava and a 15-year-old male whose name wasn’t released. All three were wearing seatbelts and were transported to Samaritan Hospital in Moses Lake. All were treated and released.
The 19-year-old suspect also was transported to Samaritan, where he was treated, processed for DUI and later placed under arrest. He was booked into the Grant County Jail under the vehicular homicide and assault charge, De Trolio said.
Problems with Rainier emergency sirens fixed
Tacoma
Emergency officials in Pierce County say they have corrected problems that have caused sirens to go off accidentally, falsely warning that there might be a giant slide of rock, ice and mud shooting off Mount Rainier.
Sirens have gone off accidentally half a dozen times since 2002 in towns such as Orting and Puyallup. Two sirens went off in February, and one went off last month.
The sirens also are tested twice a year. Emergency officials say they’re concerned that the false alarms may prevent a quick reaction from thousands of people if a volcanic mudflow actually occurs.
They’re getting ready for another siren test later this month or early next month. The alarms have shown their imperfection not only by accidentally going off, but sometimes also by failing to sound during tests.
Since 2002, Pierce County and other local governments have nearly doubled the number of sirens in the Puyallup and Orting river valleys.
Officials are educating the public about the warning system and the dangers of a catastrophic volcanic slide, known as a lahar, said Steve Bailey, director of Pierce County Emergency Management. The false alarms appeared to be largely the result of human errors and have been fixed, he said.
The public education part may take a bit longer. On Aug. 24, when the siren went off in Orting, Edie Burlison didn’t go into a panic.
“We went outside our house, looked at the mountain and saw that nothing was going on,” Burlison told the News Tribune of Tacoma.
But if the real thing happens and a lahar goes racing down Rainier’s slopes, scientists say Orting residents would have only 30 to 40 minutes to go from the valley to safe ground.
There are 25 sirens in the valleys: six in Orting, four in Puyallup, three in the Riverside area and across the river, one in Sumner, two in the Alderton-McMillin area and nine in Fife.