In brief: Eugster loses appellate case
Attorney and former Spokane City Council member Steve Eugster has lost yet another legal decision, this time challenging the way the state elects appellate judges and assigns them to three-judge panels.
The Washington Supreme Court – which in 2009 voted to suspend rather than disbar Eugster in an unrelated case – agreed to hear the challenge filed in Thurston County in what’s called a direct review because of the awkwardness of having appellate judges rule on the way they were elected.
Eugster appealed a Superior Court judge’s decision to dismiss the case. Upon review, the state’s high court unanimously agreed to uphold the lower court’s decision, with Justice Mary Fairhurst writing for the majority that Eugster failed to prove that the laws establishing Washington’s Court of Appeals are unconstitutional.
Energy assistance still available
About $650,000 in heating assistance remains to be distributed for the 2010-’11 season to eligible Spokane County residents.
So much federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program money for the poor – enough to serve about 1,300 households – has never been available so late in the season, said Larry Stuckart, program administrator for SNAP, the nonprofit social services organization.
“Congress did not approve the budget, including LIHEAP dollars, until late in March 2011. Therefore, the bulk of heating assistance money arrived very late in the winter heating season,” Stuckart said.
So far, SNAP has distributed about $6.25 million to 12,806 households. To make an appointment, call (509) 242-2376, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. through July, or visit www.snapwa.org.
Pickup rams patrol car, injuring officer
A Spokane police officer suffered minor injuries after a driver rammed into his car Thursday.
The officer, whose name was not released, and another officer were trying to block a stolen pickup driven by Devin M. Check, 21, when Check accelerated and struck the police car near North Crestline Street and East Everett Avenue, according to the Spokane Police Department.
Check ran from the pickup, but officers chased him down and took him into custody.
Police found stereo equipment they believe to be stolen, as well as drug paraphernalia.
The incident began about 11:50 a.m. when a patrol sergeant responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle in an alley and determined the pickup was stolen.
Officers monitored the vehicle until Check climbed through the back window and drove away, according to a news release.
Two men from Canada arrested with 159 pounds of Ecstasy near the United States border will stay in the Spokane County Jail without bail, a judge ruled Thursday.
Christopher S. Stocken, 31, and Joshua J. Bird, 23, who are cousins and members of the Little Black Bear tribe, don’t have a stable release plan to ensure their presence in court, U.S. Magistrate Cynthia Imbrogno said.
Family members traveled from Regina, Saskatchewan, for the hearing in U.S. District Court in Spokane.
Stocken is unemployed but works odd jobs, his lawyer said. He has a warrant in Canada related to a drunken driving conviction, and Bird also has a drunken driving conviction.
Border patrol agents found the men with five backpacks after they crossed into the country illegally from Canada last Friday.
Investigators estimate the Ecstasy tablets to be worth $4.5 million.