Greens Damaged At Esmeralda

Talk about divots.

Rick Guilbert, a golf pro at Esmeralda Golf Course has seen plenty of them in his day. But nothing compares to the chunks of grass that a vandal recently inflicted on the North Side course.

Spokane police said someone drove into the grounds at Esmeralda early on the morning of Feb. 8 and caused extensive damage to two greens.

“You can still play through,” Guilbert said. “It doesn’t effect your game much, unless your ball lands on the left side of the green.”

An employee found a hole torn in the course’s chain-link fence on the east side of the club house. He then saw a man walking on the course, but the suspect disappeared into a wooded area, police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

The greenskeeper found extensive damage to greens 10 and 17, and said it could take months to repair. The vehicle that had smashed through the fence and driven over the greens was found abandoned on the course.

Cottam said the truck was reported stolen by a resident on East Upriver Drive. The vehicle was returned to the owner and the investigation into the vandalism continues.

Prime-time thief

A man who broke into an apartment and stole a 27-inch television set was spotted as he drove away before being arrested by Spokane police.

Police arrested Ethan T. Breithaup, 25, for residential burglary, Cottam said.

The burglary occurred about 3 p.m. on Friday in the 1600 block of North Madison. A witness saw the suspect carrying the television set from the apartment and place it in the back seat.

The witness identified the car, TV set and Breithaup for police. Breithaup gave his address as 8223 E. Harrington.

Ten-year-old busted

A 10-year-old boy was arrested for burglary on Friday after police learned he had entered a NorthTown Mall business and walked out with cash and keys.

He was booked into Juvenile Detention for second-degree burglary.

A security officer at the boy’s grade school told police the kid had more than $100 in cash at the school and had several different explanations where he obtained it, Cottam said.

Officers questioned the boy, who said he had been walking his dog around the exterior of NorthTown Thursday night at about 10 p.m. He said he tried an outside door of a business and found it open, police said.

The boy said he walked into the closed business and found a desk with a cash box in a drawer. He said he found the cash and some keys, took them and left the business, police said.

He had given some cash to friends at school and police discovered eight dollars in addition to the money in the boy’s possession. The keys were found at the boy’s home.

, DataTimes