Bulletin Column - Sept. 22, 2011

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.

TREE EXIT SAID COSTLY

At Monday night’s Colfax city council meeting, Councilman Thomas Huntwork said last week’s removal of a giant elm tree as part of the S. Mill Street project resulted in loss to the owner of the property who was not advised of the plan to remove the tree. Huntwork said the owner of the property had recently spent hundreds of dollars to have the tree trimmed without realizing it was slated for removal as part of the project.

Mayor Norma Becker said Munir Daud, project engineer, apologized for not informing the property owner of the plan to remove the giant tree. Daud had concluded AGG Insurance, office tenant in the building, was the owner of the property.

Mayor Becker explained approximately one third of the tree was in the right-of-way for the Mill Street project. Concern for potential root damage was one of the key reasons for ordering its removal.

Huntwork said the only root damage he saw caused by the tree was to sidewalks along the side of the building.

Todd Vanek, one of the mayoral candidates, said he considered the failure to contact the owners of the property about the pending tree removal “pretty unprofessional.”

The building is owned by Jeff Franks who resides in Maryland. It is managed by Mike Wadsworth of Pullman who said he was informed of the tree cutting operation by one of the tenants.

Mayor Becker said the city will deal with the problem if and when the owner of the property comes forward. She said a replacement tree will be planted in front of the building.

FARMINGTON

DRIVER HURT

Dionne K. Varney, 36, Farmington, was taken by ambulance to Whitman Hospital Monday night for treatment of arm, head and neck injuries sustained in a one-car accident north of Tekoa Monday. According to the Washington State Patrol report, she was driving a 2003 Subaru Forrester north on Highway 27 at 7:20 p.m. when it went onto the shoulder of the highway, came back across both lanes and went off the highway. It came to a halt on its top about 40 feet down an embankment.

AMBULANCE CRASH NETS

QUESTIONS

Questions about city policy related to the Colfax Volunteers’ ambulance operation were asked Monday night by Colfax Councilman Jeremiah Roberts at the end of the council session. The questions related to the Sept. 3 accident in which an ambulance was damaged when it struck a deer just south of Spokane while they were returning from a run to Spokane.

Roberts said he wanted to confirm that the volunteers’ ambulance was included in the city’s vehicle coverage policy. The ambulance insurance is included in the pool coverage program for 118 towns. The policy has a $1,000 deductible provision, and the volunteers will pay that sum.

Roberts also questioned why the city’s Brush One pickup truck was taken to the accident scene to transport the crew and equipment home. Jim Krouse, one of the ambulance crew members that night, said the truck was called out for mutual aid because the ambulance crew wanted to haul some of the equipment in the wrecked ambulance back to the station in Colfax.

The Brush One truck sustained damage to its brakes which were discovered to be very hot when it returned to the station. Mayor Norma Becker said she checked out the brake problem and was told it was apparently caused by the emergency brake being applied while the truck was running. The truck’s brake indicator light apparently failed to function while the crew and equipment were transported back to Colfax.

RITZ CRACKER

EVIDENCE

Logan C. McKay, 20, Pullman, was arrested early Sunday and booked into jail on probable charges of burglary, theft and assault after he was arrested at an apartment on NE Wheatland Drive. The Pullman police report said officers responded to a report of a tenant who said he had encountered a man in his apartment. The tenant said he was ejected from his apartment by the intruder and called police from a neighboring apartment.

Police said they located the suspect in a parking lot of the apartment, and he was arrested after struggling with officers. The report said the suspect was carrying a box of Ritz crackers which allegedly came from the apartment. The report also said officers found a trail of spilled crackers.

TRIAL SET FOR

ROBBERY SUSPECT

A Nov. 14 trial date for Michael D. Thompson, 20, Lewiston, was set Friday in superior court after he pleaded not guilty to charges of first degree robbery and second degree theft. Thompson is one of the suspects in an alleged robbery in the early morning hours of April 22 in which $2,500 was said to have been taken from the victim. The report said the victim, Larry Hood, appeared at the Pullman Police station early that morning with blood on his left sleeve to report he had been robbed while attempting to get into his pickup truck. The report said Hood had been targeted after the suspects learned he had been observed carrying large amounts of cash at a casino.

Thompson was arrested Sept. 3 in Lewiston after a bench warrant was issued when he failed to appear in court here Sept. 2 in response to a summons. He was booked in jail here Sept. 8 and later released that day on his own recognizance.