Ordinance route unlikely: Steptoe junk meet draws comments

An estimated 60 people gathered in the Steptoe School gym Monday night for a special meeting with Whitman County commissioners to hear input on a petition signed by 150 people, which calls for a county ordinance to curtail junk cars and debris in unincorporated areas.

Various county residents spoke against the petition, spurred by Steptoe resident Kirk Suess last fall, and then others spoke for it.

After Commissioner Art Swannack asked for a show of hands of who signed Suess' petition, about 20 hands were raised.

Suess was not in attendance. He lives in Palm Desert, Calif., during the winter....