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

In brief: Park officials to have moment of silence for slain ranger

From Wire Reports

TACOMA – Officials at Mount Rainier National Park will have a moment of silence at 10:44 a.m. today to honor slain ranger Margaret Anderson.

The 34-year-old was shot and killed Jan. 1, 2012, as she tried to stop a man who drove through a tire chain checkpoint near Longmire. The body of the suspect was found the next day about a mile away in the snow. He drowned in a creek while affected by hypothermia.

Anderson was hailed as a hero for stopping the gunman from reaching a congested, popular visitor area that day.

The mother of two girls joined the Park Service in 2002. She and her husband, Eric, also a park ranger, transferred to Mount Rainier in 2008.

Judge orders sale of Powell’s home

SALT LAKE CITY – A judge has ordered the sale of Steven Powell’s house to help pay a judgment owed two girls he secretly photographed inside a bathroom.

The Deseret News of Salt Lake City reported the father-in-law of missing Utah mother Susan Cox-Powell can avoid the sale by paying the full $1.8 million judgment before a sheriff’s auction that’s set for Feb. 7.

Powell said he has no money and that a forced sale would make a son and daughter in Puyallup, Wash., homeless. He’s still serving a sentence for voyeurism.

Investigators found nude images of the neighbor girls while searching Powell’s home for information about his daughter-in-law, Cox-Powell, who disappeared four years ago in Utah.

Steven Powell’s son, Josh Powell, was a suspect before killing himself and his two children in February of last year.

Deputies shoot man during dispute

BREMERTON – A Kitsap County sheriff’s spokesman said a 44-year-old man was shot in the chest during a confrontation with deputies who went to a home to check on a woman’s welfare.

Deputy Scott Wilson said the woman had a restraining order prohibiting the man from contacting her.

The Kitsap Sun reported the unidentified man was taken to a Tacoma hospital after the Tuesday afternoon shooting. His condition was not known. It wasn’t immediately known whether the man was armed.

Neither the woman nor the deputies were injured.

Former billionaire found in contempt

BILLINGS – Former billionaire and Yellowstone Club founder Tim Blixseth is in contempt of court for selling an ocean resort in Mexico despite a court order not to sell the property that was part of bankruptcy proceedings, a judge has ruled.

A bankruptcy judge previously ordered that the Tamarindo resort was not to be sold or transferred while those proceedings were pending.

Blixseth sold the hotel and condominiums in 2011 in violation of the court order, attorney Shane Coleman, who represents Yellowstone Club Liquidating Trust trustee Brian Glasser, said in a court filing.

Coleman requested that U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon find Blixseth in contempt. After a Dec. 23 hearing, Haddon did so, according to court records.

Blixseth said he sold the property for $13 million – after buying it for $40 million – and all of the proceeds have been spent, he said.

Woman denies she neglected animals

PORTLAND – An Akita breeder who had 118 dogs and 21 horses seized by authorities has pleaded not guilty to charges of animal neglect.

Catherine Ann Setere, 66, was arraigned on felonies instead of misdemeanors Monday because of the recent passage of Oregon Senate Bill 6, a law championed by the Oregon Humane Society and others that toughened the penalty for neglect offenses involving 10 or more animals

“Everything they said – that I didn’t feed my dogs, that they were starved – it’s just not so,” she said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Columbia County sheriff’s deputies and the Humane Society removed the animals from Setere’s property in mid-November after receiving a complaint that the dogs and horses were living in unsanitary conditions.

The rescued dogs – 67 Akitas, plus smaller breeds such as terriers and dachshunds – are living in an emergency shelter, authorities said, while Sound Equine Options has found stables for the seized horses.