Officials praise Drug Court success
Two more former drug users graduated Wednesday from the program designed to give willing participants their lives back and reduce the burden on an already overloaded criminal justice system.
Superior Court Judge Linda Tompkins introduced all of the players, from attorneys to corrections officers, who contribute each day to the 107 people currently enrolled in Drug Court.
Statistics show that about 70 percent of drug felons will re-offend. But some 90 percent of those who complete the intensive 12-month Drug Court program will not commit another crime, Tompkins said.
“We are not only saving lives; we are also saving taxpayers’ dollars,” she said.
She quoted a study indicating that each participant of Drug Court saves on average $3,800, compared with the offender simply going through the crowded court system.
While effective, the program is not cheap. It uses a combination of local money and state and federal grants. But Tompkins said the investment is not only worth it, she advocated for its expansion.
Spokane County Sheriff’s Lt. Rick Van Leuven has spent most of his 25 years investigating or supervising drug investigations. “It’s a great experience … to watch them turn their lives around. It benefits our entire community.”
Kendall Yards gets review group’s OK
The city of Spokane’s Design Review Committee recommended approval Wednesday of a residential and commercial development proposed along the north bank of the Spokane River. However, lacking more detailed information, the committee asked that each phase of the Kendall Yards project be brought back before the group for further consideration.
Kendall Yards Project Manager Tom Reese said that bringing each phase of the project before design review is the developers’ intention.
The committee’s recommendation on Kendall Yards will be sent to the hearing examiner, who will consider the development at a public meeting that has not been scheduled yet. Kendall Yards proposes 2,600 residences and up to 1 million square feet of commercial space over the course of 20 years. The 80-acre property is bounded by Ohio Avenue to the south, Bridge Avenue to the north, Monroe Street to the east and Summit Boulevard to the west.
Several residents of the West Central neighborhood spoke in support of the project, although one, John Osborn, raised concerns about the possibility of 12-story buildings being “sore thumbs.” As a result, one committee member, Grant Keller, suggested that the taller buildings should be brought before the committee as plans are developed.
Driver charged in toddler’s death
A Spokane businessman, allegedly under the influence of prescription medicine, has been charged with vehicular homicide in the Oct. 8 death of a toddler in his store parking lot on North Division.
Richard E. Hagelstean, 32, also known as Richard Hagelstein, pleaded innocent this week in Spokane County Superior Court. Judge Mariann Moreno allowed Hagelstean to remain free without bail until his trial, tentatively scheduled Aug. 14, on condition that he live at 203 W. Bristol and remain in either Washington or Idaho.
The accident occurred in the parking lot of Hagelstean’s business, Custom Auto Tint, at 3721 N. Division. Diana L. Adolph was inside the shop when her 18-month-old son, Matthew L. Boyd, darted into the parking lot, court documents state.
Hagelstean allegedly was under the influence of Effexor XR, a prescription antidepressant, when he ran over the toddler with his pickup. Police said Hagelstean had a prescription bottle with 27 of 30 Effexor pills still in it at the time of the accident.
The label on the prescription bottle warned against driving after taking the medicine, police reported. Hagelstean told an officer he had filled the prescription the day of the fatal accident, according to court documents.
SCAPCA has yet to choose director
A second meeting of Spokane’s air quality board yielded no decision on who will lead the agency.
The Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority has been searching for a new director since September, when the last director resigned.
Three finalists were interviewed by the board Monday. The board met in private Wednesday morning, but decided to check references and gather more information, said County Commissioner Phil Harris, who serves on the SCAPCA board.
“All three of them are so qualified, it’s just difficult to make a decision,” Harris said.
The candidates are:
•William Dameworth III, who was employed at the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which serves the Los Angeles area, before moving to Oregon, where he worked in environmental compliance in private industry.
•Ron Edgar, who joined SCAPCA in 1977 as a chemist and served as chief of technical services for 12 years before being appointed interim director last year.
•Shams Hasan, an air quality specialist for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, where he has worked for close to 20 years.
The board has not decided when they will meet to make an appointment.
SCAPCA’s former director, Eric Skelton, quit in September, saying board members had pressured him to be less assertive in regulating local companies.
Cheney
Man accused of rape is arrested
A 30-year-old Cheney man was arrested Wednesday morning after allegedly choking a girlfriend until she nearly passed out, terrorizing her with a handgun and raping her.
Rick Everett Swaney, 30, was booked on suspicion of first-degree assault, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape. He remained in jail Wednesday evening in lieu of the $250,000 bail that District Court Judge Annette Plese required for his release.
Court documents allege that, after choking a girlfriend, Swaney took out a handgun and threatened to kill the woman while she begged for her life. Cheney police reported that Swaney forced the woman to lie on a bed and told her he was going to shoot her in the head while picking up a pillow to muffle the sound of the gun.
The woman told officers Swaney raped her instead of shooting her, but that he continued to threaten to kill her and her father as well.
Then Swaney called his own father, who came unexpectedly to the woman’s home. She fled while Swaney was talking to his father, according to court documents.