Dan Hansen

Spokane County commissioner Phil Harris says he won't agree to repeal the county's storm-water utility district or ask voters whether to continue the surcharge that goes with it. "The storm-water tax is a musthave. I'm not willing to put that on the ballot," said Harris. "People have ... sanctioned the tax by nonprotest." Harris' decision assures the surcharge will remain on the books, because Commissioner Skip Chilberg also favors it. Commissioner Steve Hasson calls the tax "a public scam" and wants to put it to a vote.

Washington Water Power Co. hopes woofers and tweeters will prevent screamers when dams are opened on the Spokane River. The power company has asked permission from the city of Spokane to install six sets of speakers between the Division Street and Monroe Street bridges. They'll be used to warn people when WWP plans to flood the spillways at its dams, said Dana Anderson, company spokeswoman.

The price Spokane County charges new sewer customers may double as county commissioners search for ways to speed up sewer work. City residents probably will face higher sewer rates as well. That's because the regional sewage treatment plant needs expensive improvements.

Spokane County freeholders, the people elected to solve the problems of local government, are no better than politicians, according to some disgruntled members. "I'm used to manipulators. In fact, I'm considered pretty good at it," said freeholder Kathy Reid, a Democratic Party leader.

Some freeholders want the Valley incorporation vote delayed until voters get a look at their own proposal to consolidate Spokane city and county government. Freeholders, who were elected in November 1992, haven't completed their work. The best guess is they'll finish writing their proposal in time for a fall vote. Valley residents could decide on May 16 whether to form their own city. That vote may be delayed because Spokane is requesting changes in the boundaries for the proposed city.

The Spokane City Council is laying claim to "a lucrative area" inside a proposed city in the Spokane Valley, a move that could delay the incorporation vote and fan resentment toward Spokane among Valley residents. It is the first time the city has intervened in Valley residents' attempts to form their own city. The move signifies that city officials are taking the current incorporation drive more seriously than the previous two. "We've always ... shied away from making any statements about Valley incorporation because people were concerned that, 'Well, if you say anything, it might encourage the incorporation,"' Mayor Jack Geraghty said during a recent briefing.

Two Spokane men suspected of raping and kidnapping one woman and later shooting at another during a robbery were arrested Monday after a high-speed chase in Idaho. Johnas Bower and William Caietti, both 18, were caught after they ran a roadblock and led police on a 10-mile chase near Grangeville, said Idaho County Sheriff R.E. "Gene" Meinen.

A man accused of raping a 73-yearold Spokane woman and slashing her throat failed to register as a sex offender when he moved to Spokane, prosecutors charged Monday. Paul Eugene Brown, W1802 Gardner, was charged with rape, firstdegree burglary and failing to register after he moved from Tacoma in April.

Spokane will pay $2,600 extra for 18 vehicles because a state agency says the city was getting too good a deal.

A 16-year-old Deer Park girl did not want to have sex with a sheriff's deputy but was too intimidated to say no, the girl's attorney said Friday. The girl, who has not been identified, accuses Gary Alvarado of having sex with her in the front seat of his patrol car on Nov. 16. Alvarado, who has been on paid administrative leave since midDecember, denies the allegations.

Optimistic that new leadership will reverse fortunes at Walk in the Wild, board members have hired the zoo's fourth manager in three years. Frances Drake won't last any longer than her predecessors if the zoo's landlord sticks to its plan. Inland Empire Paper Co., which since 1972 has given the zoo free use of the 65-acre site, announced last fall that the lease won't be renewed in July. "At this point, there has been no change in the decision," Wayne Andresen, general manager of the paper company, said Friday.

Willie Willey, the Spokane folk hero who spurned convention and clothes, was honored Thursday in the most conventional of ceremonies. Civic leaders unveiled a plaque for Willey on Riverfront Park's Canada Island. Those who gathered were a respectable and fully clothed group of Spokane boosters. In other words, they represented everything Willey shunned.

A Spokane County sheriff's deputy accused of having sex with a 16-year-old girl in his patrol car will not face criminal charges. But Gary Alvarado, who has been on paid administrative leave since midDecember, still may face discipline from his superiors.

Schoolchildren in Springdale get a mini-vacation today while officials at the Mary Walker School District make sure that propane from a leaky underground pipe isn't filtering into classrooms. Officials sent the 600 students home about noon Tuesday after a construction worker using a torch ignited the gas. Workers hadn't realized the pipe, which had been uncovered and reburied weeks ago, was leaking, said school superintendent Mike Sowder.

A man accused of paying Spokane children to perform sex acts on camera was sentenced Monday to six years in prison. Clyde Loshbaugh, 42, originally was charged with six counts of communicating with minors for immoral purposes, six counts of sexual exploitation of minors, one count of first-degree child molestation and one count of possessing child pornography. He pleaded guilty to one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes and one count of second-degree child molestation.

Washington's largest conservation group doesn't spike trees. It doesn't file lawsuits to stop logging or save salmon.

Thirty years after beginning its work in North Idaho, the Nature Conservancy has opened a Panhandle office. In 1964, the international organization bought 141 acres near Upper Priest Lake, its first Idaho purchase. But it settled in the south, in rapidly growing Sun Valley, when it opened an Idaho office in 1986. The Hayden Lake office opened Nov. 1 in recognition that the lakes and forests of the Panhandle are worlds apart from the grasslands, gorges and peaks farther south, said Mark Elsbree, North Idaho director.

Never were the Spokane city limits as obvious as they were Tuesday, when city libraries started charging non-residents for library cards. "Apparently, I'm not a city resident," said Terry Pugh, after librarians at the main branch told him he couldn't check out books without paying for a card.