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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Man Arrested For Storing Dynamite

From Staff Reports

Washington State Patrol troopers said they arrested a Colville man Tuesday after finding two cases of dynamite illegally stored at his house.

Bruce E. Taxter was booked into the Pend Oreille County Jail on one count of illegally storing explosives, WSP Lt. Bruce Clark said.

Troopers and officials from the state Department of Labor and Industries went to Taxter’s home five miles south of Colville on Tuesday afternoon after receiving a tip about the dynamite, Clark said.

Taxter, 45, is licensed to handle explosives but didn’t have the proper permits to store dynamite, Clark said.

Authorities said one of the 55-pound cases and three loose sticks of the dynamite were very old and unstable and had to be destroyed by the Spokane Police Department’s bomb squad. The other box was seized as evidence.