Briefly

Downtown stabbing under investigation

Spokane Police continue to investigate a Friday night assault in which a man was stabbed seven times.

Robert J. Crawshaw, 27, suffered seven stab wounds but was listed in satisfactory condition in a local hospital, police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

Police were called Friday to Second Avenue and Bernard Street to investigate a report of several men fighting. They contacted two men – one unidentified and the other identified as Holt William Hosier, 18 – who said they had been assaulted by another man.

Finding no other people, officers released the two men. Shortly after releasing them, police were called to 307 W. Second, where they found Crawshaw bleeding from the wounds to his lower abdomen, according to court records.

A witness, Fredrico R. Diaz, 19, told officers that he and Crawshaw were walking back to their apartment when they were approached by Hosier and the other man.

Diaz told officers that Crawshaw and Hosier began yelling at each other and Crawshaw ran across the street and started to fight with Hosier, court documents show.

“Diaz stated that Hosier stabbed the victim during the fight. Diaz stated that the other male with Hosier had a knife in his hand as well, but did not involve himself directly in the fight,” the officer wrote in his report.

Cottam said investigators have identified the other man with Hosier but they haven’t yet determined whether he will be charged.

On Saturday, an officer spotted Hosier walking north on Washington Street and when the officer approached, Hosier said: “I’m turning myself in. It was self-defense,” the officer wrote.

On Monday, District Court Judge Harold Clarke ordered Hosier held in jail on a $50,000 bond.

Sex offender living on Second Avenue

Spokane Police reported Monday that a registered sex offender is living on West Second Avenue, after being released from prison.

David W. Casey is a 42-year-old white male with blond hair and blue eyes. He is 5-foot-7 and weighs 160 pounds.

Casey was released from prison about a week ago after serving five years on four counts of third-degree rape of a 14-year-old girl. He is considered a high-risk to re-offend.

Department of Corrections officials said Casey had groomed the child by buying her personal gifts throughout the time he was assaulting her. Casey will be supervised by the Department of Corrections for the next three to four years.

Fire damages Spokane Valley home

An afternoon fire blackened the inside of a Spokane Valley home Sunday.

It’s believed that a young boy started the fire by playing with a small propane soldering torch, according to the Spokane Valley Fire Department.

The torch caught a nearby couch on fire which in turn ignited the wood-framed addition to a home at 14515 E. Valleyway, said Spokane Valley Fire Marshal Paul Chase. The building that burned Sunday is connected to the back of a home and was rented by a man and his young son.

The front home was not damaged in the fire. The tenants are staying with family, Chase said. The owner of the house, Curtis Hughes, said he has insurance but doubts his renters did. Hughes has not decided what he will do with the burned building.

There is no reason to believe the fire was intentionally set, Chase said.

Valley Fire sent out a newsletter earlier this year reminding parents about their role in keeping children from starting fires. Children usually start fires by playing with lighters or matches and do not realize the destructive potential of fire, according to the newsletter.

Valley council to hold annual conversation

The Spokane Valley City Council will hold its quarterly Conversation with the Community from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Valley Hospital’s Health and Education Center, 12606 E. Mission Ave.

The gathering follows a town-meeting format, where citizens can express concerns, ask questions and hear feedback from elected officials.

For more information, call 688-0180.

Weapon may be linked to 2002 Gorge killing

Vantage, Wash. Police searching for a gun used to kill a man in Moscow, Idaho, last month may have found a weapon used in a 2002 slaying at the Gorge Amphitheater, a Grant County sheriff’s spokesman said.

Divers were searching the Columbia River bottom near the Interstate 90 Bridge at Vantage when they found the corroded 9mm handgun on Saturday, Grant County Chief Criminal Deputy John Turley said.

The bridge is where two Seattle men were stopped on Sept. 19 after fleeing from authorities after the fatal shooting of University of Idaho football player Eric McMillan, 19.

The weapon found in 100 feet of water on Saturday is unlikely the one used to kill McMillan. It will be sent to the Washington State Patrol crime lab in Spokane for testing, Turley said.

Leonard Eugene Smaldino, 47, of Seattle, was fatally shot with a 9mm gun in July 2002 at the campground next to The Gorge. No arrests have been made in that case, Turley said.

It is possible that the gun was thrown from a vehicle traveling on the Interstate 90 bridge, he said.

Matthew R. Wells II, 27, and James J. Wells, 25, of Seattle pleaded innocent last week in Whitman County to felony eluding stemming from a high-speed chase after McMillan was shot.

They face extradition to Idaho on charges of first-degree murder or aiding and abetting first-degree murder.

Audubon Society pulls out of project

Leavenworth, Wash. The National Audubon Society has pulled out of a project to build an environmental education center in this central Washington town.

Leavenworth was one of five sites around the state where the Audubon Society planned to build centers by 2007. The organization bought a century-old building and property along the Wenatchee River in 2002, announcing plans to spend about $7 million to develop the center.

The group dropped its involvement with the project after the Leavenworth-based Icicle Fund expanded the plans to a center for arts, history and environmental education called the Barn Beach Reserve.

The Audubon Society had donated the property to the Icicle Fund, which was set up by philanthropist Harriett Bullitt.

“It became obvious that it would be better if we controlled it and if we could make decisions locally,” Bullitt said.

The local chapter of the Audubon Society will remain involved in developing programs at the new center, said Debbi Edelstein, state director for the Audubon Society.

“It became clear to us that the Icicle Fund’s vision and the community’s vision for the site were more complex than what the Audubon Society wanted to do,” Edelstein said.

The National Audubon Society bought the building and the 1.5 acres it sits on for $1.7 million and two adjoining parcels for $600,000 in 2002. The purchases were made with money donated by Bullitt, a former national board member for the group. Bullitt also donated 2.2 acres of riverfront property to the group.