Bulletin Column April 21

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.

COKER PLANS 2018 EXIT

County Auditor Eunice Coker has announced she plans to conclude her public service career when she completes her present term of office at the end of 2018. Coker was elected to a fourth four-year term in the fall of 2014.

She said she announced her plan to retire at the county’s GOP convention in March and had made it known to others before that time.

Coker noted 2018 will mark more than 34 years in public service, and she and her spouse, Jerry, have planned her retirement to start at that time. She added the decision is not related to a run of findings on mistakes by the elections office for the past three elections.

Coker began employment with the county in February of 1984 when she was hired as a deputy in the treasurer’s office. She was appointed to the auditor’s post in August of 2003 after David Repp left the job earlier that year. Coker and Kirk Suess of Steptoe at that time were in an election race for the auditor’s job, and county commissions opted to appoint her to the position after she edged Suess in the primary election returns that year. She and Suess subsequently tallied a close finish in the 2003 general election, and she eventually was pronounced winner with a one-vote edge after a hand count of the ballots.

Coker, who was raised in Colfax and graduated from high school here, returned to Colfax after she served three years in the U.S. Army military police.

TWO HURT ON WAWAWAI ROAD

Two men were taken by ambulance to St. Joseph Hospital in Lewiston from the scene of a one-car accident on the Wawawai Road at about 3 p.m. Monday. Sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Chapman said the car’s driver, Allen Harris, 30, Lewiston, sustained severe injuries to his left arm which was believed to have been cut when the car went through a barbed wire fence. Harris was resting his arm on the open window just prior to the accident which was at mile 32 on the Wawawai Road near the Port of Wilma.

Harris told deputies he had fallen asleep while driving the 1991 Honda which crossed the roadway and went off the shoulder on the opposite side of the roadway. A passenger in the the Honda, Dallas Sawyer, 51, Clarkston, sustained an injured ankle in the accident.

TWO HURT AT 195 OFF RAMP

Two people were hurt Monday night in a two-car accident at the Highway 271 off ramp onto Highway 195 at the intersection south of Rosalia. According the Washington State Patrol report, Joseph A. Palladino, St. Maries, Idaho, sustained hand injuries when the 2003 Ford Taurus he was driving collided with a 2005 Dodge Caravan which was being driven westbound on 271 by Brenda Mallery, Spokane. Mary Ferguson, Spokane, a passenger in the Caravan, sustained head and neck injuries. The WSP report said the Taurus entered the intersection from a stop sign and was struck on its side by the Caravan which had the right-of-way.

COUNCIL EXTENDS

DEADLINE

The deadline for Colfax residents to apply for appointment to the vacant city council seat was extended to Friday at 5 p.m. To date the city has received three applications to fill the seat which was vacated by the resignation of Councilman Steve Holberg. Mayor Todd Vanek said the deadline was extended because of confusion about the deadline. Different advertisements on the vacancy had listed different deadlines.

Holberg announced his resignation March 21 because a change of employment left him unable to attend the twice-a-month council sessions.

SENTENCING SET FOR TEE

An April 29 sentencing date for Blaine Tee, 27, Tekoa, was set Friday in Whitman County Superior Court. Tee, who was arrested Feb. 9 on a drug charge filed after deputies received a tip that juveniles were going to a residence in Tekoa where Tee resided and were smoking marijuana, pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of delivery of marijuana and a subsequent charge of theft of a firearm.The residence was in the N. 200 Block of Howard in Tekoa which is located near the Tekoa schools. The report said an informant told deputies Tee was providing marijuana for juveniles to smoke at the residence. The informant said a bong and a marijuana pipe with a large bowl was in Tee’s room.

The gun theft charge related to a March 25 report from Tee’s mother of an Astra A-60 handgun which was missing from the same residence.

Tee reportedly took the gun after he returned to Tekoa following his release on $25,000 bail while awaiting resolution of the marijuana charge.

The investigation report on the pistol theft said Tee initially said another person took the gun from his mother’s residence, but deputies later learned Tee had left it at another location in Tekoa. That resident reported Tee had brought the gun there and said she wanted it removed.

The court Friday ordered an evaluation report be conducted on Tee for possible assignment of a drug offender alternative sentence. The sentence could be assigned in the event Tee was sentenced to a state prison term of one year or more.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Daniel LeBeau at Friday’s arraignment said the state opposed the drug offender sentencing option.

ALLERY

SENTENCED

Brian Allery, the former Moscow resident who led deputies on a high speed chase March 26, was sentenced to three months in jail after he pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to elude Friday in superior court. Allery, now 50, was also sentenced to another 60 days in jail for intentionally failing to pay restitution on a 2013 conviction.

Allery was arrested on the road to Phillips Farm off Idaho Highway 95 north of Moscow March 26 after a chase which started in Albion and went east on county roads into Idaho. Allery was driving an Oldsmobile 88 in the chase, and told officers after he was arrested that he wanted to test his driving skills.

Prosecutor Denis Tracy said Allery and others, including the general public, were lucky no one was injured as a result of the chase. Allery apologized for his behavior and said he now realizes he was putting a lot of people in danger.

The three-month sentence for the speed chase was recommended by Tracy as part of a plea bargain agreement. Judge David Frazier also ruled Allery intentionally failed to make payments on the restitution ordered in the 2013 conviction and added two months to the term.

Allery in 2013, as a co-defendant in a case involving theft of a debit card which was used to purchase items at Wal-Mart in 2012, was ordered to pay $3,266 in restitution. Since the 2013 restitution order, Allery has paid $16 plus some change on the debt which is now at more than $4,000.

A bench warrant for Allery’s arrest was issued last April after he failed to appear in court and show cause why he had not made the payments.

Prosecutor Tracy told the court the March 26 chase started at Albion when Deputy Bryce Nebe spotted Allery driving the 1998 Oldsmobile and suspected Allery was driving with a suspended license. Nebe activated his lights and a siren in an attempt to get Allery to stop as he drove north out of Albion.

FIRE RESPONSE TO ALBION

Colfax and Albion fire crews responded to a reported house fire in the 300 block of N. Main Street in Albion Sunday. Crews were dispatched from Colfax at 5:09 p.m. Albion Assistant Chief Laban Molsee said crews located smoking insulation in the attic of the residence. The insulation was believed to have been ignited by faulty wiring in the house.

Crews removed the smoking insulation from the attic. Molsee said damage to the house was minimal. Crews were present on the scene for approximately one hour.

COUNTY OKAYS AIRPORT FUNDS

Whitman County Commissioners Monday morning approved a payment of $250,000 to the Pullman/Moscow Airport runway realignment project. The commissioners placed the funding measure on the agenda after Port of Whitman commissioners April 7 also approved a $250,000 contribution to the project. The Whitman County funds will derive from .09 economic development funds.

Port of Whitman approved a plan to make two annual $125,000 payments to the runway project starting in 2017, but the county plans to make a single payment. The county and port contributions, totaling $500,000, resulted from a coordinated effort between the two entities.

Total cost of the runway extension project is expected to range between $89 and $119 million. Airport Director Tony Bean last week said total local matching funds on the project, with the $500,000 from the two county entities included, now amounts to 8.8 percent of the bottom end of the estimated cost of the project with the balance coming from federal funds.

WINDSOR

SENTENCED TO 3 MONTHS

Sierra Windsor, the WSU student who was arrested outside of her sorority house Feb. 16 on a charge of selling cocaine, was sentenced to three months in jail Friday morning in superior court after pleading guilty to two charges of possession of cocaine. The charges were reduced from delivery of cocaine as part of a plea bargain agreement.

Defense attorney Michael Pettit of Pullman told the court Windsor, who has been expelled from WSU, has obtained a job at Wal-Mart and asked the court to allow her work release while serving her sentence. He also asked that she be allowed release for treatment for cocaine abuse. Pettit told the court the two cocaine sales were small amounts.

The state’s case against Windsor involved sales made to an informant who was working with drug agents.

Windsor apologized for her actions and said she was prepared to meet the consequences. She told the court she had been studying for a career in the medical field at WSU.

She was allowed the work release and treatment release and ordered to report to jail after having lunch with her parents, who had traveled from their home in Hood River, Ore., for the sentencing.

FIRE DESTROYS CHICKEN COOP

A fire on Shields Road near Diamond April 11 destroyed a small chicken coop and damaged an adjoining building. Rural district fire crews from Diamond, Steptoe and Colfax responded to the fire.

Wraylee Flodin told firefighters she looked out a window and saw the chicken coop on fire. Cause of the fire was believed to be a heat lamp which was being used to keep a group of baby chicks warm.

Jim Krouse of Colfax, who served as chief at the scene, said when crews arrived the shed was already destroyed and the fire had spread to the wall of an adjoining shed. Crews were able to douse the wall of the shed. A stack of cedar boards and a motorcycle were among items saved.

FACES WSU THEFT CHARGE

Aaliya M. Lewis, 25, Pullman, has been summoned to appear in court April 29 after a charge of first degree theft was filed against her last week in Whitman County Superior Court. The investigation report alleges Lewis misdirected two WSU payments, each for $5,000, to her own account last August when she was employed in the university’s accounts receivable office. One of the payments was alleged to have been sent to a student account Aug. 21 and one to a university grant program Aug. 27.

The investigation report alleged Lewis acted as if she were someone else when she made the transfers. It also said WSU later made payments into the accounts where the checks were intended to be placed and seeks reimbursement for those payments. Investigation of the case began when officers received a report from the WSU controller’s office Sept. 19.

BERNTGEN SENTENCED TO SIX MONTHS

Brian Berntgen, 26, Oakesdale, was sentenced to six months in jail April 8 for delivery of marijuana and possession of Alprazolam. Berntgen pleaded guilty to the revised charges March 25. He was originally charged with delivery of drugs to a minor.

In addition to the six-month term, he was ordered to pay a $2,000 drug fine plus $800 in costs and fees.

Berntgen Dec. 30 was sentenced to 16 days in jail on a conviction for possession of methamphetamine and was ordered at that time to pay a $1,000 drug fine in addition to costs.

Berntgen had requested at his arraignment to receive a drug offender sentencing option.

NEALEY SEEKS RE-ELECTION

Terry Nealey of Dayton has announced his intention to run for another term in the state house as a representative for the 16th legislative district. According to a report in last week’s Dayton Chronicle, Nealey said one incentive for seeking another term is the possibility that the Republicans will gain a majority in the state house after the fall elections. Nealey is the GOP’s ranking member of the house Finance Committee. The Republicans already have a majority in the state senate.

Nealey has retired from his law practice at Dayton and also formerly coached basketball teams in Dayton. His father, the late Darwin Nealey of LaCrosse, at one time represented the Ninth District in the legislature.