In brief: Fire forces residents out

Four adults and a child were burned out of their South Side home early Monday, according to Spokane fire officials.

The home, 1118 E. 33rd Ave., was fully engulfed in flames when the first crew got to the scene in the 12:45 a.m. call.

The residents had gotten out by then. Red Cross was called to assist them with emergency needs.

Firefighters controlled the fire in about 20 minutes, stopping it in the living room. The house had an estimated $35,000 in smoke and fire damage. No injuries were reported. The cause is under investigation.

Staff report

Man accused of burglary

A 47-year-old Cheney man is accused of burglary after his 25-year-old female neighbor said he’d repeatedly threatened to “chop her head off” before bursting into her apartment and trying to pull her shirt off.

The incident occurred Sunday at a residential motel on B Street in Cheney, where the alleged victim said a man in a nearby rental unit was harassing her via telephone and had also contacted her in person, according to court documents.

Police arrived to find the woman being consoled by two friends. The woman said she feared that the man, identified by police as Paul A. Columbus, was capable of carrying out the threats. She said he burst into her room after she called 911, but she was able to push him out and lock the door.

The woman said she was never in a relationship with Columbus. Her two friends told police they witnessed Columbus threaten to cut the woman’s head off and kill her dog.

Columbus remains jailed on $7,500 bond after appearing in Spokane County Superior Court on a first-degree burglary charge.

Meghann M. Cuniff

Wastewater permit sought

Public comments are being accepted on a proposed permit allowing Northwest Alloys to use more treated wastewater to irrigate alfalfa fields in Addy, Wash.

The alfalfa grown at the site is used by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as winter feed for elk.

The 180-acre magnesium-mining and processing facility, about 60 miles north of Spokane, closed in 2001. However, the site continues to generate wastewater due mainly to storm water runoff. Before the storm water is applied to the alfalfa fields, it is combined with treated sanitary wastewater, well water and neutralized water from a former slag pond.

The wastewater contains nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulfate, which act as fertilizers when applied to the alfalfa fields. Through a temporary permit, the state Department of Ecology allowed the treated water for irrigation in 2009 and 2010. The proposed permit would allow the irrigation to continue five more years.

More information, including where to send comments, is available at http://apps.ecy.wa.gov/industrial/ proposed.asp.

Becky Kramer