Spilled load causes crash; driver could be charged

Part of a truckload of unsecured foam board landed on Interstate 90 on Thursday morning, causing a three-car crash near the Division Street offramp, the Washington State Patrol said.

No one was injured in the crash. The driver of the truck could be charged with a misdemeanor for failure to secure a load, WSP spokesman Jeff Sevigney said.

The WSP responded to the collision in the westbound lanes of I-90 at 7:55 a.m. Two vehicles hit foam board, which was lying in the middle lane of the freeway. A third motorist couldn’t slow down in time and slammed into one vehicle, pushing it into the first vehicle.

A witness at the scene gave troopers information about the truck that had lost part of its load, Sevigney said. When the driver was contacted, he was unaware he had caused a crash.

The truck driver’s potential charge comes from state legislation passed in 2005, which made failure to secure a load a gross misdemeanor in Washington if someone is injured and a misdemeanor if there’s property damage, Sevigney said. Individuals are also required to remove their lost load from the roadway and can be required to pay cleaning costs.

Remains were those of man

An examination of human remains found last week in south Spokane County has revealed that the victim of an apparent homicide was a Hispanic or Caucasian man.

The decomposing body was discovered on Jan. 16 in a slash pile by a family who was cutting firewood, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said. The victim’s feet were bound with jumper cables.

The body likely has been at the Darknell and Lewis Road location in the Fairfield area for at least several months. Additional tests are required to determine the man’s height and age, but a forensic anthropologist thinks he was probably shorter than 6 feet tall and older than 20.

While the review of missing person cases is still under way, detectives ask that anyone with information about a man who has been missing for several months contact the Sheriff’s Office at (509) 242-8477.

Suit claims eatery allowed smoking

Bellingham

Whatcom County has filed a lawsuit accusing a popular downtown Bellingham Mexican restaurant, Casa Que Pasa, of violating the state’s indoor smoking ban.

The lawsuit is apparently the first by a county attempting to enforce the smoking ban, passed overwhelmingly by state voters last November.

Health department workers issued a series of complaints, one of which was that during a trip to Casa Que Pasa on Dec. 19, they found a bartender, a customer and Abel Jordan, the owner, smoking.

When confronted, Jordan told them he wanted his “day in court,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit seeks $100 in fines per day from Dec. 14 on, as well as an injunction to stop Jordan from allowing smoking inside the restaurant. If he refuses he could be found in contempt and face steep fines or jail time.

Jordan, 33, declined to comment when contacted by the Bellingham Herald.

Bill targets bowling alley smoke

Boise Bowling alleys would be added to Idaho’s growing list of no-smoking zones under a bill introduced in a House committee Thursday.

The smoking ban crafted by Rep. Bob Ring, R-Caldwell, a retired doctor, would require bowling alleys to either prohibit smoking altogether or create special smoking rooms for patrons who want to light up.

The bill seeks to limit the exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke. More than 3,000 Americans die yearly from lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke, according to the American Cancer Society.

Ring told the House Health and Welfare Committee that he originally planned to seek a ban on smoking in bowling alleys, but that business owners feared that would send smokers outside in their rented bowling shoes. The resulting grit could potentially ruin the shoes and scuff the varnished lanes, he said.

Mayor defends pledge decision

Moscow, Idaho Mayor Nancy Chaney’s decision to stop routinely reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before City Council meetings has upset some veterans, but she says the move is not a political statement and does not reflect a lack of patriotism.

“I grew up in a patriotic household; my father was a Marine and I still have flags hanging up in my house,” she said.

But after concluding that council members and others may have been “going through the motions” in reciting the pledge, she decided to open the Jan. 17 council meeting with a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birth was marked with a holiday Jan. 16.

Chaney said she does not plan to eliminate the pledge, but to have periodic alternatives such as poetry readings – “we are finding other ways to express our patriotism,” she said.

“I think it’s bunk,” said World War II vet Don Swanson of the decision to drop the pledge. “It’s a disgrace to us guys who were in (the war) and got shot at.”