Violations take a costly turn
Spokane Valley police have started ticketing motorists who violate the new left-turn ban on Argonne Road at Indiana Avenue.
The City Council imposed the 7 a.m.-to-6 p.m. weekday ban in mid-October as an alternative to the concrete island recommended by city staff. Traffic engineer Inga Note, Public Works Director Neil Kersten and Police Chief Rick Van Leuven said the barrier was needed to end a pattern of broadside crashes.
The accidents occur when northbound motorists try to get to the Marie Callender’s restaurant and other businesses on the west side of Argonne.
The restaurant at 2111 N. Argonne Road can be accessed from Indiana Avenue at the north end of the Argonne-Mullan couplet.
At the point where northbound traffic on Mullan Road merges onto Argonne Road, some motorists turn left onto Indiana.
Police say there have been about three dozen accidents at the intersection this year, and Note said at least nine of those involved left turns.
Council members voted 5-2 on Oct. 14 to try signs before spending $47,000 on a barrier that would prevent turns even during hours when traffic is lighter.
Marie Callender’s manager Dan Barbieri objected that the signs would confuse motorists and drive away customers for the restaurant and other businesses. “Hundreds of jobs” were at stake, he said.
“I’d say 20 hours a day there really is no problem,” Barbieri said.
Police say they have stopped numerous violators since the signs went up last month, but they issued only verbal warnings until Monday.
A spokesman said officers issued 23 improper-turn citations Monday and 10 on Tuesday at $124 a pop.
John Craig
Father and child reunion
Social networking Web sites can get a bad rap. Parents often worry about Internet predators trying to contact their children. But sometimes these sites can actually bring families together.
On Nov. 1, Bill Ridihalgh, a disabled Iraq war veteran, met his daughter, Carol Gibson, for the first time thanks to MySpace.
Twenty-seven years ago in Alaska, he ended his relationship with his high school sweetheart. Some months later, Teresa Gibson gave birth to their daughter, Carol.
Ridihalgh joined the Army without knowing about the child he left behind. That changed when he was served with child-support papers when Carol Gibson was 12. Ridihalgh said he was shocked to find he had a daughter. He dutifully made support payments, but he held no hope of actually meeting his child.
One evening last November, Ridihalgh’s wife, Missy, was scrolling through member profiles on MySpace. “Bill, come here,” she called. “I think I’ve found your daughter.”
He sat down at the computer. “When I read through the profile it stunned me,” he said. Missy sent Carol Gibson a note with a few questions to confirm their suspicion. Her answers established what Ridihalgh felt he already knew. He wrote an e-mail of his own: “My name is Bill. You may not know me, but I think I may be your dad.”
Gibson, who lives in Spokane Valley, was shocked to receive the note from a Kansas man she’d never met. “I knew I had a dad,” she said. “I kind of wondered about him, but I wasn’t sure about meeting him.”
Ridihalgh sent her his phone number and asked her to call anytime. Their first chats were stilted and awkward as they worked to make sense of the past and move into uncharted territory. But the short chats grew into hourlong conversations.
The reunion came at a pivotal time in Ridihalgh’s life. He’d just finished serving back-to-back tours in Iraq. He was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. Finding his daughter, he said, “gave me more motivation to come back around and start looking forward to life.”
On Nov. 1, Ridihalgh flew to Spokane and held his 26-year-old daughter in his arms for the first time.
Carol’s mother, Teresa Gibson, said the reunion was worth it. “To see the look on their faces was amazing. … The past is the past. All we have is the future.” She then spoke of the father-daughter bond. “The most important thing is that they have a relationship. Even though it’s just beginning, it’s something that will last.”
Ridihalgh and Carol Gibson spent a week doing things most fathers and daughters take for granted. They went out to breakfast, took in a hockey game and played a round of miniature golf at NorthTown Mall.