Dan Hansen

Six months ago, Spokane County started shifting some inmates from the county jail to Geiger Corrections Center as a money-saving measure. About 150 inmates who used to live at the downtown jail now stay at the lower-security, lower-cost West Plains center. But the expected $500,000 annual windfall hasn't materialized. Instead, the county Corrections Department faces a "financial crisis," said Jim Lindow, the county's chief administrative officer.

Anyone with a desk knows that vacations are a mixed blessing: The days off are blissful, but the return can be brutal, as the accumulated work demands attention NOW. It's no different for Spokane County commissioners. For three weeks, they held no meetings, as one, two - at times even all three - vacationed.

Thomas Gilmore

Acting Gonzaga University President Harry Sladich touts the school's standing in the U.S. News and World Report best colleges issue. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

During 11 years in the business, Spokane County Animal Control Director Nancy Sattin has seen pot-bellied pigs, pygmy goats, albino snakes and boa constrictors carried through the doors of the shelter. But the 3-1/2-foot lizard one of her officers captured recently in Greenacres was the first iguana to come to the shelter. Animal control officer Becky Nelson took the call last Friday, when the male iguana was reported in a yard near the corner of Mission and Aladdin.

Workers install a silt containment barrier Tuesday before starting bank repair on Dragoon Creek. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

The whine of Jet-Skis and squeals of swimmers accompany the August sun at most lakes near Spokane. But Wednesday morning, George Butrick shared 650-acre Eloika Lake with just one other fisherman, assorted waterfowl and fish that hid in an underwater forest of weeds. The fish were mostly safe. Between daylight and 10 a.m., Butrick caught one keeper - a bass weighing a little more than a pound.

Three auto dealers want the county to reimburse the $11,000 they paid to rent the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds for a July sale. The dealers, who also want $6,000 in attorneys fees, contend the county hurt their businesses by leasing the fairgrounds to used-car dealers the weekend before the sale of new cars.

Originally intended to provide bus-friendly shopping, the Spokane Valley Mall is on only two bus routes. At least until late 1998, most shoppers who rely on the Spokane Transit Authority will have to change buses at least once, and many of them twice, to get to the mall. There are no buses between the mall and the Sullivan park-and-ride lot, a distance of about a half-mile. And there is no direct route from the Valley Transfer Station.

Suburban Spokane residents who want to shoot BB guns at home had better move to the country. Or into the city of Spokane. By a 2-1 vote Tuesday, county commissioners decided not to change the law that forbids the use of air guns in areas where firearms can't be discharged. That no-shooting zone includes most suburban neighborhoods and some semirural areas.

Already banned in government buildings, smoking will be limited outside as well during next month's Spokane Interstate Fair. Smokers will be asked to use one of three designated smoking areas, including the beer gardens, during the 10-day fair. The Interstate Fair Board's decision to limit smoking follows complaints from people who bumped into the hot end of cigarettes or were tired of breathing smoke as they ate corn dogs and elephant ears, said Fran Boxer, assistant county administrator.

Gary Fuher is in charge of rearranging offices to give the public easier access to county services. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

A committee given more than half a million dollars in state money to help Spokane County kids spent 64 percent of it on surveys, lobbying and consultants, prompting county commissioners to request a state audit. The audit is not yet completed. But there's no indication the Spokane County Community Network has done anything but follow its controversial legislative mandate. Created in 1994, the 53 networks in communities statewide are supposed to give top priority to finding long-term solutions for child abuse, youth violence, youth drug abuse, teen pregnancy, domestic violence, high-school dropouts and teen suicide.

Many Spokane County residents use parks in Cheney and Medical Lake, so it's only fair that the two cities get county parks money, commissioners have decided. Spokane County commissioners say they will contribute $50,000 for Waterfront Park and Lake Trail in Medical Lake. The money, from the county's real estate excise tax, will help pay for $159,000 worth of improvements planned this year. In addition, commissioners agreed to contribute $14,000 to the city of Cheney from the sale of timber cut from county parks after last November's ice storm.

Spokane won't have Steve Hasson to chase through the window any longer. The outrageous, ambitious Hasson, who sometimes entertained and sometimes infuriated Spokane during eight years as county commissioner, is moving to the Midwest. The move ends speculation that Hasson, who lost the commission seat to Kate McCaslin last year, would run for the state Senate.

Spokane County commissioners on Tuesday decided not to ban lots smaller than 40 acres on thousands of acres near urban areas.

Paul A. Sorensen grins for the camera Monday while playing golf. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review

People who care about Riverside State Park can discuss its future during four days of workshops. But be forewarned that organizers are calling the series "A Week of Hard Work." The state Parks and Recreation Commission is hosting the workshops next week to gather information it will use to write a management plan for the park, said Daniel Farber, state parks planner.

This outhouse and another at the Island Park trailhead along the Centennial Trail have been closed because of vandalism. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane County commissioners on Tuesday approved a land-use ordinance they hope will pass muster with state officials who rejected an earlier version. Required under the state's Growth Management Act, the "critical areas" ordinance is designed to protect streams, farms, wetlands, forests and other sensitive areas. The county's original ordinance was rejected in April, when the growth management hearings board for Eastern Washington ruled that commissioners hadn't used "best available science" in setting buffers between streams and new development.

Washington Gov. Gary Locke spoke Friday at a conference for the Association of Washington Cities on the importance of infrastructure, welfare reform, citizen responsibility and ... Don't get us wrong, governor. It's not that streets and budgets aren't important. In fact, your audience of city officials seemed to find it all quite fascinating. But reporters want the skinny on the flying rodents in the mansion.

Standing in a small wetlands on Spokane's South Hill, Rep. Joyce Muliken, R-Ephrata, says the state's GMA is too strict and that the land's owner should be free to develop the site. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

A state panel ruled Thursday that Spokane County went "far beyond" legal requirements for providing public participation when it set boundaries that now guide development. Spokane resident Lila Howe filed a complaint with the Growth Management Hearings Board of Eastern Washington, saying citizens did not have enough input when county commissioners set "interim urban growth boundaries." Development is limited in areas outside those boundaries. Howe also complained that some meetings between county Commissioner John Roskelley and two City Council members were not properly advertised.

Spokane County commissioners agreed this week to tax landowners in small towns, the suburbs and semirural areas for a soil study. Landowners with 20 acres or less will pay $2 a year for five years to fund the study. That's in addition to the $3 they already pay to the Spokane County Soil Conservation District. The rate charged for unplatted lots - those 20 acres or larger - will not increase from the rate of 5 cents an acre for undeveloped land or 10 cents an acre for cultivated fields. That's the maximum allowed under state law.