In brief: 73-year-old man arrested in alleged gun-aiming incident

A 73-year-old man arrested Wednesday for allegedly pointing a gun at a real estate agent was released from jail Thursday on his own recognizance.

Patrick D. Porter faces a charge of second-degree assault after the incident. Court documents say Porter told police a car pulled onto his property and he confronted the driver after retrieving his gun, a Walther PK .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol.

The driver of the car, a real estate agent, called 911 after she drove away. She told police that she pulled in front of the house next door to Porter’s residence in the 5900 block of North Monroe Street to show the house to a client. The tire tracks in the snow indicated the woman was never on Porter’s property, documents say.

The deputy prosecuting attorney handling the case asked for a $15,000 bond because Porter’s response was “extreme and seemingly without reason.” Porter’s attorney argued that he should be released because of his age, health issues and lack of criminal history.

Porter was ordered not to possess any firearms while the case is pending.

Signature-gatherer rules win OK

OLYMPIA – Paid signature-gatherers for statewide ballot measures would need to register with the secretary of state and their employers would need to conduct background checks before hiring them under a bill approved Thursday by a House panel.

They would have to sign a statement saying they understand election laws, list what initiatives or referendums they are being paid to collect signatures for, and couldn’t collect signatures on other petitions for free at the same time. Companies that hire unregistered signature gatherers, or allow their employees to be paid for one ballot measure while collecting names on another for free could be fined $500. 

The bill is the latest attempt to address concerns about the growth of paid signature gathering for the statewide initiatives.

A House appropriations subcommittee passed the bill on a 7-1 vote.