Briefly

G-Prep chaplain dies of cancer at 77

The Rev. Joseph Harold Small, a Jesuit priest who was ordained in Spokane, worked in Africa and returned to Spokane to finish up his career, died Sunday of cancer.

He was 77.

“He had this unbelievable charisma about him,” said Jennifer Doolittle, development director at Gonzaga Prep. “High school kids flocked to him. He was like a grandpa.”

Small was born in Missoula on Nov. 21, 1926. He attended Missoula County High School, Montana State University and Seattle University. He was ordained in 1960 in Spokane. He served as a teacher and counselor in Seattle, Portland and a retreat director in Nairobi, Kenya.

In 2001, Small began duties as chaplain at Gonzaga Prep.

Small ran laps around the school track each morning until mid-August, when he was diagnosed with cancer.

A rosary vigil will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at Gonzaga Prep. An African drumming group from Shaw Middle School is expected to perform at the service. Mass will be celebrated at 1 p.m. Friday with a burial to follow at Mount St. Michael’s Jesuit cemetery in Spokane.

Donations in memory of Small may be sent to the Jesuit Senior Fund, PO Box 86010, Portland, OR 97286.

Czech fighter jet on way to Idaho disappears

Seattle A two-seat Czechoslovakian fighter-trainer jet with two men aboard left Boeing Field around midday Tuesday and vanished en route to Idaho after reporting flight-control problems over the Cascade Mountains.

A search for the single-engine L-39 registered to Rocky Stewart of Hollister, Calif., was launched by the aviation emergency services division of the state Department of Transportation.

That effort, based at Bowers Field in Ellensburg, was suspended at nightfall, spokeswoman Nisha Hanchinamani said.

Stewart’s wife, Patti, said in a telephone interview she didn’t know who would have been on the plane with her husband or any other details.

The plane was bound for Lewiston, said division coordinator Tom Peterson.

“When the pilot got over the Cascades, he said he was having flight-control problems. Then we lost radar and radio contact with him,” said Mike Fergus, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Seattle.

The plane – used by the Russians for training – is one of several bought by Americans, Fergus said.

The 40-foot-long jet was FAA-certified and the pilot was trained and certified to operate it, Fergus said.

Some of the planes’ ejection seats remain operational, he said, and the pilot may have been able to find a place to land.

The jet’s wing number was N39TJ, Fergus said. It was built in 1981.

Man accused of shooting into house is arrested

Police have arrested a man they believe shot into the house of an ex-girlfriend earlier this month.

Jacob R. Sellers, 18, was stopped Tuesday morning as he drove away from a home near Ruby and Mission Avenue.

Sellers allegedly shot at a house at 6208 E. 10th Ave. in the early morning hours of Oct. 9.

Five people were inside at the time. No one was injured.

Sellers had dated Debra Swain’s daughter. The night of the shooting, Sellers allegedly called his ex-girlfriend’s house and accused Swain’s 13-year-old son of prank-calling him, Swain said.

Swain told Sellers that all her children were asleep and in bed and that he was mistaken about the prank call. Sellers kept calling back and Swain said she eventually unplugged the phone. Soon after, she heard Seller’s voice outside the house. Swain’s boyfriend was going to check on the noise when the gunfire started, Swain said.

Sellers was booked into the Spokane County Jail on suspicion of first-degree assault. He was charged with one count for each of the five people in the house when the shooting occurred, said Spokane Valley Police Department spokesman Inspector Dave Wiyrick.

Wiyrick said Sellers is being held on a $400,000 bond.

Coast Guard helicopter rescues two from boat

Seattle A Coast Guard helicopter plucked two men from a disabled 55-foot sailing vessel 200 miles off the Washington coast on Tuesday.

The men, who were not injured, were flown to the Coast Guard station at Astoria, Ore., by an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter.

“They’re safely here,” said Bob Coster, a civilian search and rescue controller at the Astoria station.

The men had apparently picked up the three-masted schooner “Kamaa” from Kawaihae, on the Big Island of Hawaii, and were sailing it to Victoria, B.C., when they ran into 30-foot seas, Coster said.

The vessel’s engine was disabled and the focsle – a portion of the upper deck – was split, but the ship was not taking on water, the Coast Guard said.

They were rescued after activating an emergency transmitter.

Coster identified one of the men as Robert Wallace and said he was from Massachusetts. Coster said he did not know the man’s hometown. The other man was not immediately identified.

“The boat is still afloat, at the mercy of the seas,” Coster said Tuesday night.

Matt Thirkell of the Canadian coast guard said the men were ages 33 and 59.

Canadian Armed Forces aircraft and ships joined the U.S. Coast Guard in the rescue.

A Coast Guard C-130 Hercules airplane from Sacramento, Calif., located the disabled vessel and dropped a rescue kit containing a VHF-FM radio and a life raft.

Man accused of stealing John Wayne gun replica

Sequim, Wash. Fingerprints have led to the arrest of a man accused of stealing a gun replica from a movie memorabilia display at the John Wayne Marina.

Rhett Whitchurch, 38, of Maple Valley, was booked into the Clallam County Jail for investigation of third-degree theft.

The pistol replica was stolen more than a year ago.

It had been used by Wayne in a movie and was part of a display that featured cowboy hats, photos and other mementos from the late Western actor’s movies.

Fingerprints taken from the display case matched a set of Whitchurch’s that were in a computerized law enforcement database, police Sgt. Sean Madison said.

The marina was built in 1985 on 22 acres of land donated by Wayne’s family. Before his death, Wayne maintained a home in Sequim and kept his yacht, the Wild Goose, there. The yacht was a converted minesweeper.

Woman hits neighbor in face with pumpkin

Yakima A spat between two women ended with one catching a pumpkin in the face, and then being cited by Yakima County sheriff’s deputies.

According to deputies’ reports, a 25-year-old woman called them to complain that a neighbor had hit her in the face with a pumpkin and that she had the split lip to prove it.

But the 38-year-old neighbor also phoned authorities and said she threw the pumpkin in self defense after being attacked by the younger woman.

After speaking with witnesses, deputies cited the 25-year-old for misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and trespassing, Undersheriff Dan Garcia said.

The two neighbors had previous run-ins, but Garcia was unsure what set off the latest conflict.