Attempted murder charges sought

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office wants a suspect to be charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder in connection with Sunday’s shooting of a deputy.

Jorge Alaniz was the name given for the suspect. However, detectives fingerprinted the man and determined that name was an alias for 42-year-old Florentino Silva Barajas, who has several other aliases and an extensive criminal history, Sheriff Douglas Barger said in a press release.

The shooting occurred after Adams County Deputy Jeff Lane tried to arrest Barajas during a traffic stop in Othello. Barajas fled to a home.

Deputy Lane and other officers were trying to arrest Barajas when he pulled a handgun and fired twice, the Sheriff’s Office reported. One bullet hit Lane in the leg. The other bullet hit him in the chest but did not penetrate his protective vest, Barger said.

Deputies returned fire, striking Barajas in the wrist. He ran and hid on a nearby property, but officers surrounded him and he surrendered.

Lane is recovering from his leg injury and remains on administrative leave, Barger said.

The second deputy involved in the shooting, Dale Wagner, and Othello Police Officer Jerry Dobson, also remain on administrative leave until the investigation is completed by the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, Barger said.

A toxicology report shows that Barajas had narcotics in his system at the time of the shooting, Barger said. Barajas has previous felony convictions for drugs in Washington and Minnesota and has been deported at least once by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Barger said.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Forensic Unit also assisted with the case, Barger said.

Senate makes insurers cover mental illness

Olympia After years of trying, Senate Democrats on Thursday passed one of their key priorities: a bill to require some health insurers to cover mental health problems the same way they cover medical and surgical services.

“Let’s end this senseless inequity,” said Sen. Pat Thibaudeau, D-Seattle. Mental illness such as depression, she said, “is as real as heart disease.”

And they did. The bill, first proposed in Olympia in 1999, passed 40 votes to 9. It had already passed in the House, and now heads to Gov. Christine Gregoire to be signed into law.

Proponents say the change will reduce child neglect and abuse, improve workplace productivity, keep people on the job and prevent suicides.

“This is one of my happiest days in the Legislature,” said Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. She said she’s confident that the governor will approve the bill.

Business groups had opposed the change, saying that “parity” between mental and medical conditions will drive up the cost of insuring their employees. All of Thursday’s no votes came from Republicans.

Man who affronted AIDS group quits post

Olympia A businessman who made derogatory comments to an AIDS awareness group at the Capitol has resigned from his position as first vice president for the Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound.

“Looks like it’s anal sex week,” Lou Novak loudly remarked as a group from the Life Long AIDS Alliance walked though the state House office building.

The group included a 13-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy. The boy’s family had recently been forced to move because of AIDS-related prejudice in his neighborhood.

The Rental Housing Association’s executive board held an emergency meeting Thursday, after the Associated Press reported on the incident. Board members asked for and accepted Novak’s resignation as first vice president. He also voluntarily resigned from the group, which represents 3,500 landlords across Washington.

“Good,” said Suzie Saxton, who followed Novak into the public Capitol cafeteria after he made the comment in front of her group on Feb. 23. She asked him what he’d said. He repeated his comment about “anal sex week,” according to witnesses, and lectured her about people engaging in irresponsible sex and asking for public money.

Saxton, executive director of an AIDS advocacy organization in Yakima, said she’s sorry it ended badly for Novak but she believes he should have known better.

Novak said Wednesday evening that he regrets his remarks and will apologize to those involved.

Activists hold rally, lobby for gay rights

Salem Gay rights activists from around the state converged on the Capitol on Thursday for a rally and a day of lobbying lawmakers to pass equal rights measures for same-sex couples.

“Our time has come,” Roey Thorpe, of Basic Rights Oregon, told a crowd of around 500 people at the Capitol’s main entrance.

“We will never go away. We will never give up,” said Thorpe, executive director of the state’s major gay rights organization.

The event was held on the one-year anniversary of Multnomah County creating a political uproar by beginning to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The legality of the 3,042 licenses issued before a judge halted the practice is up in the air because voters in November passed a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

A case awaiting a decision by the Oregon Supreme Court asks the justices to decide whether the licenses are valid or whether the voter-passed marriage prohibition is retroactive.

Another major issue in the case is whether the courts have the authority to define marriage-type benefits for same-sex couples or whether that’s up to the Legislature.

Gay rights backers are lobbying lawmakers to create “civil unions” that would provide the equivalent of marital benefits for gay couples, such as rights to spousal death benefits or visiting rights in hospitals.