Woman accused of animal cruelty
A Pend Oreille County woman was arrested on animal-cruelty charges Friday when sheriff’s officers raided what they said was a puppy mill at her rural home.
Mary Breitenstein Gutierrez was booked into the county jail on one count of animal cruelty and one count of transporting or confining an animal in an unsafe manner.
Both charges are misdemeanors, punishable by up to three months in jail. Deputy Janet Reed said the “transporting or confining” charge pertains to animals that were kept in enclosures that required them to stand in feces and water.
Reed said a veterinarian who accompanied deputies to Breitenstein Gutierrez’s home on Coyote Trail Road, near Newport, described conditions there as “horrific.” Workers from the Spokane Humane Society and SpokAnimal C.A.R.E. removed more than 35 dogs, rabbits, goats and pigs. The animals were taken to the Spokane Humane Society shelter.
Some difficult-to-move fowl and goats were left in the care of Breitenstein Gutierrez’s husband, Reed said. Their conditions will be monitored, she added.
Breitenstein remained in jail Friday evening.
Lane restrictions on I-90 today in Valley
Interstate 90 will be reduced to one eastbound lane today starting about 6:30 a.m. between Argonne and Sullivan roads.
Crews are installing reflectors. Expect delays.
And it won’t be much better on the other side of the freeway.
The westbound outside lane will be closed near the Sullivan Road westbound on-ramp so a concrete barrier can be moved. Flaggers will be periodically stopping traffic on the westbound on-ramp coming off northbound Sullivan.
Court rejects Eugster’s open meetings appeal
The Spokane City Council did not violate the state’s open meetings law in 2001 when it set up a procedure to fill an open council seat, the state Court of Appeals ruled this week.
The court rejected the appeal of former City Councilman Steve Eugster. Eugster contended that discussions among various council members about how to fill the opening – and a memo about the procedure circulated by then-Council President Rob Higgins – violated the law that requires most council actions to take place in public.
The appeals court agreed with Spokane County Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza that a meeting of a majority of the council did not take place and the informal process did not amount to a violation of the Open Public Meetings Act. Under the procedure, the council eventually selected Dean Lynch to fill the vacancy in March 2001. He served until that November, when he lost the election to Dennis Hession.
Deer Park bond votes to be recounted
Elections officials in Spokane and Stevens counties will recount by hand next week the ballots cast for the Deer Park School District bond issue.
The $11.9 million modernization and expansion bond issue on the March 8 ballot needed a supermajority of 60 percent; it had a 59.28 percent approval rating after all absentee and poll votes were counted. A change of 17 ballots from no to yes would put the bond issue over the top.
The school district has territory in Spokane, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties, but Spokane County officials tallied the Pend Oreille ballots. Spokane County will recount the ballots it has Tuesday, and Stevens County will conduct its recount Wednesday.
Tests show no radioactivity in elk
Richland Tests of three elk killed on the Hanford Reach National Monument turned up no sign of radioactive contamination, Department of Energy officials have reported.
The elk were subject to Geiger counter tests in the field after they were killed in January. The results mean the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the Reach, can continue to use trap-and-relocate programs and government shoots and meat donation as options for reducing the herd, now numbering about 700 animals.