CPS takes custody of baby left in car
A 5-month-old girl has been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services after being left alone in an automobile at Wal-Mart, 3050 E. Mullan, Post Falls.
Post Falls police Lt. Pat Knight said the parents of the child, Mark K. Kienholz, 42, and Traci E. Jurasin, 35, went into the store with their four other children around 2 p.m. on July 1 and went in separate directions. Each parent thought the other had the child, Knight said. `
“This child was left unattended for well over a half an hour,” Knight said. Temperatures reached 85 degrees.
A passer-by heard the child crying and called police.
The baby was unharmed, and the parents were cited for misdemeanor injury to a child.
Knight said a case had been filed with CPS before this incident to check on the welfare of all the children.
The family has been living on a campsite in Idaho.
“Too many things could have happened to that child,” Knight said.
Escapee found hiding at friend’s house
A man wanted by U.S. marshals for escape from the Coeur d’Alene area was arrested Friday in Toppenish, Wash.
James Howard Gallaher, who had been serving a 37-month federal prison sentence for aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, escaped June 18, police officials said.
Gallaher escaped from a federal halfway house, where he had been learning rehabilitation skills and looking for work, said an officer involved with the arrest, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported.
Gallaher had been hiding at a friend’s house on South Olden Way in Toppenish, officials said. Gallaher was arrested without incident after authorities received a tip about his location.
Green Hill guard arrested in drug raid
CENTRALIA, Wash. – A guard at the Green Hill School, a state prison for juveniles in Chehalis, has been arrested in a drug raid.
Centralia police say 26-year-old Roy D. Clark was caught in a raid Thursday night with three others at his home weighing and repackaging marijuana.
Detective Chris Fitzgerald said Clark was jailed on suspicion of possession with intent to deliver. Police are checking with authorities at Green Hill School to see if Clark also is suspected of bringing drugs into the prison.
Three others arrested with Clark also face felony drug charges.
Idaho ninth in nation in kids meal program
BOISE – A new report shows nearly a quarter of the 82,300 kids in Idaho who qualify for free or reduced-price meals during the school year had access to the same meals during the summer.
The national report released this week by the Food and Research Action Center found 20,874 kids in Idaho who qualified for the lunch program during the 2007-2008 school year had access to summer meals.
The center said Idaho ranked ninth in the country for its ratio of kids from low-income families who had access to the Federal Summer Food Service Program last year.
The report shows the District of Columbia provided the largest ratio of summer meals and Mississippi was ranked last.