Bulletin column - April 22, 2010

These reports are from the previous four issues of the Daily Bulletin in Colfax. They are reprinted here for the benefit of Gazette readers who reside outside of Colfax. Some accounts have been updated.

City to hire C-Doc for channel

Larry Harrison of St. John, who bid under his firm’s Concrete Doctor name, will be hired to do repair work on portions of the S. Palouse River flood control channel wall. The move received approval after discussion at Monday night’s city council session.

Repairs will be made in the section of the channel wall between Spring and Wall Streets. Harrison submitted a bid of $12,800 plus tax for the project which will begin after the water level drops to its seasonal low level.

Public Works Director Andy Rogers said Harrison’s bid was about $2,000 over the bid submitted by Knox Concrete of Lewiston. However, Harrison provided a detailed description of how he would repair the segments of the flood channel wall.

Rogers reported on the bids at the last council session. Knox submitted a bid of $11,663, including tax, but did not detail how he would undertake the project which requires repairs to segments of the flood control wall which pre-date the Corp of Engineers project 45 years ago. Rogers said Knox was asked to outline his approach, and the Lewiston bidder responded with just a breakout of labor and materials costs.

Both contractors were taken on an inspection tour of the project. The city aims to have the job completed before the next Army Corps of Engineers inspection of the Colfax channel.

Palouse cycle rider hurt

Kevin M. Imel, 47, Palouse, sustained shoulder and ankle injuries Sunday in a motorcycle accident just south of Garfield on Highway 27. According to the Washington State Patrol report, Imel was riding a 2009 Kawasaki motorcycle northbound at 2:40 p.m., applied the front brakes in an attempt to make a right turn onto the Farmington Road and spilled the motorcycle onto the pavement. He was taken to Pullman Regional Hospital.

Heather R. Fuhrman, 19, Spokane, was unhurt Sunday when the Mazda 626 she was driving struck a guardrail on Highway 195 12.1 miles north of Colfax on Highway 195. The WSP report said Fuhrman was driving north at 7 a.m. when she drifted onto the shoulder of the highway and struck the guardrail. The Mazda rotated and came to a stop facing south on the northbound shoulder of the highway.

Sarah Keller, 29, Uniontown, sustained a head bump early Friday when she lost control of a 1991 Toyota pickup which rolled into the ditch along Highway 195 two miles north of Colton. The WSP report said she was driving northbound at 6:05 a.m. when the pickup went off the roadway on the east side and rolled.

Cohoon admits harassment

Dennis Cohoon, the Endicott resident who had to be carried out of the courtroom in a first appearance after he was arrested in St. John, was sentenced to 30 days in jail after admitting a charge of felony harassment Friday in superior court. He was allowed credit for time already served since his March 16 arrest and allowed release from jail.

Cohoon was placed on 12 months of community custody. He will not be allowed to possess guns and must refrain from any type of assaultive behavior. He was also ordered to avoid contact with Gary True, the St. John man he threatened to kill.

Deputy reports said Cohoon threatened True after True yelled at him to slow down the Corvette Cohoon was driving on Front Street in St. John.

Cohoon was also ordered to pay $1,800 in fines and fees.

Dale pleads guilty to lesser charge

Larry Dale, 53, Colfax, was sentenced to seven days in jail Thursday, April 15, after entering a plea of guilty to a reduced charge in Whitman County Superior Court. Dale admitted a second amended charge of failure to report depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The crime is a gross misdemeanor.

Dale on his plea form said he had downloaded pornography onto his computer which he believed involved depictions of adults. He said he later discovered “juvenile stuff” was mixed in with that material.

Dale was also ordered to pay fines and fees of $1,335. That included $635 to the prosecutor’s office for expenses in preparing the trial. He was ordered to report to jail to begin serving his seven day sentence by May 1.

Dale had been scheduled for trial Monday on the first amended version of the original charges. He had been slated for an arraignment today on the first amended version.

The original charges against Dale were filed in July of 2008, and a trial on the case, which was investigated by Colfax police, has been delayed several times because witnesses were unavailable. Pre-trial preparations also included processing a copy of the state’s computer evidence to provide to the defense.

Dale was originally charged with nine felony counts of possession of child pornography, but Defense Attorney Mark Moorer of Moscow argued under a recent supreme court decision that Dale could only be charged once for the same incidence of possession. Moorer’s motion was granted and a first amended charge, listing one count, was filed Monday. It was then reduced to the misdemeanor “failure to report” at the Thursday session.

Moore also last week moved to present “alternative perpetrator” evidence with testimony of Johannes Moedt, who is now serving time at the Airway Heights Correction center on a child rape conviction here last July. The state filed a response to that motion, but the topic was never decided in court before Dale decided to enter his plea.

Dale Thursday was placed on one year probation and entry of the sentence on record was deferred for a year and will not be recorded if he does not violate probation.

Rosalian jailed 45 days

Ben Evensen, 20, was sentenced April 9 to 45 days in jail on a conviction of vehicular assault involving an accident on Highway 194 west of Pullman Feb. 14. The 45-day term is in the middle of the sentencing range for the conviction.

Evensen was also placed on 12 months of community supervision and ordered to undergo alcohol evaluation. He was also ordered to pay $3,800 in fines and fees.

Evensen was the driver of a 2003 pickup truck which rolled down an embankment after going out of control on Highway 194 about seven miles west of Pullman. Drake English, a passenger in the truck, sustained back injuries in the accident.

Bremerton driver hits deer

Katie Vanderhalf, 23, Bremerton, was unhurt Tuesday, April 6, night after she struck a deer while driving a 2007 Ford Focus on Highway 26. According to the Washington State Patrol report, she was driving eastbound at 7:45 p.m. when a deer ran onto the highway near mile 115 west of Dusty.