Dan Hansen

Of the almost $1 million that will be spent for erosion control at Hangman Valley Golf Course, more than $300,000 is for the area near the driving range. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

View getting ever better. Metropolitan Mortgage is cleaning up the Summit Project site, with the Spokane skyline in the background, and marketing it to commercial and residential developers. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Some Valley mobile home residents may soon have a new and unlikely landlord: Spokane County. After a briefing Thursday about the impacts of building the Valley Couplet, county commissioners agreed to expand an existing mobile home park to make room for people who have to move from the path of the road.

Small high schools participating in next year's cross country district finals will get a break, compliments of Spokane County commissioners. Commissioners decided Tuesday not to charge Northeast District 7 schools for use of Hangman Valley Golf Course, the site of the October event. The race draws about 500 runners from 50 mostly rural schools in the easternmost counties of Washington.

Despite last-minute lobbying, Gov. Gary Locke has signed a bill that Spokane city and county officials say undermines efforts to protect drinking water. The new law, which unanimously passed both houses of the Legislature, exempts existing mobile home parks from connecting to public sewers, as long as their septic tanks don't fail. It was sponsored by Republican Reps.

"I've always chosen challenge," says Francine Boxer. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Wall Street is bullish on Spokane County. Standard & Poor's announced Friday that the county has maintained its double-A bond rating. In addition, the financial rating company upgraded the bonds the county sold between 1991 and 1996, from double-A-minus to double-A.

A bill championed by two Spokane legislators undermines efforts to protect drinking water and should be vetoed by the governor, several city and county officials contend. The bill, which unanimously passed both houses of the Legislature this month, exempts existing mobile home parks from connecting to public sewers as long as their septic tanks don't fail. Current law requires that all buildings be connected within a year after public sewers are available.

There's no doubt the county will replace the crumbling Valley Mission Park pool after it closes this fall. The question raised by one county commissioner on Tuesday is where exactly the new pool should be built. Spokane County officials planned to put the replacement across Mission Avenue from the current pool, on four acres owned by Modern Electric Co. The county and the utility have been negotiating a price for that property.

Facing a lawsuit over the death of an inmate, Spokane County commissioners agreed Tuesday to an investment that could prevent future claims. They decided to spend $6,000 on four "violent prisoner chairs" equipped with straps to hold down struggling inmates. An autopsy in 1995 concluded that inmate Mario Lozada died of restraint asphyxiation less than 10 minutes after jailers had strapped his arms to his chest, strapped his legs together and left him stomach-down in a jail cell.

One gathering of car salesmen every two months is plenty at the fairgrounds, Spokane County commissioners said Tuesday. Ditto for antique shows, boat shows and other sales. The "non-compete" policy stems from an unsuccessful lawsuit filed last year by three auto dealers. If formally adopted by commissioners, the policy will prevent competing shows 30 days before or after one another.

Runners race down the hill at Hangman Valley Golf Course last year. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Showing the frustrations of a man whose priorities are largely irrelevant to the party in charge, Gov. Gary Locke on Friday bemoaned a legislative session marked by "missed opportunities." "We're disappointed that the Legislature did not step up to the high standards that we had set," said Locke, who compared the session with his toddler daughter's faltering first steps. "This is not the time to take a lot of little steps."

Forty-seven women have applied for newly required licenses to be exotic dancers in Spokane County. But a recent county inspection shows that the adult arcade where the women strip has not complied with many other provisions of the county's new adult entertainment ordinance.

A Spokane Valley teenager has failed in his latest attempt to have charges filed against a woman who stabbed him in 1996. Tim Buchanan Jr. and his parents filed a "citizens complaint" in December, asking a District Court judge to decide that there is sufficient reason to file criminal charges against Karen Beeman. The Buchanans wanted Beeman charged with assault, reckless endangerment, obstructing a law enforcement officer and making false statements to authorities.

Parts of Spokane will look more like Reno tonight. Using equipment that lights the exteriors of casinos and other buildings around the world, Doug Davidson plans to flood colored light over St. John's Cathedral, the Pavilion in Riverfront Park and other city landmarks. Davidson, a Spokane theatrical consultant who helps companies design interiors and sets for special events, will haul the computerized equipment from building to building in the back of a pickup, starting shortly after dusk.

Years of studies are for naught at Eloika Lake, where residents are giving up plans to build a dam they hoped would save the weed-choked lake. Spokane County commissioners said Tuesday that they're turning down a $400,000 state loan. That interest-free money sat unused for three years as engineers and lake residents discussed the dam proposal. It would have been the responsibility of 325 landowners surrounding the lake to pay back the loan and raise an additional $300,000 that county engineers said was needed.

A booster of Spokane's elusive north-south freeway is accusing Spokane County commissioners of not being team players. In a March 4 letter, the president of the Inland Automobile Association contends the commissioners are "irresponsible" for proposing a beltway around Spokane as one way of easing traffic.

Jim Lindow enjoys his free time at his Five Mile home. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Blum

Spokane County is demanding that an officer from Geiger Corrections Center resign, now that a former inmate has testified that the pair repeatedly had sex in 1992. A Feb. 24 letter from county attorneys also demands that Sunny Pilkington drop a lawsuit or face the prospect of civil penalties.

Planned improvements at Liberty Lake's public launch would shift the noise and congestion of boaters from one neighboring homeowner to another, those pitching an alternative proposal said during a hearing Monday. But state officials say their plan is best for users who don't live at the lake. Any alternative would require dredging the lake, adding to the cost and regulatory headaches of the work, they told the state Shorelines Hearings Board. "It's not easy living next to a site like this," acknowledged assistant attorney general Jay Geck, who represented the Department of Fish and Wildlife at the hearing.

Spokane County commissioners approved higher rental fees for groups and promoters using the county fairgrounds. The rates, approved Tuesday, include a hefty increase in the cost of camping at the fairgrounds, a first-ever fee for parking, and a 2 percent increase in the cost of renting the exhibition hall and other buildings. But nonprofit groups that work with children will get the break they said they needed to continue their work. Such groups will pay 20 percent of the rental fees charged adult or for-profit groups.

Spokane County commissioners boosted the sheriff's budget Tuesday by about $300,000 a year to help solve murder cases. The money will fund three detectives, a sergeant and a secretary to replace employees working to solve the murders of 19 women. The money also will be used to buy equipment and pay for travel for homicide investigators. The investigation of other crimes has suffered because so many staff members are working on the city/county task force trying to solve the murders, Sheriff John Goldman told commissioners. The effort includes following up on about 750 tips from the public and cataloging evidence.