In brief: Preregister now for kindergarten, 1st grade
Spokane Public Schools is preregistering kindergarten and new first-grade students from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Mondays through Fridays at neighborhood elementary schools until March 9.
A birth certificate or other verification of age is required.
Kindergarten students must be turning 5 years old – 6 for first graders – by Aug. 31.
A Washington State Certificate of Immunization is also needed at registration, complete with the date of inoculation.
Information about immunization exemptions is available through the district’s health services department, at (509) 354-7298.
Sex offender charged with assault
A 26-year-old registered sex offender is facing burglary and multiple assault charges after prosecutors say he broke down the door of a house and beat the occupants inside with a baseball bat.
Jesse Grant Azure is charged with first degree burglary, as well as two charges of assault and harassment, according to court documents filed Tuesday.
On Jan. 23, Azure kicked down the door at 1404 E. Providence , where his uncle Patrick Day and cousin Nathan Day lived, the documents allege.
Once inside, Azure – accompanied by two others – told his uncle and cousin that he was going to kill them, documents state.
Azure attacked Patrick Day and the fight was taken to the front yard, according to court documents. When Nathan Day tried to interfere, Azure allegedly grabbed a baseball bat and hit Nathan Day in the stomach.
As he was leaving, Azure threatened to come back and burn the house down, according to the documents.
Azure was arrested Tuesday and was still being held in the Spokane County Jail on a $100,000 bond. Azure also faces charges from earlier this month for failing to register as a sex offender. He was convicted of charges related to child rape.
Kootenai County
Police question man’s confession
A 41-year-old Rathdrum man was arrested Wednesday morning after allegedly breaking into a Winch Road home and claiming he had just killed six people.
David E. Masten had blood on his hands and a small cut on his forehead, according to the sheriff’s department. Authorities found no evidence of murders at the location where they had supposedly occurred, or at neighboring homes.
Masten was arrested for illegal entry and booked into the Kootenai County Jail. The sheriff’s department described him as delusional and said a psychological evaluation had been ordered.
EPHRATA, Wash.
Drug charges dropped against fire crew boss
Charges of possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia have been dismissed against a former U.S. Forest Service fire crew boss who was cited while on his way home from a federal arraignment on manslaughter charges.
Ellreese Daniels, 46, of Lake Wenatchee, is charged in U.S. District Court in Spokane with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of four firefighters in the 2001 Thirtymile fire. He is also charged with seven counts of making false statements.
The unrelated marijuana and paraphernalia charges stemmed from a Jan. 4 incident when a Washington State Patrol trooper stopped the vehicle he was riding in on Interstate 90 and cited him for having an open container of beer, and for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
He settled the open container citation by paying a $101 fine, according to court records.
An arrest warrant was issued after he failed to appear in court for arraignment on the other citations Feb. 13.
On Monday, Grant County Court Commissioner Douglas Earl dismissed the charges and quashed the arrest warrant, said Teresa Bushey, the court’s administrative assistant. No reason was given for why the charges were dismissed.