Briefly

Murray takes on leadership role in Senate

When the 109th Congress convenes early next month, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., will step into a new position as assistant floor leader at the request of incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Murray’s office announced Friday.

In her new role, Murray will work closely with Reid and other Democratic leaders to further Democratic priorities, including security, health care, education and the economy, Murray’s spokesman, Mike Spahn, said in a news release.

“I’m honored to take on this new challenge and work with an outstanding team of colleagues assembled by Senator Reid,” Murray said Friday. “This is another great chance to ensure that Washington state’s priorities are heard at the highest levels of the Senate.”

Murray has been a member of the Democratic leadership for six years, serving as chairwoman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and as a member of outgoing Minority Leader Tom Daschle’s executive leadership council. Daschle was defeated in his bid for re-election in November.

Idaho soldiers arrive in Iraq

Boise Idaho National Guard officials say the 116th Brigade Combat Team has nearly completed its travel from Kuwait to Iraq.

Some of the nearly 4,300 soldiers were moved by plane, others by convoy. The brigade includes 1,600 Idaho soldiers, part of the largest call-up of National Guardsmen in state history.

“We are pleased to see that the first phase of the 116th Brigade Combat Team’s mission was carried out professionally, safely and without incident,” Maj. Gen. Jack Kane, Idaho adjutant general said in a prepared statement.

Now the soldiers are beginning to patrol in armored vehicles, said Brig. Gen. Larry Lafrenz.

“I know these fine soldiers are eager to get on with the job at hand, and I’m told that from now on the troops will travel only in armored vehicles when they travel off-base,” said Gov. Dirk Kempthorne.

The soldiers were called to active duty this past summer and are expected to serve a year in Iraq.

Pullman Police arrest man wanted for sex crimes

Pullman police on Friday arrested a Coeur d’Alene man wanted for sex crimes allegedly committed in Kootenai County.

Jeremy Ernest Emmett Durkin, 26, had a warrant for his arrest for three counts of lewd conduct with a minor. The alleged victims are two 9-year-olds and one 7-year-old, Pullman Police said in a press release. He was booked into the Whitman County Jail.

Police found out about Durkin’s whereabouts about 2:30 a.m. from the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department.

While at the address where they found Durkin, officers found evidence of drug violations, police said. They arrested a second man, Kevin Daniel Keifer, 48, of Pullman. He was booked into jail on charges of possession of methamphetamine and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia.

Author to sign her children’s book

Spokane author Mary Cronk Farrell will sign copies of her children’s book, “Fire in the Hole!” today at 3 p.m. at Hastings Books Music & Video, 101 E. Appleway, in Coeur d’Alene.

“Fire in the Hole!” tells the story of the 1899 Bunker Hill Mine explosion and strike in the Silver Valley from the perspective of 14-year-old Mick Shea, a fictional character. The 167-page book is for kids ages 10-14, costs $15 and is available at most bookstores.

Trial delayed for teen in coach’s killing

Kennewick Trial for a teenager charged with killing Benton City football coach Bob Mars has been delayed until March 14.

Jordan Castillo, 14, agreed during a Wednesday hearing to push back a trial date originally set for January.

Castillo is charged in Benton County Superior Court with first-degree murder and first-degree attempted theft. He faces 22 to 28 years in prison if convicted. Castillo is charged with stabbing Mars as part of a robbery and gang initiation.

Mars, 44, was a Richland father and longtime assistant football coach and sixth grade teacher in the Kiona-Benton City School District. He was also a wrestling coach at Kennewick High School.

Students let out of class only for emergencies

Auburn, Wash. Students at Auburn High School have been told that restroom breaks during class are pretty much a thing of the past.

The new restrictions were put in place by Principal Paul Harvey. He said there is no good reason for students to be out of the classroom. Teachers can allow students to use the restroom during class if there is an “emergency” need.

Too many students were abusing hall passes, leading to the restriction, Harvey said. In the month since the new standard was put in place, only one parent has complained, he said.

Sea lions blamed for flop of charity herring sale

Nanaimo, British Columbia It wasn’t the Grinch that ruined the annual Christmas herring sale, it was the sea lions.

“I was really disappointed because the herring sale is a holiday tradition here,” said Bob Carpenter, 63, a member of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union.

Working with other union members, Carpenter has been involved with the pre-Christmas herring sale to raise money for charities in this Vancouver Island town for 46 years. He was preceded in the fund-raiser by his father, George.

Herring were in abundance but couldn’t be brought into the boats because of the danger from hundreds of voracious sea lions, Carpenter said.

“When they were going for herring for the Christmas sale, the sea lions got into the nets,” he said. “We had about 100 sea lions in the net as we tried to set the seiner nets.

“We’ve never seen that before. They were jumping into the net, biting and fighting with each other.”

Steller sea lions can weigh as much as 2,200 pounds.

“You get a hundred of those in your net and it’s not safe to try to bring your net up,” Carpenter said.

Carl W. Buell, instrument maker, dead at 98

Snohomish, Wash. Carl W. Buell, an Old World-style maker of violins, violas and cellos owned by symphony orchestra musicians around the nation, is dead at 98.

Buell, who developed his own varnish and carved instruments by hand from blocks of wood over a career spanning about five decades, died Nov. 5 at Merry Haven Health Care Center in this town northeast of Seattle, friends and relatives said.

The youngest of eight children born to a family in the Palouse country of North Idaho, Buell left school at age 14 to help support his family. Soon afterward the family moved to Everett, and Buell remained in the area for the rest of his life.

As a young man he changed his last name from Bull to Buell.

After working at a lumber mill, repairing and selling cars and doing construction jobs, Buell learned to repair and carve stringed instruments from an elderly European man.

He opened his store, Buell Music Co., in the early 1940s, and traveled around the region tuning and repairing instruments for school bands and orchestras. Inside each instrument he made, he put his name and the date of manufacture.

Buell partially retired in 1967 but continued making violins, working from his basement until his eyesight began failing in his 80s.

Survivors include daughters Marjorie Kellerman of Everett and June Buell of Vancouver, Wash., two granddaughters, four great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.