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.

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CITY CALLS

FOR UTV LAW

Colfax City Council members Monday night approved a motion for drafting an ordinance which will allow the use of licensed Ultra Terrain Vehicles on city streets. The motion was made after council members received a written report from Chief Rick McNannay on the legal status of driving the vehicles in the city.

McNannay’s report said the state has left it up to cities to allow the UTV vehicles on city streets. In the event a city approves, the vehicles have to meet state requirements for operation. The state requires the vehicles to be licensed and the operators to be licensed. The state also limits the vehicles to 35 mph speed zones which would include Colfax streets.

McNannay earlier pointed out most state and county roads linked to the Colfax system have speed limits in excess of 35 mph which means the UTV use would be pretty well limited to inside the city limits.

The chief pointed out the state regulation applies to the larger side-by-side terrain vehicles which are fitted with seatbelts and other safety features. The state law does not allow smaller ATV type vehicles to be driven on public streets.

Also Monday, the council called for an ordinance to allow for a golf cart zone. The intended area for the cart zone is expected to be the North Flat where residents already make a short commute on golf carts to the Colfax Golf Club.

The council is expected to vote on the ordinances at their next session. Councilman Jim Kackman made the motions which were approved with a 6-1 vote. Councilman Steve Holberg voted no.

GRENADE TOY ALERT AT TEKOA

Whitman deputies early Monday morning responded to a report of a discovery of what appeared to be a hand grenade located on the west side of Tekoa High School. A school employee noticed the object. Students and staff who were already at the scene evacuated the high school and went to the grade school next door.

Once deputies arrived on the scene they determined the hand grenade was a plastic toy which was believed to have been left on the scene by children that had been playing at the site over the weekend.

At approximately 7:45 Tekoa school officials had notified parents of the situation and asked them to keep children away from the school until further notice, according to Sheriff Brett Myers. The school used a Honeywell Alert System which sends notifications via e-mail and telephone. This was the first time it was used in a critical incident involving a law enforcement response. The sheriff said residents and school officials reported the system worked as intended.

Once the situation was determined to be safe, the school notified parents that it was safe for the students to return to the building.

RAILROAD NEGOTIATIONS

Mayor Todd Vanek Monday reported to the Colfax City Council that research in the city’s move to aquire Railroad Ave. from Watco, the railroad company which owns the property, has led to the discovery that a second city street, Bellinger, is also land locked.

The move to acquire Railroad Ave. was started to support a project by Scott Ackerman to develop a housing addition along the river side of the property which is designated 1st Street on city maps. Ackerman has purchased lots in the area for the development but learned that Railroad Ave., which connects the riverside lots to Main Street, is actually railroad property.

Vanek told the council research has determined the city acquired a corner of the property where Railroad intersects with Main, but the rest of Railroad Ave., which serves as access to Bellinger, officially belongs to the railroad.

Vanek said the railroad company has placed a price of $36,000 for the property. He noted Railroad Ave. is not located in the railroad’s official right-of-way or easement strips on each side.

He said the railroad’s price for the property was determined on the sale of lots and a parcel of property sold at Troy.

TWO HURT

ON 195

Two people were injured Saturday in a car-truck collision at the intersection of Highway 195 and the Old Wawawai Road west of Pullman. According to the Washington State Patrol report, Bryan S. Samuels, Cheney, was driving a 2004 Chevrolet pickup truck southbound on Highway 195 at 12:55 p.m. when Ellen S. Woods, Dufur, Ore., drove out from Old Wawawai Road into the path of the truck. Woods had stopped the 2002 Volvo at the sign and then attempted to cross the intersection east to west. It was struck in the front passenger side by the pickup truck.

Samuels sustained a hand injury and Lisa M. Guzman, a passenger in the truck, sustained chest injuries.

KAUTZMAN TRIAL SET JULY 21

A July 21 trial was scheduled for Keith Kautzman, 57, Thornton, after he pleaded not guilty to three charges Friday in superior court. Kautzman had been charged with possession of stolen property, possession of a stolen vehicle and making or having burglary tools.

He was arrested May 15 at a residence on Sunset Road out of Thornton. Deputies reported they located property worth several thousand dollars after getting a warrant and searching the property.

Katuzman was reported to also be sought on warrants from Spokane County and Stevens County.

POLICE

EXPLORER MEET

A meeting to discuss organization of a Scout Explorer Post under the sponsorship of the Colfax Police Department has been scheduled for tonight, Thursday, at 6:30 p.m., at city hall. Scout Explorer Posts are open to boys and girls 14 and over.

Organization of the post is being done by Austin Dupea, a junior at Colfax High School who has made it his senior project for next year.

The program will be designed to introduce members of the post to different facets of police work.

‘RAT’ VIDEO SEALED

An order sealing the 42 second telephone video of a pistol being placed in the mouth of the alleged victim in the state’s case against David Scott Magerison of Clarkston was issued by the court May 28 after a hearing. Attorneys for both sides in the case asked the court to seal the video until it is presented at Magerison’s trial.

The motion was filed after Othello Richards, representing KREM-TV in Spokane, requested a copy of the video. The motion to seal the video contended its showing on television could potentially prejudice potential jurors in the case before the trial.

Judge David Frazier in his ruling to seal the evidence noted he had seen the video and concluded that it could be prejudicial. The video was presented in the court previously for a hearing on a motion by the defense to suppress the evidence at trial. That motion was denied.

The finding this week noted a representative from KREM did not appear at the hearing on the motion to seal.

The video allegedly shows the victim being threatened with the gun after the word “rat” had been written on her forehead. The Clarkston woman was being threatened because Magerison believed she had assisted Lewiston police in a drug investigation there, according to the arrest report. It said Magerison drove her into Whitman County from Clarkston and made the threats while parked along the Snake River in the area of Granite Rock.

Magerison, who has been jailed here since last November in lieu of posting a $1 million bond for pre-trial release, faces charges of first degree rape, intimidation of a witness, assault and unlawful imprisonment. His trial has been scheduled for the week beginning July 7.

FRANZ

COMMITTED

TO ESH

Lee Roy Franz, who now faces two charges of assaulting care givers in Colfax, was ordered committed to Eastern State Hospital for a medical examination. Judge David Frazier ordered the commitment May 30 on his own motion.

Franz was formally charged with the alleged assault of a care giver at Paul’s Place in Colfax. He was charged with attempted assault in the second degree by strangulation.

The city police investigation of the case said the care giver, who had locked herself in the nurses station, reported during the assault Franz had twice attempted to place her in a head lock.

Franz was charged May 27 with third-degree assault of a care giver last April. The alleged victim in that case is a staff member in the emergency room at Whitman Hospital.

Franz was ordered held on $100,000 bond in a first appearance in court May 27 after the May 24 arrest at Paul’s Place. He was ordered held on $25,000 bond in a first hearing on the April 5 case.

Franz, who appeared in court in handcuffs, applauded after he was informed that he would be sent to Eastern State Hospital to undergo an evaluation.

RR DEFAULT

TO CHURCH

Uniontown Community Church May 23 received an order of default in its effort to clear the title for two lots in Uniontown. The order was allowed when none of the defendants listed in the clear title suit filed a response with the court.

Listed as defendants were the Union Church of Uniontown, which was located at the site until the 1920s and listed on the deed in 1891, and Schwenne family descendants. The site is located in Grief & Schweene’s addition to Uniontown.

QUINCY DRIVER HITS DEER

Michael D. Heitstuman, Quincy, was unhurt May 26 when the 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier he was driving struck a deer on Highway 26 west of LaCrosse. According to the Washington State Patrol report, Heitstuman was driving westbound at 9:51 p.m. when the deer jumped into the roadway near mile marker 100.

REPRINT FOR PHOTO HOT SPOTS

A map designating photography hot spots on the Palouse has been scheduled for a reprint after more than 3,000 copies have been circulated, according to a report by Carol Cooper, tourism director for the Pullman Chamber of Commerce. Cooper circulated copies of the map to members of the Palouse Scenic Byways committee for review and update before a second printing. She noted that Rockford, Fairfield and Latah areas will be added to the map.

Cooper also noted 4,000 copies of the map were printed last Feb. 24 and less than 200 are left. The numbers give some perspective on the popularity of this area with landscape photographers at this time of year.