Bulletin: July 6

Colfax

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.

APPLICANT SEEKS DRIER CLIMATE

Sam (Debra) Hughes, city administrator at North Bonneville, Wash., said Friday night she has applied for the Colfax administrator's position because she wants to move back to the drier climate of eastern Washington. She added she prefers to live in small towns.

Hughes was the second of two finalists for the now vacant city administrator's position to visit Colfax. A total of 11 people, most of them Colfax city employees, attended the Friday session at the library.

Hughes has been employed at North Bonneville for approximately a year. Prior to moving to North Bonneville, she worked as an administrator for Ben Franklin Transit in the Tri-Cities for 12 years. She said she decided to seek a position in city administration to see how it compared with her work in public transit and found the two careers similar.

North Bonneville is a town of approximately 1,000 people residing in 300 households.

Hughes spent most of Friday touring Colfax city facilities. Asked about what she thought might be done to revive the downtown business section of Colfax, she suggested one approach could be to stress the affordable real estate prices in town.

Hughes noted North Bonneville is surrounded by larger towns in the southeast area of the state and bordered by a freeway which means it faces the same loss of retail tax revenue which impacts Colfax.

Hughes earned an undergraduate degree and a graduate degree in public administration at the University of Washington. Among her hobbies are running, reading and trading in stock options.

FIREARMS ARREST AT STEPTOE

Robert C. Beck, 57, was booked into the county jail early Sunday morning on four probable charges of illegal possession of a firearm. Beck was arrested after deputies responded to a reported dispute at the Steptoe RV park. A resident reported Beck had come over to his lot in the RV park and complained about fireworks being discharged.

The resident said he told Beck he was not discharging fireworks. He said at the time Beck was carrying a gun but did not threaten anybody with it.

Beck returned later, without a gun, to again complain about fireworks, and that allegedly led to shoving.

The report alleges a subsequent search of Beck's residence at the RV park turned up four weapons. The report said he admitted he had been convicted several years ago of a felony.

STOUT

SENTENCED

TO THREE MONTHS

Jason Stout, 43, Uniontown, was sentenced by Court Commissioner David Frazier to three months in jail Friday for assaulting his stepson Feb. 28 at his residence. Stout pleaded guilty to the third-degree assault June 2. Both the state and defense agreed to recommend the three-month sentence to the court at the time of arraignment.

Stout was charged with hitting his stepson with a baseball bat during an argument at their residence. He told the court Friday the episode escalated from a confrontation which started with the stepson pounding on the door of the residence. Stout said he believed at the time someone was trying to make entry into the house. He said his stepson was knocking on the door because he was unable to find the keys to the residence.

Stout said his wife, the victim's mother, died last October. He said, looking back, he believes both he and his stepson should have been undergoing counseling for their loss at the time of the assault.

The youth sustained an injured elbow in the assault. The assault was reported after he showed up at the Pullman hospital with the injury.

Stout was ordered to begin serving the jail time July 21. He was allowed work release while serving the sentence.

METHODIST BENEFIT BREAKFAST

The annual United Methodist Church breakfast to benefit the Whitman County Chaplaincy will be served Saturday, July 8, from 7:30 to 11 a.m. at the church. Admission will be $9 with a $20 family rate.

The church women's craft sale will be from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the church.

The benefit breakfast has been conducted for several years as part of Concrete River Days, and the church decided to continue with the event despite the city festival being dropped this year.

CAR BURNS AT ROSAUERS PARKING LOT

A Colfax fire crew and police responded Sunday to a report at 2:52 p.m. of a car fire in the parking lot at Rosauers.

The car, a late 1990s Pontiac, was reported to be engulfed in flames when volunteers arrived on the scene. An electrical malfunction was believed to be the possible cause of the fire.

ARSON

SENTENCING DELAYED

Sentencing of Diane Galler, former Tekoa resident who pleaded guilty to second degree arson June 16 in Superior Court, has been postponed until Aug. 9. Galler had been scheduled for sentencing Thursday, but her attorney, David Partovi of Spokane, requested more time before sentencing.

Galler is one of three people who have pleaded guilty in connection with the Sept. 18 fire which destroyed her former house in Tekoa. She paid $140,000 in restitution to State Farm Insurance after entering her plea in court two weeks ago.

HOOD BURGLAR GETS 68 MONTHS

Richard Hoffman, 41, Spokane, one of three people charged with the break-in and burglary of the Larry Hood residence south of Pullman last year just before Thanksgiving, was given the maximum sentence of 68 months in prison June 29 after he pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary and attempted second degree burglary.

Judge Gary Libey said Hoffman took part in a planned, calculated intrusion into the residence of Hood, who is 76 years old. He noted Hood was assaulted and threatened in the burglary operation.

Hood gave a detailed statement on the home invasion burglary. He told how he had been forced to get on the floor and how he was tied up with a telephone cord and tape. Hood said the intruders threatened to cut off his fingers if he didn't cooperate and tell them where he kept valuables in the house which is located along Highway 195 south of Pullman.

He said that after the intruders left his house he managed to get to a kitchen drawer to get a knife and cut the tape which had been used to tie his hands. Because his telephone line had been cut, Hood said he drove to the Pullman Police Department to report the crime.

Missing from the residence was $5,700 in cash, 50 lotto tickets, $30 worth of coins and the titles to five vehicles.

The trio also took his 2014 pickup truck which they later used in an attempt to ram the doors off a shop in Colfax on their way back to Spokane. The damaged pickup was left in the parking lot at Zips.

Tracy said he negotiated a plea bargain with Hoffman on the burglary charges because the state's case against him was not as solid as it was against the other two defendants, Heather Halseth, 34, and Alford Verley, 31, who both now face robbery charges.

After ordering the 68-month sentence, Judge Libey denied a defense request to allow Hoffman to serve the 68 months concurrent with a 70-month sentence he faces in Spokane County. That sentence includes a Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative which allows an inmate to serve half the sentence in prison and then be released to serve the other half under supervision.

Hoffman was ordered to pay $6,141 in restitution to Hood and $15,000 to Mike Damery for damage to his building in Colfax.

A warrant of commitment to the state Department of Corrections credited him with 57 days already served in jail here awaiting resolution of the charges.

Halseth had been scheduled for trial April 17 but later asked for a continuance. Verley is now scheduled for a July 1 trial.