Serving Whitman County since 1877

Bulletin column - Aug. 5, 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.

Road vacation hearing

A Sept. 20 hearing date has been set for the proposed vacation of a steep, unused segment of a city street running from E. Fairview downhill to the highway exit to Pullman on the city’s south end. The segment of street came to the attention of the city when a large poplar tree at the top the hill was blown over and hit the end of a house in the 400 block of east Fairview.

Public Works Director Andy Rogers said the street is so steep, vehicles tend to slide down it when they are left with parking brakes applied.

The city has determined the official name of the street is Ash Street. City Attorney Bruce Ensley Monday, noted it appears the street intersects with another platted street, designated as Reed Street. If that proves to be the case, the city could have to vacate both streets because state law prohibits any road vacation which cuts access to an adjoining platted street.

Rosalia driver unhurt

Brittany A. Baugh, 23, Rosalia, escaped injury early Sunday, Aug. 1, when she lost control of a 1995 Pontiac Grand Am and drove down a steep bank next to Highway 271 about six miles north of Oakesdale.

According to the Washington State Patrol report, she was driving southbound at 1:30 a.m. and lost control of the car on a sharp curve to the left. The Grand Am skidded across the oncoming lane, struck a newspaper box and post and went down the steep bank onto a lawn area. It damaged the lawn and broke a fence post. The report said Baugh left the scene and was located later.

Coroner files reports

County Coroner Peter Martin Monday said massive thermal burns and massive brain injury caused the death of Curtis D. Fleming, 24-year-old Clarkston resident who died in a fiery crash on Highway 193 near Red Wolf Bridge July 25 on the Whitman County side of the Snake River. The WSP accident report said the 1998 Ford Mustang Fleming was driving caught fire after it went out of control and struck an embankment.

Martin also released findings on unattended deaths of two Pullman men. David Beckman, 69, died July 22 of heart failure secondary to chronic liver failure. Warren Wayneberg, 85, died July 25 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Both died at home.

Another plate missing

The front license plate of a vehicle parked on S. Lake Street was reported missing. The plate is believed to have been taken Saturday night, July 31. Chief Bill Hickman said the suspected theft makes a total of seven license plates taken off vehicles. The plate had an August expiration date.

The other thefts happened on Memorial Day weekend in the same S. Meadow and S. Lake neighborhood.

Cycle rider spills

Drew J. Dixon, 18, Ellensburg, sustained knee injuries when he put a 2006 Kawasaki motorcycle on its side early Friday afternoon, July 30, on Highway 26 east of Dusty. According to the Washington State Patrol report, Dixon was riding the EX 650 model westbound and attempted a pass. He spotted oncoming traffic, attempted to brake and then put the motorcycle on its side just east of the Penawawa Road intersection and slid to a stop in the eastbound lane. He was taken by Colfax ambulance to Whitman Hospital and Medical Center.

Pasma plea delayed

Arraignment for Richard Pasma, 24, was put back to Aug. 20 in superior court after attorneys were asked to iron out differences on a defense request for a bill of particulars on the state’s charge. Pasma has been charged with felony hit and run in an accident which left Kristen Grindley seriously injured on the Pullman-Albion road last Nov. 11.

Prosecutor Denis Tracy contended one of the requests in the particulars, filed by Pullman defense attorney Timothy Esser, did not deal with the elements of the hit and run charge which he will have to prove against Pasma. Esser had asked for the state to provide particulars on how the accident happened.

Tracy said under the charge he filed against Pasma the state has to prove the defendant was driving a vehicle involved in the accident, knew Grindley had been hurt and left the scene. Esser said evidence he has received in the case to date has informed him of what investigators did not find, but fails to tell what happened.

Judge David Frazier ordered the prosecutor to respond to the request for particulars to the extent he could, and allowed Esser’s motion to continue the arraignment until Aug. 20.

Humane society to benefit

Whitman County Humane Society will receive benefits in the retirement fund of Kathleen Sain, a WSU employee in the library’s technical services division who died last August. The humane society petitioned the court for award of the retirement benefits after the state’s Department of Retirement Systems began the process of awarding the benefits to a previously named recipient, Linda Sain, a sister of the deceased.

The court’s finding of facts filed July 22 said Kathleen Sain went to the WSU employee benefits office in May of 2008 and revised her forms to name the Humane Society as the beneficiary of retirement account.

The change of forms was notarized.

Officials at the state retirement systems office refused to turn over the benefits to the society because the 2008 changes made by Sain at the WSU office had never been advanced to the state records. One of the beneficiaries listed when she opened the file in 1987 was the sister, Linda, in Ocala, Fla., one of the respondents listed in the petition.

Linda Sain in an affidavit said she believed her sister changed her benefits file out of concern for the well being of her cats.

A hearing on the society’s petition was conducted in court June 10, and a presentment on findings was scheduled for July 16. Judge David Frazier declined to accept either side’s version of the findings and filed his own version with the July 22 judgment.

The judge said officials in the state Department of Retirement Systems approached the society’s claim as a “challenge to its power and authority” and disregarded the clearly expressed desires of the deceased. The judge ruled the WSU benefits office could be considered an agent for the state retirement systems office.

The judge noted decisions made by the state’s attorney added unneeded costs to the society’s legal expenses and awarded $13,294 in attorney fees and costs to the humane society which was represented by Will Ferguson.

Lawrence ordered to pay

Lewis Lawrence, the former Pullman resident who was sentenced to a maximum of 75 years in prison April 21 after a jury convicted him of attempted murder, was ordered to pay $16,132 in restitution Wednesday, July 28 in superior court by Judge William Acey. Lawrence appeared at the court session via telephone from the state penitentiary in Walla Walla.

He was ordered to pay the sum to the state Department of Labor & Industries which paid the amount for the treatment of Michael Fuaau. He was wounded in the head when he was hit after Lawrence discharged a shotgun into the apartment where the Fuaau brothers were residing in Pullman March 17, 2009.

Lawrence objected to the restitution sum after hearing the request for the order from Walla Walla.

Colfax residents arrested

Two Colfax residents were arrested and booked into the jail on unrelated charges Wednesday, July 28.

Anthony R. Daily, 27, was arrested on probable charges of burglary and illegal possession of a firearm. The police report said they had received information that Daily, who is allegedly on probation for domestic violence, had been shooting a shotgun. Daily at first told the officer he had borrowed the shotgun from a neighbor, but when they checked with the neighbor she said she did not loan the shotgun to Daily and after checking where the gun is normally kept and not finding it alleged Daily had taken it.

The report said the shotgun was found hidden in a small room in Daily’s basement.

Also arrested on July 28 was Lisa Ann Aase, 31, on a probable charge of taking a fetanyl pain medication patch off a patient at Whitman Health & Rehab where she was employed. The report said Aase became a suspect when other employees noticed she was acting abnormally.

After an initial hearing in court, Daily was ordered held on a $10,000 bond, and Aase was allowed release on her own recognizance. Formal charges were not filed within the required 72 hour limit and all conditions of release have now been removed by the court.

Rains douse fire

Colfax and Steptoe fire crews responded to a report of a harvest fire in the Shields Road area at about 9:15 a.m. last Wednesday, July 28. Three trucks from Colfax and one from Steptoe responded, but a rain storm doused the fire and the fire crews returned to the station.

 

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