OKANOGAN — An inmate who complained of claustrophobia apparently used dental floss and toothpaste to saw his way out of an Okanogan County Jail exercise yard.
An arrest warrant charging first-degree escape was issued by Okanogan County Superior Court for Scott A. Brimble, 30, of Wenatchee.
Brimble apparently used dental floss and toothpaste, which is abrasive, to weaken the wire mesh, which he pried apart to escape, Sheriff Mike Murray said.
Brimble was sentenced in county Superior Court in February to 64 days in jail for failure to register as a sex offender. He also faced additional time for probation violations.
Walla Walla
Strike removed but time added: A Washington State Penitentiary inmate avoided a life prison sentence for molesting a Walla Walla girl, but will have to serve nearly eight more years for the crime. Ronald Valentine, 53, was sentenced in 1996 to serve life without parole under the state’s "Three Strikes" law. That sentence was overturned on appeal. During a sentencing hearing Monday, Walla Walla County Superior Court Judge Donald W. Schacht ordered Valentine to serve an exceptional term of 15 years. His original sentence was overturned — and a strike was taken away — when a Washington State Court of Appeals panel last month ruled that a Pennsylvania crime couldn’t be considered in calculating Valentine’s sentence.
Vancouver, Wash.
Deputy acquitted of groping: Jurors took only 20 minutes to acquit a sheriff’s deputy charged with groping a woman while on duty, but the sheriff said deputy Michael Dell will not be offered his job back. Dell, 35, was charged with fourth-degree assault after a woman accused him in August of improperly touching her while on duty May 9, 2001. Dell’s attorney contended that the woman, Shellie Bishop, 34, made the allegation against Dell because the deputy declined to write a report saying her estranged husband had violated a no-contact order.
Longview
Ticket to fame: Seth Darcangelo and Ashley Agnew are used to making three-point shots. But these days, their fame is coming in sixes. The 19-year-olds, their faces painted Blazer red and black, are pictured on the tickets for every sixth Blazer home game. They believe they were photographed together at a game during the 2000 basketball season.
Richland
Consultant says don’t finish nuclear plant: Completion of a mothballed nuclear power plant owned by Energy Northwest is impractical, a consulting firm hired by the utility said Wednesday. Energy Northwest hired Goldschmidt Imeson of Portland, Ore., to study the possibility of resurrecting Washington Nuclear Project 1, which sits on leased land at the Hanford nuclear reservation. Construction on the 1,250-megawatt WNP-1 was halted in 1982 and the project was formally terminated in 1994. It was 70 percent complete. The report said it would not be cost effective for a public utility or an investor-owned utility to take on the $4 billion project, nor would it be a politically feasible undertaking in this state.
Usk
Two killed in accident: Two teen-agers were killed and a third was injured when their car crashed Wednesday, apparently while they were trying to evade law enforcement officers. The three had tried to purchase alcohol in Usk, about 50 miles north of Spokane, and allegedly spit on the clerk when he refused because they did not have identification, officers said. The clerk called the Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office, and officers briefly chased the teen-agers’ vehicle before breaking off because of high speeds, officers said. A short time later, the vehicle was spotted by a Kalispel tribal police officer, who also began a chase. The vehicle the three teen-agers were in went off the road while rounding a curve and crashed into two trees, the State Patrol said.
Tacoma
City bans discrimination of gays: A ban on discrimination against gays, lesbians, transvestites and people who undergo sex changes has been approved by the city council despite the likelihood of a repeal campaign. The council voted 8 to 1 Tuesday night to add "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the city’s anti-discrimination law, which already covers race, ethnicity, age, gender and other protected classes. Opponents ranged from those citing moral or religious reasons to small business operators who said the ordinance could leave them at greater risk of costly lawsuits. When the council approved a similar measure in 1989, voters repealed it later that year.
Oregon
Man drives for help after suffering burns: A Sublimity man who survived a gas explosion, then drove an all-terrain vehicle for help, was in critical condition Wednesday with burns over 60 percent of his body. Jimmy Williams, 40, was being treated for second- and third-degree burns at the Oregon Burn Center at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland. An explosion Sunday ripped Williams’ two-story home off its foundation and demolished a wall. Propane from a basement leak apparently exploded, said Sublimity Fire Chief Alan McMahen. Despite the burns, Williams drove an ATV to the house of a neighbor, Fran Tripoli, who is a nurse at the Veterans’ Hospital in Portland.
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