Toy guns bringing police responses
Four teenagers playing with realistic-looking toy guns near a Spokane Valley day care center Wednesday were confronted by several officers carrying the real thing.
Similar false alarms surrounding Airsoft pellet guns have become a once- or twice-a-week problem, Spokane Valley police said. In this instance, a van driver for the day care and workers inside saw kids on the roof of a nearby garage with a gun and called police.
“From my viewpoint, you couldn’t tell if it was a real gun or not,” said Kristine Ross, program director at Kid Country Day Care.
The center was locked down just before the preschoolers were scheduled to go outside for recess, she said.
Four police cars and a police supervisor were called to the scene, said Spokane Valley police Cpl. Mark Henderson. Behind him, officers talked with the 14- and 15-year-olds and confiscated the guns.
“This is becoming a regular problem,” Henderson said.
Many Airsoft guns are almost exact replicas of real weapons. Startled people regularly see them brandished and call the police, who assume the guns are real until proven otherwise.
Spokane
Court date set for Moe, Perry
Spokane drag-racing czar Orville Moe and Dale R. Perry, the former mayor of Airway Heights, are scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court on Oct. 5 on federal public corruption charges.
The arraignment date was set by U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno on Wednesday, one day after a grand jury in Spokane returned a four-count indictment naming Moe and the ex-mayor.
Perry, 53, is accused of two counts of soliciting a bribe and two additional counts of bribery. Moe, 69, is charged with two counts of bribery.
After their arraignment, the two are expected to be released without bonds pending trials in U.S. District Court.
The indictment alleges Moe loaned Perry $18,000 in October 2002 and another $109,000 in October 2004 in exchange for the mayor agreeing to cast City Council votes favoring Spokane Raceway Park.
Police say man robbed companion
A 40-year-old man was arrested late Tuesday for allegedly knocking out his drinking companion and robbing him in downtown Spokane.
Gregory R. Cassell, also known as Gregory Cochrane, was booked into jail on suspicion of first-degree robbery. Police said Cassell punched and kicked William P. Stewart, 40, in the head and robbed Stewart of $150 while he was unconscious.
Stewart told police the two men had been drinking in Stewart’s apartment at 110 S. Madison St. Cassell attacked Stewart after first asking to borrow some money, police said.
Rosdahl column will run Friday
Nils Rosdahl’s “Handle on Business” column typically appears Thursdays in The Spokesman-Review’s Idaho edition. The column will be running on Friday instead this week.