Boy hospitalized after pit bull attack
A 12-year-old boy remained in Kootenai Medical Center on Thursday evening after he was attacked by a neighbor’s dog, Post Falls police reported.
A Post Falls police officer responding to the residence on Shannon Lane on Thursday afternoon shot and killed the pit bull mix when it charged him, said Post Falls police Sgt. Kathy Eshoo.
The boy was bitten three times on his legs, Eshoo said. His wounds were not considered life threatening.
The incident remains under investigation, Eshoo said.
Fairchild airman killed in Honduras
A staff sergeant stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base was killed Wednesday in a car crash in Honduras, the base reported in a press release.
Matthew Walrod, 26, was deployed in January for 120 days in a joint training exercise with the Honduran government, according to the release. Walrod was working as a medical technician.
The crash occurred near the city of La Ceiba. A second airman also was killed in the crash, and another one was seriously injured and taken to a hospital in Honduras, the Air Force said.
Details of the crash were unavailable Thursday, and the names of the other crash victims were not released.
Police on lookout for drunken drivers
Spokane-area law enforcement agencies will be teaming up today to stop drivers who imbibed too much while celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.
Washington State Patrol will have extra troopers on the lookout for drunken drivers, WSP spokesman Trooper Jeff Sevigney said.
Spokane Police Department and Spokane County Sheriff’s Office officers will also be on patrol.
Law enforcement will have a zero tolerance for anyone found driving while under the influence, Sevigney said.
VANCOUVER, Wash.
Mount St. Helens trail may reopen
A trail to the south rim of the crater of Mount St. Helens, closed since the start of a dome-building eruption in September 2004, may be reopened this year, officials say.
No decision has been made, but National Forest Service officials began accepting conditional climbing reservations last month, Tom Mulder, manager of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, told The Columbian of Vancouver.
“The public is interested,” Mulder said. “It’s a recreation niche, a learning opportunity, and we want to serve the public well.”
The climbing season traditionally begins on May 15, and the number of permits historically has been limited to 100 a day, half by reservation and half by a daily lottery.
“Climbers will be taking on the responsibility for exposing themselves to any risk that they may encounter,” Mulder said.
If the trail is reopened, climbers could get a close-up look at the relatively quiet oozing of molten rock at the rate of about a pickup truck load per second into the gaping horseshoe-shaped crater from the volcano’s May 18, 1980, eruption.
Fom staff and wire reports