Regional news
Police warn public about sex offender
Spokane police are notifying the community about a Level III sex offender who recently moved to town.
Shawn D. Nelson, 29, was convicted in Grays Harbor County in 1995 of first-degree child molestation involving a 4-year-old girl. He is an untreated sex offender and is not now under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections, police said.
Nelson is 5 feet 7, weighs 185 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes. A transient with no permanent address, Nelson is considered a high risk to re-offend because of his history, according to police.
He is not wanted by police at this time.
Police seeking two adult-store robbers
Spokane police say they are looking for two men who robbed the Hollywood Erotique Boutique, 3813 N. Division, just before 3 a.m. Sunday.
One man pointed a handgun at the clerk and demanded money from the cash register, said police spokesman Dick Cottam.
The gunman was described as white, 18 to 20 years old, 5 feet 10, weighing 160 pounds and having a long face and high-pitched voice. The other man also was white and about the same age, height and weight, Cottam said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.
Kitchen cabinets stolen from vacant house
The owner of a vacant rental house at 534 S. Freya told Spokane police someone broke in and stole roughly $3,200 worth of new kitchen cabinets still in boxes, said police spokesman Dick Cottam.
The burglary occurred Saturday morning. A neighbor told police she had seen a man loading boxes into a hatchback car but thought the man was working for the homeowner.
The owner said he had placed the cabinets inside the house on Wednesday and went back to install them Saturday.
He told police he had locked the house except for a bathroom window. After entering the house, the owner found the back door unlocked and the bathroom window screen torn off, Cottam said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.
Sen. Winsley quits, goes to Tax Appeals Board
Olympia Senate President Pro Tem Shirley Winsley, the highest-ranking and senior Republican woman in the Legislature, is resigning to take an appointment to the state Tax Appeals Board.
Gov. Gary Locke announced his choice on Monday.
“Shirley has been a thoughtful and fair legislator for 30 years,” the governor said. “I am confident she will bring those same skills to the Board of Tax Appeals as she listens to appeals and issues decisions.”
Winsley replaces Jim Winterstein as a Republican member on the three-person panel. The board hears appeals of decisions by the county boards of equalization and the state Department of Revenue.
The appointment more than doubles her salary and will boost her retirement. She makes $33,556, plus expense money, as a state lawmaker. The board salary is $75,698 a year. Her retirement will be based on 3 percent of her highest two years of salary, times the number of years served.
Her term begins July 1 and extends into 2009. The appointment requires Senate confirmation next year.