Regional news
Washougal man charged with DUI in crash with dump truck on East Trent
Washington State Patrol charged a Washougal man with driving drunk Friday morning after his vehicle crashed into a dump truck on East Trent Avenue while trying to pass three cars in a no-pass zone.
The driver, Tyson Parr, 24, suffered serious injuries to his arm in the crash and was taken by air ambulance to Deaconess Medical Center where he underwent surgery, said Trooper Jeff Sevigney. The dump truck driver was not hurt.
Parr was headed west on Trent Avenue about 6 a.m. Friday when he attempted to pass the three vehicles on the two-lane road, said Sevigney. The cement dump truck driver, 38-year-old Matthew Hunter, attempted to swerve out of the way, but didn’t have enough time.
Parr had to be extricated from his silver Hyundai Sonata. The car was totaled.
Trent was closed to traffic from North Starr Road to Idaho Road for more than three hours while troopers investigated the crash.
Police seek suspect in EV school beating
Spokane Valley police continued looking for the second suspect Friday in the assault of a student Thursday morning at East Valley High School.
Officers were called to the school about 9:15 a.m. Thursday after a 16-year-old was beat to apparent unconsciousness by two students, then kicked, Spokane Valley police spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said. The victim was taken to a hospital for a possible concussion and later released. He also had an abrasion on his cheek and a black eye.
A 16-year-old and a 17-year-old, both boys, attacked the victim after he made a disparaging remark about a fellow student who was hit and killed by a train earlier this week, Reagan said. Richard W. Calhoun, 16, died after being hit by a freight train on the railroad tracks at Trent Avenue and Bowdish Road early Sunday. The 16-year-old was Calhoun’s friend.
The 17-year-old, who remained at the school following the assault, was arrested on a fourth-degree assault charge and booked into Spokane County Juvenile Detention, Reagan said. The 16-year-old, who faces the same charge in the assault, remained at large Friday.
Spokane County Undersheriff Dave Wiyrick said detectives continue to investigate Calhoun’s death and are awaiting toxicology results to determine if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol when he was hit by the train.
Services scheduled for logging accident victim
Bonners Ferry Memorial services are scheduled for Monday for a Boundary County logger who was killed in an apparent job-related accident.
Ralph V. Langford, Jr., 42, was operating a crawler tractor on a logging job about two miles north of Naples Wednesday and got off the tractor to attach a cable to a log in order to winch it up the slope, according to Boundary County Sheriff’s Deputy Tim Day.
Langford was below the tractor on a steep slope, estimated to be between 50 and 60 degrees, when he fell down the slope, Day said.
He fell about 20 feet, “more or less head first,” and struck a stump with this chest, and then fell another 10 feet, Day said. Workers in the area saw him fall and went to his aid, administering CPR until an ambulance crew arrived. The slope was so steep, he had to be belayed down to the road where the ambulance waited, Day said.
Langford was pronounced dead upon arrival at Boundary Community Hospital, Day said.
Langford was born and raised in Bonners Ferry, and he graduated from Bonners Ferry High on his birthday in 1981. He and his wife, Dawna, had two children.
His memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday at the Wellsprings Community Center in Bonners Ferry.
PETA asks Kootenai fairgrounds to stop circus
An animal rights group is asking the Kootenai County Fairgrounds to stop playing host to the Shrine Circus or similar events.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals announced Friday that it had sent a letter to Fairgrounds Manager Chris Holloway “warning her that the upcoming Shrine Circus is both dangerous and cruel.” The Shrine Circus is scheduled to come to the fairgrounds June 18.
Holloway said Friday that she wasn’t sure if – or how – the fairgrounds would respond to PETA’s letter. Because she had just received the letter, Holloway said she didn’t feel comfortable commenting on the organization’s concerns.
The Shriners could not be reached for comment Friday.
The letter sent to Holloway alleges “Shrine Circuses put people at serious risk by exposing them to dangerous animals” and criticizes the circus’s care and handling of the animals.
With the letter, PETA sent a video that the group says shows “a circus trainer viciously attacking and shocking elephants behind the scenes.”
Mount Rainier climber falls 800 feet to death
Ashford, Wash. A climber died early Friday after falling on Mount Rainier, the National Park Service said.
Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Patti Wold said Mike Beery of Port Angeles fell 800 feet down Gibraltar Chute, which is on a popular route to the summit.
Rangers received a call at about 6:15 a.m. from the victim’s climbing partner, Ryan Tillman, she said. Both were Jefferson County firefighters.
Wold said Tillman was performing CPR when two rangers arrived, but Beery could not be saved.
A helicopter removed the victim from the mountain.
The two climbers started up the mountain Thursday and had spent the night at Camp Muir. They were on their way to the summit when Beery fell down the steep snowfield at about 12,000 feet elevation, Wold said.
Beery was the third climber to die on the mountain this year. Two men died last month after being caught in a heavy snowstorm near Camp Muir, at the 10,000-foot level of the 14,411-foot peak.