Newman Lake man faces dumping charges

A Newman Lake man says he was stunned recently when he was arrested on a bench warrant for failing to appear on a charge of dumping sand in the lake.

Court records show the District Court warrant was issued last July because a secretary in the county prosecutor’s office mistakenly sent summonses to an address where 48-year-old Tom K. Burgess hasn’t lived for more than 25 years.

A computer search turned up the old address as well as the Newman Lake address, where Burgess moved six years ago when he returned to Spokane after living 20 years in Seattle. A secretary mailed two summonses to the outdated address instead of one to each address.

A bench warrant was issued when Burgess, a partner in three Spokane-area Thai Bamboo restaurants, didn’t show up in court as ordered. When the warrant caught up with him on March 18, he was taken to jail, booked and immediately released on his own recognizance.

He is to appear in court April 18 on a charge of performing an unlawful hydraulic project in July 2004, a gross misdemeanor punishable by as much as a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

According to an affidavit by state Fish and Wildlife officer Mike Sprecher, Burgess increased the size of his Newman Lake waterfront property by dumping sand in the lake without a permit. Sprecher supported the charge with statements from several of Burgess’ neighbors and a dump truck driver who said he spread 13 cubic yards of sand at the edge of the beach on Burgess’ property.

Sprecher said he had warned Burgess twice previously for unauthorized hydraulic projects.

Burgess said the previous warnings were for building a new, longer dock and a ramp to the dock. He said he hadn’t owned waterfront property before and was unfamiliar with the regulations.

In the incident in which he is charged, Burgess said he intended to place some sand near the water to shore up his twisted dock ramp, but “too much came flying out.”