Former football coach killed in U.S. 395 crash
A crash north of Loon Lake killed a longtime Chewelah, Wash., football coach, injured two others and forced emergency crews to close U.S. Highway 395 for about four hours Monday morning.
According to the Washington State Patrol, 79-year-old Herman H. Pein, of Chewelah, was driving a 1997 Ford F-150 pickup northbound on U.S. 395 at Roitz Road about 10:45 a.m. when he drifted into the southbound lane, where his vehicle struck a dump truck and a Chevy Monte Carlo.
Pein was transported to Sacred Heart Medical Center, where he died.
Pein was a coach at Chewelah High School for 32 years, and he played football for Eastern Washington University in the 1940s, according to a news release from EWU.
Shari L. Lecoque, 28, and her passenger, Gregory A. Silveria, 29, both of Chewelah, suffered minor injuries. Both were transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chewelah.
The dump truck driver, 42-year-old Benjamin L. Burgess, of Addy, Wash., was uninjured.
Spokane
Man robbed of food receives gift card
An 87-year-old disabled man who was robbed of his groceries last week received a grocery store gift card Monday, thanks to donations from residents.
The man was in a wheelchair, heading west on Mission Avenue near Hamilton Street about 2:30 p.m. Friday when three men armed with a hammer and a knife took his grocery bags and ran north, according to Spokane police. The man suffered cuts to his face and neck, police said.
K102 Radio worked with police to organize a donation drive Monday, and a police officer delivered a Safeway gift card to the man Monday.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call 911 or (509) 242-TIPS. To donate, contact Kiley Friesen at kmfriesen@ spokanepolice.org or call (509) 625-4456.
Cheney
EWU president taking month of medical leave
The president of Eastern Washington University is taking a one-month leave of absence for medical reasons.
Rodolfo Arevalo had a cancerous tumor removed during the summer, said EWU spokesman Dave Meany. While doctors believe they removed all the cancer, Arevalo has undergone treatments as a precaution.
“My recovery from the radiation and chemical treatments has been slower than I had hoped,” Arevalo wrote in a letter to the campus community. “I believe a one-month break from my presidential duties will speed up my recovery so I can be at my best … when the budget situation with the state comes to its most important points.”
John Mason, EWU’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, will serve as acting president.
Among matters that can’t wait for Arevalo’s return is a state request that requires EWU to cut an additional $1 million from this school year’s budget. EWU vice presidents and deans are working on those cuts, according to Mason.