In brief: Conrad Anker presents climbing film to benefit wildfire relief

FIRES – Although the climbing movie MERU has already played in Spokane, there are several good reasons to see it again when it screens tonight at 7 p.m. at the Garland Theater:

• It’s a high-quality, riveting flick, winner of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Audience Documentary Award.
• Conrad Anker, captain of The North Face Global Athletic Team who is featured in the film, is scheduled to be at the Garland to present the film and answer questions afterward.
• The screening is a benefit for Northwest wildfire relief agencies.

The film is based on an unsuccessful 2008 attempt followed by the successful 2011 first ascent of the technically complicated Shark’s Fin on Mount Meru in the Himalaya of India.

The three climbers deal with personal setbacks as well as notoriously harsh conditions that has rebuffed numerous elite climbing teams.

In addition to Anker, of Bozeman, the film features Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk, Jon Krakauer and Jenni Lowe-Anker.

Anker, who worked as a wildlands firefighter in his youth, says the destructive scope of wildfires in Montana and the West this season prompted him to join others in raising funds for multiple agencies that support people and businesses that lost everything in 2017 fires.

The screenings are sponsored by The North Face.

Tickets are $10 and are available at the door or through eventbrite.com.

Deer killed after attacking runners

WILDLIFE – A mule deer buck was killed on Saturday after attacking runners and goring two helpers during the Half Ass Half Marathon north of Davenport.

The buck came onto the Porcupine Bay-area road used for the course and began acting aggressively and chasing some of the runners, says Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police Officer Curt Wood.

“Two men who were manning a water station tried to chase the buck away but it turned and began attacking them,” Wood reported.

One man retrieved a pistol from his vehicle and shot at close range between the deer’s legs but the buck “didn’t even flinch,” witnesses told The Spokesman-Review. As the two men approached, “It flicked its head and ripped Cody’s left hand and then got me in the inside of the left thigh and bruised the other leg,” said a 66-year-old victim who asked not to be identified. “That’s when the deer was shot. We didn’t want to shoot a deer in front of kids, but we had to,” he added, noting that 30 stitches were required to close his leg wound.

A local hunter was allowed to tag and salvage the deer, Wood said.

Both of the injured men were treated for their injuries at the Davenport Hospital and released.

The event is a fundraiser for an area resident with cerebral palsy.

Liberty Lake park alternatives presented

PARKS – A “preferred alternative” for future development of Liberty Lake Regional Park will be presented by the Spokane County Parks and Recreation Department today from 5-7:30 p.m. at the City of Liberty Lake Council Chambers, 22710 E. Country Vista Dr.

Input gathered at the first open house meeting on Sept. 21 helped the department develop their preferred alternative, said Paul Knowles, park planner.

The plan can be reviewed online at llrp-masterplan.com and post comments through the Contact Us link.