Suspect kills himself in Deer Park

A Kennewick homicide suspect shot himself to death about 8 p.m. Thursday at Deer Park when Spokane County sheriff’s deputies and state troopers attempted to stop the car he was driving.

The suspect was identified as William James Kozak, 68. Details of the crime for which he was wanted were not immediately available, but a law enforcement bulletin warned that Kozak should be considered armed and dangerous.

Kennewick police had asked law enforcement agencies here to try to find Kozak, who had a brother living in Deer Park. Sheriff’s Deputy Marc Melville was driving toward the brother’s home when he saw the 2002 Nissan Altima officers thought Kozak might be driving.

While waiting for backup officers to arrive, Melville followed the Altima from Fir and Crawford to the state auto licensing office in Deer Park, where Kozak stopped.

Melville and other officers surrounded the vehicle and ordered Kozak to show his hands. When Kozak didn’t respond, deputies approached Kozak’s car and found him with a pistol and a gunshot wound.

Two allegedly hit woman, stole cigarettes

Spokane police arrested two men accused of punching a 19-year-old woman and stealing her cigarettes.

Daniel J. Carter, 18, and Benjamin F. Cooper, 20, were each booked into jail on suspicion of first-degree robbery, Spokane police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

The woman told police she was returning to work after lunch Wednesday when one man stepped in front of her, while the other hit her in the arm with his fist and demanded cigarettes. When she didn’t hand them over, one man pulled them from her pocket.

After the men left, the woman contacted a bank security officer nearby, who called police.

The woman knew that the suspects frequented the STA Plaza, Cottam said. Officers located witnesses, who confirmed the robbery, and a short time later found and arrested the two men.

Highway 291 detour extended up to 10 days

A portion of Highway 291 will remain closed in south Stevens County for as long as 10 more days.

The Washington State Department of Transportation determined it would be more cost-effective and create fewer disruptions later this year if a permanent culvert is built now rather than implementing a temporary fix.

The road washed out last Saturday after heavy rains eroded the ground around two culverts at Sunset Bay, between Willow Bay and Tum Tum.

The contractor hired by the state to make the repair has up to 10 days to finish construction, although the “cold mix” asphalt that must be used this time of year means the highway will have to be permanently repaved in this location later in the year when weather permits.

A new 6-foot-high and 10-foot-wide culvert will replace the two much smaller, 30-inch culverts that washed out.

The roadway is now unsafe, and a detour is in place via the south side of the Spokane River.

Two denied bail on ecoterrorism charges

Medford, Ore.

A millionaire wildland firefighter and a caregiver in a home for the developmentally disabled appeared in court Thursday on federal arson charges alleging they firebombed two targets in acts claimed by the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front.

Smiling to friends and family who jammed the courtroom, Jonathan Christopher Mark Paul, 39, of the Ashland area and Suzanne Nicole “India” Savoie, 28, of Applegate, were both ordered held without bail pending further hearings.

A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene as part of the investigation of a series of Northwest arsons between 1996 and 2001 accused Paul, the firefighter, of setting firebombs that burned down the Cavel West horse slaughterhouse in Redmond on July 21, 1997. The ALF claimed responsibility for that fire, which caused an estimated $1 million in damage.

Savoie, who works in a group home for the developmentally disabled in Ashland, is accused of serving as a lookout for the Jan. 2, 2001, fire that destroyed offices of Superior Lumber Co., a lumber mill in Glendale now known as the Swanson Group. The ELF claimed responsibility for that fire.

Both face five to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted. Preliminary hearings for both were set for Jan. 30 in Eugene, unless a grand jury indicts them first.

The FBI arrested Paul on Tuesday outside Ashland at the Green Springs Inn, said FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele. Savoie turned herself in to the FBI on Thursday.

The two new defendants bring to nine the number of people charged in a series of arsons from 1996 to 2001 in Oregon and Washington. They include two lumber mill offices, a tree farm, an SUV dealer and two federal research labs.

Authorities have also linked two of the earlier suspects to a fire at a Vail, Colo., ski resort, but no one has been charged in that case. Of the seven defendants named earlier, four are held without bail, one is free on bail, one committed suicide in jail, and one remains a fugitive.

In 1993, Paul spent five months in jail for contempt of court in Spokane, for refusing to testify in the investigation of another ALF case, a 1991 raid that caused $100,000 in damages to U.S. Department of Agriculture offices at Washington State University in Pullman. He was released after a judge concluded imprisonment would not persuade him to talk.

Stevens seeks proposals for block grant money

Stevens County commissioners want residents to suggest projects for which the county might seek federal community development money.

The state-administered block grant projects, which may be worth up to $35,000 each, must benefit mainly low- and moderate-income people.

Commissioners have scheduled a hearing at 11 a.m. Feb. 27 at the county courthouse in Colville to take testimony about proposed projects. The deadline for submitting proposals is 4:30 p.m. Feb. 16.

Submissions should include a summary, a draft budget identifying any additional sources of money, and maps showing the areas that would benefit.

For more information about how to submit a proposal, call the commissioners at (509) 684-3751. For more information on requirements for proposals, visit www.cted.wa.gov.