Bulletin Column March 17

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 live outside Colfax.

DOE investigates Pullman fuel spill

A follow up report on the gasoline spill Friday morning at the Mobil Station on N. Grand in Pullman said the Department of Ecology is now conducting an investigation to determine the cause of the spill. An estimated 200 gallons of gasoline was spilled during a transfer operation from the tanker to the station.

The Pullman Fire Department report said one of the tanker workers hit by the spill had to be decontaminated. Some of the spilled fuel went into a drainage retention basin at the station. Pullman Deputy Chief Gabriel Benmoussa credited fire, public works, police and storm water departments with the quick response.

SCHOOL SETS BID CALL

Colfax School Board plans to issue a call for bids on the Colfax Athletic Complex next Thursday, March 24, Supt. Jerry Pugh reported at Monday night’s school board meeting. The school board plans to accept a bid April 25, the date of their second regular meeting next month.

The project will call for grinding down and replacing the track surface, relocating and rebuilding the field events areas and adding a new concession stand and restrooms at the northeast corner of the complex.

Some of the rock wall on the north end will be removed and new stairs and a handicap access ramp are included in the plans. The Colfax complex fund now stands at $587,000 with a $250,000 state grant from the Recreation and Conservation Office, $40,000 from the county’s .09 fund, $80,000 in city funds, $160,000 in school district funds and $57,000 from the C-town project fund drive.

ONE HOME TRACK MEET

Colfax track team has scheduled one home meet for the upcoming season. The meet, set for April 26, will be the last track event on the field which is slated for reconstruction during the summer.

Colfax track team, which has about 50 members, will start the season Saturday at the Central Idaho Invitational in Lapwai. Other road stops this year are slated at Ephrata, Milton-Freewater, Ritzville, Pasco and Lakeside. The league meet will be at Mead and the district meet will be at Ritzville.

BANNER

CONTEST GETS 11 ENTRIES

Colfax Arts Council Monday received 11 design entries for the H’Art of the Palouse street banner contest. The Arts Council is resuming the street banner contest after taking a break last year. The designs are slated to undergo jurying Tuesday, and finalists will be notified by the end of the week. Also, a workshop for banner artists will be April 2.

The banners are scheduled to go up along Main Street on May 14, and the Arts Council will distribute their ballot paint buckets around Main Street for balloting. Voting for the People’s Choice award will begin May 16, and the winner will be announced at an artists’ reception June 2 at the library.

Entrants were asked to create designs which are twice as tall as they are wide to fit the scale of the street banners. Some examples of street banners from past years are on display along the upper front wall at Rosauers.

BAT IN ASSAULT CASE

Cody Cassano, 24, Pullman, was sentenced to three months in jail Friday after he pleaded guilty to an amended charge of third degree assault. A second charge of burglary was dismissed. The conviction stems from a Pullman police investigation after officers were called Jan. 17 to SE Jackson street where a woman reported a man with a bat in her residence. According to the arrest report, police located Cassano and another man in back of the residence, and Cassano struggled when officers attempted to subdue him. The other man reported Cassano had threatened him with the bat.

Defense Attorney Steve Martonick told the court Friday the fight related to a dispute about money.

Cassano was allowed until April 22 to begin serving the sentence and allowed work release while serving the time. He was also ordered to pay $800 in fines and fees.

RIDE FOR A CURE JUNE 5

A sixth annual Relay for Life motorcycle Ride for a Cure benefit has been scheduled for June 5. The Ride for a Cure proceeds are now part of the Colfax Relay for Life which will take place the following weekend at McDonald Park.

Last year the ride brought 92 participants, and organizers aim to top 100 riders for this year, according to Julie Dober Hawley of Pullman, one of the organizers.

The Colfax ride actually began eight years ago with the first two rides as memorials for Patty Mercer and Donald Yates. The ride last year went from Colfax to Rockford with stops at St. John, Rosalia and Spangle. Planning for the course is being worked out for this year’s ride.

The Relay for Life event has been moved to McDonald Park this year because work on the Colfax track is expected to get underway this summer. The paved trail around McDonald Park will be used for the relay walk.

HEAVY RAINS HIT

Rainfall reading on the NRCS gauge at Colfax Monday morning totaled .53 of an inch for the weekend. That compares with a .62 which was logged after last week’s heavy rainfall. Rainfall total for March is now at 1.82 inches. Average March rainfall for Colfax is 2.03 inches.

Flow at the USGS meter on the Palouse River near Potlatch Monday morning was 1,670 cubic feet per second. The river flow has marked a steady increase from a flow of below 500 cubic feet per second on March 10.

Depth of the river was recorded at 10.5 feet at the station Monday morning. It had increased from below eight feet March 10. Median flow for the river on March 14 is 658 cubic feet per second. The USGS reading for Hooper was at 2,400 cubic feet per second, up from about 1,300 cfs last Thursday.

Median flow at Hooper for this date is 1,420.

Thunder and lightning hit Colfax Sunday afternoon, and residents reported lights blinked but power service continued. Lightning strikes hit at several locations around town, and residents reported hail mixed with the heavy rain in some locations.

POMEROY DUO FACES CHARGES

Amber Tyree, 36, Pomeroy, has been summoned to appear in court here March 25 following a Pullman Police investigation of an alleged theft at Wal-Mart Feb. 2. Also, a warrant for the arrest of Scott D. Burke, 40, also of Pomeroy, was issued in the same case. According to the police report, Pullman officers were called to Wal-Mart to review surveillance videos which were taken late Feb. 8. The videos allegedly show Tyree taking a steam cleaner off the shelves at the store and then proceeding to the returns counter where she was able to receive a Wal-Mart cash card for $202.74 in exchange for the cleaner.

The report said videos showed Burke taking milk and two computers off the shelves. It said Tyree and Burke proceeded out the store past the points of sale.

The report noted Tyree and Burke were identified by Wal-Mart security staffers from alleged previous episodes. Value of the two computers and the milk was placed at $1,068.

Colfax DRUG ARREST

CONVICTION

Mykah R. Hausler, 20, Spokane, was sentenced to 15 days in jail with the option of working off the jail time with 120 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty in superior court Friday to felony possession of marijuana. The charge was reduced from an original charge of possession of marijuana with the intent to deliver. Hausler appeared in court Friday and entered the plea after a warrant had been issued for his arrest because he failed to appear in court the previous Friday for a pre-trial hearing. The warrant was dismissed after he entered his plea.

The conviction stems from an early morning arrest Dec. 17 in Colfax near the Cedar Street intersection. Hausler was a passenger in the front seat of a car which was originally observed traveling northbound on Main Street with a defective light.

According to the arrest report, deputies smelled an “overwhelming” odor of marijuana when they looked into the car. The report said five people were in the car and all said they were under the age of 21.

The report said Hausler told the deputies he had something to tell them, and he climbed out of the car with a backpack. They found a large plastic bag in the backpack which contained five individual bags of marijuana. The report said Hausler admitted he had gone to WSU in an attempt to sell the marijuana and sold one of the small bags, containing three to four grams, at a dormitory for $20. The report said deputies also found a blue gas mask in the pack and a blue plastic bong.

Hausler was also ordered to pay a $1,000 drug fine, but he was allowed to pay that with community service at the rate of $10 per hour. He was also ordered to pay $800 in fines and fees. Friday’s conviction followed terms of a plea bargain which had been offered to Hausler in January. Deadline for the plea offer had expired, but it was reinstated before Friday’s hearing.

TIMMERMANS DEATH REPORT

The coroner’s report on the death of Endicott resident Joshua Scott Timmermans, 32, who was found dead in Rebel Flat Creek west of Diamond last Tuesday morning, March 8, said he lost consciousness from exposure to the conditions and subsequently drowned in the creek. Mr. Timmermans was found Tuesday after deputies responded to a report of the accident Monday night along Endicott Road west of Diamond. The 1981 Datsun pickup truck Timmermans was driving was found wrecked along the road, but officers could not locate Timmermans.

According to the sheriff’s report, a night search was conducted by deputies and fire volunteers. They were unable to locate Timmermans but resumed the search Tuesday morning and located his body in the creek.

Officers earlier had determined Timmermans was the driver of the wrecked truck and learned he had not shown up at his residence after the accident.

Undersheriff Ron Rockness Thursday said Timmermans was found in the creek approximately a quarter of a mile from where the pickup truck was found. Timmermans at some point after the accident crossed the Endicott Road and continued to walk west in the direction of Endicott. Rockness said Timmermans could have walked along the road or along the railroad track, which at that point is south of the road.

At some point, Timmermans crossed a section of field between the railroad and Rebel Flat Creek. He was found Tuesday morning at a place where the creek has steep banks on each side. The bank has a steeper drop along its north side closest to the road, Rockness said. County Coroner Pete Martin, in his report March 10, said because of the extreme cold temperatures Timmermans was unable to climb out of the stream, lost consciousness and subsequently drowned in the creek. He determined Timmermans died Monday night, March 7. The manner of death was determined to be accidental.

The sheriff’s report on the accident said the investigation determined Timmermans had been observed in an intoxicated condition earlier in the evening.