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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Check peanut items, health officials warn

Idaho health officials are asking residents to check for peanut butter crackers and other products amid a nationwide salmonella outbreak.

Food recalls now apply to more than 400 products, including Austin’s and Keebler brand peanut butter crackers.

Thirteen people from Idaho have had salmonella since last summer, including one man older than 50 who died in the southeast part of the state. Across the country there have been more than 500 infections and at least eight deaths.

Officials have said a peanut plant in Blakely, Ga., owned by Peanut Corp. of America, is at the center of the outbreak. Peanut Corp. expanded its recall this week to all peanut products produced at the plant since Jan. 1, 2007.

To determine whether they have recalled products, consumers can go to www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/ peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm or call the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at (800) CDC-INFO (800-232-4636).

Most people infected with salmonella develop diarrhea, a fever and abdominal cramps within 12 to 72 hours of infections and lasts up to a week. It is considered most dangerous to infants, the elderly and people with impaired immune systems.

Spokane

Officer sought help during confrontation

A 911 call made Friday by an off-duty Spokane police officer to report the stabbing of her fiancé, a police sergeant, provides a first-person account of a confrontation outside the Steam Plant Grill downtown.

Officer Amy Ross called 911 about 10 p.m. after Sgt. Brad Thoma suffered a knife wound to his jaw in a scuffle they say began when two men made inappropriate comments.

The 75-second recording, released Thursday, begins with Ross explaining the situation but becomes inaudible as men yell in the background.

“My fiancé’s bleeding. I don’t think he’s super-injured but he’s not getting compliance from the guy,” Ross said. “… You guys need to get here … Please hurry.”

Ross told the dispatcher the attacker’s friend had left with the knife. Police were still looking for that suspect, Gyles “Shannon” Dogskin, 23. The alleged attacker, Kenneth James Kheel, 19, was arrested Friday and remains in the Spokane County Jail.

The 911 call can be heard online at spokesman.com.

From staff and wire reports Meghann M. Cuniff