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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nation in brief: Electrical problem blamed for big fire

The Spokesman-Review

An electrical problem caused a huge fire at a suburban apartment complex, leaving more than 100 people homeless, investigators said Saturday. No injuries were reported.

The five-alarm blaze Friday began at the west end of the South Grand Apartments in Channelview, just east of Houston, officials said.

It took firefighters about five hours to extinguish the blaze, which destroyed 92 units, said Michael Battise, chief of the Cloverleaf Volunteer Fire Department, one of 10 departments that worked to put it out.

SAGINAW, Mich.

Con artist must clean memorial

A 73-year-old man has been ordered to clean a veterans memorial with a toothbrush for taking part in a scam to solicit scrap yards for metal, saying it was to be used to build a memorial for soldiers in the Iraq war.

Philip Kolinski and another man were arrested after scrap yards reported the men soliciting metal donations for a sculpture. Detectives said the men sold the metal and kept the money.

“You certainly should be ashamed,” Saginaw County District Court Judge A.T. Frank said as he sentenced Kolinski on Friday to clean the veterans memorial in front of Governmental Center on Aug. 7.

“You will have a toothbrush and bucket with a placard saying you stole from veterans,” Frank said.

Kolinski pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obtaining more than $200 under false pretenses, although he claimed he didn’t know he was committing a crime. He said he agreed to haul the metal for another man, who is awaiting trial in the case.

GRANITE City Ill.

Sitter charged with pimping

A baby sitter accused of allowing a man to have sex with a 12-year-old girl in her care for money was charged with pimping, police said.

Amber Salts, 20, took the girl to the home of a 48-year-old man she had been “romantically involved” with and allowed the girl to have sex with him, said Madison County sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Dixon.

Larry Westwood paid the girl $140, which she split with Salts, police said.

Salts was charged Friday with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and pimping. Westwood was charged with two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.

Fisherman held in sea lion’s death

A fisherman accused of stabbing a sea lion with a steak knife after the animal stole his bait has been arrested.

The sea lion, a six-foot female weighing about 150 pounds, was stabbed in the heart and was euthanized, said Dean Gomersall, animal care supervisor at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach.

Hai Nguyen, 24, was fishing off a Newport pier about 12:30 p.m. Friday when the sea lion snatched the bait from his fishing pole.

“It was close enough so he could just reach out and stab it in the water,” said Sgt. Evan Sailor, a police spokesman. “A number of people witnessed it and called police.”

Nguyen was arrested without incident at the pier and held at Newport Beach Jail on $20,000 bail. He was expected to be arraigned next week on a charge of felony cruelty to animals, authorities said.

The case also was being investigated by the U.S. attorney’s office for possible federal charges under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.