Briefs: June 29

ELECTEDS WILL GET C.O.L.A. HIKE

The county’s commission on salaries for elected officials has approved a cost of living increase which will go into effect at the start of next year. They will receive a 2.5 percent hike on present salaries, according to a report issued by County Auditor Eunice Coker.

The commission at its May 16 meeting determined the amount of the 2018 hike by utilizing the average C.O.L.A. for six county employee groups over the past several years and the costs measured by the Consumer Price Index, according to Coker’s report. Salaries of the six elected official positions were increased at the start of this year and the 2.5 percent adjustment will take effect at the start of next year.

The cost of living increases will be $143 to $5,846 a month for the commissioners, $146 to $5,962 for the courthouse office heads, $289 to $11,835 for the prosecutor and $148 to $6,044 for the coroner.

ACCIDENT ON Endicott ROAD

Sheriff’s deputies and Colfax ambulance crews responded at 2:16 p.m. Thursday to a report of a pickup truck accident on Endicott Road at the Repp Road intersection south of Endicott.

The driver of the Dodge pickup, Heather Gupta, 21, Endicott, and four children ranging in age from 3 to 11 years, were transported by ambulances to Whitman Hospital in Colfax. They were later released after checkups determined none had sustained serious injuries.

Gupta lost control of the southbound truck which rolled onto its top in the southbound ditch west of the Repp Road intersection.

SAMURAI SWORD CHASE

Colfax Police late June 17 responded to a report from a man who said he was being chased by a man who was swinging a samurai sword. The man was being chased in the area of East and Thorn streets on the south end of Colfax.

Officer Matt Malakowsky said the man reported the chase while using a cell phone and actually gave a second report while police responded to the scene from the north end of town.

The chase was believed to have evolved from an argument between the two males. The victim told officers the episode started when the suspect began breaking windows out of the residence where he had been staying.

Police that night were unable to locate the suspect and later learned he had been admitted to Whitman Hospital for treatment of injuries.

A resident in the area reported the next day she had spotted a sword in her driveway, and the 39-inch sword was subsequently confiscated by Colfax Police Chief Rick McNannay.

The alleged victim did not sustain any injury in the chase.

Police have delayed releasing the name of the suspect until they can get his account of the episode. Investigation at this stage points to a potential charge of felony assault, according to Chief McNannay.

PRIUS CRASH LEADS TO CHARGES

Ahmed Hersi, 20, Pullman, has been summoned to appear in court July 14 after charges of taking a motor vehicle without permission and hit and run were filed against him in Superior Court. The charges stem from a Pullman Police investigation of an accident at Terre View and Merman Drive April 15.

According to the case report, a Pullman officer initially went to the scene when a resident reported a sign had been knocked down. He found evidence of an accident at the scene with the sign and a tree apparently hit. The officer picked up some car parts that had been left at the scene and followed a trail of fluid which apparently had started draining out of the vehicle after the collision. That led to discovery of a damaged 2004 Toyota Prius which had been left in the parking lot of the Cougar Ridge apartments.

The report said the registered owner of the Prius said he had not been driving the car. He said he had been leaving the keys in the ignition of the car because of an electrical problem, and friends of his occasionally used the car. Hersi was later identified as the driver of the Prius. The report alleged Hersi had vowed to reimburse the owner $8,000 for the Prius which was considered to be totaled.