In brief: Police say man shot by officers had gun
TACOMA – Police say officers shot and killed a man in a Tacoma parking lot after he pointed a gun at them.
Sgt. Mark Fulghum said police rushed to a restaurant on the Commencement Bay waterfront around 8 p.m. Saturday after patrons reported that a man was threatening suicide.
The Seattle Times reported that the officers made verbal contact with the man in the parking lot, but he repeatedly refused to show his hands.
Fulghum said he eventually pulled a gun and pointed it at the officers, who then shot and fatally wounded the man.
No names or other details were immediately available.
Challenger alleges ballot impropriety
SANDPOINT – A North Idaho Republican says Bonner County’s Democratic clerk is accepting absentee ballots that have arrived in envelopes that have been tampered with, an allegation the clerk calls outrageous.
Election challenger Larry Spencer on Thursday wanted to match signatures on absentee ballot envelopes with voter registration cards, and have an election judge rule on the authenticity.
He was not allowed to do that, a job instead being done by deputy clerks.
“I believe he was confused as to what his role was,” Bonner County Clerk Marie Scott said. “A challenger can challenge a voter’s registration. His intent was to decide which ballot was going to be acceptable – which ones he would allow me to accept and which ones he wouldn’t.”
Scott said the absentee ballot process is being strictly followed.
Spencer said he doesn’t trust Scott because she’s up for election on Tuesday.
Search for man called off till spring
SANDPOINT – The search for a North Idaho man officials say disappeared in the Selkirk Mountains east of Priest Lake has been suspended until spring.
The family of 56-year-old David W. Uhl, of Oldtown, reported him missing early last week.
Uhl’s pickup truck was discovered parked on the south side of a mountain in the Priest Lake State Forest.
The vehicle was first noticed by an Idaho Department of Lands worker on Oct. 8, but officials say it’s not unusual for vehicles to remain in the area for weeks.
Priest Lake Search & Rescue Commander Mike Nielsen said 2 feet of snow in the area has made it difficult for searchers.
Sediment-covered land not viable
ANACONDA, Mont. – Sediment contaminated with heavy metals and spread over 600 acres to cover even more dangerous mining waste at a Superfund site near Anaconda in western Montana appears unable to support vegetation.
The 2.5-million cubic yards of fine-grained sediment dredged from a former reservoir east of Missoula was spread 2 feet thick over a portion of a 5,000-acre Superfund site that holds mine and smelter wastes up to 50 feet deep.
Officials say the sediment isn’t posing a health hazard because it’s covering the mine waste and doesn’t appear to be blowing away as dust.