John Craig

1. Among his many activities, Tim Coley, 17, is a non-voting member of the Davenport City Council. Photo by John Craig/The Spokesman-Review 2. Turner 3. Countryman

Defense attorney Al Schwenker argued Thursday that murder suspect Tobias Stackhouse should be treated as a juvenile delinquent. But a citizens group said what Stackhouse really needs is a chance to hang. Schwenker said Stackhouse, who will be 18 on Feb. 2, is being denied his constitutional rights every day he remains locked up in Pend Oreille County's adult jail. Stackhouse and 21-year-old Jason Kukrall, both Elk-area residents, are charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 11 shooting death of Elk-area homeowner Steve Roscoe.

Regional leaders remained optimistic about the prospects for establishing a juvenile detention center at Medical Lake despite a cold sprinkle Tuesday. Davenport Mayor Carr Killin said he doesn't think the federal Americans with Disabilities Act or other requirements can derail a plan to put a regional detention center in an unused residential building on the Eastern State Hospital campus. Killin is chairman of a task force of Eastern Washington city and county officials who think the mental hospital's vacant Martin Hall may be the answer to a critical shortage of juvenile detention space throughout the region.

One of two suspects in the Jan. 11 murder of an Elk-area homeowner has confessed to that killing, as well as the Dec. 1 fatal stabbing of a prostitute in Spokane. Jason V. Kukrall, 21, and Tobias R. Stackhouse, 17, also have been questioned in the stabbing death of another prostitute in Kootenai County and an elderly man in Pend Oreille County.

Two Omak boys are to be sentenced Feb. 22 for bombing three cars, breaking into Omak High School and setting a fire outside the Burger King where they worked. Nicholas Johnson and Aaron Simpson, both 16, pleaded guilty this week to reduced charges ranging from attempting to possess incendiary devices to second-degree arson.

Medical Lake Mayor Sharie hopes to turn Martin Hall at Esatern State Hospital into a regional detention center.

Lincoln County Sheriff Dan Berry and Deputy Richard Morrison are stuck with each other. A ruling Friday by Adams County Superior Court Judge Richard Miller is similar to the verdict of voters last September.

A 50-year-old woman is accused of raping and sexually molesting two preschool girls in a day-care center she operated. Peggy Jannot pleaded innocent this week in Lincoln County Superior Court to charges that she raped a 4-year-old girl and sexually molested a 5-year-old girl in September. Her trial is scheduled to begin March 1.

Tobias Stackhouse, left, and Jason Kukrall in court Thursday. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

The Pend Oreille County Public Utility District faces an $18,000 fine for what the state Ecology Department says were repeated water quality violations during reconstruction last year of the dam at Sullivan Lake. Ecology Department officials say a contractor for the utility district ignored several provisions of a work permit intended to prevent soil erosion and keep sediment from entering Outlet Creek, which flows into Sullivan Creek.

Radioactive contamination has been found at the abandoned L-Bar Products magnesium recycling plant near Chewelah. Public officials are still analyzing the month-old discovery, but believe the naturally occurring radiation is less of a threat than the high concentrations of ammonia and salts in surface and ground water at the site.

A Kettle Falls High School senior faces numerous criminal charges after allegedly resorting to violence when the 15-year-old girl he is accused of stalking for months refused to date him. Aaron W. King, 18, was in the Stevens County Jail on Thursday on $100,000 bail. He is accused of planning to blow up a car carrying a girl he blamed for convincing her 15-year-old friend not to date him. He also is charged with firing six shots into the car in December.

New Stevens County Commissioner J.D. "Andy" Anderson got the jump on other Stevens County elected officials Tuesday, taking his oath of office an hour before everyone else. But the sometimes controversial politician didn't carry through with his plan to take a different oath from the others. He seemed to have made a New Year's resolution to watch what he says and focus on county business.

Newport Police Chief Gary Markwardt waves at a passing pickup while making the rounds in the city. The town is considering a plan to merge the town's police force with the county sheriff's department. Photo by Anne C. Williams/The Spokesman-Review