In brief: Riverfront gondola reopened to public
Spokane’s new $2.5 million gondola reopened to riders Thursday afternoon after a malfunction in an electrical relay left 18 riders hanging for more than two hours Wednesday evening.
The ride was restarted Wednesday night by employees of the gondola manufacturer, Doppelmayr CTEC of Salt Lake City, who were in Spokane to provide training to Spokane’s Riverfront Park operators.
Parks Director Mike Stone said he was relieved it was a malfunction and not more serious.
He said new equipment sometimes has problems, and the incident shouldn’t reduce future ridership.
Fire Department crews rescued two riders with a ladder truck and assisted six others who were only a few feet above ground. The remaining passengers were able to exit normally when the gondola was restarted.
– Mike Prager
Voter registration forms recovered
Stolen voter registration forms that Spokane County authorities thought might be used for identity theft were found Thursday, discarded in some bushes.
County Auditor Vicky Dalton said she was optimistic that all of the stolen forms were recovered. About 150 were found.
“This should put a lot of people’s minds to rest,” Dalton said.
The forms were collected during Democratic Party voter-registration drives in Spokane, from June 28 through July 4 and were stolen July 7 from a party worker’s car at the NorthTown Mall.
Authorities were concerned about the possibility of identity theft because the forms contained personal information.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Reagan said an employee of the YWCA, 829 W. Broadway, saw the discarded forms Sunday night in the landscaping of a parking lot that the YWCA shares with the Anthony’s restaurant on the north bank of the Spokane River.
Reagan said the woman didn’t investigate Sunday because of safety concerns, but she went back Thursday after news reports about missing voter forms.
– John Craig
Spokane Valley
Valley woman killed in Pines Road crash
A 75-year-old Spokane Valley woman was killed Thursday afternoon when her 80-year-old husband drove into the path of an oncoming vehicle at the intersection of Pines Road and Indiana Avenue.
The Washington State Patrol said Melville F. Colby failed to yield when he turned south onto Pines Road from a left-turn lane on Indiana. His wife, Joyce M. Colby, was killed when their 1992 Chrysler Imperial was struck by 23-year-old Spokane resident Matthew J. MacKay’s 1996 Ford F-150 pickup.
MacKay’s truck went on to strike a 2005 Element, driven by Spokane resident Edith D. Lenertz, in the westbound left-turn lane of Indiana. Lenertz’s vehicle had been behind Colby’s vehicle in the turn lane.
State troopers said Melville Colby and MacKay suffered minor injuries that were treated at the scene, and Lenertz wasn’t injured.
– John Craig