Robbery victim says knife held to throat
Spokane police are investigating an armed robbery Monday night at a North Side grocery store in which the victim told police that a man held a knife to her throat.
The clerk told investigators that she was working at Empire Foods, 5434 N. Nevada, about 9:15 p.m. Monday when a man and a woman walked into the otherwise unoccupied store, police spokesman Dick Cottam said.
The man displayed a large knife, held it to the clerk’s throat, put his hand over her mouth and demanded money, Cottam said. The woman he was with jumped over the counter but was unable to open the cash register.
The man then walked the female clerk around to the register and ordered her to open it, Cottam said. The woman then took money from the drawer and put it in her pocket.
The man threw the clerk to the floor and the pair ran from the business, Cottam said.
The man was described as a black male with a medium build who appeared to be in his 20s, Cottam said. He was wearing a black headband and a black nylon jacket covering a portion of his face.
The woman was described as white with a medium build, appeared to be in her 20s and had brown hair with red dye. She was wearing a black flannel shirt, Cottam said.
The clerk suffered a half-inch cut on her chin and a bruise to her nose, Cottam said.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call the TIPS line, 242-8477.
County now officially named for Dr. King
Olympia
Gov. Christine Gregoire signed a bill Tuesday renaming King County after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The county was established in 1852 when Washington was still part of the Oregon Territory and was named after William Rufus Devane King, vice president under President Franklin Pierce.
In 1986, the King County Council renamed the county after Dr. King, but a similar change was not made in state law.
“It is a great honor and privilege to sign this bill and rename King County in honor of the great spiritual, social and political leader, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Gregoire said.
The bill will take effect 90 days after the state Legislature adjourns.
Man charged with theft of forest saplings
Tacoma
A man has been arrested on charges of stealing saplings worth $62,000 from at least five national forests in Washington and Oregon and selling them to nurseries.
Greg A. Gray, of the southwestern Washington town of Oakville, was arrested last week and is scheduled for a bail hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court. He has been indicted on 36 counts of theft of government property and 35 counts of money laundering
“This is one of the largest investigations of forest products theft we have ever conducted in Oregon and Washington,” Ron Pugh, chief of Forest Service criminal investigations in the two states, told the Olympian newspaper in Olympia.
Gray is accused of stealing saplings, largely fir and mountain hemlock and mostly from the Gifford Pinchot and Mount Hood forests between August 2000 and July 2003.
Each theft count represents $1,500 to $2,000 worth of trees, said Tom Knappenberger, a Gifford Pinchot spokesman.
The two-year probe began with “evidence after the fact,” Pugh said. “Hundreds of trees were missing. There were holes in the ground where there used to be trees.”
Investigators interviewed personnel at more than 60 nurseries around the Pacific Northwest who said they bought trees from Gray, he added.
Truck carrying four caskets hits guard rail
Craigmont, Idaho
The driver of a pickup hauling a trailer carrying four caskets lost control on U.S. Highway 95 and the vehicle hit a guard rail, the Lewis County sheriff said. One casket broke through its concrete liner and fell onto the road.
The casket, which contained a body, did not break open.
Richard Vassar, 62, of a Lewiston funeral home, was cited for inattentive driving, Sheriff Phil Steen said.
The left rear of the trailer collided with an oncoming pickup but no one was injured in the accident last Thursday.
Judge sets trial date in Letterman plot
Choteau, Mont.
A state judge Tuesday set a tentative trial date for the man accused of plotting to kidnap the toddler son of “Late Show” host David Letterman.
Kelly Frank is scheduled to go on trial July 18 on charges of soliciting to kidnap, theft and obstruction. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Frank, a painter who had been hired do to work on Letterman’s ranch in north-central Montana, was arrested in March after an acquaintance told investigators he had planned to kidnap the talk show host’s son, Harry Joseph, and the child’s nanny and hold them for $5 million ransom.
On Tuesday, he entered an additional not guilty plea to a second charge of soliciting to kidnap – this charge involving the nanny.
Frank remains jailed on $650,000 bail.
Mother suspected of trying to kill self, sons
Easton, Wash.
A Kirkland mother has been arrested, accused of trying to kill herself and her two children while driving on Interstate 90.
Michelle Phua, 36, was arrested by State Patrol troopers for investigation of attempted murder. She was booked into the Kittitas County Corrections Center.
Phua crashed her eastbound car into a road barrier along the interstate on Monday near Hyak, just east of the Snoqualmie Pass summit, Trooper Rich Magnussen said. Phua’s two boys, 7 and 4, were in the back seat.
Magnussen said Phua told the two boys to unbuckle their seat belts, then intentionally crashed her car. The woman told troopers she was depressed and was trying to kill herself and the children, Magnussen said.
Phua and the 4-year-old were not injured. The 7-year-old was treated for minor injuries. The children were released to their father.