Council to meet with finalists today
Four finalists have been selected for a vacancy for a northwest District 3 seat on the Spokane City Council. The finalists will be interviewed by council members in a public meeting at 2 p.m. today in the lower level briefing center at City Hall.
The finalists are: Robert Crow, co-owner of Lloyd Industries; Judith A. Gilmore, former council candidate; Lewis G. Griffin, former city administrator in Liberty Lake; and Andrew Rathbun, lieutenant colonel in the Washington Air National Guard.
They were among 19 residents of District 3 who submitted applications last week. Council members narrowed the field based on applications. After interviews today, the council is likely to vote on a selection Monday.
The vacancy was created when Councilman Joe Shogan was appointed council president earlier this month. Shogan took the job previously held by Mayor Dennis Hession, who was appointed by the council to replace recalled Mayor Jim West.
Two held in robbery
Two 18-year-old women were arrested Wednesday in connection with a robbery last week at the NorthTown Mall.
Christina N. Jensen, 303 E. Everett, and Breanna Price were each booked into Spokane County Jail on first-degree robbery charges, Spokane police spokesman Dick Cottam said.
The robbery occurred about 11:45 p.m. Friday when a 15- and 16-year-old girl were on their way out of the mall after watching “King Kong” at Regal Cinemas, Cottam said. As the teens approached the doors, they saw two women near an exit door, who the teens said looked suspicious.
The two teens sat on a nearby bench in hopes of waiting the women out, Cottam said. But the 18-year-olds walked over to them.
One girl tried to use her cell phone to make a call, but it was snatched from her hands, Cottam said. One of the women then asked the girl if she was trying to call for help, and added: “This is Spokane. No one cares,” Cottam wrote.
After taking a purse, a digital camera, sacks of mall purchases and a cell phone, one of the women hit a girl several times in the face, Cottam said. The two women then fled.
Spokane Police Department wasn’t contacted until the next day when one of the teen’s fathers called to report it, Cottam said. The investigation led police detectives to the two women.
Schools locked down
Ferris High School and Adams Elementary School went into lockdown for more than four hours Wednesday after firecrackers were mistaken for gunfire.
Ferris allowed students to enter but not exit the building, which is referred to as modified lockdown, said Spokane police spokesman Dick Cottam. Both South Hill schools are located on East 37th Avenue.
Police officers scoured the area after “pops” were heard, and an Adams Elementary School teacher reported seeing youths in the vicinity, Cottam said. Officers found six youths walking along Fiske Street, who blamed a Ferris High School teenager for the disturbance.
When the teen was located, he was taken to the Ferris High School principal’s office, Cottam said. It was determined that the “pops” were firecrackers.
Police determined the teen had not broken any laws other than possessing firecrackers, Cottam said. The youth’s discipline is being left in the hands of the school district.
Forestry classes set
Forest stewardship training classes will be offered next month for Washington residents. The courses cover the basics of forestry and are aimed at educating private landowners. Custom-tailored forest management plans developed in the class may help landowners qualify for reduced property tax rates.
The program is organized by WSU Extension and the state’s Department of Natural Resources. Classes cost $95 per person, family or land parcel. Scholarships are available for Ferry County landowners.
Classes will be offered in coming weeks in Republic, Spokane and Cusick. For more information or to register, call (509) 775-5235 or (509) 684-2588. Registration deadline is Feb. 3.
City to count homeless
Local government officials will team up with nonprofit organizations next Thursday for a one-day count of homeless residents in the Spokane area.
Spokane city officials are also asking residents to call in with information about homeless residents who may be living with family members or friends. Those people are considered homeless for statistical purposes, according to a city news release.
The count is part of a new plan to reduce homelessness by half over the coming decade, a requirement of the state’s 2005 Homelessness Housing and Assistance Act, which includes about $12 million in assistance to local governments.
“This count will provide us with some essential data to focus our programs and services and to get additional money to pay for them,” said Amy Jones, co-chairwoman of the Every One Counts steering committee, an organization charged with managing the count.
Count stations will be set up at nonprofit agencies, and homeless people will be asked to provide basic identifying information to preclude double-counting.
In 2004, local agencies identified about 7,300 homeless residents throughout the county over the course of a year. In a single-day count a year ago, the city identified 1,900 homeless residents. Many homeless people are without housing for only part of the year so the single-day count is used as a snapshot of the wider problem, officials explained.
The city and county recently adopted a joint 10-year plan to reduce homelessness.
To provide information for the one-day count, call the city of Spokane’s Human Services Department at (509) 625-6130.
Highway 2 to reopen
The Idaho Transportation Department is expected to reopen U.S. Highway 2 near Sandpoint this morning.
Heavy rains washed out culverts under the highway just west of Sandpoint last week, causing the roadway to buckle and prompting its closure. That forced many drivers to take a one-hour detour.
Crews finished repaving and striping the highway there Wednesday afternoon and were installing guardrails late in the day.
Boy expelled for knife
A 15-year-old student was expelled Wednesday afternoon for bringing a 5-inch hunting knife to Mead High School in his backpack, said interim superintendent Al Swanson.
Authorities said another student saw the knife when the boy reached into his backpack to get his MP3 player during a biology class.
The student told his teacher and then called the “Keep Guns Out of School Hotline,” Spokane County sheriff’s Deputy Dave Thornburg reported. The boy did not brandish the knife or threaten anyone.
“There was never any danger,” Swanson said.
School officials detained the student and confiscated the knife before sheriff’s deputies arrived, Thornburg wrote. The student may face a gross-misdemeanor weapons charge.
“For our district, when it comes to weapons, threatening behavior and drugs, we just don’t tolerate it,” Swanson said.
Jury convicts Burr
No one saw Steven P. Burr shoot his romantic rival in the chest last October, but no one else left a suicide note and no one else left his walking stick at the scene of the crime.
So, after about 12 hours of deliberation, a Spokane County Superior Court jury convicted Burr on Wednesday of attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault, as charged.
Burr, 56, faces a prison term in the neighborhood of 20 to 25 years, including a mandatory five years for use of a firearm, when Judge Jerome Leveque sentences him. No sentencing date was set Wednesday.
Deputy Prosecutor Larry Steinmetz and Assistant Public Defender Jeff Compton agree that the assault conviction, filed as an alternative, will merge into the attempted-murder conviction.
Burr went to the home of his ex-wife, Sandra Burr, at 1206 S. F St., on Oct. 7 and shot her 56-year-old fiancé, Terry W. Herzog, in the chest.
Burr’s hand-carved wooden walking stick was found propped against a bush outside the screen door through which Herzog was shot with a .38-caliber bullet.
Spokane police detectives searched a home where Burr had been living as a guest and found a suicide note among his belongings. Investigators also found a letter in which Burr described his grievances against Herzog and said, “I’m taking it to him where he feels safe.”