Crackdown on gangs yields 77 arrests over weekend
Seventy-seven gang members and associates were arrested in a weekend blitz throughout the Spokane area, authorities said Monday.
Most were arrested on pre-existing warrants or on suspicion of parole, probation or drug violations, said Sgt. Dave Reagan, of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
“We’ll use any method we can come up with to get these people off the streets,” he said.
The regional Gang Enforcement Team – composed of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies – carried out the crackdown Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, Reagan said.
The operation was sparked by what authorities believe to be an increase in gang activity during the summer.
Authorities arrested some confirmed gang members and several suspects in organized crimes, according to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. All 77 were booked into Spokane County Jail.
Man hit by truck unconscious as police seek pickup driver
An elderly man involved in a hit-and-run Sunday underwent surgery and was still unconscious at an intensive care unit Monday, a close friend said.
Don Seever, 77, was in critical condition late Monday at Sacred Heart Medical Center, a nursing supervisor said.
Friend Novella Terzieff visited Seever at the hospital Monday and saw him in “really, really bad shape,” she said.
“(A nurse) basically said he’s not going to wake up any time soon,” Terzieff said.
Seever suffered serious head injuries when he was hit by a truck while closing the gate to his apartment building’s parking lot Sunday. The male driver reportedly was kicked out of The Zombie Room bar, 230 W. Riverside Ave., about 7 p.m. and sped out of the lot, where he was illegally parked, according to Spokane Police.
Police were on the lookout late Monday for a new-looking four-door white pickup. A female passenger also could face criminal charges.
Nationwide
Passport rules, which were delayed, now in effect
Travelers flying into or out of the United States from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or the Caribbean must now have a passport.
The new requirement, under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, originally was to have gone into effect last January. But when the State Department found it could not keep up with the demand for passports by millions of Americans, it granted an extension until Oct. 1.
Anyone who left the country during the grace period will not need a passport to return. Passports are not required for travel to the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Next year, Americans traveling to North American countries by sea or by automobile also will need passports.
It takes about six to eight weeks to obtain a passport. The cost is $97 for adults and $82 for children 15 or younger. For $60, the State Department will expedite an application for those needing a passport within three weeks, but it makes no promises.
Olympia
Nurse’s fight to stay in Air Force has court date
Three years after Spokane flight nurse Margaret Witt was barred from her reserve unit for being a lesbian, the decorated officer’s challenge to the military ban on openly gay and lesbian troops will be heard by a federal appeals court.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case Nov. 5 in Seattle, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is handling her case.
Witt, 43, is asking the court to prevent the Air Force from discharging her or otherwise hampering her military career. Witt is a major with 18 years of active and reserve service.
Witt was placed on unpaid leave in November 2004 and banned from training. The reason: An investigation revealed that she’d quietly been in a committed relationship with a civilian woman for the past six years.