About 50 reservists called to active duty
About 50 Army reservists from the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene areas have been called to active duty for possible deployment overseas.
Members with the 321st Engineer Battalion will join 350 soldiers from units in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Utah.
The unit will leave this weekend for training in California, then head to Wisconsin for more training while awaiting orders for deployment, said Maj. Hillary Luton, public affairs officer with the Reserve’s 70th Regional Readiness Command, based in Seattle.
“We don’t know exactly where they will end up,” Luton said. “More than likely the deployment portion will be at least 12 months.”
The 321st is based in Boise and is responsible for minefield clearance and demolitions, among other duties. The battalion has companies in Boise and Hayden Lake, as well as a road-building company in Spokane that returned from Iraq in December.
– Sara Leaming
7-year-old’s salute impresses officers
Law enforcement officers, endeared by a 7-year-old boy’s salute to the vice president’s motorcade as it passed his home Monday, returned to the child’s home Thursday to recognize his patriotism.
When Logan McLean saw Vice President Dick Cheney’s motorcade, he decided on his own to salute it, Spokane Police Department spokesman Cpl. Tom Lee said. But the boy knows military drill: His mom just completed an Army tour in Iraq, and his dad is also in the military.
Spokane police Officer Rich Meyer went to Logan’s home Thursday to give the boy several police patches and a pin.
Logan is a first-grader at Medical Lake Elementary School.
Police asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, Lee said. They expected Logan to say police officer or vice president. But he didn’t. He wants to be a marine biologist.
– Jody Lawrence-Turner
McMorris raises $867,000 for race
Republican Cathy McMorris has raised more than $867,000 for her re-election campaign to Eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District seat. Which is about $867,000 more than her opponent at this point.
McMorris, a freshman House member, received about $468,000 from individual donors and $365,000 from political action committees, reports filed this week with the Federal Elections Commission showed.
Among the PAC contributions were nearly $52,000 from committees run by Republican leaders in the House.
McMorris’ announced Democratic opponent, Peter Goldmark, of Okanogan, has reported no contributions. Goldmark was briefly in the race in late 2005, when he quickly raised about $19,000, then returned it when he decided not to run. He changed his mind and re-entered the race this spring.
Goldmark, a rancher and former Washington State University regent, declined Thursday to estimate how much he’d raised in the past two weeks. “I’m working hard at it,” he said.
– Jim Camden