In brief: Bond set for man charged in killing
One of three suspects charged with the execution-style killing of a Spokane man was ordered held on a $250,000 bond Tuesday.
Carlton J. Hritsco, 26, was arrested March 12 by Spokane County sheriff’s deputies in connection with the June 2005 killing of Sebastian L. Esquibel.
Also charged in the slaying are Levoy Goff Burnham, 37, and 38-year-old Theodore M. Kosewicz.
The three men are charged with beating 25-year-old Esquibel in a travel trailer on Spokane’s North Side, then driving the bloodied man to a field in southern Spokane County and shooting him in the head, according to a previous news release.
Esquibel’s decomposed body was found in January 2006 in a woodpile near Fairfield with his feet bound by jumper cables, sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan said.
The killing apparently was over a $700 to $800 drug debt owed to Hritsco, Reagan said.
Superior Court Judge Michael Price set Hritsco’s trial for aggravated murder and kidnapping for June 4.
Colfax
Lightning storm blamed in outage
A brief lightning storm Tuesday evening may have knocked out power to Colfax and towns to the west.
Power went out about 7:20 p.m. and was restored to most cities by 7:45 p.m., but Colfax remained without power late Tuesday, said Avista spokeswoman Laurine Jue. Crews were searching lines to find the source of the problem, but the process would likely stretch into the night, she said.
“It’s slow going,” Jue said. “We’re dealing with a rural area. It could take us some time to go all along the line there to determine what the cause had been.”
Though officials suspect the storm triggered the disruption, officials will not be certain until they find the source.
Spokane Valley
EV gets approval to use Army center
East Valley School District now has the Spokane Valley City Council’s approval to pursue a new use for the Walker Army Reserve Center on Sullivan Road, which the Defense Department plans to close.
In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the council said it would not object to the district’s plan to form a redevelopment authority for the site, provided that the city retains control of the underlying zoning.
When the military shutters a facility, a redevelopment authority can sometimes receive the property at a fraction of its market value.
Last month, district officials told the council they wanted to take on the process of reviewing proposals for how to put the 9-acre center to use.
A similar process is taking place for the Mann Army Reserve Center in Hillyard.