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.

VETERANS LIST NOW AT 270

A total of 270 veterans were listed on the program of the FFA tribute ceremony at the Colfax cemetery Monday morning. Veterans memorial flags were posted along the entrance road to the cemetery and along the west side of the property.

Veterans in attendance were able to sit in a designated seating area so they could be recognized.

FFA President Chase Baerlocher gave the welcome. Other members of the FFA team present were Gunnar Aune, Cole Baerlocher, Kyle Appel and exchange student Leo Huels.

The Rev. Dean Ellis gave a short address, and Craig Willson sang the National Anthem and "This is My Country."

The ceremony again closed with Willson playing “Taps.”

TRIO JAILED AFTER CHASE

Three Spokane residents were arrested Saturday morning after a high speed chase through Pullman and out Johnson Road. The chase began when Palouse Officer Joe Handley, who was working an emphasis patrol in Pullman, attempted to stop a pickup truck after he determined the vehicle had allegedly been reported stolen in Lewiston. The truck took off from Main and Stadium Way and reportedly cut off vehicles on Bishop Boulevard before it departed on Johnson Road on the south side of Pullman.

The chase went out Johnson Road and other roads in the area. Deputy Tyler Langerfeld reported he joined the chase near the intersection of Sand and Johnson roads.

The pickup eventually stopped because of mechanical failure. The driver, Austin Navarro, 26, began running across a field but stopped when Handley told him he would be hit with a taser gun.

Also arrested at the scene were Derrik Bonato, 35, and Eliz Godun, 23. Langerfeld's report said he recognized Godun as a driver he ticketed two weeks earlier at an accident scene at Harlow's Dip on Highway 195. She allegedly gave a different name at the scene of the accident.

A search of the truck led to alleged discovery of methamphetamine, needles and packets of shaved keys said to be used for vehicle thefts.

After the three were booked into jail, deputies said they learned Godun had urged Navarro to take methamphetamine during the chase. He allegedly told the officers he took about a gram.

BRIDGE PROJECTS RESUME

Electronic reader board signs at two bridge restoration projects on Highway 195 over the weekend advised motorists that work would resume on May 29. The bridge projects just north of Steptoe and just north of Rosalia had been opened to two-way traffic after N.A. Degerstrom crews finished the work on one side.

Traffic control lights that had been removed from those two sites were expected to be back in place Tuesday. That will leave all three of the bridge surface projects with the lights in place to alternate traffic on one lane while crews work behind barriers on the opposite side.

Traffic control lights on the three-bridge site south of Rosalia have remained in place at that work zone, although the project shut down for the holiday Monday.

Extensive ground work for passing lanes is underway on the northbound side of the highway between Thornton and Trestle Creek and along the northbound side north of the Babb Road overpass bridge.

CEDAR-OAK PROJECT START SET

Work on contract for Cedar and Oak streets will start Monday, June 4. Colfax Public Works Director Matt Hammer said the contract with Motley & Motley Construction allows for 95 working days on the project. Paving of the two streets on the project has to be finished by the end of September under Department of Transportation specifications.

Motley & Motley has contracted to do the job for $1,472,288.

ACCIDENT INVOLVED ROADSIDE RESCUE

Additional reports of the accident involving Frank N. Chen, the Moscow resident who was caught in the road wash across Highway 27 south of Garfield last Sunday, May 20, indicate he survived a very close call. Trooper Bruce Blood reported Chen was rescued from the 2016 Subaru Legacy he was driving by a unknown motorist who used a step ladder.

Chen was driving northbound on Highway 27 at 7:20 p.m. when he encountered mud, debris and water, which was being washed across the highway after a cloudburst dropped an estimated 1.5 inches of water in the immediate neighborhood.

Chen lost control when he attempted to avoid some debris and the Legacy went off the side of the highway where the shoulder was being washed away. Trooper Blood said when he arrived on the scene, Chen had managed to get out to the Legacy with the help of a passing motorist who placed a step ladder up against the window on the passenger side of the car.

The car was teetering in a precarious position on the embankment and was filling with water. Trooper Blood said Chen was wet from the waist down by the time he climbed out of the car.

The ladder used for the escape came from the yard of Chris Cochran, who resides near the scene. He said the step ladder normally would have been inside the garage, but he had left it out when he changed vehicles.

Cochran said he didn't know who grabbed the ladder and propped it up alongside the teetering Legacy to get Chen out of the car.

He said, as far as he knew, a local resident was not involved in the rescue. He added the ladder was found out back by the garage.

Cochran said the Legacy was teetering where the shoulder had been washed out and could have easily rolled forward onto its top in the rapidly filling ditch.

Sheriff's Deputy Dan Brown also responded to the scene. He noted when he arrived, water was already over the hood of the Legacy.

CROSS-STATE BIKE RACE

A group of bicycle racers last week made their way across the John Wayne Trail, now the Palouse to Cascades Trail, to finish a cross-state race which started Sunday morning, May 20, at La Push and finished at Tekoa.

The race, called the Washington Mountain Bike Challenge, started with 20 riders in the competition.

Fred Wagner of Tekoa greeted the first-place finisher, Allan Knibbs, Kimberly, B.C., at 8 p.m. Thursday night, and the second-place finishers, Josh and Val Kato, Cashmere, who made the trip on a tandem bike, at 9 p.m. The number-three finisher, Ian Plagmann of Port Townsend, was charted to finish at about 12:45 p.m. Friday.

Plagmann had covered 683 miles Friday morning, according to the latest race chart.

Wagner greeted each finisher with $10 coupons from the Feeding Station and C & D's Bar and Grill.

The route took riders east from La Push via Port Angeles, and they crossed the sound on the Edmonds Ferry.

The race finish called for riders to go down Stateline Road after the trail ended at the Idaho border and then loop back to Tekoa from Tilma.

The race route included a bypass from Ellensburg north to Wenatchee to cross the Columbia River, with a return back to the trail south from Moses Lake to Warden.