Two crashes deadly as snow coats roads

Slick roads led to two deadly crashes that killed three people Friday in the Inland Northwest as rain turned to snow.

“Welcome to winter,” said Paul Bos, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Spokane. Spokane International Airport got about an inch of snow, Bos said.

Mark W. Robinson, 39, faces vehicular homicide charges after his 1994 Dodge Ram pickup broadsided a 1988 Volkswagen Fox about 3:50 p.m. at Bridges and Short roads, killing a 20-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. Robinson, of Valley, Wash., was drunk and may have been impaired by prescription medications, according to the sheriff’s office.

A rollover near Diamond Lake killed Clyde R. Lippencott, 64, of Newport, and sent his wife, Linda D. Lippencott, 60, to Deaconess Medical Center, according to the Washington State Patrol. She was treated and released, a hospital official said.

The couple were northbound on Highway 2 near milepost 319, just north of the Spokane County line in Pend Oreille County, when their 2001 Dodge Dakota pickup rolled into a ditch about 3 p.m., according to the WSP.

Meghann M. Cuniff

Kootenai County

Search for man in boat fire ended

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office has called off the search in Lake Pend Oreille for 41-year-old Scott A. Wright, of Rathdrum, who has been missing since a boat burned and sank near Bayview, Idaho, on Thursday morning.

“I’m pretty confident he has drowned out there,” Kootenai County sheriff’s Sgt. Matt Street said Friday. “Unless there’s something else that develops, we probably won’t go back out there.”

Fellow passengers Daniel J. Daffern and Clinton V. Creamer were rescued by other boaters. Creamer was treated for hypothermia at Kootenai County Medical Center and released. The water temperature was 38 degrees on Thursday.

“Without a life jacket, which (Wright) did not have, you’re not going to make it 100 feet,” Street said.

The depth of the lake limited the search. “The problem is that it’s too deep for our divers,” said Capt. Ben Wolfinger, citing depths in the area of more than 500 feet.

The boat fire was apparently caused by a leak in a hose connected to a propane heater.

Nina Culver

Stevens County

Boy hit by arrow dies at hospital

A 12-year-old boy died Thursday afternoon after being shot with an arrow in Stevens County south of Chewelah.

The Stevens County Sheriff’s Department said the boy was visiting friends when he was shot.

The boy was transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chewelah, where he died, according to the sheriff’s office.

Stevens County Fire District 4, Deer Park Ambulance and Chewelah Ambulance responded to the call shortly after 4 p.m.

“He was in critical condition when we arrived,” said Fire Chief Tim Van Doren, who didn’t know how the incident happened. The arrow appeared to have hit the boy in his upper left shoulder, the chief said.

Staff and wire reports