SWAT team arrests assault suspect

The Spokane County sheriff’s SWAT team raided a Mead home early Tuesday, arresting an assault suspect and recovering several guns.

The team executed a search warrant at 3316 E. Florence at about 5:30 a.m., sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said. Once inside the home, the deputies arrested Chad Michael Materne, 33, who was a suspect in connection with an assault on Nov. 23, Reagan said.

On that day, deputies were summoned to a downtown hospital where a male victim was being treated for chemical burns on his face and a cut caused by a blow from a shotgun, Reagan said.

The victim said Materne invited him to his Mead home where Materne and another man pointed guns at him while Materne sprayed the victim in the face and neck with an unknown liquid. As the victim retreated, he said, Materne hit him in the head with the shotgun, Reagan said in a news release.

Doctors said the victim suffered second-degree burns on the left side of his face, neck and the exposed portion of his chest.

Materne is a convicted felon who is prohibited from owning guns. In Tuesday’s search, during which Materne tried to run, deputies found a .22 caliber pistol inside a safe, a second pistol in a drawer next to Materne’s bed and a 12-gauge shotgun.

He was booked into the Spokane County Jail on a charge of second-degree assault from the Nov. 23 incident and is expected to face charges relating to the guns, Reagan said.

Arrest follows suspect’s dip in river

A man suspected of stealing a truck last week in Spokane County was spotted Tuesday by a Spokane police officer, prompting a chase that included a plunge into the Spokane River.

Officer Tyler Cordis was following a 2001 Ford pickup about 11 a.m. when the driver tried to elude him, police spokesman Dick Cottam said in a news release.

After a pursuit, the truck went into a construction area near People’s Park. The driver jumped out and ran toward the river, Cottam said.

Wearing shorts, the man jumped into the water but immediately came out.

The suspect, identified as 25-year-old Levi Scott Stang, fought with officers who arrested him, then took him to an area hospital for treatment for hypothermia.

The hospital released Stang to the officers, who booked him into the Spokane County Jail on a charge of first-degree possession of stolen property, Cottam said.

Judge Judy to decide Sacheen Lake dispute

A Spokane-area dispute will play out on a national stage today when an argument over lake property is decided by Judge Judy.

Hard-nosed judge Judith Sheindlin, host of the nationally syndicated courtroom television show “Judge Judy,” reviewed a land ownership case brought by Laura Schmitz of Lake Oswego, Ore.

Schmitz sold a Sacheen Lake cabin to John Kodi and Brandi Mather of Spangle with a stipulation that Schimtz be allowed to use the cabin twice a year, show spokesman Gary Rosen said Tuesday.

The Mathers contended that Schmitz hosted wild parties on the property and demanded the provision in the sale contract about the visits be removed.

Schmitz was suing the married couple for $4,000 in attorney’s fees and other expenses involved in the dispute. The Mathers countersued for damages, the spokesman said.

Sheindlin determined the matter in a Los Angeles-area courtroom during a taped episode to air at 4:30 p.m. on KHQ-6. The program’s spokesman would not discuss the outcome in advance.

Poster depicts 40 Spokane mayors

A citizens committee that’s been researching and preserving Spokane history has developed a poster with pictures of the city’s 40 mayors dating to 1881.

On Thursday, they presented two framed copies of the poster to Mayor Jim West. The mayor immediately mounted one poster on the wall near the fifth floor entrance to his office. Photos of contemporary mayors hang on an adjoining wall along with an artist portrait of James Glover, a former mayor and city pioneer.

“We’ll display this with honor,” the mayor said.

RaeAnna Whitely, a member of the history research committee, said her group spent two years locating photographs of all of the mayors.

The committee is also working on two books on the histories of the Spokane Police Department and Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. The work is being done in conjunction with the Spokane Law Enforcement Museum, which has a temporary display at the City-County Public Safety Building. The museum is seeking a permanent home to display some 3,000 items.

For copies of the historical mayor poster or more information, contact Susan Walker, secretary-treasurer of the museum, at 363-8246.

U.S. relaxes restrictions on B.C. poultry

Washington The United States has relaxed a ban on poultry imports from British Columbia initially sparked by the discovery of bird flu in a duck raised in the Canadian province.

The strain of bird flu is now known to be low-pathogenic and poses no threat to human health, unlike the more virulent form in Asia that has killed dozens of people, the Agriculture Department said.

U.S. officials said they banned on Nov. 21 all poultry imports from British Columbia until their Canadian counterparts could identify the virus, later found on a second, nearby farm as well. Several Asian countries that quickly followed the U.S. lead now are expected to relax their bans as well.

In the days after the Nov. 18 discovery of the virus, Canadian officials killed nearly 58,000 ducks and geese on the two farms, located outside Vancouver, said Brian Evans, Canada’s chief veterinary officer.

The strain of flu doesn’t kill poultry, but can leave them sickened and weak. Proper cooking kills the virus, health officials said.

The Agriculture Department said it would maintain the import ban on birds from within a three-mile radius of the two British Columbia farms.