Tom Sowa

Kenneth "Junior" Comeslast is led to jail after being convicted Thursday of two counts of aggravated first-degree murder. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane County Prosecutor Jim Sweetser concluded his closing argument in the double-murder trial of Kenneth "Junior" Comeslast by pointing a finger at the defendant. "He did it ... and he had all the choices that night. Those girls - Cindy Buffin and Kendra Grantham - didn't have any choices," Sweetser said Wednesday. Asking the jury to send Comeslast to prison for the rest of his life, Sweetser said the teenager was a calculating killer last Aug. 9 when Grantham, 16, and Buffin, 17, died in a hail of bullets fired from a semiautomatic rifle.

After five days of testimony implicating accused double-killer Kenneth "Junior" Comeslast, defense attorneys pulled a surprise Tuesday in Spokane County Superior Court. Public defenders Jay Ames and Richard Fasy rested their case without calling a witness.

Prosecutors completed their case against 16-year-old Kenneth "Junior" Comeslast on Monday, trying to prove he killed two girls to build his gangster reputation. Comeslast faces eight criminal counts in Spokane County Superior Court, including two for aggravated murder and two for attempted murder. The murder charges stem from the slayings of Cindy Buffin, 17, and Kendra Grantham, 16, who were talking with friends on the front porch of a Hillyard home when the gunfire erupted last Aug. 9.

The city recently ordered a freeze on new cell phone antenna transmitters like this on on east Third near Eagle Hardware. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

The day after Kendra Grantham and Cindy Buffin were killed by rifle shots on a Hillyard porch, Kenneth Comeslast told police detectives two versions of what happened. In both accounts presented in Superior Court Friday, the 16-year-old Comeslast - known as "Junior" - told detectives he had no hand in the August killings of the two teenage girls.

Marnie Ramey snuggles with Maggie, a just-spayed 1-1/2-year-old pug. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane-based Educational Service District 101 will use $10 million from the federal government to fight adult illiteracy around the country. The money, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education over a five-year period, will go toward the design and production of courses that will be beamed via satellite from Spokane to eight states. ESD 101 is a state-supported provider of education courses, many of them transmitted from Spokane. It also received $10 million in 1990 from the Department of Education for satellite programs.

Washington State University has more education technology to brag about - $1.2 million worth donated by Hewlett-Packard Company. WSU President Sam Smith on Friday called the collection of new computers, scanners, software and printers a major addition to the school's educational tool chest. The equipment includes about 110 computers for engineering, architecture and construction management classes at WSU's campuses in Pullman, Spokane, Tri-Cities and Vancouver.

City library patrons on the northwest side will finally get their own branch library. Spokane Public Library board members Wednesday approved a $212,000 purchase of land near Indian Trail and Barnes Road for the new branch.

People checking out 20 children's books at a time are the rule, not the exception, at Spokane's public libraries. More than one of every four books checked out of the city's tax-supported libraries comes from its children's collection. That figure - 26 percent - would be even higher if it included children's video or audio tapes.

A hearings officer has decided that the city of Cheney can build a 3.5 mile recreation trail this summer, ruling that the project has undergone adequate environmental analysis. Cheney property owners Mitch and Donald Smith challenged the trail since it will be built along Minnie Creek, which flows from Cheney toward their property four miles away.

Airway Heights prisoners will get their hands dirty in two weeks, digging trenches and pouring concrete to replace the prison's faulty water lines. Originally estimated to cost $4 million, the water-line repairs should run about $400,000 less because the state will use prisoners for much of the work. The amount of money saved would be even greater except that the state must hire an extra 15 crew supervisors to closely watch the prisoners while they work. "The state has never mounted a repair job this size inside a prison before. It's unique," said Bill Phillips, chief of engineering for the corrections department. Until last month, state corrections officials planned to use outside contractors to dig out and replace about 4,600 feet of leaking water pipes. Then state officials decided to try a simpler remedy - leave the bad pipes in place and install another set of water lines. The pipes carry hot or cold water that provide heating and cooling to the medium-security prison. If the old lines were torn out, inmates and staff would face a period without cooling or heating as the new system is completed and tested, Phillips said. Between 40 and 100 Airway Heights prisoners will be hired to dig trenches for the new water lines 2-3 feet below ground. The leaking lines are about 8 to 10 feet deep. The cause of the leaks has not been determined. The issue will probably lead to lawsuits. State officials blame the contractors who designed and installed the lines when the prison was constructed in 1993 and 1994. The primary contractors, Kitchell Construction of Phoenix, C&R; Plumbing of Coeur d'Alene and ZGF Architects of Seattle, contend that various factors - such as underground water - degraded the joints and caused the leaks. Even before the prison announced the jobs this week, Airway Heights inmates asked for applications, said spokesman Rich Hewson. "Rumors work pretty well at getting the word around here," said Hewson, the prison's administrative assistant. In addition to digging out trenches, prisoners will pour the concrete that will form the 6-foot-wide by 2-foot-deep concrete liners holding the new water lines. Those liners, plus a layer of rock beneath the concrete box, will keep the lines from freezing. State officials spent this week finding some of the 15 supervisory guards needed for the project.

Judy Nelson fields questions in the telereference room. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Cheney city officials hope to build a 3.5-mile hiking and biking trail from Cheney to Fish Lake this summer. Construction will start within 60 days if a challenge by two property owners is dismissed next week. Proposed by the state Parks and Recreation Commission, the 12-foot-wide asphalt trail would run north and south along an abandoned railroad bed.

When doctors have questions about tick-borne diseases, they go to microbiologist Don Anderson to find answers. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

From left, GU President Bernard Coughlin, Commander of GU ROTC Lt. Col. J.J. Johnson, KHQ general manager Lon Lee and Joe Lago of STA listen to G&B; president Don Barbieri give his comments on race relations during a meeting at GU on Wednesday. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

The Spokesman-Review launches its cyber cousin today, a World Wide Web-based information service called Virtually Northwest. Offering stories from The Spokesman-Review and other sources, Virtually Northwest plans to become the fastest, most complete computerized information source in the region, said project manager Dave Bender.

Wendy Franklund Miller turned the house next door into her art studio. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

A month after getting a $301,000 offer for the old Manito branch public library, library board members and city administrators are arm-wrestling over where that money should go. City library board members say the whole amount should go to them. "We deserve it all. We made improvements and managed the building since it opened," said library board member Diann Brown.

The new owner of the former Manito branch library says he'd like to convert the building into a microbrewery. But his chances of pouring suds where people once pored over books are dim, say Spokane School District 81 officials. James Gimurtu bought the site last month for $301,000. He'd call the microbrewery The Library.

US West Communications will use Spokane as a test market for a hybrid phone that might become an alternative way of scouring the Internet. "You're looking at the car of the future," said US West spokesman Miles Morimoto, showcasing the gizmo during Wednesday's Business Expo '96 at the Spokane Convention Center.

The developer of a new housing project near Nine Mile Road has agreed to pay for highway improvements to offset increased traffic. Buster Heitman, primary partner in the company planning to put 170 homes on 52 acres near Nile Mile Road, said he won't oppose helping pay for a new traffic light on the highway and two turn lanes at the development's entrance. Heitman had first opposed paying for either, claiming the need for traffic improvements was clear but that he shouldn't have to pay when earlier developers in the same area did not.

John Lowe works on a program in the computer room at the Airway Heights Correctional Center. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review