Spokane Washington

280 laws come into effect from some 320 measures passed in 2008.  The new laws include domestic partnership registration and rights, with provisions comparible to those passed in California, as well as expanding the state’s DNA database by requiring convicts to supply samples. 

Other laws include the extension of a controversial program allowing dogs to assist in hunting cougars.  Animal rights activists contend hunting with dogs is cruel and unfair, and that the cougar population is diminishing.  Despite this concerned voters extended the program another three years, in addition to the four years it has already been active, in order to protect livestock and, if necessary, people, from the animal’s encroachment on farm land.

Another law expanded upon was Washington’s three strikes law, which will now include out-of-state convictions for felonies with a sexual motivation if the minimum sentence is 10 years or more.  In another law enforcement measure, grants are now available via the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs to local law enforcement agencies to combat graffiti.  A new database will track gang “tag” signs statewide, and also, this new law makes it a crime for adults to include juveniles in a felony, adding additional jail time if the offence is gang-related.  Property owners are now able to recover civil penalties and costs from the Office of Crime Victims Advocates because of tagging or graffiti, and the program helps witnesses in gang-related trials.  This law also directs the Department of Corrections to collect data and recommend the most effective practices for dealing with gang activity and recruitment in and outside of jails.

            Other new laws include protection to the endangered orca.  It is now illegal for fishermen and boatsmen to feed or be within 300 feet from the animal, as is intercepting or failing to put a boat at a neutral distance.

            30 grocery stores across the state are allowed to offer a limited number of beer and wine-tasting events, and Vietnam Veterans who enlisted and served before completing their high school education are to be granted diplomas.

            The Department of Agriculture has set up a farm-to-school program which supplies grants for schools, and a pilot program designed to allow farmers at markets to accept electronic payment cards and food stamps.  There will also be a farmers-to-food-banks program that will assist low-income families with purchasing fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat purchases from local farmers.

Written By:

L.S. Tibbets

Twenty seven blocks of downtown Spokane, Washington were destroyed on Sunday, August 4, 1889 when a fire erupted in an area of wooden buildings and spread to stone and brick structures of the business district.  Technical difficulties at the pumping station prevented fire hoses from having adequate water pressure and rendered the volunteer fire department useless.  When the winds finally calmed, the fire was able to die without the aid of fire hoses.

The damage was a terrible blow to the growing city of Spokane.  Property losses were immense and one death was reported. Rolla A. Jones, the supervisor of the water system (who was said to have been fishing at the time of the fire), was initially blamed for the catastrophe for having left an incompetent worker in charge during his absence.  Jones was later exonerated, but the accusation continued to haunt him well after the allegations were dismissed.

The story that the fire started at Wolfe’s lunchroom opposite the Northern Pacific Depot on Railroad Avenue seems to be the most credible.

The flames scorched the weak buildings near the tracks, the Pacific Hotel; a new structure finely constructed of brick and granite, and then spread to the business center.  The volunteer fire department was alerted by the fire-station and church bells, though did not have sufficient water pressure in the hoses to make much difference.  Garbage from between the buildings served as fuel for the flames, and despite the fire fighter’s best efforts to demolish doomed buildings with dynamite, in an attempt to block its spread, the winds helped the fire jump the open spaces and continue its path of destruction.

George I. Davis, a resident of the Arlington Hotel, was the one fatality.  He died from his burn wounds at Sacred Heart Hospital after; it was suspected, leaping from the hotel.

Sportsmen and working men were the majority of the newly homeless, who were cared for by the nuns at Sacred Heart and then later employed clearing debris.

$5 to $10 million worth of property damage was reported, with approximately one half to one third of it being insured.

A collection of food, supplies and money was collected by a newly formed relief committee and Seattle, recovering from a recent fire of its own, donated $15,000. 

City investigators for the Committee on Fire and Water discovered a leaky hose was the culprit for the faulty water pressure and that the man left in charge during Mr. Jones’ absence was indeed a qualified machinist.  Despite this, Jones’ guilt was widely known throughout the public and has been reported as fact in other publications.

Spokane rebuilt very quickly, and with that, to prevent a catastrophe of this nature from striking Spokane again, wooden structures were forbidden from being built downtown, an electrical fire alarm system was installed, and a professional fire department was established complete with horse-drawn carriages and equipment.

LS Tibbets

Staff Writer

April 10, 2008

The former Spokane Raceway Park operator, Orville Moe’s last minute motion to stop Thursday’s public auction of the Raceway was dismissed by Superior Court Judge Robert Austin.

Limited partners attest to not have received any return or profit on their $2.5 million worth of shares after having built the Raceway in the 1970s and filed to have the court auction the property to satisfy these claims.

Orville and his wife, Deonne Moe filed liens on the Raceway as well as a second suit back in March of this year, but both dismiss motions filed by the attorney for receiver Barry Davidson were granted shortly after noon on April 9^th.

The auction will commence today at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Spokane at 1 p.m.  Further legal arguments are scheduled before the judge will rule as to whether financial sanctions will be taken against Moe for filing the last suit despite a court order to “cease and desist.”  Disobeying earlier court orders by Judge Austin will already cost Moe a fine of $315,000.

Judge Austin will consider appointing a special prosecutor to bring criminal contempt of court charges against Moe, as requested by attorney John Giesa, a representative for the receiver currently controlling the track.  The judge has not ruled on this issue thus far.  The judge will also rule if Barry Davidson will continue as receiver, as requested by Moe’s attorney, Aaron Lowe. 

Davidson has been overseer of the track since appointed by the court in July 2005.

By: L.S. Tibbets

A fledgling children's author blogs about her creatives woes, her process in writing her next book, and her trials in trying to get her first book published. Witty, satirical and easily relatable, the blog is a must for writers of all genres at any level of their profession.