John Craig

Pend Oreille County Clerk Winnie Sundseth is being investigated for allegedly helping a criminal suspect avoid arrest. Washington State Patrol Sgt. Chris Powell confirmed Friday that the WSP is investigating Sundseth on a possible misdemeanor charge of rendering criminal assistance in the third degree.

Defense attorney Dennis Scott dropped a bombshell late Thursday on the vehicular homicide conviction of former Pend Oreille County sheriff's dispatcher Cathy Van Stedum. Scott filed a sworn statement in which one of the jurors who convicted Van Stedum of the alcohol-related crime admitted to a history of drunken-driving convictions.

Newport High School student Joe Alyea, 16, practices building fire lines in a recent Forest Service firefighter trainning session. Alyea and other teens joined the adult class as part of a special program to train high school students in firefighting. Photo by John Craig/The Spokesman-Review

The second of two first-degree child rape charges against a 51-year-old Wilbur, Wash., grandmother disintegrated in court Thursday and was dismissed. The voluntary dismissal undercut a potentially precedent-setting ruling that lie detector tests could be presented as scientific evidence. The dismissal prevents an appellate court test that could overturn the traditional exclusion of lie detector results in court.

Reggie and Becky Byrum wear authentic frontier clothing from the late 1800s at their Springdale area home. They hope to establish a local chapter of the Single Action Shooting Society, which re-enacts events from the Old West. Photo by John Craig/The Spokesman-Review

A mentally retarded teenager who admitted raping a 4-year-old neighbor boy two years ago was warned Thursday that any future problems could get him banished from his Camden Gap home. Pend Oreille County Superior Court Judge Larry Kristianson made the blunt warning while renewing a protection order for the victim's family and granting a new one to another family that feels threatened by Shawn McIntyre.

1. With his attorney, Carl Maxey, Alan Rochek is arraigned Thursday in Newport. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review 2. Jacqueline Bence

Now there's Highway 395 barbecue to go with your Girl Scout cookies and your Camp Fire candy. The treacherous truck route will join this area's tummy-tempting charities Sunday with a "Stayin' Alive Barbecue and Auction."

Okanogan County commissioners will hear opinions Monday on a much-diluted version of a proposal for the county to assert control over state and federal land decisions. The commissioners will conduct a public hearing at 1:30 p.m. at Okanogan High School on a 43-page resolution that asks state and federal agencies to consider the county's "custom, culture, economic stability and environmental harmony."

Colville Confederated Tribes Councilwoman Frances Charette is under investigation in a stabbing incident on the Inchelium-Gifford ferry. Tribal Police Chief Jay Goss confirmed Thursday that Charette, who represents the Inchelium District of the Colville Indian Reservation, is suspected of stabbing her off-and-on boyfriend Eugene Michel twice in his lower back June 2.

Organizers of Omak's "World Famous Suicide Race" say a Seattle-area group is spreading misinformation in its perennial battle to stop the downhill horse race. The Progressive Animal Welfare Society announced this week that Wrangler, Cellular One, Sears, Pizza Hut, U.S. Bank and Wal-Mart "have withdrawn their support from the notorious race." The Lynnwood, Wash., group released a letter from a Cellular One Group manager who condemned the Suicide Race, which has killed three horses in the last three years.

Police figured Alan Rochek was up to no good when they found a commando-style arsenal on him during a routine traffic stop in February. Sure enough, they say, Rochek and Jacqueline Bence murdered a man at Eloika Lake a little more than a month after the unnerving traffic stop.

State Rep. Steve Fuhrman, R-Kettle Falls, has put up about 2,000 bales of hay at his 130-acre "hobby farm" since the Legislature adjourned May 26. Photo by John Craig/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane residents Alan G. Rochek and Jacqueline Bence were charged Friday with aggravated first-degree murder in the clumsy and brutal execution of another Spokane resident at Eloika Lake in early April. Pend Oreille County Prosecutor Tom Metzger said no decision has been made on whether to seek the death penalty. The alternative, if Rochek and Bence are convicted as charged, would be life in prison without parole.

About 100 people, mostly from the northern end of Stevens County, shouted down a noise-control ordinance requested by suburban residents of the county's southern end. County commissioners scrapped the proposed ordinance after it received overwhelming opposition in a public hearing Wednesday. They directed county officials to write a new proposal from scratch.

The only tavern serving Inchelium has had its license suspended until July 1 for two incidents last fall that left one man dead and three police officers fearing for their safety. The Washington Liquor Control Board staff had recommended cancellation of Twin Lakes tavern operator James R. Finley's license for joining an angry mob that threatened three Colville Tribal Police officers on Sept. 24.

Sherri Hansen works at her office in Chewelah. She is the first woman president of the Washington Contract Loggers Association. Photo by John Craig/The Spokesman-Review

1. March for Jesus participants fill Post Street in downtown Spokane on Saturday morning. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review 2. Barry Buchanan of Oakesdale, Wash., prays in Riverfront Park after carrying his 100-pound cross along the route.

Joe Redthunder stands next to a monument honoring his ancestor, Chief Joseph, in 1991. File/The Spokesman-Review

Stackhouse

A computer virus incident seems likely to fuel Ferry County's increasingly uncivil land-use debate. Sheriff Pete Warner promises to call in the FBI if there is another incident like one in which Curlew environmentalist Gary Woodmansee is believed to have presented a virus-infected diskette for use in a county computer.

Nespelem Elementary School second-graders Lauren Cawston, Leah Tank and Levi Picard huddled at Owhi Lake for a lesson on the Colville Indian Reservation's natural resources. Photo by John Craig/The Spokesman-Review

Tobias Stackhouse changed his mind again Thursday and announced he will go ahead with a plea bargain in the charge that he murdered Elk-area homeowner Steve Roscoe. Stackhouse, who backed out of the deal 10 days ago, now is scheduled to complete it next Wednesday.

Wild Goose Bill