In brief: 12-year-old arrested in Medical Lake arson

A 12-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of starting a fire that destroyed a historic Medical Lake home Saturday.

Deputy Mike McNees, of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, investigated and determined the fire had been set. On Tuesday, the boy told McNees he had ignited a propane bottle on the home’s second floor and left it, thinking he had turned it off.

The boy has been arrested on a charge of second-degree arson, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.

Geiger inmate arrested in bathroom assault

An inmate at Geiger Corrections Center is accused of trying to strangle another inmate as she used a toilet late Wednesday.

A witness told corrections deputies the victim looked like “a deer in headlights” when Maria C. Schlienger, 23, attacked her with a pink, torn-up rag as the victim sat on a toilet in a bathroom stall at Geiger, 3507 S. Spotted Road, according to court documents. Geiger, which is slated to close, is a minimum-security facility that houses overflow inmates from the Spokane County Jail.

The witness said Schlienger wrapped the rag around the woman’s neck until she intervened. The 26-year-old victim, who is serving time for a drunken-driving conviction, briefly lost consciousness.

Schlienger was transported to the county jail on a second-degree assault charge.

Graduation celebrators cited for drinking

Spokane-area high school students celebrating graduation were cited for drinking underage Tuesday night in Pend Oreille County.

Gunfire was reported at the party in a wooded area about 3 miles south of Newport near North State Line Road about 9 p.m. A caller told dispatchers he heard multiple gunshots and saw people and cars in the woods nearby.

Thirteen adults under age 21 and three juveniles were cited for drinking alcohol, the Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday. Twenty-two other people were contacted but not cited.

Deputies located a shotgun but said no firearm crimes had been committed. Everyone cooperated with law enforcement.

Investigators said the partygoers were from the West Valley area.

Idaho makes up with Five Wives

The Idaho State Liquor Division announced Wednesday that it will make Five Wives vodka available in Idaho by special order “to avoid unnecessary litigation.”

In a news release, state Liquor Division Director Jeff Anderson said the division will immediately begin accepting special order requests for the Ogden, Utah-made product, which it previously had declined to carry, in part because it deemed the brand offensive to the state’s substantial Mormon population.

“In a shared desire to avoid unnecessary litigation costs to Ogden’s Own Distillery and the people of Idaho, today we have informed the makers of ‘Five Wives’ vodka that we will immediately begin processing special order requests for both on-premise licensees and retail customers,” Anderson said.