NEWS UNBROKEN
DAILY NEWS 7-9-2024
[MUSIC PLAYING] Yep, ready. It is going to be a hot, hot Tuesday. Good morning, Eric Carpenter with you. This is KCVL, KCRK. The heat advisory still in effect today and tomorrow. Very hot conditions during the day feels kind of comfortable out there right now. The expected highs, again, triple digits today, likely again tomorrow. Of course, when it gets this hot, it can cause heat illnesses. Drink plenty of fluids. If you can, stay in an air conditioned room, stay out of the sun. Be a good idea, check on relatives, neighbors, friends. I'm sure everybody is OK if they'd have no air conditioning or, you know, everything is really hot. And my house was hot all night. It was still hot this morning, miserable. Try and help them out. If you've got a nice, cool place, invite them over. You want to take extra precautions, reduce the risk of outdoor, you know, don't do any heavy duty outdoor work. Also keep in mind the new state regulations are in effect for occupational safety and health. Got to have rest breaks, air conditioned or shaded areas, plenty of water. Also, if you see anyone overcome by heat, heat stroke is an emergency. If you see that, call 9-1-1. A public hearing here in Stevens County, this regarding a speed limit study for Douglas Falls and Gillette Roads. Some results on a possible speed limit change. We talked with Stevens County, commissioners about the upcoming hearing. Greg Young, Stevens County Commissioner. I just wanted to let the public know that we're going to be having another public hearing on July 30 at 2.30 to discuss the speed study that we've conducted out on Douglas Falls Road. Going back a little bit on it, the majority of the property owners signed a petition asking the county to reduce the speed from 50 to 40. After a few months of investigating, I did some search on trying to find like county roads that were the same population. And speed, the only one I could find was on Valley West side here, a speed limit at 40 miles an hour. So I made a motion a year or so ago, basically, to reduce the speed out there on Douglas Falls to 40 miles an hour. After a lot of discussion, we decided to do a speed study out there to see if road signs actually slow traffic down. After the engineers finished the study here, it looks like the majority of the people are still driving 50 miles an hour out there. So I just wanted to get some public input on it. So if you guys could have joined the meeting or sent it in to our office, we'd greatly appreciate it. Just a follow up on the monument that the American Legion is proposing to put on the courthouse yard there. Most of the comments that we've been getting would have been greatly appreciated, but this is not a county project. This is funded by the American Legion. So just a little update for the public. It's still in progress, working with the Legion to see where we're at, with design and placement of it. Just keeping the public informed. Thank you. - Okay, I'm kind of one of those weird things. I want to keep the public informed thing is the, the guys that want to put the monument there will not release what they want to put. We've talked with them. Their engineer says, no, it's, they cannot release, you know, what dimensions, what height, what size. You just take our word, it's going to be wonderful. It's going to go on the courthouse lawn, but we're not going to tell you what we're going to put. Okay. You make your comments to the Stevens County Commissioners if you are concerned that they want to take about a 30 foot by 30 foot area of the courthouse lawn and put something. No, we can't, yeah, I've seen the drawings, but the engineer that's done them says, nope, they're not for public release. Can't talk about them. Can't tell people what we're going to put there. Just trust us, it's going to be good. Not the way you do, not the way you do public, on public land, but anyway, July 30th, Commissioner's Office, 230 East Birch here in Colville, if you are interested in making public comment about the speed limits. Douglas falls to let roads here in the county. Discover incredible savings during our biggest sale of the season from sleek, modern designs to a timeless classic. Find the perfect piece to elevate your space. Hurry into Saunders Furniture and save up to a staggering 70% off on select furniture. Don't miss this opportunity to bring style and comfort home. Visit Saunders Furniture today and let us help you create the home of your dreams. Sail in soon. You know, every now and then we want to feature, yes, some local business highlight. If you're interested in timber land consulting, here's some more information about that. - My name's Jeff Pitts. I'm the GM CEO of Art and Tree Farms. We've been in Northeast Washington for going on seven decades. We own a little over 32,000 acres of timber land in Stevens County, Ferry County and Ponderay County that we selectively manage every year. And last year we decided to go out of the box a little bit and create a consulting side to our company and offer to people basically what we do to our own land, whether it's forest questions or tree questions or equipment questions, road work. You name it anything that has to do with owning your own land. We might be able to offer some assistance. And so we are offering a free initial consultation to come out and take a look at whatever it is you might have a question. And if we can help you, maybe we can make a plan for you and your property. And if not, we can always probably recommend somebody else that might be better suited to help you. So in a nutshell, that's what we're doing. To get a hold of us, you can call or text 509-684-2507. That's our office. And you can also go to our website, artandtreefarmstimmerlandconsulting.com. If you'd rather email, it is Jeff Pitts ATF@gmail.com. - All right, give me a little bit of something to think about there. Art and tree farms, expanding out, doing a little bit more. - Looking for a little comfort in your life? Call the expert, your carrier dealer. Carrier dealers are the authorities at getting peak performance from your heating and cooling system. So call your carrier dealer first. He has ways of making you very comfortable. Carrier, turn to the experts at ABC Heating and Electric in Colville at 411 West Second. Or call Deb for an appointment at 684-2018. Or go to abc-heating.com. - All right, yesterday we talked a little bit about property assessments. Talked with the Stevens County Assessor. You likely, if you a change the value of your property, you got a notice in the mail mid June. You have a short period of time. Very short period of time. If you want to question that value and get into the Assessor's Office, talk about it. And if you want, you can challenge the price that they put on your property. Well, some people get really protective of they don't want the Assessor's people coming on their property, especially inside their house. Do they do that? Well, let's hear a little more. Stevens County Assessor's Office. - A physical inspection, we're going out to look at properties that have buildings or any kind of improvement on them. And we're looking for new stuff, stuff that's been torn down. We're looking at the building to see what kind of shape it's in, if it's depreciating, or if they're up keeping it. And those things make a big difference on assessment. On a residence, we value the house, any outbuildings that they have, and also utilities, which are well-powered, septic, those type of things are involved. Any fencing or we do a shipping container like a shed, because it's put on the ground. Even if it's moveable, we will assess it by state statute. If you have a septic to your house, power to your house, and a well that produces water to your house, or your shop, or your property. The only time we ever do any kind of fencing is commercial property, not residential property, commercial property, 'cause they have to enclose something. They don't want anybody to get in. - We inspect the property. We were looking for new improvements from the last time the inspection was made. One of the questions I asked, do you go inside people's dwellings? No, we don't. The only time we will is if we're invited to come in to that person's home, because they wanna show us something. If we assume that it's a standard, an interior, that might be one value. If they bring us in and there's a lot of damage, we'll lower that value. And that's about the only time I can think of that people will want to invite us in. If it's gonna change their assessment to bring it down lower. We can walk on the property, yes. If there's a gate and it's locked, we are not gonna go in, we will come back, and try to contact the property owner to schedule an appointment. I think the thing that started people discussing this is the notification of upcoming physical inspection. And people get that once every six years, 'cause we want the people to know who are gonna be in their area. It would do that as a courtesy. And if they have any questions, we have our phone number right on here. They can call us. And it's interesting to have people write things in different places such as Facebook. Or they can just call us and get the answer. - All right, you know, so often it is so true. Pick up the phone, go down to the courthouse. They're more than happy to talk to you most of the time. Steven's County assessor Rick Johnson, chief of prisoner K Flanagan. They are explaining, you got that notice. Now, you know, explaining what the process is on the revaluation and the physical inspections. - The Kettlefall School District is currently seeking a skilled and reliable bus driver for the 2024-2025 school year. Accelerate your career in this high demand field. As a bus driver, you will be transporting students and staff on regular school routes and extracurricular activities such as field trips. Be a part of our team and help us continue to provide safe and efficient transportation to our community. Apply online at kfschools.org or call 509-738-6625 for more information. - Okay, kind of short notice. This meeting is coming up at 10 o'clock this morning at Colville City Hall. It's kind of how the city of Colville loves to do things they give notice like the day maybe ahead of a hearing. It's for a conditional use permit for a crisis stabilization facility. And this is the official public hearing for the zoning board of adjustment. City of Colville, looking at allowing the Northeast Washington Alliance Counseling Service, done by Stevens County, to use the building right next to the current Alliance Counseling Service building and that behind it, I guess. As a crisis stabilization facility, the city says they're going to take public testimony and they'll render a decision this morning. So reminiscent of how the city shoehorned in the big apartment building being built out on Boynavista by rural resources, by the time anybody knows about it, the city says, oh, it's too late. We've already gone through this process, that process. And the other process is we're going to approve it no matter what the citizens of Colville have to say about it. So if you are interested, this conditional use permit hearing for a new crisis stabilization facility right there at 185 Hawthorne, right now it's zoned general commercial. The last time this came up for discussion, there was a lot of public comment about it and most of it not very favorable. But the city of Colville zoning board of adjustment meeting 10 o'clock this morning at city hall if you are interested. Maybe no big deal. Maybe it is a big deal. I'll let you decide that one. Regular meeting for the Colville City Council coming up tonight. They are going to be having a discussion with the farmers market people. Farmers market folks not happy with the city over permitting process and fees and things like that. That's on the agenda for tonight. Also once again, the city going to be talking about the Avistia installation of a fast charge electric vehicle charging station and improvements to the parking lot at first and when every study has been it's going to be super, super expensive. Maybe they've come up with some new solutions. That's going to be discussed again tonight at the city council meeting and the city going to declare an emergency because they've got more hazard trees in the city park. Also a plan, it's another one of these, you know, you hire an outside consultant people and they put together a hundred and some page plan. This one is regarding proposed parks, recreation and open spaces, ways to spend a lot more money. If you're interested, you can go online and read the hundred plus, there's 104 pages long. It's not a quick read. A whole lot of the boilerplate gobbledygoop and a bunch of contradictory things. If they'd read what they put, these consultants would be a lot better because they have totally conflicting statements in several parts of the plan, but a no doubt city council will probably just look at it and maybe even read part of it and they'll probably approve it tonight. That is on the agenda, it should be a interesting city council meeting tonight, but that is tonight. But this proposal to approve a crisis stabilization facility, a very convenient 10 o'clock in the morning meeting at City Hall. - Art and tree farms. For nearly seven decades, we've been a part of Northeast Washington caring for our forest and helping to support the people in our communities. Now we've decided to step outside the box by creating art and tree farms, timberland consulting, paving the way for us to help you. Whether it is questions on your timberland, needing equipment work done or a vast array of other services, we are here to help visit us at artandtreefarmstimberlandconsulting.com or call 509 684 2507. Contact us today for a free initial consultation. - All right, hats off. Don't say it very often, but hats off, Stevens County Sheriff's Office, the long arm of the law, reaching all the way back to June, 2009. This case has been around a long time and it may, things are looking good to getting this one taken care of. Way back June of 2009, Stevens County Sheriff's Office launched an investigation into a Robert Jennings Van Devere. Detectives got credible information that he had impregnated a 14 year old girl. The victim gave birth to a child later that year in December. Detectives had to wait for DNA lab results to confirm Van Devere was the father. Well, an arrest warrant was issued for his arrest in November of 2012, too late. The guy had vanished. Well, in 2024, we're talking about 12 years later, the Sheriff's Office proactive enforcement task force, the prosecutor's office, the border patrol, the Marshall service, they all came together and developed a strategy. All of these agencies focused on locating this guy. Well, July the second, the U.S. Marshall service located and arrested him in Mesa, Arizona on this outstanding Stevens County warrant. Rape of a child in the third degree. He had evaded law enforcement for 11 years and seven months. All right, well, now it's gonna move over to the Stevens County's prosecutor's office, taking care of business from here. The Sheriff's Office, along with border patrol, Marshall service. All coming together. This guy is gonna come to justice. Lot of years, almost 12 years after being sought. So everybody put their efforts together. Gonna bring this guy to justice. Stevens County Sheriff's Office says their relationship with the Marshall service has been outstanding, especially when apprehending violent fugitives that have fled to avoid prosecution. They look forward to continuing that relationship and bringing these types of cases to resolution. So good news here. And we're bringing him back to Stevens County from Arizona. The face charges from just about. Bringing him to justice. A quick mention here, small plane crash. Two people killed just south of Eatonville after nose diving into the treeline. People saw the airplane nose dive heard the loud boom. Law enforcement recovered the body's 40 year old pilot, 53 year old passenger, fire crews, explore search and rescue, assisted bringing the victims out of the woods. Eatonville about 30 miles south of Tacoma. By the way, if you are interested that that public hearing at 10 this morning, what they are talking about is where the new alliance is currently located if you're not, you know, familiar. 185 Hawthorne here in Colville. They want to do is expand over the next building over, which is where public works has been, is where they want to put this crisis stabilization facility. So just up above, you know, have a block off of Main Street right next to their current building. - Vagan Brothers Lumber specializes in forest improvements and thinning treatments that add value to the forest for people, products and the environment. We are currently purchasing saw logs, ton wood, chip wood and also timber land. Contact Vagan Brothers today at 509-684-5071. Or for more information, go to www.vaganbrothers.com. (upbeat music) - Seattle Mariner race ball coming up tonight, the Mariner's 49 and 43 record. They are first place in the American League West, San Diego Padres, 49 wins, 45 losses. Second place, National League West. Seattle a two game lead over Houston in the AL West. 530 tonight pregame. Logan Gilbert made the All-Star team. Logan Gilbert gonna be starting pitcher for the Mariner's. This is the first of a two game series. It's the first meeting between these two teams this season. So important games here. Seattle would really like to go into the All-Star break still in first place and there are only two games up. So join us tonight, 92.1 KCRK. Today's local weather forecast brought to you by ABC Heating Electric 411 second in Colville. If you're looking for a little comfort in your life, call the expert, your carrier dealer. ABC Heating Electric, if debacle 509 684 2018. Sunny 100 degrees this afternoon, just like yesterday, sunny in 102, even hotter on Wednesday. Cool down just a few degrees Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, all the way into Monday. It is gonna stay sunny and hot. 95, the high every day. Carrier dealers, the authorities are getting peak performance from your heating and cooling system. Years not working right, give them a call. They'll explain why a new carrier system would be good for you. ABC Heating Electric, you'll find him right here in town. 411 West second. No wind on this Tuesday morning, the barometer back up a little bit, 30.08 already, 73 degrees. Now, Tuesday morning, Eric Carpenter with you. Make it a great day, drink plenty of water, make sure your livestock and your pets also have plenty of fresh water. This hot isn't just uncomfortable for you. It's for, you know, your pets and everything else. So thanks a lot for joining us on KCBL, KCRK.