Dan Hansen

Spokane County prosecutors have charged a rancher and a logger with stealing 13 old-growth trees. Logger Lewis R. Kulczyk was charged Wednesday in Spokane County District Court with first-degree theft and first-degree malicious mischief for allegedly cutting trees from land owned by Aaron Lowe.

Vito Tombari would have faced federal drug charges if he hadn't been gunned down Monday, said the coordinator of the Spokane Regional Drug Task Force. Undercover agents bought methamphetamine and crack cocaine from Tombari on several occasions, said Sheriff's Lt. Lorin Sperry.

A Spokane toddler was placed in a temporary foster home Tuesday, hours after her drug-dealing father was gunned down. The girl's mother is in jail on a drug-trafficking charge, authorities said.

The Spokane City Council will decide tonight whether water must come before houses in the Hangman Valley. Developer Lamont Glines has posted a $190,000 bond to cover the cost of a 41,000 gallon water tank for his Qualchan Hills subdivision. The tank will be built by 1998, he said. In the meantime, Glines wants permission to sell 12 lots that will obtain water from that tank. The existing water supply is adequate for the short-term, Glines said while stating his case to the council last week.

Spokane residents could still take the microphone during City Council meetings, but the TV cameras would be turned off. A majority of council members favor revamping the public forum, a session that allows audience members to discuss any topics they wish. The forum would remain at the beginning of council meetings, where it has been since last summer. But it would no longer be televised on cable Channel 5, a step the council hopes will discourage personal threats and discussions that have nothing to do with city business.

People who eat giant Puget Sound clams are helping the city of Spokane buy 24 acres along Latah Creek. The state Department of Natural Resources is giving the city $128,000 - some of the money it earns leasing aquatic lands - to make the purchase.

Spokane's 90,000-light wonderland could have used a little winter. Rain and shorter operating hours meant small crowds at Spokane Winter Lights, a Christmas display at The Creek at Qualchan Golf Course. Attendance and revenue dropped 38 percent, and organizers aren't yet sure whether the display broke even.

Copyright 1996, The Spokesman-Review Spokane city employees who drive public vehicles were more likely to be caught using drugs last year than drivers for other agencies. The Spokesman-Review reported Thursday that 11 city drivers whose urine was checked in 1995 tested positive for illegal drugs. Two others quit rather than take the tests.

Horizon Air workers want the bear back. "Definitely, all the Horizon folks are behind it," said employee Mike Sanders. "I haven't talked to one who said, 'don't."' They're not alone.

Thirteen Spokane city employees flunked drug tests or refused to take them in 1995, according to city officials. Eight of the 13 lost their jobs. The rest signed contracts agreeing to undergo drug treatment and submit to random testing. In all, 345 workers were tested for either alcohol or drugs under the first year of a federally mandated program. None tested positive for alcohol.

Young bookworms Spokane Christian Academy first-graders Chris Hill, 7; Michael Allen, 6; and Tyler Harris, 6, wait to check out books at the county library's Argonne branch on Wednesday. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

The good news: There's been little snow to plow in Spokane city and county. The bad news: Any money saved this winter will go toward fixing an unusually bad case of potholes and cracked pavement. Due to repeated freezing and thawing, "a year like this can be a lot worse on our pavement than when we get a lot of snow," said Phil Barto, head of road maintenance for Spokane County.

The Spokane City Council spent more than $6 million Tuesday with hardly a comment from council members or residents. But debate lasted an hour when the police department requested an additional $15,000 for community-oriented policing. The money eventually was approved by all but councilman Chris Anderson, who called the request "empire-building in the typical bureaucratic form."

Gov. Mike Lowry on Friday picked Ken Kato, a state Court of Appeals commissioner, to be a Spokane County judge. Kato, 46, will replace retiring Superior Court Judge Marcus Kelly. He is scheduled to start work Jan. 8, and will have to run for election in September. "I don't think the governor could have made a better appointment," said Court of Appeals Judge John Schultheis, who called Kato "a tremendously capable person."

Thomas "Rick" Birnel

Are we having fun yet? 1. Ian Elby, left, of Coeur d'Alene, watches his roommate, Kurtis Douge of Bellingham, make sure his bed meets camp specifications. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 2. Civil Air Patrol cadets study standard operating procedures, hoping to memorize protocol before an instructor puts them on the spot with a question. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

1. Final days at the zoo. A grizzly pokes its head through a tire at Walk in the Wild zoo. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 2. A snow leopard rests on a rock at the zoo. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Free to a good home: One polar bear, stuffed. Good fur. Spokane landmark. Shot in 1971 by hunter Lewey Lorenzen, the massive blonde bear in a glass case started its afterlife at the Davenport Hotel. The bear migrated to Spokane International Airport after the hotel closed in 1985. For eight years, it greeted travelers with a frozen snarl.

Melissa Mae Wageman volunteered to shop and cook for disabled friends. A single mother, she was raising a teenage son - an honor student and musician at Shadle Park High School. She was so well liked at Happy Time Tavern on North Division that regulars threw her a 40th birthday party Thursday.

Peters

A Spokane woman is suing Ford Motor Co., saying she's had coughing fits and trouble breathing since inhaling powder from her Taurus' air bag. Karen Krotzer, 48, missed 22 weeks of work this year and coughed through her son's wedding last summer, said her husband, Thomas Krotzer. She had to stop singing in the church choir.

Fire chars historic Lincoln County building 1. Firefighters bring a fire under control after it gutted most of the historic Lincoln County Courthouse. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review 2. Deputy Wade Mager inspects the top floor of the courthouse, where Thursday night's fire began. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

A Spokane woman convicted of first-degree kidnapping and sentenced Wednesday to 4-1/2 years in prison will spend Christmas at home. Rhondi Zyph, 18, was one of two women convicted in October of kidnapping Taunya Gardella, hacking off her hair and beating her. Zyph has been on home detention, with electronic monitoring, since the trial.

A DNA expert said there was little doubt Phillip Kramer is the father of a child born to a 14-year-old Spokane girl. But a Spokane County jury on Tuesday said that wasn't enough proof to convict Kramer, 50, of second-degree rape or third-degree rape of a child. The jurors found Kramer not guilty of both counts, saying they weren't convinced he and his accuser were together the night of the alleged rape.