Two women in running to be police chief

At least two women are semifinalists to be the next Spokane police chief.

Anne Kirkpatrick, chief of the Federal Way Police Department, and Annette M. Sandberg, a former Washington State Patrol chief, are among the seven remaining candidates that the city is doing background searches on.

The only remaining internal candidate is Deputy Chief Bruce Roberts.

The Spokesman-Review obtained the three names through various sources. Spokane city officials and Waldron & Co., the consulting firm hired by the city, are keeping the complete list of names secret.

Kirkpatrick was chief of the Ellensburg Police Department before becoming chief in Federal Way in 2001.

Sandberg, the first woman to head the state patrol, was chief for six years before resigning in 2001. A Moses Lake native, she became a top administrator for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in 2003 and left that position March 31, according to an industry group.

– Jody Lawrence-Turner

Air pollution board picks agency director

The Spokane County Air Pollution County Authority board has selected William Dameworth III as the agency’s new director, said SCAPCA board Chairman Matthew Pederson.

Dameworth, of Albany, Ore., is the former environmental manager for Pope & Talbot Inc., a timber company based in Portland, Ore. Previously, he worked at the South Coast Air Quality Management District in the Los Angeles area.The board selected Dameworth over interim director Ron Edgar, who has been with SCAPCA since 1977, and Shams Hasan, an air quality specialist for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Edgar said Friday that he will remain at SCAPCA as the chief of technical services.

SCAPCA has been searching for a leader since Director Eric Skelton resigned Sept. 30, saying the board had pressured him to be less assertive in regulating local companies.

– Jonathan Brunt

Bonners Ferry

High water forces record dam flows

Libby Dam in Montana is nearly half a foot from capacity, causing officials to send the largest flows from the spillway in the history of the dam, said Bonners Ferry Mayor Darrell Kerby.

As water roars out of the dam at 43,000 cubic feet per second, water will crest slightly above the flood mark in Boundary County through most of today. Water can be released through the dam’s power house, where electricity is generated, at about 25,000 cubic feet per second, but massive inflows from rain and mountain runoff has forced dam operators to compensate by opening the spillway of the dam.

The forecast has been topsy-turvy for the last week, and Kerby said he hopes the latest predictions are the end of high water on the Kootenai River.

“All the forecasters are showing a drying trend,” he said, “so hopefully this is it.”

– Sam Taylor