Dan Hansen

Steve Hasson discusses his defeat in Tuesday's primary. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

1. Commissioner turned out. Republican county commissioner nominee Kate McCaslin serves up cakes she baked to supporters at a party in the Spokane Valley Tuesday night. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review 2. A tired Steve Hasson waits out election results Tuesday at a party for him held in Percy's Restaurant. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Talk about lousy timing. Just as a state archivist was digging through dusty Spokane County court documents, a black widow crawled out of the box. The archivist recoiled as a county worker calmly slipped off her shoe and squished the arachnid.

An adult entertainment store is challenging Spokane County's rule prohibiting such businesses near residential neighborhoods. In a suit filed last week in U.S. District Court, World Wide Video of Washington, Inc., claims the long-standing regulation unconstitutionally suppresses free speech.

Revenue hit a record but attendance at the Spokane Interstate Fair dipped for the second straight year. Nearly 281,000 people attended the 10-day fair, which ended under Sunday's clouds. That compares to nearly 285,000 people in 1985 and 287,000 in 1994.

The carrot and the steak. Roger Dudley, center, moves his barbecue into position as PETA volunteers, including a carrot, try to pass out animal rights materials to schoolkids. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review <

Even with 110 beds empty, Geiger Corrections Center received permission Thursday to add 75 more. The $438,000 expansion will allow the county to move more low-risk offenders out of the downtown jail and into Geiger, where incarceration costs are lower and inmates are sent out on work projects to earn their keep, said Mike Pannek, Geiger administrator. The project will make room for an ever-growing population of criminals. "The trends tell us the offender population keeps growing," Pannek said. County commissioners also approved spending nearly $100,000 for an inmate substance abuse treatment program and $88,000 for electronic monitoring equipment. All three projects are funded with a tax increase voters approved last year. Geiger now has 450 beds and 340 inmates. After the expansion, it will have room for 525 inmates. County commissioners approved the project on the condition that the center not be allowed to grow larger than 550 beds without a public hearing. "What I don't want is for the West Plains to become the incarceration center for Eastern Washington," said county Commissioner Steve Hasson. The expansion will rely on inmate labor to keep costs down, said Gary Oberg, county director of corrections. Geiger officials first proposed the expansion in 1994, when they expected the number of federal inmates to increase from about 200 a day to 340. The county makes money on those inmates, who are primarily from the Spokane area, because the federal government pays $58 a day. It costs about $35 a day to keep an inmate in Geiger's casual, dorm-like cells. It costs $65 to keep them behind bars at the jail. Instead of growing, the number of federal prisoners sent to Geiger has fallen to 180 a day. Competition from new federal prisons in other states and reduced sentences for minor marijuana charges caused the drop, Oberg said. County Commissioner John Roskelley voted against spending money on drug treatment, saying Geiger should apply for federal money for that program. Hasson and commissioner Phil Harris voted for the entire $626,250 package, saying Geiger can pay back the money for the drug program if it gets a federal grant. Spokane County voters approved the 10th-of-a-percent sales tax increase by a slim margin last November. The tax is expected to raise $12 million before it runs out in 1999. The money can only be spent on jails and related programs.

Melanie and Dick Wilkie are spending $20,000 remodeling their West Plains home to get a better view of the wheat field across the street. On Saturday, they and their neighbors received notice that Spokane County has been asked to approve a landfill in the field.

As a candidate for Spokane County commissioner, Kate McCaslin calls Chelan County's costly fight against the Growth Management Act "a waste of money." Repeatedly on the campaign trail, McCaslin has said she can live with the law, even though it includes provisions she doesn't like.

If Spokane County commissioners Steve Hasson and John Roskelley appear impatient during Tuesday's commission's meeting, it probably has nothing to do with the agenda. Both men will be waiting to learn whether they've survived that day's primary election.

These signs saying private property are on many trees at Horseshoe Lake northwest of Spokane. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Voters will decide in November whether to scrap Spokane County's system for investigating deaths. The proposal, which comes as Coroner Dexter Amend is mired in controversy, would replace the coroner with a medical examiner appointed by county commissioners.

Other issues may fit more easily on a campaign sign, but none is more important than land-use planning in the twin races for Spokane County commissioner, some government watchers contend. "It ought to be high on the list of priorities" for voters, said Spokane Mayor Jack Geraghty. "I'm not sure it is, because I don't think it's been positioned that way by either the media or the candidates."

Joe Polello rides the Ferris Wheel above the Spokane Interstate Fair on Friday. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Going to the Spokane Interstate Fair with a dietician is like attending a wedding with a divorce lawyer. It's still possible to have fun, as long as you ignore the facts.

Assessors aren't known for their willingness to dicker. But Spokane County Assessor Charlene Cooney did that Thursday when she asked county commissioners for more help. Cooney asked for two clerks, five appraisers and a deputy assessor. Those workers and a variety of computer equipment were recommended by a consultant from the state Department of Revenue, who spent a year trying to determine why the assessor's office is so far behind in its work.

A 17-year-old has a smoke outside East Valley alternative high school. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Cliff Cameron's campaign slogan cuts to the chase: "Lower taxes," read the signs promoting him for Spokane County commissioner. The message may play well with voters, but to get the support of party faithful, Cameron might have tried "Democrat ... really."

1. Steve Hasson 2. Kate McCaslin 3. Ron Hormann 4. Don Manning

Steve Hasson has only himself to blame if Ron Hormann takes his place on the Spokane County Commission. Hormann, whose peers named him the best county engineer in Washington in 1994, quit a year later rather than accept a demotion. While Public Works Director Dennis Scott replaced Hormann as county engineer, Hasson and Commissioner Phil Harris approved the move.

Spokane County's public defender says he needs $256,000 more this year to keep up with the public's zeal for sending crooks to jail. With more deputies on the streets and a prosecutor who frowns on plea bargains, the defender's office probably will handle about 600 more cases than it did last year, said Don Westerman.

A Nordman, Idaho, man was sentenced Friday to 30 days in jail and a year without hunting privileges for killing one of the region's few remaining grizzly bears. Carl Pitts pleaded guilty to shooting the "Nordman bear," a 2-1/2-year-old grizzly, last October.

The Spokane County Planning Commission is poised to take the unusual step of opposing a development across the state line. Commission members say a proposal for a 10-acre septic system to serve 400 homes on Idaho's Rathdrum Prairie threatens drinking water for the entire region. On Tuesday, they asked Spokane County commissioners to send a letter opposing the project to their counterparts in Kootenai County.

The leadership of Spokane County's planning department is changing for the second time in a year. Jim Manson, director of building and planning, announced this week he is moving assistant planning director John Mercer to a new job that deals only with meeting requirements of the state's Growth Management Act.