Bulletin column

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.

BOARD APPROVES MARSH HIRING

Colfax School board formally voted Monday night to sign Buck Marsh of Bridgeport as the new principal. Colfax High School Supt. Michael Morgan May 2 announced Marsh had been selected for the job and would be recommended to the board for hiring Monday.

Marsh is an assistant principal and athletic director at Bridgeport. He and his family hope to move to Colfax as soon as possible after his obligations at Bridgeport finish for the year. His Colfax contract begins July 1.

He was selected from among 19 candidates which were initially listed for consideration.

MISSING

HYUNDAI

LOCATED

A 2001 Hyundai Sonata, reported missing from the Vorderbrueggen residence on Crestview May 5, was located by police Wednesday, May 9, in Spokane. The car was found with the keys in the ignition at a realtor’s lot. Chief Bill Hickman said tennis shoes and an Ipod were missing from the vehicle. Other items, including a school pack, were recovered.

BICYCLE RIDER HURT

Colfax police and ambulance crews responded Monday at 5:02 p.m. to a report of a bicycle accident on S. Main Street. Tom Hulse of Colfax was taken by ambulance to Whitman Hospital for a check over after he lost control of a bicycle and hit the side of a legally parked van. Chief Bill Hickman said Hulse lost control of the bicycle while riding southbound on the sidewalk in the middle of the S. 700 block. The right side of the van sustained minor damage.

PLEA BUMPS

JURY TRIAL

Carl K. S. Pascual, 24, Spokane, was sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty Friday in superior court to a second amended charge of harassment. The case dates back to November of 2009.

Pascual entered the plea after the court Friday denied a request for a continuance after a pool of potential jurors had been called to report Monday for his trial. Judge David Frazier pointed out Pascual had told the court he was ready to go to trial at a readiness hearing last week. He also noted residents called for jury duty have to make arrangements in their personal lives to serve the court.

Pascual asked for the continuance because he had decided to hire a different attorney.

After he pleaded guilty to the amended charge, he was ordered to pay $800 in fines and fees. He was allowed until May 18 to report for jail and allowed work release. The court also ordered him not to have contact with the victim for five years.

CHIEF LIST DOWN TO TWO

Public sessions for the two final candidates for the Colfax Police Chief’s position were set for Wednesday and today at 7 p.m. in the city council meeting room. The two finalists slated for the interview process were Rick McNannay, now a Whitman County Sheriff’s sergeant, and Douglas Clark, who recently retired from the Lewiston Police Department where his last position was detective lieutenant.

McNannay was interviewed on Wednesday and Clark will interview on today. Each candidate will undergo a morning interview session with city officials followed by lunch. An afternoon session will be for city employees and the evening session for the public.

TRAILS TOP PARK REQUEST

Development of walking and biking trails was the top improvement requested by respondents to the Colfax city parks survey which was conducted last month. A total of 109 of the respondents, 46.2 percent of the 263 people who responded to the survey, listed the trails as the improvement they would most like to see in the parks system.

Another tabulation of the survey showed 60.6 percent of those who responded to the question said they would support an annual levy for a park district. The survey question was answered on 236 of the survey forms which were returned. Another 27 of the surveys did not include a response to the question.

Forming a parks district with an annual levy proposal, a funding measure used by most of the small towns in the county, has been one of the off-and-on city hall topics, particularly at budget time. The parks department segment in the city’s parks budget is now approximately $152,000, about 10 percent of the general fund budget.

Schmuck Park rates as the most popular with 193 of the respondents stating they have used it in the past year. Number-two most used park in the city system is McDonald Park with 154 logged and number three is Hamilton Park which was listed by 97 of the survey forms.

A slight majority of the survey respondents, 51.4 percent, said they do not use the Colfax swim pool.

Number-two on the requested improvement list was improved restroom facilities, listed by 40.7 percent, and number three was a community center, listed by 32.2 percent.

The survey form was sent out to approximately 1,100 residents listed on the utility bill roster and residents could also respond on-line.