Dan Hansen

Spokane County commissioners denied a developer's plans for a 166-lot subdivision on Colbert land zoned for a quarter that many houses. "While I like the layout and I certainly don't have any qualms putting houses in that area, I think it (the development) is just too dense," said Commissioner Steve Hasson. In other action Tuesday, the commissioners changed the name of Green Bluff Road - actually just one short stretch of one of many roads with that moniker.

A Spokane woman whose house is so filthy it makes garbage workers sick will get more time to clean up the place. Spokane housing officials have tried since 1976 to get Kathleen Henry to clean up the house at 1111 W. Augusta, where garbage is stacked from floor to ceiling and animal feces coat the floors in some rooms. Earlier this month, two garbage collectors became ill while loading garbage from the house. Two other men who say they tried to help clean the place say the house made them ill as well.

Ann Finke will manage the apartments. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Tracey and Doug Wakefield picked up the first installment of their $6.3 million jackpot Monday. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Counselors say they could have been at the scene of a police shooting within minutes, not hours, as police Chief Terry Mangan said the day his officers killed a mentally ill man. "We could have responded very quickly," said David Panken, chief executive of Spokane Community Mental Health Center. "We were not tied up on any cases right then."

Walk in the Wild's manager says she'll find homes for all its animals if the zoo must close, as now appears likely. "I just can't picture any animals dying," said Frances Drake, who recently wrote a plan that calls for selling exotic animals to raise money so other species could be shipped to new owners. County officials are skeptical the plan will work.

After 23 years of hard luck, the people who run Walk in the Wild conceded Wednesday they'll have to move the zoo or shut it down. The second option appears more likely than the first. The zoo's manager said she hopes a wealthy supporter, whom she won't name, may be willing to purchase land for a new site. But the Inland Northwest Zoological Society still would need hundreds of thousands of dollars for exhibits, buildings and other necessities.

Spokane's beleaguered zoo lost its best chance for salvation when Spokane County commissioners let a deadline pass for accepting the zoo land as a gift. The lost opportunity means Walk in the Wild probably will have to close June 30 or move to a new location.

Rural residents would pay a lot for Spokane's gain if an aggressive city expansion plan succeeds. City officials want to annex an 1,800-acre chunk of the South Hill that already receives city water.

The disabled are getting better access to Spokane's Main Library. Workers for the Spokane Public Library are adding a handicapped parking space along Lincoln Street. Soon, they'll lower the library's outside book drop, so people in wheelchairs can reach it.

A mentally ill man swallowed several razor blades and cut his wrists before three Spokane police officers shot him to death last week, according to autopsy results. Blaine Dalrymple was hit by five bullets, including two that severed arteries, said Dr. Dexter Amend, Spokane County coroner. Either of the two was enough to kill the 38-year-old man, Amend said.

A narrow majority of freeholders believes voters either won't or shouldn't support the group's plan to merge Spokane city and county governments. But those dissident freeholders failed this week in an effort to give voters additional choices. In voting that started Tuesday and continued Thursday, the Board of Freeholders split 12-12 on a proposal to send voters three options: full consolidation or two less-sweeping alternatives. The 25th freeholder, Betty Nunnery, failed to attend either meeting. Nunnery said Friday she stayed home because she doesn't support either faction and didn't want to offend anyone. But in a letter recently published in The Spokesman-Review, Nunnery wrote that voters "will have to reject the whole charter" unless given other alternatives. The different alternatives can't be reconsidered until the next freeholder meeting April 6, which is one of the group's last before a proposal is sent to voters. If dissidents can't pass the changes then, they say they'll submit it as a minority report to county commissioners. Whether commissioners could put the minority proposal on the ballot is debated among the freeholders. Voters elected the freeholders in November 1992 to study local government and suggest changes. In February 1994, the group decided that consolidating the two governments would end turf battles and be more efficient. A recent study concluded that a consolidated government would also be more expensive, about $20 million more each year than the two governments spend separately. That money would pay for better services in suburban areas. Most freeholders say they believe consolidation would lead to long-term savings. Some supporters of the three-tiered proposal said hopes for a consolidated government died when taxpayers learned the results of the financial study. "It killed us. It put the last nail in the coffin," said Bill Anderson. The three-tiered proposal would offer varying degrees of the charter freeholders have written.

1. Blaine Dalrymple 2. Police say Blaine Dalrymple threatened officers with this shard of broken mirror. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Sweetser had authority to fire two deputy prosecutors, even if it was a political decision, a judge ruled Tuesday. "There are a certain limited number of public officials who may be relieved of their positions for solely political reasons," said Adams County Superior Court Judge Richard Miller.

Joseph Peterson and Beverly Walling get directions Monday from new security guards at the county courthouse. Photo by Molly O'Hara/The Spokesman-Review

Three recent examples show that government is most motivated to swap land for top value when it fears owners are about to do something awful to their property. Spokane County bought 84 acres at Liberty Lake last year for $236,000. Negotiations went nowhere until the owner threatened to log the land, which is popular with hikers.

It is a year of decision in the Spokane Valley. A drive to form a city there looks strong. The city would be smaller and more urban than in two previous proposals that failed at the polls.

Spokane County's newly elected prosecutor took the witness stand Friday to contradict critics who said he fired two deputy prosecutors for political reasons. What's more, said Jim Sweetser, he never promised during last year's election that he would only fire employees for just cause. Witnesses who testified otherwise were misinformed, inaccurate or have ulterior motives, he said. Sweetser said he fired Jennifer Boharski for being rude to colleagues, police and himself, for bringing down morale, and because she wasn't a "team player."

Four crumbling buildings near the Spokane County Courthouse would be leveled and a longtime Spokane business would move under terms of a complicated land swap. The deal involves the county, Graybar Electric Co. and Metropolitan Mortgage Co., which initiated the land swap. Metropolitan plans to develop the north bank of the Spokane River and needs county land to reroute roads to the project.

Julia Frowick, 5, gets a lift from Daryl Martin at Mount Spokane as she gets a lesson from her mother Gail, right. The Frowicks own a condo on the mountain. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

FOR THE RECORD CORRECTION: Spokane County Conservation District is studying the Latah Creek watershed. A story in Friday's Spokesman-Review listed the wrong agency. Also, the county is buying 96 acres along the creek. A smaller acerage was reported in the story. Correction published on Saturday, February 25, 1995.

Gary Stockinger of WWP, right, takes a snow depth measurement in the St. Joe National Forest in Montana. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Finally, there's an answer for people who ask whether taxes will increase if Spokane city and county merge as freeholders propose. The answer is: "Depends." Depends on where the taxpayer lives. Depends on the services he demands. Depends on decisions made by politicians who aren't even elected yet.

1. Vic Soules, president of the Eloika Lake Community Association is lobbying to get a dam built on the Little Spokane River to slow the demise of Eloika Lake. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. Jim Ferguson 3. The Fergusons' pasture land floods every spring before the water of Eloika Lake recedes. Jim Ferguson is concerned that a proposed dam would make the land unusable. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review