A Yakima woman is to be sentenced Friday in a federal drug case arranged by a paid informer with such a troubling history of rape arrests that Spokane County authorities refused to work with him. Attorneys for Dona Reyes Heit, 37, argued unsuccessfully that drug-dealing charges against her should have been dismissed because the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's use of longtime drug informer David R. Palmer constituted "outrageous government conduct."
Voters in outlying counties will decide some tax measures and narrow a number of school board and fire commission races in Tuesday's primary election, but there are relatively few contested municipal races. “In Whitman County, Colfax residents must eliminate one of three mayoral candidates, who include Earl Leland, David Szambelan and incumbent Norma Becker.
An urban-encrusted natural area jumped into view this week at Spokane County's Holmberg Park when a perfectly fitting jigsaw puzzle piece fell into place. The $1 price seemed "a little steep," Mark Richard joked as he and the other county commissioners authorized the purchase of 56 acres through the Conservation Futures program.
Spokane County commissioners tentatively have selected a Spokane architectural firm to help them prepare a bond measure for a new low- and medium-security jail. Commissioners adopted a Sheriff's Office recommendation last week to hire Integrus Architecture to develop a plan for the jail project, to help officials choose a site and to direct a public relations campaign.
Rates will go up Jan. 1 for Spokane County sewer customers to raise money for a new $106 million sewage treatment plant. County commissioners Tuesday approved a new rate structure that calls for single-family residential sewer bills to go from $27.68 this year to $33.46 next year. The charge will go to $35.34 in 2009, $36.63 in 2010, $37.49 in 2011 and $38.44 in 2012.
Spokane County commissioners took their interest in acquiring Spokane Raceway Park to a new level Tuesday. Commissioners unanimously directed Parks and Recreation Manager Doug Chase to find a consulting firm to tell them whether it makes sense to purchase the motor sports complex near Airway Heights. They want to know whether it can generate enough income to be self-sustaining and enough economic development to warrant the risk.
Spokane County voters will get a chance in November to bring emergency communications into the digital age while going back in time to the Crime Check reporting system they knew as children. County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to place a one-tenth-of-a-percent sales tax on the general election ballot to raise money for emergency service communications systems, including restoration of the Crime Check hotline for reporting incidents that don't warrant calling 911.
Spokane County commissioners are poised today to ask voters for a sales tax increase making it easier for citizens to communicate with law enforcement officers and for police agencies to communicate with one another. The proposed one-tenth-of-a-percent sales tax increase would restore the Crime Check system for reporting crimes and seeking help in situations that don't warrant calling 911. It also would replace the radio system that serves all police and fire departments in the county.
One home was destroyed and at least a couple of others were damaged Saturday when three fires broke out along BNSF railroad tracks between Spokane and Cheney. The fires burned about 450 acres of scrub pine forest and brush, and flying embers caused some smaller spot fires. No one was injured.
Businessman Jason Kazmark saw opportunity where Deborah Firkins saw a money pit. Kazmark bought a run-down little house at 4917 N. Napa St. at a Spokane County surplus property auction Friday for the minimum price of $29,100. He plans to renovate it as an investment.
The nonprofit Care Cars for Elders program has gotten more money from its primary backer, the Spokane County government, along with an admonition to broaden its financial support. Care Cars uses volunteer drivers to transport elderly, medically fragile people to essential medical appointments if they have no other means of getting there.
Summertime living is no easier for cats and dogs than for their sometimes overheated owners, the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service warns. Road trips and short haircuts don't always help either.
A request by the city of Spokane to buy two pieces of tax-foreclosed real estate arrived too late, Spokane County commissioners said Tuesday. City officials sent a letter Monday asking to buy a house at 4917 N. Napa St. and vacant industrial land at 3508 E. Queen Ave. for the taxes that were owed when the county foreclosed on them.
Looking for some prime real estate? Don't call Deborah Firkins. On the other hand, if you want to buy a sliver of someone's yard, she may have just the thing.
A group of racing enthusiasts, determined that there should be no checkered flag for Spokane Raceway Park, has persuaded Spokane County commissioners to consider buying the speedway. The motor sports complex faces sale in court-ordered receivership and "if it got turned into a mini-storage, that would be a sad end," said former Spokane City Attorney Jim Sloane.
A Spokane woman who was struck by lightning at a Spokane Valley soccer tournament three years ago is suing sponsors for alleged failure to enforce safety rules. Monica L. Phillipy's lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Spokane County Superior Court, names the River City Soccer Club, the Spokane Valley Junior Soccer Association and the Washington State Youth Soccer Association.
NINE MILE FALLS – A proposal to close part of a dirt road in the Nine Mile Falls area, born of a neighborhood dispute over who should maintain the road, has been rejected. Highland Road is substandard and hasn't been approved for county maintenance, so the homeowners it serves are supposed to keep it passable. But they don't get along.
The Spokane County Courthouse is expected to have a new flagpole by the end of the year – and another time capsule no one can reach. The 50-foot flagpole was removed Dec. 1, 10 days after a windstorm left the 2,000-pound steel pipe leaning about 4 degrees from the top of the courthouse's 168-foot-tall tower.
A Colville-area man was charged Thursday with chasing down and shooting at a motorist with whom he had a grievance. Alexei Nicolaevich Tsibulko, 32, was charged with second-degree assault in Stevens County Superior Court.
Summertime living is no easier for cats and dogs than for their sometimes overheated owners, the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service warns. Road trips and short haircuts don't always help either.
The Mead School District's new Mountainside Middle School can't have county sewer service because of the state Growth Management Act – even though the Colbert-area school will be next to a large suburban enclave. Spokane County commissioners could find no way Tuesday to accommodate school officials' last-ditch effort to obtain sewer service before they have to start building a $1.9 million sewage treatment plant.
CHENEY – First-term Cheney City Councilman Patrick Rast faces two challengers in the Aug. 21 primary. Neither Doug Nixon, 61, nor Jason Alvarado, 24, has run for public office before, but Nixon has served on the city Planning Commission about six months and Alvarado was senior class president at East Valley High School.
A proposed revision of Spokane County's shoreline regulations has too many "mays" and not enough "shalls" and isn't tough enough on septic tanks, several residents told county commissioners Tuesday. The biggest problem is retention of a 50-foot buffer in which construction is prohibited along the county's larger lakes, rivers and creeks, according to Doug Pineo, shore lands specialist for the state Department Ecology.
CHENEY – Three people would like to replace Les Harris, who is stepping down from the Cheney City Council. Actually, four. But Raymond Gawenit can't accept the position. He remains on the ballot only because it was too late to withdraw when he got a new job that will prevent him from attending council meetings.
Most Spokane County elected officials are to get raises Sept. 1 under a plan county commissioners tentatively adopted Tuesday. If commissioners formally adopt that consensus plan, elected officials' salaries would be tied to several benchmarks: commissioners' salaries, District Court judges' salaries and the average of sheriff salaries in six comparable counties.
