In brief: Judge dismisses election challenge
Idaho Sen. Mike Jorgenson’s lawsuit challenging the voter registration of the candidate who beat him in the May GOP primary has been dismissed by an Idaho judge.
Judge John Luster granted a motion for summary judgment against Jorgenson, ruling that the lawsuit didn’t follow required legal procedures for challenging an elector.
Kootenai County Clerk Dan English, who was targeted in the lawsuit, said, “I’m certainly gratified at the ruling – on the other hand, I guess I wasn’t surprised a great deal, because I felt like we were on solid ground. … I’m glad to have some closure on that.”
Steven Vick, a former Montana state legislator, moved to Idaho in 2004, but in 2006 he moved back to Montana, switched back his voter registration and ran unsuccessfully for office there. Within a few months, he’d moved back to Idaho, to the same address he’d left a few months earlier. When he went to update his Idaho voter registration, he was told it was still current.
Jorgenson’s attorney, Jason Risch, filed a complaint with the Idaho secretary of state’s office before the May primary election, seeking to have Vick removed from the ballot, but Secretary of State Ben Ysursa rejected the complaint in April, prompting Jorgenson’s suit.
Robbery suspect identified
Spokane police have identified Merle W. Roberts as a suspect in the robbery of a tobacco accessory store on the South Hill.
Police believe Roberts, 23, robbed Piece of Mind at 2824 E. 29th Ave. on Aug. 14, taking money and scales.
Police said he is probably armed and considered dangerous. He is described as a white male with short, dark hair, shorter than 6 feet tall, weighing about 160 pounds. The suspect has tattoos on both forearms, with a banded tattoo on his left wrist.
Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.
Perry, Ninth intersection closing
The intersection of Perry Street and Ninth Avenue will be closed starting Sunday for a water main project.
The intersection will be closed until mid-week, according to a city news release.
In addition, Ninth Avenue from Perry to Julia streets is closed, and drivers can use the Ray or Thor streets instead.
The work is part of the Hartson Avenue water transmission main project and will replace a 36-inch water transmission main with a 42-inch pipe along Hartson from Havana to Sherman streets, according to the news release. The project will also repair several streets in the area.
Memorial set for victims of house fire
ZILLAH, Wash. – Authorities expected to wrap up their investigation Friday at the scene of a deadly house fire that claimed the lives of three Washington State Patrol employees.
Yakima County Chief of Detectives Stew Graham estimated 85 percent of the debris in the fire has been removed and examined.
“This process has proceeded slowly due to the meticulous and painstakingly thorough nature of the work,” he said, adding, “No conclusions have been made concerning the cause of the fire.”
The early morning fire Monday on Falcon Ridge Road killed Trooper Gary Miller, 55, and his wife, Anne Miller-Hewitt, 54, manager of the State Patrol’s emergency communication center in Wenatchee.
Also killed was Trooper Kristopher Sperry, a 30-year-old rookie and houseguest of the Millers. He and Gary Miller worked out of the State Patrol’s Grandview detachment.
The State Patrol announced that a public memorial for the Millers and Sperry has been set for Friday at the Yakima Valley SunDome. The service will start at 1 p.m.
Soldier sentenced for slaying wife
OLYMPIA – A Thurston County Superior Court judge has sentenced a Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier to about 14 and a half years in prison for strangling his wife.
The Olympian reports 28-year-old Sheldon Plummer had returned from his third deployment to Iraq in August 2009. He pleaded guilty to strangling his wife, Winter Plummer, after a dispute in February at their apartment near Lacey.
Winter Plummer was also an Iraq War veteran. Their 2-year-old daughter, Taylor, is now living with Winter Plummer’s sister in Arizona.
Seal pup heading back to wild
SEATTLE – An animal rehabilitation center says a seal pup taken near Westport, Wash., and kept in a motel room by a vacationing couple because they thought the little seal was injured will be released next week.
The Seattle Times reports that the Harbor seal pup now is grown up and able to hunt on his own.
PAWS Wildlife Center spokeswoman Mary Leake Schildner said the pup is ready to return to the wild.
The pup was taken back in June by a couple because they spotted him alone at the beach. They took the pup, which was about 6 to 8 weeks old, to their motel room to try to help him.
But wildlife experts say that mother seals often leave their pups alone while hunting.