Cousin Sam: In the news, Sunday, May 19, 2013

Former officer admits more crimes

TACOMA – A former Lakewood police officer previously convicted for stealing from a fund to benefit the families of four officers shot in 2009 has pleaded guilty to more charges related to that case.

KOMO-TV reported that 36-year-old Skeeter Manos pleaded guilty on Friday in Tacoma to identity theft and forgery charges for stealing the identity of a certified public accountant and forging documents in his name.

He was sentenced to nine more months in prison, which will be added to a 33-month federal prison sentence.

Manos has been in federal prison since last September, serving time for his prior federal conviction for wire fraud.

Washington raising stakes for drunk boating

Boaters could be sunk if caught drunk under new boating laws signed Thursday by Gov. Jay Inslee.

The legislation allows officers to require breath or blood tests when they suspect a boating-under- the-influence case. The infraction is upgraded to a gross misdemeanor; top fine is $5,000 and a year in jail.

The law changes go into effect on July 28.

REI project boosts Little Spokane trail

The Spokane REI store is trying to round up a crew of several hundred volunteers for a brief but massive effort to reroute a portion of a popular Little Spokane River trail off private land.

In cooperation with Riverside State Park, the store’s annual family-friendly Service Day project is set for 9 a.m.-noon on June 1, National Trails Day.

Helpers will redirect the Valley Trail downstream from Indian Painted Rocks onto state park land.

Individuals should preregister at the REI website, rei.com/spokane.

Larger groups contact Carol Christensen at the store, 328-9900.

Angler nailed for getting two limits

Veteran Washington Fish and Wildlife police often develop a nose for sniffing out greedy anglers.

For example, officer Mike Spurbeck was impressed to see an angler quickly catch his limit at the north end of West Medical Lake on the opening weekend of the season. But on a hunch, he didn’t approach the angler for the normal check. Instead he jotted down the angler’s vehicle license plate number.

Just 20 minutes later, the vehicle drove into the access area at the south end of the lake. The angler had changed clothes, including his hat and shoes.

Spurbeck moved to a concealed area to watch the angler, and sure enough, the man began fishing and caught a second daily limit.

Good fishing, bad luck, big fine, not to mention the $300 worth of fishing gear the officer seized.

Pend Oreille River pike netting continues

Washington fisheries officials and the Kalispel Tribe have removed around 6,000 northern pike using gillnets in the second year of a pike suppression and monitoring operation on the Box Canyon Reservoir stretch of the Pend Oreille River.

“The majority of these fish are age 3 or less,” said Jason Olson, the tribe’s fish conservation manager.

Pike suppression this season was conducted from March through the first week of May. Netting resumed last week after fish managers deployed even more nets to survey the river and found the spring netting had not reduced pike numbers to target numbers, especially in the north end of the reservoir.

The highest number of pike caught in survey nets last week were a dozen in South Everett and Tiger sloughs.

This spring’s post-suppression survey involved 197 nets that caught 410 northern pike in a week.

For the first time in 10 years of surveys and two seasons of suppression, no large pike were caught in the Box Canyon stretch survey, the tribe reports.

The suppression gillnets were removed from the river this weekend for the PikePalooza fishing derby sponsored by the tribe.

Value Village to relocate

Savers Inc., based in Bellevue, will move the current Value Village in Spokane Valley later this year into the building that once housed the Old Country Buffet.

Currently at 13112 E. Sprague Ave., the discount and vintage-item retail store will reopen after remodeling is completed at 12205 E. Sprague Ave., at the corner of Pines Road.

In January 2012 the restaurant closed its doors following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Value Village Inc. is a subsidiary of privately held Savers Inc. The company operates more than 220 Value Village locations in the U.S., Canada and Australia.

_____