Freezing fog took over the South Hill for a brief time this evening. The front yard’s tree had icy casings over the pine’s foliage.
Didn’t have enough time to capture the ice because of a doomed sunset and passing cars making all kinds of crazy red and yellow bokeh.
Many of you may have woken up this morning, looked outside and realized you had to dig your snow gear out of the closet. We’ve been spoiled by the warmer weather of late and now it’s back to the normal winter grind.
Some journalists stay away from the edgy use of iPhone photo apps that make photos appear more like art than the reality they’re seeing with their own eyes. It’s a subject that’s touchy for some.
It’s a strange argument for me. I like the look apps like Hipsmatic, PictureShow and Camera Plus give my photos. Yet I understand it’s frowned upon in journalism.
I have a quick fix to appease both sides.
In my latest story, instead of saying “Photo Credit: Nicole Hensley - A driver plows through High Drive on Spokane’s South Hill.”, I wrote by the suggestion of Mike, “Photo Illustration: Nicole Hensley”.
That way we’re identifying that this is actually a photo taken, but it’s been altered in a way that makes me feel all edgy and hip.
Some are taking their life in their own hands skating with these icy streets and sidewalks. A normal trot from one’s vehicle to the office door takes twice as long when you’re trying to keep your tight-rope balance so you’re not that guy that slips on the ice in the company parking lot.
While reporter Ian Cull and his photographer were shooting video for Wednesday’s story on icy Spokane roads, they witnessed this unfortunate incident at Monroe and 8th where a bicyclist took a gamble.
The bicyclist was not injured during the fall.
After tons of snow dropped on the Inland Northwest, hundreds of schools and buildings announced their closures. Eastern Washington University remained unsure about their Friday schedule, but they did cancel classes for Thursday evening. Come Friday morning, their decision was clear: classes would continue.
That action has some concerned for student safety. In one Facebook update where they announced that classes would resume as scheduled, more than 100 people commented - and still are. Some called it a “bad decision” and others are clicking Facebook’s metaphoric dislike button.
ASEWU president, Oscar Ocaña, has many students contacting him asking why there is school today.
“I got around 17 emailed letters from the student body population, but most of them complained through social media,” Ocaña said.
On Thursday night, he emailed school president, Dr. Rodolfo Arévalo, suggesting the school be closed on Friday or until the situation is manageable.
“The main concern was that school wasn’t closed because of roads. In Cheney, they were clear. In Spokane, roads were not plowed. Many students were not able to reach the bus,” he continued. “A big group of commuters were uncomfortable. They’re the main issue.”
According to past weather data, it took a minimum of 13” for classes to be cancelled.
“We rarely shut down. Unlike the school districts, we can’t do make up days,” Dave Meany, EWU spokesman, said this morning.
He only recalls a few times EWU has canceled classes. We contacted National Weather Service and found out the snow depth at Spokane International Airport on the days EWU previously cancelled classes on dates provided by Meany.
2008
2009
2010
Today’s data from National Weather Service calculated the airport’s official snow depth at 7”.
Ocaña wonders would it be too much to ask to shut down campus? Not many students have classes on Fridays anyways.
Meany says the class load on Friday is not as big as it is on other days of the week. The biggest departments at the school, the computer science and engineering, don’t even have classes on Friday.
“Friday is our lighter day no matter what,” Meany added.
They’re keeping your sidewalks clear and your bus stops clean during this snowy week in Airway Heights. A work crew of nine offenders from Airway Heights Corrections Center have been doing snow removal in the city making sure the area is safe for pedestrians.
“They’re minimum custody offenders,” Risa Klemme, public information officer, said. “They have a prison term of four years or less and are screened by staff and eligible to be on supervised work.”
They’re hired to do the work, getting paid one dollar per hour. A minimum of 55 percent is deducted for financial legal obligations, court fees and supervision costs. The rest of it goes into their pocket for either saving or spending inside the corrections center on snacks, etc.
While members of the community is grumbling about shoveling their driveways and wondering when a snow plow will visit their street, these guys are out earning a minimal living and getting a little fresh air.
“It’s an opportunity for them to get out, to breath the fresh air that you and I take for granted every day,” Klemme explained. “A lot of them had jobs in the past where they did manual labor so they like it.”
Klemme says it also teaches them work ethics.
“One of our goals is to teach them a worth ethic; that you go to work every day, where you’re paid and you’re honest. Those are important skills to learn so when they do get out of prison, they take those skills with them and support their families and pay their taxes.”
Like any other working man, when the work day is over, they head home - back to prison.
I spent my Thursday morning with Officer Ryan Snider as we patrolled South, East and West Spokane. The snow was building as the morning progressed. We responded to two domestic court order violations and one residential burglary. We even drove by a federal investigation.
During the six hours, we responded to two domestic violence calls and one residential burglary.
Below is a timeline of events as they happened. To read the tweets as they happened, read our Storify for “Tweet-Cap: A Ride-Along with Spokane Police Department”.
6:00 a.m. - Roll call begins. The room is strangely sparse this morning unlike other roll call meetings attended for the day shift. Officers say on January 10th they went from two day-shift teams to one team. That’s 16 officers to about 11 max if everyone is in attendance meaning not sick or on vacation. Their territory increased as well. There is also only one corporal and one sergeant per shift.
Today’s talking points include the announcement of 19 federal warrants being served in the area. When I arrived to the Public Safety Building, Spokane SWAT was gearing up to leave the back parking lot.
Officers also discussed an incident from Wednesday regarding a shoplifter who was injured in the process of being apprehended by security and another incident regarding a man with an arrest warrant who was caught inside the public safety building by a clerk.
6:30 a.m. - That was a short roll call meeting, straight to the point. We marched through the snowy parking lot to prepare to sit in the patrol vehicle for a few minutes while it defrosted. Ofc. Snider’s vehicle is unmarked and has wind shield wipers that tend to stick.
6:45 a.m. - We drove by one of the 19 federal raids stemmed from the United States District Court indictments for conspiracy to distribute “pure methamphetamine” and “crack cocaine”. Representatives from SWAT at Oak and Boone say it was a ten month investigation leading up to this morning when they executed all the warrants in one swoop. Law enforcement seized eight pounds of meth, 40 guns and $150,000.
Related Content: More than a dozen Spokane residents arrested in Operation “Old School”
KXLY reported one of the warrant locations on East Mallon on their morning show. Spokane Police said it was lead by the Spokane Violent Crimes Gang Enforcement Team.
7:37 a.m. - We intended to respond to a residential burglary in the West Plains, but we were called off. Instead we drove to East Spokane to respond to a domestic violence call. A female resident said her ex-husband broke into the the house occupied by her and other roommates. Ofc. Snider says the same house had a search warrant for drugs last week.
The suspect had just gotten out of jail that morning. He drove off before we arrived. We followed his footsteps around the home in the snow to the back door leading to the basement where he broke parts of it to break in.
Ofc. Snider called the on-shift corporal to take photos of evidence, but in this situation, it was a sergeant that would respond because the other corporal was unavailable.
7:55 a.m. - Ofc. Snider begins to fill out paperwork, a lengthy process that takes into account all details learned during the domestic violence incident. We listen to the radio in the background. It flips through songs from Pat Benatar and STYX.
8:20 a.m. - While driving along I-90 on 2nd, we look up the embankment to see a driver facing the wrong direction on the side of the road. The driver exits the vehicle and says his car is stuck. We call Washington State Patrol to respond to the incident.
9:00 a.m. - Coffee break.
9:07 a.m. - We continue our patrol through East Spokane, crossing the river and heading east on Boone, passing KXLY located at 500 W. Boone. We hear of a suspect in downtown Spokane who assaulted someone at the STA Plaza. Security guards lost track of him on-foot.
10:04 a.m. - We finally had an incident to respond to. A domestic violence call in Browne’s Addition along Pacific. A woman said her ex-husband was at her daughter’s school when she showed up. She has a court order against him. She said he simply stared at her.
It turned out he had a reason to be there. A report is being filed, but nothing else is being pursued at this time.
10:33 a.m. - We’re en route to a blocked vehicle at 8th and McClellan. By the time we get there, we see no vehicle blocking traffic. We hear that the downtown Spokane suspect who assaulted someone at the STA Plaza has been arrested.
10:42 a.m. - We start driving downtown from Division. We see an Avalanche truck turn left on a red light from 3rd to Division. It’s an illegal left turn. Snider reports the violation to a traffic cop who drives up next to us to say hello. Ofc. Snider tips him off of the traffic violation. The other officer ends up pulling the driver over. Turns out the driver had a suspended license.
10:53 a.m. - We get on I-90 to head to the Eagle Ridge neighborhood along Highway 195 to respond to a residential burglary.
Residents at one home woke up to find their vehicles had been rummaged through over night. Ofc. Snider followed foot prints in the snow all around the homes in the cul-de-sac. The thief walked to each home and looked through the windows until he came to the one home and stole designer sunglasses, phone cords, a Swiss Army knife, sticks of gum and a checkbook to a discontinued bank account. Thieves ignored the stack of apparently valuable golf clubs according to one of the homeowners.
No footprints led to the home’s back door or side door. No marks were cut into the garage door where a thief could have used a tool to pull the emergency cord. Entry unknown.
In the patrol vehicle we followed the footprints down the hill. The footprints turned from a walk into a jog. They eventually disappeared between two other homes.
12:05 p.m. - End ride-along.
Some of you probably rushed to your bedroom window this morning to catch a glimpse at what the weather brought us. Nothing. The ground was bare.
Depending on your point of view, Mother Nature either hates or loves Spokane. Snow fall played leap frog over Spokane and dived right into North Idaho where it snowed a few inches.
Thanks to the National Weather Service, we have some statistics that show the snowiest days in recorded history at Spokane International Airport. Some of you may remember these dates like they were yesterday especially the number two and three slot dedicated to December of 2008 when snow turned the city upside down.
1. January 21st, 1954 - 12.7 inches
2. December 17th, 2008 - 12.5 inches
3. December 18th, 2008 - 11.1 inches
4. December 21st, 1951 - 11.1 inches
5. February 19th, 1993 - 11.0 inches
6. January 6th, 1950 - 10.4 inches
7. January 26th, 1969 - 9.8 inches
8. February 25th, 1919 - 9.6 inches
9. November 4th, 1973 - 9.0 inches
10. December 19th, 1895 - 8.9 inches
Something interesting to note. In Seattle, their heaviest snowfall was January 13th, 1950. They received 20 inches of snow. Their second ranked stat was 14.9 inches on January 27th, 1969. After that Spokane beats their snowfall.
Since we’re on the topic of weather, don’t forget to send us some of your weather photos. Brownie points for creativity! We use them online and on our newscasts to help show people what it really looks like all over the Inland Northwest. Email: news4@kxly.com.
Even though North Idaho is experiencing low snow levels, back country drivers are stumbling upon an unexpected hazard as they joyride through forest service roads. Trail heads remain clear and open, but the farther they trek into the forest, they find snow and it’s deep.
It’s becoming a hassle for the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and their search and rescue crews to help stuck drivers who didn’t expect their vehicles to break the crest of deep snow. Sgt. Ryan Higgins says they’ve had to rescue about ten people already this year.
“Last weekend we had a couple of gals, late teens, get stuck driving around in a Subaru Wagon, getting into snow too deep for them,” Higgins explained.
During the calm winter weather, Higgins says average citizens are driving their vehicles along these forest service roads. At some point they’re unable to turn around or get out once they’ve broken through the snow crest.
“We get these calls late at night and then we have to call search and rescue,” Higgins said.
“Last night we had a call of a stranded motorist off of Forest Service Road 406 between Fernan Saddle, coming up Hayden Creek. They made it to Burnt Cabin Summit, fairly close to town, but they go on the other side of it. Members of my team rescued the two people, but while going there they found another rig that was stuck. And then a third rig that was also stuck. That vehicle had help on the way.”
This is unusual for this time of year. Typically the forest service roads are closed and barricaded due to snowmobile grooming. An ordinance says once grooming begins, motor vehicles have to stay off the roads so ATV and snowmobiles can go through.
Higgins says this year they’re not allowing the groomers to groom without snow at the trail head. That means the roads can’t close and drivers wander into these potentially dangerous situations.
Stuck drivers run the risk of hypothermic conditions if they attempt to walk out. On Wednesday, one driver walked out and found help after his vehicle became stuck at Hayden Creek.
With no restrictions in place to deny drivers, the Sheriff’s Department suggests a couple safety measures to protect people. Before trekking out there, tell a friend or relative where you’re going and when to expect you. They also recommend being dressed for the cold weather and bringing along enough food and water.
If a driver does become stuck in the snow, they should stay with their vehicle until help arrives.
Is your cat an outdoor cat? It may be okay hanging out in the backyard chasing squirrels and smelling flowers, but check out this cat in Priest Lake. His name is Marcello and he’s the ultimate outdoor cat. Marcello was photographed with his friend, Richard Bohn, out in Friday’s snow.
The snow kitty is not phased at all by the heavy snow fall while Bohn shovels snow near his Priest Lake cabin. Marcello is embracing the elements like a yeti. He’s braver than most cats who merely sniff the snow and run back inside.
The expected snow storm bringing two to four inches of snow has yet to arrive in Spokane. Instead it’s just cold. It’s 31 degrees in Spokane and only one Occupy Spokane protester is on duty to express their concerns of the 99%.
“Being an old skier, it’s too cold to snow yet,” said Deer Park resident, Christine Clark.
Nicole Hensley is a journo for hire.
Former breaking news reporter at The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash. Origins in Western Washington, but now Brooklyn, NY transplant.
I share neat things that I see, read or write. Email me at nkhensley@gmail.com.
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