Garbage truck driver dies after river crash
Emergency crews recovered the body of a Waste Management truck driver Monday on Highway 206 near Madison Road in north Spokane. The garbage truck overturned and landed in Deadman Creek.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Nicholas Hopper said it is unclear whether the driver died during the crash or drowned afterward.
Surapol Pattarnon, 47, was traveling eastbound on the highway about 9 a.m. when he drove off the road and slid into the ditch and creek, where the truck landed on its right side. It’s unclear what caused the truck to leave the roadway.
Pattarnon was not wearing a seat belt.
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office responded with a diver when the crash was discovered, but Pattarnon was already dead.
The highway was closed for almost two hours as crews first attempted a rescue, then removed the body and the truck. The crash is still under investigation.
– Amy Cannata
Building height rules extended 6 months
Emergency changes to building height rules enacted after the Spokane City Council approved a controversial 17-story tower overlooking Peaceful Valley will remain in place for six months.
Council voted Monday night to extend the changes until the city finishes examining permanent height rules proposed by a task force.
The council approved the changes the first time April 9. The ordinance made height limits the same for commercial and residential buildings on the north side of Riverside Avenue between Monroe and Maple streets.
Last month, the council approved the construction of a tower along Riverside that had been denied by the city’s hearing examiner based on the previous residential height limits. The developers of the condo project, Mick and Shelley McDowell, cited the discrepancy in a lawsuit they filed against the city.
The City Plan Commission is scheduled to consider new height rules at 6 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall.
– Jonathan Brunt
Athol, idaho
Silverwood seeking sewage treatment plant
Before Silverwood Theme Park can expand and perhaps build a hotel, it needs a sewage treatment facility.
The rollercoaster and water park near Athol along U.S. Highway 95 is asking the Kootenai County Commission for permission to build the treatment facility on 96 acres next door. A public hearing is scheduled for June 21.
The park, 20 years old this summer, now uses large septic tanks with drainfields located throughout the 380-acre facility.
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has said the system is no longer acceptable even though there is “no direct evidence” of effluent contaminating local groundwater. The agency said that the system will “eventually create a public health or water quality problem,” wrote DEQ’s Gary Gaffney in an April 26 letter to the county.
– Erica Curless
BOISE
MySpace to turn over sex offenders’ names
Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said Monday that MySpace has agreed to turn over the names of convicted sex offenders from Idaho who have registered as users on its Web site.
“I believe it is critical to receive this information to assess any threats by sexual predators to Idaho’s children,” Wasden said.
MySpace is an online networking site favored by young people.
Wasden and attorneys general from seven other states sent a letter to MySpace last week demanding that the company turn over the information.
– Betsy Z. Russell