Region in brief: Wheat field fire shuts down rodeo

A fire in a wheat field forced the evacuation of a rodeo and farmers market in Clayton on Sunday afternoon.

Lt. Russell Armstrong with Stevens County Fire District No. 1 said callers reported the blaze about 2 p.m. near U.S. Highway 395 and Swenson Road.

Janice Purdy, a board member of the Deer Park Fair Association, which runs the Clayton Fairgrounds, said firefighters soon ordered an evacuation.

“It was the community in action working together,” she said.

Purdy, who with her husband owns the wheat field where the fire was, said the blaze covered about 3 acres. She said the cause has not been determined.

North Side rape suspect arrested

Spokane police early Sunday arrested a man suspected of raping a woman in north Spokane.

Officers were called to the 6700 block of North Standard about 4:15 a.m. on a report of a sexual assault, said Spokane police Officer Devin Presta.

The call was made by a friend of the victim, who “was not unfamiliar” with the alleged attacker, “but did not know his name,” Presta said.

Based on a description provided to police, officers arrested Justin L. Dehn, 22, within several blocks of the scene. He was interviewed and then booked into the Spokane County Jail on a count of second-degree rape and two counts of indecent liberties, Presta said.

Moses Lake girl wins state crown

Mattie Bergeson, of Moses Lake, is the latest Washington Junior Miss.

She was crowned in a Saturday ceremony at Washington State University in Pullman.

Junior Miss titles apparently run in the Bergeson family, event organizers said. Tanae Bergeson, her sister, was the 2006 Washington Junior Miss.

First runner up is Niina Al-Hasan, of Pullman; second runner-up is Lara Roche, of Clarkston.

Spokane’s Junior Miss, Jade Heidinger of Ferris High School, won the interview award, good for a $200 scholarship.

As Washington’s Junior Miss, Bergeson will compete at the national competition in June 2010 in Mobile, Ala.

Idaho has few one-adult homes

TWIN FALLS, Idaho – A new report says Idaho has fewer single-parent families than all but one other state.

The 2009 KIDS COUNT Data Book by the Annie E. Casey Foundation says that 32 percent of children nationwide have only one adult, usually a female, acting as their primary caretaker.

Idaho has 22 percent of children living in single-parent households, just behind Utah’s 18 percent.

Idaho has consistently maintained the nation’s second-lowest single-parent household percentage since 2002.

Utah has maintained the lowest rate since 2000.