In brief: Former TV newswoman Wilde rescued from river
A former Spokane TV newswoman was rescued from her sport utility vehicle by Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team members after she drove into Latah Creek on Sunday afternoon.
Debra Gilbert Wilde, who was not injured in the accident, was later arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Wilde, 60, was driving south on Hangman Valley Road at about 1:15 p.m. when her 2002 Jeep Cherokee left the road, went over a guardrail, down a 20-foot embankment and into the swollen creek.
Alerted by a passer-by, Deputy Greg Lance found the Jeep about 25 feet from shore and drifting downstream with water up to the vehicle’s windows.
After firefighters tied the vehicle off to prevent it from drifting farther, Wilde was taken to shore and then by ambulance to a downtown hospital. Though not injured, she was hypothermic, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Wilde was a well-known TV newswoman in Spokane for 27 years, having worked for KHQ and KXLY.
Warming centers open to homeless
Warming centers were opened to the homeless Sunday evening in Spokane where temperatures where expected to drop as low as 15 degrees overnight.
The city’s warming center program is activated when the National Weather Service forecasts temperatures of 15 degrees or lower and homeless shelters were at capacity in the previous 24 hours.
The following shelters were opened from 8 p.m. on Sunday to 7 a.m. today:
The House of Charity, 32 W. Pacific Ave., for single men older than 18; The Salvation Army, 222 E. Indiana Ave., for couples and families with children; and Hope House, 111 W. Third Ave., for single adult women.
Search crews find hurt snowmobilers
Two young women survived a snowmobile accident Sunday in Kootenai County and were rescued by search crews, authorities said.
Brittany A. Earling, 23, of Hayden, suffered leg injuries in the morning crash and was flown by helicopter to Kootenai Medical Center, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department. Her passenger on the snowmobile, 22-year-old Alicia M. Hendricks, of Coeur d’Alene, also suffered leg injuries and was pulled by a rescue sled to a waiting ambulance at the Fourth of July Trailhead.
Deputies reported that neither woman’s injuries was considered life-threatening.
Authorities were alerted about 11:45 a.m. to the accident, which occurred along Forest Service Road 202 near the intersection of Forest Service Road 434. Deputies said Earling had difficulty negotiating a curve and the snowmobile crashed into a tree. Both were wearing helmets and had been riding as part of a larger group, deputies said.
Burglary spree suspects arrested
Two suspects in a rash of rural Whitman County burglaries were arrested over the weekend at their Tri-Cities homes, according to the Whitman County Sheriff’s Office.
Mark L. McKee, 34, and Darin F. Williams, 43, both of Richland, were taken into custody in an investigation of the burglaries in which a 25-foot travel trailer, two all-terrain vehicles, two motorcycles, a pickup truck and thousands of dollars in tools were stolen, among other items.
The Sheriff’s Office said more arrests are expected as the investigation continues.
Chase ends with burglary arrest
A Spokane burglary suspect was arrested near Wallace after a chase across the state line.
Spokane Police Department Officers Rhian Wilkinson and Lance Fairbanks attempted to stop a vehicle Friday night at Eighth Avenue and Ivory Street for a license plate violation. The driver fled east on Interstate 90.
Because of the risk to the public, the officers stopped pursuit, but Spokane County Sheriff’s Air 1 monitored the vehicle as it crossed into Idaho, where multiple law enforcement agencies resumed the chase.
The Idaho State Police stopped the vehicle and arrested the driver, Nicholas J. Eisenhart, 31, and booked him into jail. Wilkinson and Fairbanks returned to Eighth and Ivory, where they discovered a residential burglary had been committed.
Woman admits library vandalism
BOISE – A 75-year-old woman has been sentenced to at least a month in jail after pleading guilty to dumping maple syrup, corn syrup, ketchup and mayonnaise into a library book drop in Idaho’s capital city.
Joy L. Cassidy pleaded guilty Friday in 4th District Court to misdemeanor malicious injury to property and was sentenced to one year in jail with 335 days suspended. Judge Kevin Swain also credited Cassidy with three days already served.
Cassidy also paid $3,200 for damage to library property.
Authorities said Cassidy dumped the condiments in the book drop starting in the spring of 2009 in retaliation for being banned from the Ada Community Library in 2007 due to conflicts with staff and other library visitors.
Mary DeWalt, the library’s director, said the library spent about $1,000 on a surveillance system to catch Cassidy.
“The library was the one place that she went in a social setting where she had contact with people,” Cassidy’s attorney, Gabriel McCarthy told Swain. “It broke her heart when she couldn’t go back. And it’s something she couldn’t let go.”
Still no sign found of missing boy
PORTLAND – A new search for an Oregon boy who’s been missing for seven months was unsuccessful Sunday, but officials said the investigation into the disappearance of 8-year-old Kyron Horman will continue.
The boy disappeared from his Portland school June 4.
Search and rescue teams equipped with cadaver-detecting dogs focused Sunday’s search in areas of Dixie Mountain outside Portland.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Lt. Mary Lindstrand said the search for Kyron resumed Sunday based on specific information received by investigators, but she declined to elaborate.