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

In brief: Car smashes into eatery; driver booked into jail

Skipper’s Fish and Chips restaurant reopened Monday afternoon in time for the earlier dinner crowd after police say a drunken driver smashed his car into the building while speeding down North Monroe Street hours earlier.

Sidney Orange was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and booked into Spokane County Jail after the collision – the second time a car has crashed into the restaurant this year, Spokane police said.

The crash happened around 2:15 a.m. Monday and ended with the car completely inside the restaurant. It left a gaping hole in the building’s north side that workers patched.

Owner Gary Jarvis said the incident was no excuse to skip a day of sales, even though the restaurant lost half its seating in the crash. The business was open and taking orders by 4 p.m.

Train sparks brush fires north of Spokane River

A train sparked three brush fires late Monday afternoon near apartments just north of the Spokane River in east Spokane, the Spokane Fire Department reported in a news release.

Spokane firefighters were dispatched about 6:45 p.m. to a steep slope below BNSF Railway tracks near the 2600 block of East Upriver Drive.

The fires started just north of East North Crescent Avenue and burned about four acres before the 14 firefighters who arrived on scene successfully doused the fires.

Pilot light ignites blaze from floor’s lacquer fumes

Crews refinishing a wood floor in northwest Spokane Monday afternoon accidentally set the home on fire, the Spokane Fire Department reported.

Firefighters were called to the home at 3704 W. Olympic Ave. about 4:50 p.m. Workers reported to crews that they were applying a petroleum-based lacquer when a pilot light ignited fumes, causing an explosion, Assistant Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said in a news release. Everyone escaped the home without injury. The fire threatened an adjacent home but was contained to the property where the fire originated.

Damage was estimated at $100,000.

Hospitalized toddler stable after Sunday car explosion

Spokane police blame a car explosion in the Garland neighborhood Sunday afternoon on the driver, who apparently tried to use flammable butane with a device designed to extract oils from marijuana.

The driver, whose identity was being withheld, lit a cigarette, igniting the blast that blew the roof off the car. He’s facing a potential negligence charge, but the case remains under investigation and he has not been arrested.

The man is being treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. His 2-year-old daughter, who was in the back seat, suffered burns and was in stable condition Monday at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

“We believe there is some negligence when someone is trying to drive a vehicle while pouring butane into a container,” Spokane police Lt. Mark Griffiths said.

Police say man accidentally shot himself in the face

Spokane police detectives investigated the shooting early Monday of a man who suffered a gunshot to the face. However, the shooting in the 1300 block of East Rowan has been ruled accidental.

Witnesses took the 21-year-old man to Holy Family Hospital at about 4 a.m. with a non-life-threatening bullet wound just above his left eyebrow. Lt. Mark Griffiths said the bullet did not enter the man’s skull.

Funding of ballot measures subject of advisory queries

Four advisory questions will accompany two controversial Spokane initiatives on the November ballot, as long as a judge doesn’t strike them down first.

The questions will ask voters if the City Council should “pursue additional funding sources” or “reduce funding in existing general fund programs to reallocate funding” to implement the measures.

Envision Spokane, which has failed twice at the ballot with a similar initiative in recent years, and Spokane Moves to Amend the Constitution had a dozen supporters speak against the “poison pill” advisory questions at the meeting.