Briefly

Caller’s demands raise suspicions

A caller had a Spokane woman believing he was a police officer Wednesday night – until he asked her to take off her clothes.

The woman received the call about 10 p.m. Wednesday from a man who said he was an officer. The man told her there was a Peeping Tom in her neighborhood and that the police needed her help in trapping him.

“The man asked the woman to turn off all the lights in her residence, and the woman did so, thinking she was helping the police,” police spokesman Dick Cottam wrote in a press release.

“The man then told her to go into her bathroom and take off her clothing. That’s when the woman realized she was not talking with anyone in law enforcement,” he wrote.

When the woman refused to strip down, the caller became angry, swore at her and threatened her. She hung up and called police.

The case is under investigation.

Cottam said police never use citizens as bait in criminal matters.

Anyone receiving a call from someone claiming to be an officer should contact Crime Check, at 456-2233, and ask the operator if there is an officer in the area on an assignment.

Holiday parade set for tonight in CdA

Coeur d’Alene’s annual Holiday in Lights parade begins at 5 p.m. today at Eighth and Sherman Avenue, and travels west. Caroling church groups, marching bands and the Red Hot Mamas are stalwarts of the parade, which includes about 40 entries this year. The parade will be shown live on KXLY.

A lighting ceremony and fireworks immediately follows the parade on the lawn of the Coeur d’Alene Resort.

Fire destroys 12 condos, recreation center

McCall, Idaho The biggest fire in at least 15 years in this central Idaho resort town caused an estimated $3.5 million in damage, destroying 12 soon-to-be completed condos and an adjacent recreation center.

“It doesn’t appear suspicious,” Fire Chief Dave Sparks said.

But he’s asked the Idaho Fire Marshal’s office to help investigate the cause of the early Wednesday morning blaze at Aspen Village Condominiums.

No one was hurt, Sparks said, but there was “radiant heat” damage that discolored two nearby buildings.

The destroyed units were to have joined 40 existing condos at the site, which backs up to the city’s golf course. Sparks said the owner was to receive a certificate of occupancy in just two weeks.

Two slow-moving freight trains collide

Columbia Falls, Mont. Two slow-moving freight trains collided east of Columbia Falls on Thursday morning, blocking the main rail line and forcing Amtrak to bus Empire Builder passengers 250 miles between Whitefish and Havre.

There were no major injuries to the four crew members in the head-on crash, said Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman Gus Melonas. The cause of the collision in Badrock Canyon was being investigated.

Melonas said three locomotives and four cars from the 68-car westbound train derailed, with two of the cars going down an embankment toward the Flathead River. The cars were carrying bird seed, feed and grain from Minneapolis to Pasco, but none of the freight reached the river.

The 88-car eastbound train had three of its four locomotives derail, along with one car loaded with various types of freight, Melonas said. That train was traveling from Portland to Chicago.

The derailment blocked traffic on the main line across northern Montana, which carries an average of 45 trains per day.

Melonas said BNSF expected to have the line reopened by this morning.

About 110 Amtrak passengers left Whitefish by bus just before 10 a.m. on their way to Havre, said Havre ticket clerk Nancy Peterson. They arrived at about 3 p.m., as did the 77 passengers on the westbound Empire Builder. The Whitefish passengers were to be put on the eastbound train and the westbound passengers were taken to Whitefish by bus to get back on the train there.

Maury Island tidelands now aquatic reserve

Tacoma State-owned tidelands surrounding Maury Island have been designated as an aquatic reserve.

Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland signed the order Wednesday following a two-year evaluation of the conservation area established four years ago by his predecessor, Jennifer Belcher.

“Maury Island Aquatic Reserve … is the first to have a management plan in place to guide activities in the reserve. This program will help protect critical aquatic habitat in strategic locations throughout Puget Sound,” Sutherland said in a news release.

The reserve includes Quartermaster Harbor between Vashon and Maury Islands — a herring spawning area and habitat for waterfowl.

The designation allows for pre-existing activities in that area, including recreational and public use.