In brief: ASPCA to help shelters save animals
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will announce a plan today to spend $200,000 annually for three years to help animal shelters in Spokane County eliminate the death penalty for homeless cats and dogs.
All three of the principal animal shelters in the county – Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Services, SpokAnimal C.A.R.E. and the Spokane Humane Society – will be partners in what the ASPCA calls Mission Orange. It’s a plan to make orange the color of animal protection.
It also is a strategy in which the ASPCA hopes to accomplish more by focusing resources in a handful of cities across the nation. The idea is to create “humane communities” that will serve as models for other cities.
ASPCA president and chief executive officer Ed Sayres and local shelter representatives will make a formal announcement of the project at the Red Lion Inn at the Park, 303 W. North River Drive, from 9 to 10:30 a.m.
Nancy Hill, director of SCRAPS, said she thinks increased spaying and neutering of pets will be “pivotal” to any effort to reduce euthanasia.
Sayres said New York, in its third year of the program, has achieved a 40 percent reduction in euthanasia, and Philadelphia – in its second year – has similar numbers. Other cities in the Mission Orange project are Austin, Texas; the Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss., metropolitan area; and Tampa, Fla.
– John Craig
Sex offender files $250 billion claim
A convicted sex offender is seeking $250 billion from the state of Washington.
Robert M. Waggy, 36, Friday against the state of Washington after officials repeatedly have refused to allow Waggy to contact his biological daughter.
Waggy was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl at gunpoint in 2000. Superior Court Judge Greg Sypolt sentenced Waggy to serve 41 months in prison, minus the 217 days he served in jail, after he pleaded guilty to third-degree rape of a child and second-degree child molestation, court records show.
Almost immediately after pleading guilty, Waggy – who has and continues to represent himself – requested to overturn his conviction and regain access to his daughter and two stepdaughters.
After his request to remove the no-contact order was denied earlier this month, Waggy on Friday filed the lawsuit against the state.
By denying visitation to his daughter, Waggy claims, the state has caused “parental alienation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, loss of love and affection and abuse.” He seeks “damages in the amount of $250,000,000,000.”
A call placed to Waggy’s Spokane home Tuesday evening was not returned.
– Thomas Clouse
Man accused of raping 6-year-old girl
A 53-year-old man was arrested over the weekend after he admitted to police that he raped a 6-year-old girl.
Allan R. Walden remained in the Spokane County Jail on Tuesday on charges of first-degree child rape, with a $25,000 bond.
In court documents filed Monday, an Airway Heights police officer said Walden signed a written statement confessing to sexually abusing the girl in 2006.
The girl, who now lives in Arizona with her family, provided testimony to Airway Heights officers in a video interview, according to court records. The family is in the military and is now stationed at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.
– Christopher Rodkey