Rice, Wash. man reported missing
A 51-year-old Rice, Wash., man was reported missing in the Coeur d’Alene area Wednesday night.
Friends said Wayne Stacy Depner was supposed to stay at a men’s shelter in Coeur d’Alene Tuesday night but didn’t, and now they don’t know the whereabouts of the mentally disabled man, a Coeur d’Alene police report states.
Margaret Strand and Joyce Depner reported Wayne Depner missing about 9:25 p.m. Wednesday. Strand said she was helping Depner enroll at North Idaho College in a program for people with disabilities. She made arrangements for him to stay at the shelter but found out he never did.
Strand told police that Depner was wearing a blue or black plaid shirt, blue jeans and glasses. He was driving a white or gray Toyota Corolla hatchback with a sign in the back window for window washing. He also is reported to have a maroon duffle bag and a black cloth suitcase.
A police officer talked to Joyce Depner, 75, by phone. She said that Wayne Depner left Rice Tuesday afternoon to meet Strand. He called her about 8 p.m. to get the phone number of a cousin who lived in Post Falls because he wanted to try to stay there. Joyce Depner told police that the cousin didn’t let Wayne Depner stay at the Post Falls home. She declined to give police any information about the cousin because she didn’t want him contacted, the report said.
Anyone with information should contact the Coeur d’Alene Police Department at (208) 769-2291.
Man rescued after falling down hillside
Hours after sliding down a hill in High Bridge Park, a Spokane man was saved Thursday by a Spokane Fire Department crew specially training for technical rescues.
A passerby called 911 about 9:10 p.m. to report an injured man calling for help down the hillside from the west side of the Sunset Bridge, said Fire Battalion Chief Craig Cornelius.
The man had injured one of his legs and his back in the more than 100-foot fall, and could not get back up the slippery slope, Cornelius explained.
“After we had several inches of snow, it was like a toboggan hill,” he said.
The Station 4 technical rescue team used ropes and pulleys to make their way down the slope to get to the man. They strapped him into a special basket to pull him back up the hill.
After at least several hours trapped on the hillside, the man was at risk for hypothermia, and was taken to Deaconess Medical Center for treatment, Cornelius said. His injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, Cornelius said.
The technical rescue team trains weekly for such operations, he added. It took them just 20 minutes to rescue the man.
Bloomsday registration is now open
Just in time to rescue New Year’s resolutions, the folks from Bloomsday have a reason to keep those treadmills plugged in.
Online registration for the annual run-walk event is now open at www.blooomsdayrun.org.
Need even more motivation to keep moving? Bloomsday entrants who sign up this month will have a chance to win a trip for two to the Carlsbad 5000, a road race in southern California. Anyone who enters Bloomsday by Jan. 31 will be entered into the drawing.
The California race is April 3 in Carlsbad, on the coast 30 miles north of San Diego. The winner of the drawing gets roundtrip airfare for two, a rental car, two nights’ hotel stay and entry into the Carlsbad 5000, among other perks.
Bloomsday itself will be Sunday, May 1. The on-time entry fee is $10.
Bloomies who prefer paper registration can pick up forms after March 1.
Dog breeder pleads guilty to assault
Pend Oreille County dog breeder Jeanette Bergman pleaded guilty Wednesday to fourth-degree assault for socking a KREM television photographer with her purse.
Bergman, 53, could get up to a year in the county jail when she is sentenced, tentatively set for Jan. 19, in Newport Municipal Court. However, fourth-degree assault sentences typically are measured in days, not months.
Bergman, who drew nationwide attention in a 1997 animal-cruelty trial, had just lost a small-claims case over allegedly inbred bulldogs when the assault occurred.
She said in an interview that she was upset about the verdict. Bergman said she told a KREM crew she didn’t want to speak on camera, so she clobbered photographer Brett Allbery when he filmed her leaving the Hall of Justice.
Bonners Ferry man killed in U.S. 95 crash
A 27-year-old Bonners Ferry man was killed Thursday morning near Colburn, Idaho, when the car he was riding in hit ice and crossed the center line.
The driver was listed in critical condition.
Enrique Raul Ruiz was killed when the car was hit broadside by a Chevrolet Avalanche pickup, the Idaho State Police report.
Ruiz and driver Amber Marie Chase, 20, of Bonners Ferry, were headed northbound on U.S. Highway 95 about 11:39 p.m. when the 1994 Saturn lost control on the ice. The Saturn slid across the center line and was struck by the pickup driven by Warren S. Zamitalo, 38, of Milwaukee, the report said. The accident happened near the Colburn-Culver Road turnoff.
Zamitalo was taken to Bonner General Hospital in Sandpoint but wasn’t listed as a patient Thursday night.
Chase was taken to Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene and was listed in critical condition.
None of the three were wearing a seat belt.
Raid uncovers marijuana plants in home
A Thursday morning raid of the home at 3203 W. LaCrosse uncovered 22 marijuana plants growing in the basement, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Detectives arrested Samuel R. Carpenter, 31, on suspicion of manufacturing a controlled substance, a felony.
According to a press release, Carpenter was convicted in 1999 of possession of a controlled substance and manufacturing a controlled substance.
Detectives found hydroponically-grown marijuana plants in two basement rooms, the press release stated. At 2 to 3 feet tall, they were about a month from being ready to harvest.
Detectives said they also found evidence that other plants had been previously harvested in the home.
Traffic stop leads to methamphetamine bust
Spokane County sheriff’s deputies arrested a Spokane man Wednesday night for possessing methamphetamine after a traffic stop in which they found him with a large knife lying in his lap.
According to a Sheriff’s Office press release, deputies Michael Northway and Todd Kusler stopped Lyle B. Beerbohm, 25, on Highway 2 after a check of the plates on the brown Chevrolet Citation he was driving showed that the car’s registration had expired in December.
Beerbohm was found with an 8-inch knife lying in his lap, the press release stated. As Kusler frisked Beerbohm for other weapons, Northway saw a pen cap on the ground by the suspect.
The pen cap had meth inside it, the department reported, and Northway subsequently found a glass meth pipe and other knives in the car.
Beerbohm was cited for possession of methamphetamine, second-degree driving without a valid driver’s license, expired vehicle registration and failure to provide proof of insurance.
Drawdown of Lake Spokane has begun
Avista Utilities has begun the annual drawdown of Lake Spokane. The reservoir west of Spokane will be lowered to about 14 feet below its maximum summer elevation by early February, the energy company said in a news release.
Property owners and lake users should make any necessary preparations, including removing boats from the water and securing docks and boathouses for low-water conditions, the news release said.
Updated reservoir level information is available by calling Avista’s recorded Lake Information Line at (509) 495-8043.