Toss your gym shoes in honor of Earth Day
Spokane residents have a chance to turn over their worn athletic shoes this Saturday so they can be recycled for use in athletic field surfaces.
Shoes will be collected on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. during Earth Day activities in Riverfront Park at a Spokane solid waste booth near the park’s gondola. Washington State University is participating in the collection.
All brands of shoes are being accepted even though the program is sponsored in part by Nike. Shoes cannot have metal eyelets, and no flip-flops, sandals or other footwear will be accepted. Shoes should not be tied together or placed in plastic bags since that slows processing.
Also, the solid waste booth will be collecting hazardous old mercury thermometers or other devices containing mercury, as well as providing information on the risks and proper disposal of outdated products containing mercury. Items should be placed in a sealable plastic bag and kept cool.
– Mike Prager
Police issue warning about sex offender
The Spokane Police Department wants to warn downtown residents about a level 3 sex offender who recently moved to the area.
Scott E. Jueden, 38, was released from prison on April 6 after serving 12 years in prison for first- and second-degree rape and two counts of first-degree child molestation, said police spokesman Cpl. Tom Lee. His victims were a 1-year-old boy, a 4-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl.
Jueden is described as 5 feet 9 inches tall and 165 pounds, with red hair and green eyes.
He will be supervised by the Department of Corrections for 12 months, Lee said. Jueden is not to have contact with minors under the age of 16.
– Jody Lawrence-Turner
Expect driving delays on Fifth, Thor, Ray
Fifth Avenue will be closed between Monroe and Lincoln streets today so that heating and air conditioning units can be lifted by crane onto the roof of the Deaconess Doctors Building.
Emergency vehicles will be able to get through, but other traffic will be blocked.
Also, Spokane street crews are sealing cracks on Thor and Ray streets this week between Hartson and 29th avenues.
Drivers should expect delays at times as lanes may be closed.
– Amy Cannata
Olympia
‘One-strike’ backers holding yard sales
Facing a July deadline for a quarter-million signatures, proponents of a “one-strike” law for sex offenders are holding six yard sales across the state Saturday.
“We need the support of the community,” said Tracy Oetting, author of Initiative 921.
Oetting has named the initiative “Dylan’s Law,” after Dylan Groene, the Idaho boy whom sex offender Joseph Duncan is accused of kidnapping and killing last year. Groene family members plan to be at the Kirkland event, Oetting said.
“It just makes me sick every time another child disappears,” said Lacey waitress Diana Kinson-Stein, who’s spent weeks hitting up businesses, church groups and friends for things to sell at her yard sale.
Spokane’s sale will be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the southeast corner of Post and Heroy. Contact organizer Tena Braucht at (509) 328-7031 with questions.
On the Palouse, volunteers in St. John are holding a sale at 203 W. Liberty Street from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information, call (509) 569-3561.
Under state election law, the money raised must be reported to the state Public Disclosure Commission. The group, which has twice failed to pass a similar measure, is trying to raise enough money to hire signature-gatherers.
– Richard Roesler