Couple arrested in pot production

An Airway Heights man may have been a little too quick to close his door when sheriff’s detectives paid him a call Monday.

Sgt. Dave Reagan said Daniel I. Tenderholt “abruptly shut the door on the detectives, effectively pushing the very strong odor of growing marijuana into their faces.”

Reagan said the detectives already had reason to suspect Tenderholt, 24, and his wife, Tawny L. Tenderholt, 23, were growing pot in their home at 2201 N. Craig Road.

While the detectives were obtaining a search warrant, Daniel Tenderholt was busy flushing more than 70 marijuana plants down his toilet, according to Reagan. He said the bare stalks of the plants were stacked in a bedroom when the detectives searched the home about 7 p.m.

Officers also found the root balls, wrapped in plastic bags, and there were leaves and other debris around the toilet, Reagan said.

The Tenderholts were booked into jail on suspicion of manufacturing a controlled substance, and their 3-year-old son was turned over to Child Protective Services.

Spokane

Man questioned after house fire

A Spokane resident was detained for questioning Tuesday night when his house burned and firefighters found marijuana plants inside.

No one else was in the home at 1824 N. Smith St., and no one was injured.

The man, whose name wasn’t released, claimed he was authorized to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes, police Lt. Dave McGovern said. A detective was to conduct an investigation as soon as he could enter the smoke-filled home.

Fire Department Battalion Chief Joel Fielder said a neighbor reported heavy smoke coming from a door about 7:40 p.m., and it appeared the occupant may have been trying to extinguish the basement fire with a garden hose.

Fielder said 26 firefighters extinguished the fire in about 20 minutes, but the basement was “completely gutted.” He said fire had begun spreading to the attic through an upstairs bedroom closet in the small, one-story house, but upstairs damage was mostly from smoke.

Second suspect in robbery held

The second of two suspects in a Jan. 12 armed robbery of a Deer Park convenience store was arrested Tuesday afternoon in Spokane after a three-minute car chase.

Spokane police Cpl. John Strickland used his patrol car to nudge 20-year-old Brent B. Baughman’s vehicle off the road at Monroe and Carlisle, according to Spokane County sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Reagan. No one was injured.

Reagan said sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Kittilstved had been staking out a home on West Spofford Road when he spotted Baughman and a woman leaving the home shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday. Kittilstved asked Spokane police to stop Baughman’s vehicle when it entered the city.

Reagan said Baughman had “a significant quantity” of methamphetamine in his vehicle. Baughman was booked into jail on suspicion of first-degree robbery and attempting to elude police. Reagan said other charges, including drug possession, likely would be filed later.

Baughman and co-defendant Nicholas Cory Kausshen, 27, are believed to have robbed Levi’s Mini Mart in Deer Park in frustration after they turned over $900 worth of methamphetamine to a woman who ran out of the store without paying them. Baughman allegedly used a semiautomatic pistol to rob the clerk, and Kausshen allegedly assaulted a male customer.

Tipsters, including a state probation officer, identified Kausshen as one of the robbers after sheriff’s detectives released security video and a composite drawing. He was charged with first-degree robbery and probation violation.

Coeur d’Alene

Thief finds his prayers answered

A man claiming to be conducting a prayer chain for a Baptist church is suspected of burglarizing a retirement center last weekend in Coeur d’Alene, according to police.

Two residents reported cash missing from their rooms Saturday after a stocky white man in his late 20s to early 40s entered Heritage Place on Walnut Avenue during breakfast, according to a Coeur d’Alene police report.

The building usually is locked, but a door may have been propped open, the police report said. The man reportedly entered a few apartments and offered to pray with tenants. No one had seen the man around the building previously, the police report said.

Two tenants reported about $130 missing, according to police.

Boise

Bowling smoking ban advances

Second-grader Allie Hill took the podium Tuesday to share what she learned in health class about the tobacco smoke lawmakers may ban from bowling alleys.

“Every smoker can also hurt or kill many people who don’t smoke,” said Hill, a student at Pepper Ridge Elementary School in Boise. “You don’t want to kill a kid, do you?”

She showed legislators a hand-drawn chart depicting hazards of smoking, such as a smoker who can’t run, someone throwing away money and a man who can’t get a date because he lights up. Smoking fouls her bowling experience, she said, urging lawmakers to pass the anti-smoking legislation.

Her testimony helped sway a House committee to unanimously approve HB 121 to prohibit smoking in Idaho’s bowling alleys, a move that failed in past years.

The bill now moves to the full House. To become law, it would have to pass there and in the Senate and receive the governor’s signature.