Schools lock down over stabbing case

The stabbing of a man Tuesday morning prompted officials at the Riverside School District to lock down its schools for a time.

The man living in Riverside Village mobile home park called 911 at 5:20 a.m. to say he was outside his home in the 35300 block of North Highway 2 when two men approached, Spokane County sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said.

The victim suffered a serious cut to his abdomen and was taken by ambulance and then helicopter to a Spokane hospital, where he underwent surgery, Reagan said.

However, detectives said later Tuesday that they could not find any evidence to support the man’s claim of being robbed and stabbed by two men, Reagan said. A family member indicated that the man may have cut himself, Reagan said.

“We don’t want anybody to think there are crazed robbery suspects running around,” Reagan said. “We don’t think that’s the case.”

Because of the man’s medical situation, detectives were unable to interview him Tuesday. School officials ended the lockdown at about 8:45 a.m. once they realized there was no apparent safety threat, Reagan said.

Janet Kemp, a Riverside School District superintendent, said that one parent called the district to pick up a child from middle school due to safety concerns.

There were no other calls from concerned parents. The school kept extra staff in the halls throughout the day, Kemp said.

Registered sex offender moves to the North Side

A 17-year-old registered sex offender has moved to Spokane’s North Side.

Jeffery R. Evans, 17, was recently released after serving one year in custody for rape of a child, police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

Evans, a level III registered sex offender, was convicted in Juvenile Court of second-degree rape of a 12-year-old girl. Evans was also convicted of indecent liberties involving a 6-year-old boy, Cottam said.

Evans is 5-foot-6, 180-pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes.

Evans is living on North Cannon and is under supervision of juvenile authorities for the next three years. During that time, he is to have no contact with anyone under the age of 15 without supervision, Cottam said.

Evans is not wanted by law enforcement at this time, but he is considered at high risk to re-offend, Cottam said.

Contractor at Hanford to lay off 200 workers

Richland

A contractor at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation plans to lay off up to 200 workers next month.

Fluor Hanford announced the layoffs to workers Monday. The layoffs are a result of some cleanup projects being completed and more efficient work by the contractor, said Geoff Tyree, Fluor Hanford spokesman.

Fluor Hanford had sent a memo to workers earlier this month warning them to expect both near-term layoffs and more layoffs during the balance of the company’s contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.

The company employs 4,039 people, including employees of subcontractors, under its contract to manage the site and perform some cleanup. The contract ends in September 2006.

Fluor Hanford is looking for volunteers to be laid off through March 30. Employees picked for layoffs will be notified April 18; and April 29 will be their last day on the payroll.

Workers at the 586-square-mile Hanford site in south-central Washington have been worried about layoffs since the proposed cleanup budget for fiscal year 2006 was announced last month.

The proposed budget cuts funding for Hanford from nearly $2.1 billion this year to a little more than $1.8 billion in fiscal year 2006.

Nursing home facing patient discharge fine

State regulators fined a Spokane nursing home $3,000 for failing to properly discharge a patient.

The Gardens on University, a 101-bed home at 414 S. University Road, failed to provide the patient with a notice of discharge in a timely manner, according to a state report on Dec. 15, 2004. A press release from the Department of Social and Health Services said it was a repeat violation of state and federal standards of care.

The agency delayed the fine until this month to give the facility the opportunity to file an internal appeal of the state findings.

According to the state report, the home sent the patient to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. The patient received an evaluation in the hospital’s emergency room but did not qualify for admission, according to the report. The facility refused to readmit the patient because nursing home officials felt he was a risk to staff and residents.

Instead, the resident spent six days in the hospital until a social worker found another placement, the state report said.

The home was fined for failing to provide the resident or his guardian with a notice of discharge quickly, the report found.

The home is licensed and operated by Extendicare Homes Inc. and serves both public and private-pay residents.

Idaho House passes parental consent bill

Boise The Idaho House of Representatives passed a stringent bill Tuesday requiring parental consent for minors seeking abortion. The vote was 50-18.

HB 351 would replace an Idaho parental-consent law that was overturned by the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals as unconstitutional.

Rep. Bill Sali, R-Meridian, acknowledged that the new law also would likely lead to legal challenges, but said it was worth it.

“We saw a 30 percent reduction in the number of abortions in the three years after” the original law passed, he told the House.

“That amounts to 120 Idahoans that are now alive that would have been victims of abortion had we not had our original parental consent law.”

The bill, which was proposed during the final weeks of this year’s legislative session, “will once again tie us up in expensive and unsuccessful litigation,” said Rep. Anne Pasley-Stuart, D-Boise.

Panhandle representatives split on the bill, with Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, joining the three Democrats in opposing it.

Man pleads innocent in alleged kidnap plot

Choteau, Mont.

The man accused of plotting to kidnap David Letterman’s 16-month-old son and his nanny and hold them for $5 million ransom pleaded not guilty here on Tuesday.

Kelly A. Frank, 43, appeared briefly in District Court in this small north-central Montana town, on felony charges of solicitation and theft and a misdemeanor charge of obstruction.

Frank, wearing striped jail overalls, spoke only to enter his pleas and to tell Judge Marc Buyske that he was not suffering any medical or psychological conditions. Buyske ordered Frank to remain jailed pending his next court appearance on April 5.

Frank’s attorney, Jim Hunt of Helena, declined to discuss the charges against Frank in detail following Tuesday’s hearing, but said Frank was “pretty stressed, understandably.” He said he intended to ask that Frank’s bail, currently set at $650,000, be reduced.

Frank, a self-employed painter, had been hired do to painting work on Letterman’s sprawling, 2,700-acre ranch in north-central Montana. Authorities arrested him last week after an acquaintance told investigators Frank had confided his plot to kidnap Letterman’s son, Harry Joseph, and the child’s nanny. The acquaintance said Frank talked about holding the two for 48 hours in the belief that he could extort $5 million from Letterman.

The baby was born to Regina Lasko, Letterman’s girlfriend, in November 2003.

According to court records, Frank told the acquaintance he had a key to Letterman’s house and even knew where the child slept.

Hunt said his client “has agreed there were discussions about it, but with no purpose of carrying it out.”

Hunt characterized the discussion as a “lighthearted conversation.”

Woman to help raise money to fight cancer

Post Falls

Crystal Backman, 19, plans to hit the road on her bicycle this summer to celebrate her mother’s full recovery from ovarian and breast cancer and to raise money to fight cancer.

The North Idaho College student will participate in the American Lung Association’s Big Ride Across America, which starts in Seattle and ends in Washington, D.C. The 40 riders hope to raise $250,000, 60 percent of which will pay for summer camps for children with asthma, clean air legislation, smoking education programs for teens, smoking cessation programs and research into lung diseases, and remedies for allergies and asthma.

The trip combines Backman’s goals to ride her bike across the country and raise money to fight cancer, she said. But she needs to raise $5,500 as her portion of the $250,000.

Backman is working on a degree in elementary education. She’s competed in a triathlon and a half-marathon and teaches rock-climbing for the YMCA. Donations for Backman’s participation in the lung cancer association ride can be made by going to www.alaw.org/big/CrystalBackman.