Police honor men for aiding in arrest

Three men in a church van spotted a man in an alley running from a police officer. They stopped, blocked the alley and jumped out.

A pastor, his son and son-in-law-to-be ordered the fleeing man to lie down, and the Spokane police officer clicked on the handcuffs.

On Wednesday, Rick Haffner, Jeremiah Haffner and Dan Sandeno were awarded certificates of appreciation for helping to catch a suspect of car theft on Oct. 11.

“They didn’t have to get involved, but they did,” said Spokane acting Police Chief Jim Nicks.

The officer arrested the suspect near Addison and Wellesley. When she returned to thank the men, they were gone, police spokesman Cpl. Tom Lee said. She saw the church van several weeks later and was then able to identify the men.

“Citizen involvement like this is above and beyond,” Lee said.

– Jody Lawrence-Turner

Spokane County loses PR officer position

Two months after Spokane County commissioners created a second public relations position, the county will be back to one – at least temporarily.

Ron Kole, the county’s public information and communications manager, is leaving this week to take a job in Colorado. Kole started at the county in April 2003 and earned $59,108 a year.

In January, commissioners created the position of public information and research officer and appointed Martha Lou Wheatley-Billeter, a former TV and radio anchor, reporter and producer, to the spot. She earns $53,223 a year.

Commissioners said they likely will keep Kole’s spot vacant for a while.

“We decided to cool our jets at least a couple of months,” said Commissioner Phil Harris, noting budget concerns as one of the reasons.

– Jonathan Brunt

BOISE

Hunting amendment fails in Idaho Senate

Plans to amend the Idaho Constitution to make hunting, fishing and trapping a right rather than a privilege fell short in the Senate on Wednesday, getting an 18-16 vote – well short of the two-thirds required to amend the constitution.

Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, urged his colleagues to support the legislation, saying hunting is fundamental. “It defines what we are as human beings,” Schroeder said.

But Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, of Idaho Falls, said concerns from the Idaho attorney general’s office about the amendment restricting the state’s ability to revoke hunting privileges for failure to pay child support or other reasons prompted him to oppose the amendment.

“The validity of many hunting and fishing regulations is based on the notion that hunting and fishing are privileges,” wrote Deputy Attorney General Bill von Tagen.

– Betsy Z. Russell