In brief: Wood plants temporarily closing
The Colville Tribal Enterprise Corp. will temporarily close two mills in Omak, Wash., to cut costs.
About 380 workers will be affected by the two-week layoff at Colville Indian Precision Pine and Colville Indian Plywood and Veneer. The layoffs will begin Friday.
Jeanne Jerred, business council chairwoman, said the temporary closure was the result of a weak U.S. housing market.
“We did not want to take this step, and attempted to avoid it, but have realized that a short-term furlough would be much better than a possible loss of employment altogether,” she said in a prepared statement.
Mesa, Wash.
Hailey resigns from House seat
Republican Steve Hailey, of Mesa, is resigning his 9th District House seat because he has cancer that is making it difficult for him to work.
In a letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire, Hailey wrote that his health “is such that I cannot represent the interests of my constituents in the fashion they deserve.”
Hailey, 63, was diagnosed with colon cancer in January and has undergone chemotherapy. He continued to do as much of his legislative work as possible by phone and e-mail.
He ran for re-election this fall and received 65 percent of the vote in the southeastern Washington district that includes Whitman, Garfield, Asotin, Adams and Franklin counties, and some suburban and rural portions of southern Spokane County.
Hailey said serving in the Legislature has been rewarding.
“The reality is, though, that it’s getting increasingly difficult for me to summon the physical strength to keep up with the demands of the job, and it’s not my nature to give less than a total commitment,” he wrote in his resignation letter.
He will resign Jan. 11, one day before the 2009 session begins.
His replacement will be nominated by Republican precinct committee officers and selected by county commissioners in the district.
Grant County
Slaying may have been drug-related
A man found shot to death in his car early Saturday near Moses Lake may have been killed over drugs, officials said.
Juan Carlos Lopez Estrada, 34, of Warden, Wash., was in the driver’s seat of a 1996 Dodge Stratus when deputies found him dead about 6:30 a.m., according to the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. Someone called 911 and said an unresponsive man was in the car with all the doors open. The car was at the entrance to the Seep Lakes area, about 10 miles south of Moses Lake.
The Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Patrol are investigating.
Spokane County
Reward offered in hunt for man
A man arrested in a wild police chase in 2004 hasn’t been seen since he was released from jail five days after his arrest on 16 charges, and Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for information leading to his capture.
William R. Mann was still wearing a Spokane County Jail jumpsuit from a recent jail stint when police say he stole three trucks Dec. 15, 2004, before leading deputies in a chase that went through an elementary school playground and ended with a crash in Medical Lake.
Jail staffers had given Mann the jumpsuit when he was released a few days earlier because he had no other clothes, according to previously published reports.
The 24-year-old hasn’t been seen since he left jail on Dec. 20, 2004.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call (800) 222-TIPS or submit a tip via www.crimestoppers inlandnorthwest.org.
Tipsters do not have to give their name to collect the reward but should provide a code name or number.
spokane
Families homeless after two fires
Two Spokane families are homeless after fire damaged their homes Monday.
The Red Cross is helping a couple and their daughter after a space heater used to heat basement pipes sparked a blaze that ripped through their home at 515 S. Sheridan St., according to the Spokane Fire Department.
It took crews about half an hour to control the fire, which was reported about 3:30 p.m.
Later Monday, burning incense ignited a fire that forced a family of four to flee their single-story home at 2503 W. Queen Ave.
The home suffered extensive heat and smoke damage as well as heavy fire damage in a basement bedroom where fire crews believe the blaze began, according to a news release. The fire was reported about 6:45 p.m.
Neighbors gave the family clothes and a place to stay.