News Briefs: Oct. 11, 2018

PULLMAN ACE TO DEPART

Ace Hardware in Pullman Oct. 3 started a closing sale with discounts of up to 75 percent. The business, located in the former Safeway space at the Wheatland Mall, was started by Paul and Jan Strohbehn of Dayton 12 years ago. The mall store space had been vacant for two to three years after Safeway moved to its present site on Bishop Boulevard.

Paul Strohbehn said at one time they had intended to move to Pullman, but they eventually decided to stay at Dayton and have been "burning up the miles" to operate the business.

He said the building has been sold to a property management company which has not revealed who the next tenant will be.

ROUNDABOUT TOPIC RETURNS

Mayor Todd Vanek reported at the Oct. 1 city council session that another meeting on the roundabout option for the rebuild of the intersection of Highways 26 and 195 on the north end of Colfax was conducted the previous week. He said state engineers met with residents who were concerned about using a roundabout in the event one was installed.

Vanek stressed state planners at this point have not decided on the roundabout option. A launch of the Colfax project depends on receiving federal grant funding, and Vanek said Monday night he believes word on the fate of funding applications will come later than projected because of the number of applications received for funding under the BUILD program.

The mayor told city council members Monday the latest session about the roundabout was organized by County Commissioner Art Swannack, who has received a lot of calls about the roundabout proposal.

He said the crew at Jones Truck & Implement, which hosted the meeting, loaded a combine on a lowboy trailer and measured it to demonstrate problems they anticipate would be encountered with a roundabout at the intersection.

Councilman Jim Kackman said he finds it difficult to visualize how a roundabout could be placed in the space now available at the intersection, which is bordered on the north side by a cliff face and on the south by the North Fork of the Palouse River channel.

Kackman said he would like to see state planners prepare an overlay to place on the proposed site to see how it would fit.

Among other topics discussed were how automatic brake systems on truck drive wheels are activated when one set is lifted off grade, something truckers could face in the event drive wheels were elevated over the modified curb installations around the perimeter of a roundabout.

Another topic was a Walla Walla turnabout which has acquired a reputation among area truckers as an example of how a roundabout design can be flawed. Mayor Vanek said state officials attending the session last week acknowledged the problems with the Walla Walla installation and said that type of a design will not be repeated.

CAMAS MAN FACES FOUR CHARGES

Two charges of second degree rape, one charge of second degree assault and one charge of furnishing liquor to a minor were filed Monday in Whitman County Superior Court against Thomas L. Culhane, 23, Camas. The charges all involve the same victim.

The Pullman Police investigation report alleges the victim was intoxicated and unable to give consent for sexual intercourse Aug. 20, after a party in the 900 block of Valley Road. The report includes results of a medical examination of the alleged victim which described alleged injuries. She told the investigating officer she had been strangled or suffocated.

Culhane has been summoned to appear in court Oct. 26.

ON THE WAY TO WEEDSTOCK

Courtney N. Devorak, 21, Uniontown, has been summoned to appear in court Oct. 19 after she was charged with possession of a legend drug without a prescription. According to the arrest report, she was arrested April 20 on Hamilton Hill Road south of Colfax after a deputy observed her making a pass across a double yellow line. After she was stopped, Devorak told the deputy she was in a hurry to get to the Weedstock 2018 festival because she was taking all of the T-shirts to the event.

She was found to be in possession of buprenorphine, a schedule-three controlled substance used for treatment of opioid dependence. According to the arrest report, Devorak did not have the drug in a prescription bottle, but said she had it at home. The report alleges she subsequently failed to text a photo of the prescription after she was allowed release.