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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Infant boy taken off life support

Izayah Denison (The Spokesman-Review)

A baby who police say was abused by his mother’s boyfriend was taken off life support Tuesday afternoon, days before his three-month birthday. Izayah Arlen Wayne Denison’s heart, kidneys and liver will be donated to three babies, said his mother, Jenauh Denison, 22.

Izayah had been on life support at the Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital after medics found him unresponsive at his apartment in the 1400 block of East Seventh Avenue late Friday.

Andrew W. Whitmire, 22, is charged in the death and remains at Spokane County Jail on $1 million bail.

Doctors declared Izayah brain dead, and his organs were harvested Tuesday. He was taken off life support at 1:45 p.m., Denison said.

Denison hopes to contact the families of the three babies who’ll receive Izayah’s organs.

“I hope they have a better life than everything that we’ve had to deal with,” she said.

Convict’s request to die at home denied

Spokane man convicted of murder has been denied prison leave so he could die at home.

Gregory A. Rowley, convicted in 1989, is serving a 46-year sentence at Washington State Penitentiary for the murder of David Ritchey. Rowley is dying of cancer and asked for exceptional medical leave in May so he could die surrounded by his family in Spokane.

A committee denied the request “because of the nature of his offense,” said Maria Peterson, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections. Rowley’s family has been notified of the decision.

Ritchey, 32, was left beaten, bloody and partially naked in a Rogers High School parking lot on Feb. 24, 1987. He’d just finished his paper route for The Spokesman-Review. Rowley lived with his mother 100 yards from the scene; their house was on Ritchey’s paper route.

Spokane police arrested Rowley, who was linked to the crime by a fingerprint, on April 29, 1988. He admitted to being at the scene of the homicide but has maintained his innocence. Rowley’s earliest possible release date from prison is 2019.

The victim’s widow, Marsha Ritchey, said Tuesday she wrote a letter to state corrections a couple months ago asking that Rowley be allowed to die comfortably.

Shopper arrested on second-degree theft

The woman reportedly told police she was only taking the essentials, but she had no money to pay for them.

Tina E. McDonald, 39, was booked into Spokane County Jail Monday evening on second-degree theft charges, said Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Dave Reagan.

About 8 p.m., McDonald walked into Fred Meyer, 12120 N. Division St., and began putting items into the shopping cart, Reagan said. When the cart was full, McDonald allegedly pushed it out of the store without paying.

The items included numerous DVD movies and games, the DVD player, cosmetics and food items totaling $620 in value, Reagan said.

BOISE

New rule would allow mining pollution

Monsanto Co., Agrium Inc., and J.R. Simplot Co. will be able to mine phosphate without being forced to restore groundwater beneath their operations to its natural condition, according to a new rule awaiting approval by the 2009 Legislature.

The rule is backed by industry but opposed by environmentalists including the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and Idaho Conservation League, who say it gives mining companies near the Idaho-Wyoming border license to pollute forever.

It stops short of a 2007 draft proposal developed by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality but never formalized. That would have required companies to clean up groundwater below their mines within eight years of ceasing activities.

According to the new rule, mining companies could pollute groundwater below their extraction, reclamation and tailing activities with high concentrations of naturally occurring elements such as selenium.

PORTLAND

Woman’s grip stops naked intruder

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office says an 88-year-old woman fended off a naked intruder by grabbing the man’s crotch and squeezing.

Deputy Paul McRedmond says the man got into the house Tuesday through a sliding door. He backed the woman into her living room and pushed her face down onto a chair.

That’s when the woman reached behind and squeezed. The man tore free and fled.

McRedmond says a county code enforcement officer who heard the police call on his radio spotted a car near the woman’s house and passed on the license information to authorities. Troutdale police arrested 46-year-old Michael G. Dick, of Gresham, Ore.

From staff and wire reports