Bulletin Column: June 13, 2019

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.

POOL GETS BIG LAUNCH

Opening day at the Colfax swimming pool saw 173 swimmers hit the water Monday for the afternoon free swim session which ran from 1 to 4 p.m. Attendance dropped off for the evening session from 6 to 8 p.m. with only 26 swimmers logged.

Colfax youngsters this year had to wait a week between the early shutdown of the school last Friday and the opening of the pool. The school year closed earlier than normal because of the compressed school schedule which is booked to extend more time for the construction crew now working at the high school.

Normally, the city aims to open the pool on the afternoon after late morning finish of the school term.

Public Works Director Matt Hammer said the pool has encountered some early leaks, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Pool manager for this year is Parks Superintendent Steve Larkin. Amie Anderson heads a ten member crew of lifeguards.

WORK STARTS ON 26 BRIDGE

Crews from Central Washington Asphalt based in Moses Lake started grinding work Monday on the Highway 26 bridge across the Palouse River just west of Colfax. The grinding is being done in preparation for application of new paving.

The work on the Highway 26 bridge is part of the contract for the paving work now underway on Highway 26 between mile marker 26 and Washtucna.

BOYER MARINA BRUSH FIRE REPORT OFF

Fire crews from Onecho, Diamond, Albion and Colfax responded to a report of brush fire near Boyer Marina Monday. The fire was called in as being on Granite Road which runs between Almota and Lower Granite Dam along the river. Crews descended to the grade in search of the brush fire and found nothing.

A call check back to Whitcom from the entrance gate at the dam provided a phone link with the person who called in the report, and fire crews learned the report involved a controlled burn which they passed along Highway 194 on the way down to Granite Road.

A tanker truck from Steptoe also responded to the alert, but it was cancelled when the first crews at the scene learned about the false alarm.

ACCIDENT DURING TREE REMOVAL

Colfax Officer Perry Tate investigated an accident at the intersection of Lake Street and Fairview in south Colfax where traffic was detoured June 5 for a city project to remove a large tree at the intersection of S. Main and Fairview. Tate said a taillight on the back of a parked car was damaged by a long-box delivery truck when the driver was attempting to turn right onto Fairview from Lake Street at 9:50 a.m. The accident was reported by a flagger who was directing traffic for the detour at Lake Street while crews removed the big tree on South Main.

Tate, later that day, investigated an accident on Main Street when a driver pulling out of a parking slot in front of the Council on Aging caught the tailpipe of a council van which was parked ahead of her. The car bent the van's tail pipe and scratched its bumper.

ALLEGE BROKEN NOSE IN ASSAULT

Charges of second-degree assault were filed in superior court Tuesday against Paula Laney, 54, Pullman. The arrest report by Pullman Officer Wade Winegardner said he responded to a report of an assault early April 27 at an apartment in the 600 block of NE Kamiaken in Pullman. The alleged victim said her nose was broken when it was hit by one of several items which were thrown at her by Laney, a neighbor at the apartment. She told the officer a wall hanging, clock and vacuum were among items throw at her by Laney during an argument.

The report said Laney alleged she was being restrained from leaving the victim's apartment, and the victim grabbed her arm. The report said scratch marks were observed on Laney's arm.

Laney has been summoned to appear in court June 28.

SEVEN DAY METH SENTENCE

Sarah Harmon, 38, Soap Lake, was sentenced to seven days in jail Friday in superior court after she pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of methamphetamine. Harmon was a passenger in a vehicle which was stopped in the early morning hours of March 24, near mile marker seven on Highway 195 by Deputy Tyler Langerfield.

The report said the driver and Harmon both appeared to be under the influence of drug use. A subsequent search led to discovery of two drug pipes under the passenger seat. One of the pipes was alleged to have been loaded with methamphetamine.

The report said Harmon and her long-time boyfriend, who was the driver, told the deputy they were headed to Grangeville, Idaho, where they planned to start a new chapter in life and get off drug addiction.

Harmon was credited for a day spent in jail here after her arrest and allowed to serve the balance of the sentence in Grant County.

AVISTA DEMO SET AT SCHMUCK

An Avista Electric safety trailer demonstration is scheduled to make a stop in Schmuck Park next Thursday, June 20, at 6 p.m. The Avista crew will cover safety topics related to electricity and how to safely respond.

The demonstration trailer is fitted with short poles, transmitters and circuits, and the training is designed to instruct first responders who sometimes find themselves at accident scenes involving power lines.

The Avista demonstration unit will also be at Pullman June 21 at 1 p.m. and June 22 at 2 p.m. Site of the Pullman demonstrations will be at the intersection of College Ave. and N.E. Spring Street.

Notice of the demonstration stops were posted by the Whitman County Department of Emergency Services.

TRESTLE RAZED ON Colfax TRAIL

Whitman County Park board members Thursday concluded their monthly meeting by taking a short hike on the Colfax Trail to inspect work done to remove a short railroad trestle along the trail. The short timber railroad span was part of the Inland Electric Line service which came south from Steptoe via Manning to Colfax.

The bridge was removed, but segments of timber have been placed along the sides of the fill which was added to where the bridge once stood.

Park board members hiked to the former bridge site which is approximately a mile from the start of the trail along the river. The trail entry gate in Colfax is located downstream from the Palouse River Rock storage piles.

The Colfax Trail ends approximately another mile downstream from the former trestle site. It stops where the former Inland line crossed the river and went through a tunnel beneath a point of land downstream from Manning.

Removal of the trestle and the trail fill was done by the county's Public Works Department bridge crew. Other parts of the bridge were hauled off to the landfill according to Parks Supt. Dave Mahan.

The new trail segment features a boulder type construction at the base which is designed to allow water to pass beneath the fill and go into the river.

Work on the project was finished April 21.

Rotten planks and support beams led to a posting of the trestle as unsafe. Hikers along the trail bypassed it by going down and up the bank on each side.

Members of the park board reported they spotted a moose while walking into the trestle conversion site at the end of the Thursday night park board meeting,

WINDOW DESIGN PROJECT

The first of a series of window designs intended to invigorate unoccupied buildings on Main Street has been placed in the windows of the former Rose Theater Building on Main Street. Jim Fitzgerald of Colfax has developed images for the windows of the building.

The project was undertaken by the Whitman County Historical Society and Perkins House volunteers. Kim Nguyen, owner of the Rose building, collaborated on the project to place the pictures in the front windows of the building.

Photographs of the restored Perkins House are used as background with black and white enlargements of the Perkins family.

One of the photos on the windows shows Mr. and Mrs. Perkins at the front sidewalk entrance with the Perkins House behind.

The larger window includes members of the Perkins family in the interior of the building.

Tours of the interior of the Perkins House will be offered during the Whitman County Historical Society's annual Ice Cream Social which is scheduled for June 23 at the house.

Nguyen previously displayed pictures and memorabilia in the front windows of the Rose building.

GRINDING SLATED FOR STUMPS

Grinding will be the last chapter for the Colfax Main Street stumps. The stumps were cut off a ground level June 4 and hauled to the landfill. Matt Hammer, public works director, said they tried excavating one of the stumps, but it proved impossible, and the city will opt for the grinding option.

Hammer said they plan to rent a grinder which the city crew will use to grind down the stumps which are now at ground level in the Main Street curbouts.