In brief: Lawmaker wants to track staph

On the heels of a national report about a spike in drug-resistant staph infections, a Washington state legislator said Thursday he’ll seek a new law to track the potentially deadly germ.

Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Roy, plans to introduce legislation in January that would require reporting of all methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus to state health officials. The law would include nursing homes, doctors’ offices and other institutions, not just hospitals, he said.

The move follows a study released this week that shows MRSA infections are at least twice as high as researchers previously believed and that the disorder kills more people in the United States than AIDS. Once common only in hospitals, MRSA is now found throughout the community, often showing up in prisons and locker rooms. The infection is caused by staph bacteria that have become resistant to all but the most powerful antibiotics. It is spread by touch and can live on common surfaces – such as doorknobs – for weeks.

Spokane

Lawyer suspended from practicing

A Spokane lawyer has been suspended from practice for six months on an order of the Washington State Supreme Court.

Cynthia A. Montgomery’s suspension, effective today, was ordered under a reciprocal discipline agreement after the Colorado Supreme Court issued a similar suspension in August.

Montgomery was admitted to the Colorado bar in September 2004 and admitted in 1988 to practice in Washington. There are no public disciplinary actions against her in Washington, according to court documents provided by the Washington State Bar Association.

Montgomery improperly used a client’s $9,353 in retainer fees to run her Colorado practice in 2005 and 2006 without doing work for the client and failed to provide regular billing statements, the Colorado order says. It notes that Montgomery “has relocated to Spokane, Washington and is no longer practicing law.”

Montgomery did not respond Thursday to a request for comment.

If she decides to resume her practice, Montgomery must petition the court and her work will be monitored for one year, according to the court orders.

Read the Supreme Court order.

Man killed in hit-and-run

A Spokane man who went outside his home on North Andrew Street to investigate a reckless driver died Thursday night after he was run over by a pickup that fled the scene, sheriff’s deputies said.

“He was drug 20 to 30 feet from where he was hit,” said neighbor Angel Payne.

Spokane County sheriff’s deputies were called to the 9800 block of North Andrew Street about 9:30 p.m. and found the man lying on the pavement, said Lt. Jim Gladden. He said the driver may have been a former roommate of the victim.

Neighbors reported that a red Chevrolet pickup had been driving recklessly in the residential neighborhood in north Spokane County, and the victim attempted to confront the driver. The victim, whose name was not released, died at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Late Thursday, sheriff’s deputies near Highway 2 and Woolard Road spotted a pickup matching the description of the one involved.

Investigators arrested a man on suspicion of DUI and consider him a person of interest.

Gang member’s lawsuit dismissed

Senior U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush has dismissed a civil rights damages suit filed by a 35-year-old Long Beach, Calif., street gang member shot in the face by an undercover federal agent during a 2004 drug transaction.

Agent Michael Zidack, with the Drug Enforcement Administration, fired his .40-caliber handgun, striking John A. Grace in the head as he drove his rented Mitsubishi SUV at the officer in a Spokane supermarket parking lot on Jan. 2, 2004.

The officer testified that he feared for his life and barely escaped injury.

Grace was sentenced to 10 years in prison in August 2005 by Judge Fred Van Sickle after being convicted of selling an ounce of crack cocaine. He later filed the damages suit, acting as his own attorney.

In dismissing the suit, Quackenbush said the agent’s use of his firearm to stop the fleeing felon and avoid being hit by his charging SUV was a legally appropriate response that “did not violate a clearly established constitutional right.”

Conservation tax will cost less

Spokane County’s “conservation futures” tax will cost less than the maximum rate specified in an advisory question in the Nov. 6 general election.

The ballot item asks whether county commissioners should extend the “existing conservation futures tax of six cents per one thousand dollars of valuation.” However, county Assessor Ralph Baker says the actual rate next year will be no more than 4.6 cents – probably about 4.5 cents.

At 4.6 cents, the property tax – used to buy and maintain undeveloped land for open space and passive recreation – would cost the owner of a median-priced $186,000 home $8.56 next year. That’s a $2.60 savings over the advertised rate.

The reason for the lower rate is that, except for new construction, property tax collections have been limited to 1 percent annual increases since Initiative 747 took effect in 2001. Rising property values generally mean levy rates must fall to stay within the levy lid.

This year’s levy, limited to $1.5 million, required a property tax rate of 4.9 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

State law allows counties to establish the tax at rates up to 6.25 cents per $1,000, but Spokane County commissioners opted for 6 cents when they imposed the tax in 1994. They sought voter consent before renewing it for five years in 1997 and again in 2002.