In brief: Holiday affects services, offices
The Labor Day holiday affects the following services in Spokane and Kootenai counties:
• Garbage pickup will run one day behind all week.
• City, county, state and federal offices will be closed.
• Riverfront Park attractions will be open all weekend, along with Pig Out in the Park.
• Library branches are closed; some remain closed on Tuesday as well.
• Most state-run liquor stores will be open.
• There will be no mail service Monday.
• Parking meters are free Monday, and Spokane Transit Authority bus routes will run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day.
A three-month investigation into heroin dealing has led to the arrest of a 63-year-old man in Shoshone County, authorities reported Thursday.
Michael Ward, who lives on Burke Road, was arrested on Wednesday when the North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force served a search warrant at Ward’s address, said Detective Lt. Darell Braaten of the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office.
He was booked on charges of trafficking in heroin and delivery of a controlled substance.
Braaten said the investigation could lead to more charges in the future.
The leader of Saint George’s School will be leaving after a decade of service.
Head of School Mo Copeland’s departure from Spokane’s most expensive private college preparatory school will be June 2011, officials announced this week.
“I appreciate all the support I have had over the years, and the opportunities to grow and engage in this community,” Copeland said. “However, this is a good time for a change – for our family as well as for the school.”
School officials said among Copeland’s accomplishments were the design and opening of the new high school and theater facilities; implementation of debate, robotics and chess programs; bringing Mandarin Chinese to the world languages curriculum and helping boost enrollment by 35 percent.
Mark Ostersmith, chairman of the school’s board of trustees, said, “Saint George’s has benefited immensely from Mo’s steady leadership and unfailing commitment to our students, our faculty, our families and the larger SGS community.”
A Spokane man with no previous criminal record was ordered Thursday to serve five years in federal prison for possessing child pornography.
Richard L. Parham, 58, had nearly 600 explicit videos on his computers when investigators raided his home in July 2008.
A Washington State Patrol detective had discovered Parham uploading some of the files to the Internet through a file sharing program that spring. Parham has been on electronic home monitoring since his indictment in August 2009.
He pleaded guilty in June to receiving child pornography and was ordered Thursday in U.S. District Court to serve 60 months in prison. He will be on probation for life and will be required to register as a sex offender.
Parham’s lawyer, David Hearrean, said in court documents that his client has never spent even an hour in jail.
Parham will self-report to federal prison.
Police shoot, kill knife wielder
TACOMA – Tacoma police said one man died after police officers fired at him Friday afternoon.
Police spokesman Mark Fulghum told KOMO-TV that two officers opened fire after a man they had made contact with raised a knife and lunged at them.
The shooting took place outside the Loose Wheel Tavern.
A Loose Wheel employee told KOMO he saw a man with a knife in the parking lot doing what he described as “stabbing cars” when police were called. The employee said police told the man repeatedly to drop the knife.
Unhappy teen threatens own family
HAPPY VALLEY, Ore. – Police said the 16-year-old son of a Vietnamese-American family moving into a home in the southeast Portland suburb of Happy Valley is responsible for threatening messages and racist graffiti.
Happy Valley police Detective Gil Millett said Friday that the teen was unhappy about his family’s move and the prospect of attending a new high school. Millett said the teen “is very sorry, especially for bringing so much fear into the family home.”
No criminal charges are planned.
Racial slurs were spray-painted Monday on the outside of the home. The family also found a book of matches near a clear plastic bottle of what police believe was gasoline. Warning notes included one that said, “We will burn your house down if we have to.”