Dan Hansen

When there's a doubt, Spokane County will let a committee decide which scientific studies to use for setting policies regarding wetlands and other sensitive areas. That decision stems from a case last year in which a state panel decided county commissioners ignored scientific evidence in setting buffer zones to protect rivers and creeks. Some biologists had said 250 feet should be the minimum distance between large waterways and new development. But commissioners noted that those recommendations were based on Western Washington studies, and they questioned whether they are valid east of the Cascades.

The state has withdrawn allegations that an inspector tipped off a Spokane hospital before a surprise inspection. The case cost inspector Terry Hentges his job and could lead to a financial settlement by the state Department of Labor and Industries. It also led to a three-day suspension for a Spokane County official who later was accused of cronyism for hiring Hentges soon after he lost the state job. L&I; fired Hentges in early 1996, citing seven instances of gross misconduct and negligence. Four of the allegations stemmed from complaints in 1993 that he misused a state car and retaliated against the co-worker who reported him.

A tax on land purchases and motel stays may help fund improvements at the Spokane Interstate Fair and Exhibition Center. Spokane County Commissioner Kate McCaslin proposes issuing $2.5 million worth of bonds to improve the fairgrounds. The county would repay the debt over 20 years, using portions of existing taxes on real estate sales, and hotel and motel rooms. "They tell me that would give us a first-class facility," McCaslin said. The fairgrounds advisory board is still working on a priority list, but there are plenty of possible uses for the money, fairgrounds manager Dolly Hughes said.

Washington taxpayers have spent about $15 million on land-use planning that could be abandoned under a bill now before the Legislature. House Bill 2542 would allow rural counties to withdraw from the 1990 Growth Management Act without repaying money they've received from the state to help them comply with the act. County officials could make the decision without input from the cities within their boundaries. City councils often support the GMA, while commissioners in many counties - particularly rural counties - despise it.

A small lake, an old rail bed and a canyon popular with horse riders are among the properties people want Spokane County to preserve with their tax dollars. Residents voted in November to continue the "conservation futures" tax. Now, Spokane civic and county officials are asking for suggestions of natural areas suitable for purchase with the tax.

Washington residents may have thought they clamped a tight lid on property taxes when they approved Referendum 47 in November. In reality, the lid is loose. "It's going to be an absolute nightmare when tax bills go out and people say, 'I voted for tax reform. What happened?"' predicted Sharon Stern of the Spokane County Assessor's Office. Most cities, towns and other taxing districts in the county will increase their 1998 property tax collections by about as much as they did each year before the referendum became law. An escape clause written into the referendum makes that possible; sponsors thought the fear of bad publicity would make politicians reluctant to use it.

Flood control taxes doubled Newman Lake resort owners Mary and Bill Walters' tax bill. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

A former golf pro won't get the money he thinks he deserves for building a shed for golf cars at MeadowWood Golf Course. Kaye Walker, who retired last year from the Liberty Lake course, asked county commissions to pay him for the 2,400-square-foot shed he built in 1988. County staff initially offered $18,000 for the building, $2,000 less than its appraised value.

Harris

Spokane's top young golfers are about to learn a lesson tougher than the 16th hole at MeadowWood: There's no such thing as free play. Not on Spokane's public courses.

Spokane County government is caught in a dispute between a labor union and two corrections workers who refuse to pay their union dues. The battle could lead to a lawsuit against the county and ultimately could cost Larry Tjomsland and Larry Holquist their jobs at the county jail. Last February, the pair directed the county to stop deducting monthly union dues of $35.75 from their paychecks. They were upset over campaign contributions by unions nationwide.

About 300 people crowd the pews at St. John's Cathedral on Saturday to pay respect to Denny Ashlock, who died Dec. 30 of cardiac arrhythmia. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane firefighters try to reach flames burning within the walls of a house at 1718 S. Arthur Thursday morning. Photo by Jason Clark/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane County commissioners have rejected a developer's plan to put 10 houses on land at Long Lake. Tuesday's decision settles - for now - what will happen to part of the land that was owned by the late Len Miotke, a fisherman and conservationist who led efforts to clean up the Spokane River reservoir. Family members were split over whether the scenic property should be developed into home sites or preserved in large chunks.

After months of silence, Spokane County commissioners are responding to residents' concerns about a landfill near Medical Lake. However, their attorney-approved form letter says little more than that the law prevents commissioners from discussing the Graham Road Recycling and Disposal Facility. The three-page letter is going to about 50 people who have written commissioners asking that they block expansion of the landfill. "I know there are some people out there who don't understand why ... the commissioners won't come" to community meetings about the landfill, said Commissioner Phil Harris. "Well, the reason is, we can't."

Spokane County won't plow the two-mile-long road leading to the Spokane Valley Mall because the developer hasn't completed all the work needed to qualify it as a county road. But developer Raymond Hanson contends the county took over Indiana Avenue before the mall opened last August. He threatens to sue to recover any money he spends maintaining the four-lane road. On Saturday, ice and snow caused a noninjury single-car accident on Indiana just west of the mall.

After spending at least $400,000 on the project, the city of Spokane is giving up plans to raise a Spokane River dam - at least for the next six years. "Obviously, we're very, very disappointed," said George Miller, design engineer for the city's department of water and hydroelectric services. "We thought this was going to be a win-win proposition for the community, but it isn't panning out that way." First proposed in the early 1980s, the plan called for adding 18 inches to the height of Upriver Dam so it could generate an additional $175,000 worth of electricity each year. Environmentalists, canoeists, fishermen and others fought the proposal, which would have stilled scenic rapids visible from the Centennial Trail in the Spokane Valley. Last month, the Washington Department of Ecology denied a permit that was critical to the project. Appealing that decision could have cost $100,000, said Miller. Even if the city won the appeal of the Ecology Department's decision, it would have to negotiate with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which was concerned about the project's effects on bald eagle habitat, Miller said. Finally, it would have had to spend $771,000 to mitigate environmental damage staff for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said the project would cause. "We've concluded that we're at the breaking point where all the additional revenue that would be generated would go back into the project," said Miller. In the 1980s, the city paid $225,000 to 91 landowners whose riverfront property would have been partially flooded if the dam were raised. The city spent at least another $175,000 on engineering studies and other costs, said Miller. Miller and hydroelectric director Brad Blegen said it's possible the plan could be revived after 2004. That's when the city must renegotiate its contract to sell electricity to Washington Water Power Co. The project may become financially feasible if energy deregulation causes electricity rates to climb at the time the new contract is being written, Blegen said. Miller noted that many world leaders are becoming concerned about greenhouse gases. One way to reduce them, he said, is to replace fossil fuels with electricity produced from hydroelectric dams. "Eventually, somebody may come to the conclusion that, regardless of some minor environmental problems, the best solution is to raise the (dam)," Miller said.

Planning for urban growth in Washington is like taking an algebra test: Cities and counties must show the math. In a written statement issued Christmas Eve, a state panel ruled that the city of Spokane and the county didn't show the math they used to draw temporary boundaries limiting urban development. Under the state's Growth Management Act, those boundaries are supposed to be just large enough to handle population increases expected in the next 20 years. The idea is to prevent urban sprawl into areas that don't have sewers and other necessary infrastructure. Developers who appealed Spokane County's "interim urban growth areas" contend the boundary is too small. Among other things, the city counted undevelopable land as developable, the builders told the GMA Eastern Washington hearings board. The three-member board said the city and county didn't compile enough data to defend itself. And the developers found enough flaws in the city's calculations to raise "serious questions" about whether the boundaries were properly drawn. Among the land counted as buildable: Parcels beneath power transmission lines, and land already developed as a Lutheran church, a library, a city park and a youth center. The city acknowledged it included some areas that are undevelopable and agreed to correct the problem before it and the county draw final growth boundaries. A more contentious issue is whether the city must deduct wetlands, steep slopes and other "critical areas" from its inventory of buildable land. Developers said those lands must be deducted, and the hearings board agreed. But city Planning Director Charlie Dotson said that's not the case. "We do not have to deduct for critical areas," said Dotson, who had not yet read the hearing board's decision. "If the board is telling us we have to, then we've got a problem because I think they've overstepped their bounds." The hearings board said its ruling doesn't necessarily mean the growth boundaries are too small. Nor do the city and county have to go back to the drawing board. Spokane city and county currently are working on comprehensive land-use plans, another requirement of the GMA. After those plans are completed, commissioners must approve permanent urban growth boundaries, sometime this year. The hearings board said the county must write a plan for correcting the problems noted in last week's decision before the permanent boundaries are adopted. "Our decision reflects a feeling that the interim boundary is just that; it's interim. It does not necessarily have to be perfect," said hearings board member Skip Chilberg. "In fact, the reason for the interim (boundary) is to find the errors so they can be corrected for the final boundaries."

One of Eastern Washington's renegade counties has been brought back into the fold. Chelan County, which for six years defied state law by refusing to comply with the Growth Management Act, recently received a glowing report from the state panel that reviews county plans.

Ashlock

If the charges against Lance Seurer are true, the accused killer of 93 ferrets is also a threat to people, a Spokane County judge ruled Tuesday. Seurer must post $50,000 bail if he wants to be released from jail while awaiting a February trial, Superior Court Judge Richard Schroeder ruled after Seurer pleaded not guilty to eight counts of animal cruelty.

Time's run out for Art Keinath - the county cut his position from the budget. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Nearly two months after voters cast ballots, a Stevens County judge has decided the winners in two Springdale races. Superior Court Judge Rebecca Baker ruled last week that the county's election canvassing board acted properly in throwing out a pivotal absentee ballot.

1. Terry Judge uses tethers to give 3-year-old daughter Molly her first ski lesson. The two were at Mount Spokane on Friday. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Mount Spokane skier Jay Harless wears the hat he received for Christmas.