Region in brief: Resort’s septic tank spills sewage into lake
A septic tank spill at a luxury golf resort sent as much as 2,000 gallons of raw sewage into Lake Coeur d’Alene this week, contaminating the water and prompting the resort to prohibit swimming near its property.
The spill was discovered early Thursday, the Arrow Point Community Association announced Friday evening. Lift station pumps at Arrow Point lost power, the association said, causing the tank to overflow into the lake.
A lake water sample showed levels of E. coli exceeding the state’s safety standard, but water in the Arrow Point well showed no contamination, according to a news release. Homeowners near Arrow Point who use lake water should stop doing so or boil it until samples show E. coli concentrations have dropped, according to the release.
This is the second sewage spill within a year at the resort. In August, an unknown amount of sewage leaked from a broken pipe at a home just south of the Arrow Point condos, resulting in similar swimming and water usage advisories.
Meghann M. Cuniff
Spokane Valley
UPS worker accused of lacing brownies
A UPS worker was arrested Thursday night in Spokane Valley after home-baked brownies he took to his co-workers tested positive for marijuana, police said.
A 20-year-old worker at the 1016 N. Bradley distribution center ate a brownie, felt ill and asked his girlfriend to take him to a hospital, where he was treated and released, Spokane Valley police spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan said in a news release. Tests confirmed marijuana in the blood of the worker, who said he felt fine before eating the treat and didn’t know that it was laced, Reagan said.
At the distribution center, the man who provided the brownies, 24-year-old Virgil J. Feezell, denied knowing they contained drugs, Reagan said. But a UPS security adviser told police that Feezell had spoken to a third worker at the plant about the marijuana content.
Feezell was booked into Spokane County Jail on a felony charge of second-degree assault.
Andrew Zahler
Spokane
Help sought solving suspicious death
Police are asking for help in solving what they believe is the suspicious death of a man whose body was discovered in an SUV on the South Hill this week.
The last time police know Michael R. Giannotti, 40, was seen alive was May 13. A group of teens found his body in his white 1995 Nissan Pathfinder with Kootenai County license plates Monday evening and called 911.
Major Crimes Unit detectives found no trauma on Giannotti’s body but don’t believe he drove himself to the corner of Sixth Avenue and Jefferson Street where his Pathfinder was parked.
People have called the Crime Stoppers tip line with information, and Detective John Miller is asking them and anyone else with information to call him at (509) 625-4215.
Meghann M. Cuniff