In brief: Gonzaga hires new law school dean
Gonzaga University School of Law announced this week that it has hired a new dean who will start July 1.
Jane B. Korn, the vice dean at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, has been selected as the law school’s first female dean, according to a school news release.
The announcement followed a seven-month search. She replaces Earl F. Martin, who became dean in July 2005 and stepped down to become Gonzaga’s executive vice president. Law professor George Critchlow has served as acting dean in the interim.
SNAP fills appointments for energy help
SNAP has stopped taking appointments for energy assistance after more than 4,000 families signed up since Friday.
So far this winter the private, nonprofit social services agency has allocated more than $2.1 million in energy help, primarily from the low-income heating assistance program, to more than 4,600 households.
Congress has yet to determine how much money it will appropriate for the program. Should more money become available, SNAP will reopen appointments.
SNAP clients are reminded to remain in contact with heating providers and attempt to keep their accounts up to date.
Trial begins in gold, silver coins burglary
The latest trial began this week for a prolific burglar charged with stealing a Spokane man’s collection of gold and silver coins.
Gary D. McCabe, 45, faces up to seven years in prison in connection with an August burglary at the home of Dennis and Bette Miller. Attorneys gave opening arguments Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Linda Tompkins.
McCabe is accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of gold and silver coins, including some from the U.S. Mint dating back to 1960. Some of the coins have been recovered, and efforts continue to recover the rest. McCabe was scheduled Monday to plead guilty to the current charges but changed his mind at the last minute.
McCabe was convicted in October for a 2009 burglary at a home on South Glenrose Road. His rap sheet includes property crime convictions that date back to 1976, when he was 12.
Sex offender living as transient in county
A sex offender considered likely to reoffend has registered to live as a transient in Spokane County, officials said Tuesday.
Harold Edward Martin, 35, was convicted of raping a relative at knifepoint and attacking his female counselor during sex offender therapy, according to previously published reports.
Martin has convictions for custodial assault with sexual motivation, first-degree rape and second-degree incest. His victims were a 51-year-old woman, a 9-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said.
He also has several convictions for failing to register as a sex offender and has lived in Post Falls as well as the Spokane area.
A Kootenai County sheriff’s deputy called him “an extremely dangerous person” when he was wanted in 2005.
Martin currently is not suspected of any wrongdoing, but authorities want the public to be aware of his presence. He is a level 3 sex offender, the classification considered most likely to reoffend.
Two women arrested after traffic stop
Deputies say a Spokane woman caught driving with a suspended license picked the wrong friend to pick up the car: another woman with a suspended license.
Dawn R. Kortness, 37, was stopped Monday in Rockford while driving a 1997 Ford. Deputies say the vehicle had a defective license plate light and illegally tinted windows.
Kortness was arrested for the suspended license and for a felony drug warrant; she then asked if her passenger, Regeena M. Vaughn, 42, could drive the Ford, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
But Deputy Chuck Sciortino said Vaughn appeared to be under the influence of drugs and called for a tow truck after learning her driver’s license was suspended as well. He found an empty plastic bag with traces of methamphetamine as well as 16 tablets of oxycodone and buspirone scattered on the car’s floorboard.
Vaughn did not have a prescription for the drugs and was arrested. Both women have previous convictions for driving with a suspended license.
Whistle draws police to stolen car
Reports of a woman whistling from a parked car led to the arrest of a suspected car thief early Tuesday.
Ronda Marie Tibbet, 40, appeared to be drunk or on drugs and “could only answer nonsensically” when sheriff’s Deputy Daryl Rohde asked her about the Pontiac Grand Am that was stuck in a snow bank at Highway 27 and Elder Road about 3:15 a.m.
Tibbet was in the driver’s seat, and Rohde said the car’s ignition and door and trunk locks had been punched out.
The car’s Spokane Valley owner told dispatchers she left the car in a church parking lot at East 40th Avenue and South Bowdish Road, did not know Tibbet and never gave her permission to take the car.
Tibbett, of Spokane, was booked into jail for possession of a stolen motor vehicle.