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.

CITY

ADMINISTRATOR RESIGNS

Carl Thompson, Colfax city administrator for the past six years, read a short letter of resignation to the Colfax City Council Monday night. Thompson said he plans to rejoin the fire department where he served until he was tapped to fill the city’s top administrative post after Emily Adams retired. He was appointed by former mayor Norma Becker.

The change will return the fire department to three full-time employees. It has operated with two full-time staffers since the resignation of Chief Ralph Walter in the wake of a settlement of his wrongful termination suit against the city. Walter resigned at the end of last year.

Colfax fire volunteers have filled shifts for the number three seat in the fire department.

Thompson, who has continued to serve as a fire department volunteer while he was city administrator, submitted his resignation effective at the end of the month. However he will assist in transition when a new administrator is hired.

During the past year one of the key jobs for the city has been attempting to undo the damage and prevent flash floods and runoff that hit Park and Clay streets last summer.

Mayor Todd Vanek and city council members expressed appreciation for Thompson’s service in the city administrator’s seat.

Two of the major projects during Thompson’s years were the rebuilding on both ends of Mill Street. The north end of Mill was undertaken shortly after he was appointed in October of 2006. The south end of Mill Street was finished two years ago.

HIGHTOWER

SENTENCED

TO 9 MONTHS

Travis A. Hightower, 35, Uniontown, was sentenced to nine months in jail last Friday on a conviction of vehicular assault while driving under the influence. Hightower, who will begin the sentence Oct. 14, pleaded guilty to the charge July 26.

He was charged after he drove a 2005 Dodge pickup truck from a side road just south of Uniontown onto Highway 195 and into the path of a Jeep Cherokee driven by Vicktor Bumgart of Covington. Bumgart sustained a broken right leg and other injuries in the accident.

Hightower was ordered to pay $1,800 in fines and fees. He was also ordered to pay restitution to Bumgart. The amount will be determined at a Nov. 1 hearing.

The court also ordered him to refrain from using alcohol or drugs. He was also ordered to install an ignition interlock device on his vehicle to prevent him from driving while intoxicated.

LEVIES PASS ON FINAL COUNT

All levy proposals in Garfield and Farmington were approved after a final canvass of the Aug. 6 primary ballots Tuesday morning. Close counts in the ballot returns, particularly in Farmington, left the proposals in limbo until the last ballots were counted. Farmington voters passed a $9,000 street levy proposition 36-18 for a 66.6 percent approval rate and a $6,000 current expense levy 35-20 for 63.6 percent.

Garfield approved a $57,000 street levy 94-32 for 74.6 percent. The levy votes were subject to validation regulations which require a turnout of 40 percent of the voters in the prior general election and a 60 percent approval rate. Turnout figure was 22 voters in Farmington and 73 in Garfield.

Pullman, which sought voters’ approval to lift limits on taxes rather than approve special levies, did not have to meet turnout requirements. Final approval counts were 1,646 to 975 for 62.8 percent on a 65-cent bump in the regular property tax, 1,969 to 660 for 74.9 percent for a nine cent boost in the emergency service tax limit and 1,776 to 841 for 67.8 percent in the park district tax limit.

Overall, the primary election had a turnout of 24.8 percent with 2,837 ballots cast from 14,603 eligible voters in the 28 precincts involved.

Final count in the three-way primary vote for the open Pullman City Council seat was Eileen McColl 959, Marcus Crossler 725 and Lakeica Farmer 427.

Greensky gets

10 months

Keith R. Greensky, 26, Plummer, was sentenced to 10 months in jail Friday after entering guilty pleas to amended charges of residential burglary and possession of oxycodone. The charges stem from investigation of an entry made into a residence at Tekoa last April 19.

Initial reports said a resident on Washington Street early that morning responded to noise in her yard and discovered one of the intruders under her dog. A second intruder asked her to call off the dog, and the two men, who were reported to be armed, forced her into the residence and demanded to know where they could find prescription drugs.

Greensky was also ordered to pay $1,730 in fines and fees with $180 in restitution to the victim. The court also ordered him to have no contact with the victim.

EXTRA DUI PATROLS

A “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign will be underway in this area until Sept. 2. Officers on extra shifts will be looking for drivers under the influence of alcohol, marijuana or other drugs. The campaign is sponsored by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. Spokane, Whitman, Ferry and Pend Oreille counties are participating,

Last year during the same time period officers on routine and extra patrols in the same four-county area arrested 133 people for DUI. For 2012, a total of 2,586 were cited for DUI in the same four-county area.

STATE ADDS

BILDERBACK CHARGE

A fifth charge, supplying methamphetamine to a juvenile, was filed against Bobby Bilderback, the Malden resident who faces a charge of controlled substance homicide in connection with the death of Donavin Stapert.

Bilderback has been scheduled for trial beginning next Monday.

In his motion to amend, Prosecutor Denis Tracy said the state received an account of Bilderback supplying meth to a 17-year-old boy at Bilderback’s residence in Malden. The report alleges the youth, who had been hired to do cleanup work on the property, was observed smoking with Bilderback from a bong. The date of the alleged bong smoking session was March 16, nine days after the alleged homicide involving the Stapert boy.

Other charges against Bilderback include possession of methamphetamine, selling methamphetamine and endangering Stapert with the sale of the drug.

TWO HURT IN CYCLE CRASH

Two Spokane residents were taken by ambulance to Pullman Regional Hospital Sunday for treatment of injuries sustained in an accident involving motorcycles at about 1 p.m. near the intersection of the Wawawai Road and the Pullman-Wawawai Road at the top of the Wawawai grade.

Injured in the accident were George Thompson, 62, and Sharlene Thompson, 52. Both were ejected from their motorcycles. He sustained lacerations and abrasions to his face, and she sustained a possible fractured collarbone.

According to the report, they were in a group of riders who were traveling back to Spokane.

Two Newman Lake riders, David Barry, 56, and Virginia Barry, 62, were involved in the accident but were not hurt. According to the report by Sheriff’s Sgt. Keith Cooper, the Barrys missed the turn onto the Pullman-Wawawai Road and slowed down. The Thompsons were unable to stop in time, and George Thompson hit the back of David Barry’s cycle. Sharlene Thompson slowed down but was unable to avoid the first collision.

Alcohol was not a factor in the accident, Sgt. Cooper said.

SPIKE STRIP ENDS CHASE

Stephani Rae Vanderholm, 27, Elk, was booked into the county jail early Sunday morning on a charge of felony eluding. Trooper James Retzer in his arrest report said he pursued the Dodge Dakota the suspect was driving at speeds of 95 miles per hour.

The trooper said he was parked along Highway 195 near mile marker 54 Friday at 10:38 p.m. when he detected the Dakota traveling northbound at 85 mph. He noted during the pursuit the Dakota passed several vehicles. It came to a stop at mile marker 88 after crossing a spike strip which had been placed in the roadway.

The report said the driver told the trooper she was driving at a high rate of speed because she believed people were attempting to catch her and mutilate her. The trooper noted she apparently had not been taking medications, and she was taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane before being brought back here. Bond for pre-trial release was set at $10,000.

CORPS LIMITS DUNES PARKING

In an effort to limit the size of crowds at “The Dunes” along the Snake River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced plans to restrict parking to two lots at the site. The Corps has posted “no parking” signs along Almota Ferry Road which runs along the river between Lower Granite Dam and the Dunes. Vehicles parked along the road, which is posted with a 50 mph speed limit, in the past encroached on travel lanes and hampered emergency vehicles.

The two lots at the Dunes have a capacity to hold 120 vehicles.

The August 14 report from the Walla Walla District office noted the Corps has the option to ban consumption of alcohol on Corps land at any time, and it was done at several locations on the river.

The report said the Corps will continue to monitor how well visitors keep glass containers off the beach at all times.

The Dunes area last year had to be closed after a huge crowd gathered at the river. Most of the participants were believed to be college students who went to the river at the start of the semester. Last Aug. 25-26 an unexpected crowd estimated at 3,000 people left behind trash, broken glass, discarded foam coolers and other litter on the beach at the Dunes and along the three miles of the Almota Ferry Road. The debris led the corps to close off the area until the next Sunday, Sept. 2, after a week-long cleanup effort.

The Dunes episode last year included a brush fire which was ignited by fireworks. Fire crews had trouble responding to the scene because of congestion on the road.

Last year’s Dunes episode concluded with volunteers, many from the WSU student body, going to the site and helping clean up the popular beach area.

The Corps also plans to provide free trash bags to encourage visitors to leave with their garbage instead of littering the beach.

Over the past two weeks, special study groups for Washington State University and the University of Idaho have released reports on measures to better control excess drinking by students. Among recommendations from both study groups was notification of parents when students are cited for drinking violations.

Wednesday’s Corps announcement said the Corps’ natural resources staff along with local officers will continue to patrol the Dunes and other recreation sites.

TRIAL DATE SET

FOR PREECE

An Oct. 14 trial date was slated for Judson Preece, 38, Pullman, after he pleaded not guilty to a charge of child molestation in the second degree. Preece, who was released on $2,500 cash bail after he was arrested by Pullman police Aug. 4 and booked into the Whitman County jail, entered his plea via telephone after waiving his right to be present in court for his arraignment. Preece was represented in court by Defense Attorney Steve Martonick who has been retained by Preece to represent him.

Asked by Judge David Frazier to report his location, Preece said he was in Coeur d’Alene.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Bill Druffel, who represented the state at the arraignment, filed the formal charge against Preece Aug. 6.

The Pullman police report filed with the charge alleges Preece molested a 13-year-old Pullman girl at his residence. The report said Preece had invited the girl to a family birthday party at a Pullman restaurant. After the dinner, most people at the party went to a play performance, but the 13-year-old girl went with Preece to his residence. The report said the alleged victim believed at the time the other members of the Preece family would be at the residence.

A protection order issued by the court the next day forbids Preece from going within 1,000 feet of the alleged victim’s residence or school. He was also ordered to have no contact with his wife and children as a condition for pre-trial release. District Court Judge Douglas Robinson, acting as court commissioner, issued the no contact order after noting the family members could be potential witnesses in the trial.

SCRAP METAL HALTS PICKUP

Theodore Shuler, Colville, was unhurt last Thursday afternoon when the 2008 Chevrolet pickup truck he was driving was hit by a piece of scrap metal which fell off an oncoming truck. Estimated to weigh about 40 pounds, the scrap piece hit the roadway surface and then bounced up to hit the front of the Silverado pickup Shuler was driving southbound at 3:25 p.m. about a half mile north of Colfax. He managed to steer the truck to a stop along the side of the road. Driver of the 2010 Kenworth truck which was hauling the load northbound was Rorie A. Fischer, Spokane.