In brief: Girl, 15, to finish sentence in detention
A 15-year-old girl left Spokane on Monday for a juvenile rehabilitation center in Naselle, Wash., to finish serving time for vehicular homicide and vehicular assault.
Kaele Y. Pritchett pleaded guilty to the felonies Sept. 26. Her sentence is for 12 to 36 weeks, but because she already has served 12 weeks on house arrest, her minimum stay in Naselle is 35 days, said her mother, Wendy Pritchett.
The convictions stem from an April 4 crash in Spokane Valley that killed Richard Cameron Ross, 14, and injured a girl, both of whom were riding in the car Kaele Pritchett was driving without a license. They had been at a party, but Kaele Pritchett had not been drinking.
Wendy Pritchett said she hopes other teenagers will learn from her daughter’s experience.
“You don’t have to be high or drunk. These kids just don’t understand the responsibility when you get behind the wheel,” she said. “These people who are dying aren’t strangers, they’re friends.”
– Nick Eaton
Accused teacher appeals revocation
A hearing was postponed Monday for a former Spokane Valley coach and teacher who is appealing the revocation of his teaching license after he was accused of having a sexual relationship with a student.
It is the second appeal made by Dana Schmerer, who was accused in 2005 of having an inappropriate relationship with a student while coaching girls softball at West Valley High School.
Schmerer was also a teacher in the Central Valley School District, where he had been on paid administrative leave until June, when the school board terminated his contract, district officials said.
Schmerer was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, but after a months-long investigation the state concluded that the teacher’s license should be revoked.
Schmerer appeared before an informal professional conduct committee in Olympia several months ago to ask that the state reconsider. After being denied, Schmerer was to appear before an administrative law judge in Spokane this week to plead his case, during which witnesses would be called to testify.
The hearing was postponed while the state considers a settlement agreement with Schmerer, said Charlie Schreck, director of the Office of Professional Practices at the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Details of that settlement were not available. A decision won’t be known for several weeks, Schreck said.
– Sara Leaming
Do Not Call signups expiring in June
If you signed up for the national Do Not Call registry in 2003 when it was created, it’s time to do it again, according to the Washington attorney general’s office.
“Numbers are flushed after five years,” the AG’s office said in a news release. About half of the numbers on the nationwide registry will fall off the list starting in June.
To re-register for the Do Not Call Registry, go online to www.donotcall.gov or call (888) 382-1222 from the same phone number that you want to register. Home or cell phone numbers can be registered, but not business or fax numbers.
– Staff reports