In brief: Abuse victim, 91, remains serious
A 91-year-old woman rescued Friday from deplorable conditions in a north Spokane home remains in serious condition at Sacred Heart Medical Center.
Elsie Gettman was found Friday by paramedics and Elder Services workers. She was lying on a mattress covered in feces and maggots.
Gettman’s grandson, 28-year-old Michael R. Bourassa, was arrested on charges of criminal mistreatment.
Fire damages West Plains home
A family watched Tuesday morning as firefighters punched out windows and ripped through walls to make sure a blaze in their West Plains home was out.
No one was hurt in the 9 a.m. fire at 3610 S. Harrison, fire officials said.
The fire started in the kitchen, possibly because something was left on the stove, said Spokane County Fire District 10 Chief Nick Scharff. The cause remains under investigation.
The family of four had left about an hour earlier but returned home after learning of the blaze.
Fire crews kept the blaze contained to one room, but there was smoke and heat damage throughout the one-story home on 10 acres, officials said.
Watch a video report from the scene.
County resending 833 ballots
The Spokane County Elections Office will send new ballots to 833 voters who live between the Spokane and Cheney city limits because of a printing problem on some ballots mailed to that voting district last week.
Some – although not all – ballots sent to Precinct 6022A do not have ovals to fill in for the statewide ballot measures. County Elections Manager Mike McLaughlin said the office does not know how widespread the problem is, but is having new ballots printed and mailed out this week to all voters in that precinct.
The voters affected live in an unincorporated area between the two cities, and are members of the Cheney School District and Fire District 3. The ballots will be mailed without security and return envelopes, so voters need to mail back the new ballot in the envelopes that came with their original ballot if that one has the printing error. If the ballots are the same, either one can be marked and returned.
Voters who have already marked and mailed in their ballots should not mark and return the new ones, because there’s no way to separate the old ballot from other ballots coming in, McLaughlin said. Once a ballot has been marked and mailed, it can’t be withdrawn or changed.
Benewah County
Hunter likely shot self accidentally
A St. Maries hunter found dead Monday likely slipped and shot himself, according to the Benewah County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Bob Kirts said 32-year-old Brian Hill was loading an ATV into his pickup when he apparently slipped and grabbed his shotgun.
Hill was shot once in the left side of his chest with the .410-gauge shotgun.
Kirts said the hunter was wearing caulked boots and possibly lost his footing on the metal bed of his truck.
Another hunter discovered the body outside the driver’s side door Monday morning, Kirts said.
The truck door was open and the truck had been left running, Kirts said. He suspects Hill died Sunday evening.
Hill was hunting in the XMas Hill Recreation Area about a mile east of St. Maries.