New director appointed to COPS
A Spokane woman was appointed Tuesday as new director of Spokane Police’s Community Oriented Policing Services.
Christy Hamilton starts as director on May 8 after the retirement of Marilyn Saunders, who was director for nearly 12 years, police spokesman Cpl. Tom Lee said. Hamilton has facilitated consumer grievance processes, managed and monitored contracts and budgets, Lee said.
Her background includes working at Eastern Washington University in the Early Head Start program in Stevens, Ferry and Pend Oreille counties. She has a master’s degree in education.
COPS is a nonprofit group that works in partnership with Spokane police and the Washington Department of Corrections. It operates more than 60 programs and 12 stations throughout the city, Lee said.
The COPS stations are staffed primarily by volunteers, Lee said.
– Jody Lawrence-Turner
Spokane County
Man flees detective; search under way
An investigation into a minor Idaho state theft has turned into a Spokane County manhunt after a man took off when a Kootenai County sheriff’s detective tried to interview him.
Stephen K. Nichols, 31, of Spirit Lake, was being questioned at a job site on North Idaho Road in Washington about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday when the detective determined that he was not being truthful, said Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Dave Reagan.
The detective tried to handcuff Nichols, but he broke free and ran, Reagan said. Spokane County sheriff’s deputies and a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter searched for Nichols for almost two hours. He was still at large Tuesday night.
A national crime search revealed that Nichols was wanted on a parole violation out of Texas, Reagan said. Nichols apparently served a prison sentence for attempted murder, then violated parole following his release.
Nichols shows no criminal history in Spokane County, and Kootenai County sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said the suspect has no local history that would indicate he is a danger to the community.
– Staff reports
CULDESAC, Idaho
Beloved turkey killed at start of hunt season
For six months, Rufus the wild turkey served as unofficial greeter, pet and tourist attraction at the Jacques Spur Junction Cafe.
But someone turned him into dinner on the opening day of turkey hunting season Saturday.
“I heard the shot and got up to look down the street and saw a guy wrestling with a turkey,” Sarah Berna, a waitress at the northern Idaho cafe, told the Lewiston Tribune. “I knew it was Rufus.”
Berna said the hunter was an older man who drove an older model Chevy Blazer with Idaho plates, parked about 50 yards from the cafe in Culdesac. Rufus put up a fight, Berna said.
Rufus was the last member of a five-bird flock that appeared in the area in October, eating grain that blew off semi trucks. He eventually discovered that food was easier to find in the parking lot of the cafe.
– Associated Press