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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

This day in history: Spokane Public Schools passed levy; witnesses said man accused of manslaughter smelled of booze

The Spokane and Cheney school districts passed levies by large margins, The Spokesman-Review reported on February 5, 1975.  (Spokesman-Review archives)
By Jim Kershner The Spokesman-Review

From 1975: Spokane School District voters approved a special levy by a margin of more than 70% to 30%. The unofficial tally the day after the vote showed it winning with 20,232 votes in favor and 8,534 opposed.

This margin was surprising, considering that it seemed to be “more heavily opposed” before the vote than in past measures, according to The Spokesman-Review.

During this era, Spokane schools had asked for a special levy vote every year for the past 20 years. Only seven times had voters said no, and in five of those years, the district had held second, successful, elections.

One exception came in 1972, when district voters voted no twice, which resulted in the closure of nine elementary schools.

From 1925: The prosecution in the Bernard Newman manslaughter trial produced two more witnesses that said Newman “smelled strongly of liquor” after the accident which killed Joseph Kennedy.

Witnesses testified that Newman’s car not only hit and killed Kennedy, who was loading cider into a vehicle on the side of Apple Way, but also struck and damaged two other parked cars. One woman was thrown from a car by the impact.

Later in the day, the defense began laying out its case. Newman’s attorneys said that Newman had met with member of the Spokane Valley Growers’ Union earlier that day. Some people at the meeting drank liquor, but Newman had “but a little.”

The defense attorneys said that Newman attempted to slow the car on wet pavement and skidded into Kennedy and the other parked cars.

The defense attorney admitted that liquor bottles were in the car, and that Newman “threw one of the bottles into the basin at the road side.” Yet the attorney said he was not under the influence of liquor.