Department of Lands tells developer "Go Fish!"

In a case of “Deus ex Machina”
The DOL axed Holland’s marina,
As fish too small to fry,
Raised a public outcry,
When the “Big Fish” trashed their arena!

Story here: State rejects developer's marina plans

Blue Mountain Mystery

In those Washington mountains of Blue
There’s sign of a Bigfoot or two,
They leave tracks of a size,
That makes folks realize,
The rest must be pretty big too!

Story here: Data on Sasquatch Piling Up

Police Retrospective

Here's a quick retrospective of the last 10 months of many, but not all, Spokane Police news highlights.

Otto Fatality
In memory of poor Otto Zehm,
The official prognosis is grim,
If a plastic bottle’s enough,
To make cops get rough,
We all could end up like him!

Story here: Fatal Confrontation between Spokane Police and Otto Zehm


Barista Flasher
There’s a Spokane detective Mastel,
With a theory on wooing a belle,
You start acting silly,
Then whip out your willy,
But in practice it ain’t working well!

Story here: A public servant with backbone? Imagine that!



WSP Trick or Treat
In DUI’s there’s quite a chink,
For girls who both drive and drink,
‘Cause a young woman child,
Who’ll act Girls Gone Wild,
Can get herself off with a wink!

Story here: Charges against trooper detailed
and here: Trooper to lose vacation days





Firehouse Fiasco
Two detectives deleted the pics,
That showed a fireman gettin’ his kicks,
Now the girl claims she’s screwed,
And their all getting’ sued,
For the tricks with the pics by the Dicks!

Story here: No charges to be filed in firehouse sex case



Cowboy Cops
In Spokane the young calf came to grief,
Who crossed the fence for grazing relief,
Two cops used their taser,
And French Fried the grazer,
Now the calf’s just barbecued beef!

Story here: Judge reverses herself in calf tasering

Spokane Police: What are you thinking?

Writers Note: In writing limericks about social misbehavior it seems that a disproportionate amount of my effort is spent on the "Spokane" Police (i.e. SPD, Sheriff's Dept., & WSP). This is not due to a personal bias, but an unfortunate result of area law enforcement dominating recent news with suspicious - sometimes deadly - behavior. In fairness, I have supported both Ozzie Knezovich and Ann Kirkpatrick for their respective stances on police misconduct, as pieces from earlier this year(Anne, Ozzie) illustrate, and hope to continue doing so. Based on the information presently available about the latest police fatality however, this certainly looks like a "What are you thinking?" moment for both of them.
While I'm in favor of law enforcement, and would much rather ridicule dumb criminal behavior than dumb cop behavior, as one local blogger said, "Man...cops up here scare the crap out of me..."(Spokane County Police Tactics Claims 2nd Victim). It's my belief that the best support the public can give good police is to call "BS" on unacceptable behavior - and coverup attempts - until the internal culture that has allowed this type of conduct to thrive is eradicated, and the standing of area law enforcement is restored to one of "respect" versus "fear". In the meantime....

Hogtidings

In a bizarre little hogtirade,
Spokane’s finest are acting dismayed,
Seems “hogtie’s” not PC,
For harsh hogtyranny,
Hence the knotty wordplay charade!

Story here: Drop the use of 'hogtie', police ask

Cop-Out!

The Famous have a famous refrain,
"Off to re-hab" is how they explain,
Any public misstep,
And thus salvage their rep-
But with cops, the cop-out's "re-train"!

Story here: Lawyer: Death shows more training needed

Reasonable Force? Of Course!

Deputies Bonney, Wall, Criswell, and Cook,
Apprehended Trent Yohe the crook,
Now the Sheriff commends,
And their technique defends,
-Guess they kicked him to death by the book!

Story here: Questions follow suspect's death

Puhlease!

Before police misbehavior will cease,
The policy for policing police,
must cop to a plea,
of suspect policy,
When only the police police police!

Story here: Suspect tasered in altercation dies
Quote: "Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich activated his department’s “fatal incident protocol,” which calls for an independent investigation by another police agency. The Spokane Police Department is investigating. "

Spokane Crime Wave

Criminal acts show steady increase,
The abuse and the shootings won't cease,
Peeping toms, DUI's,
But the worst of the rise-
Is that this is just from the police!

Story here: WSP arrests off-duty cop; refusal to take field sobriety test results in automatic DUI arrest

Drop-Out Statistics: Getting Away With Murder

The State drop-out rates lack any cred,
Because kids must report that they've fled,
So the numbers look good,
Just like murder stat's would,
Where the vic's must report themselves dead!

Story here: Dropout rates revised upward

Gregoire Lowers the Bar

The Washington school system's broken,
So Gregoire is busy revokin',
WASL standards alas,
'Cause for most of the class,
The diploma's largely a token!

Story here: Gregoire put's WASL's math, science portions on hold.

WSP winks at trooper's "tit for tat" DUI swap

WSP credibility bleeds,
As state troopers trade tickets for deeds,
That - bribe or coercion -
Still smack of perversion,
Let's just issue them Mardi Gras beads!

Story here: Haas' angst no jiggling, er, giggling matter

The Plight of the Honeybee

All those vanishing bee colonies,
Should head the list of urgent queries,
'Cause if they don't survive,
How will we stay alive,
In a world sans the birds and the bees?

Story here: Honeybee Die-off Threatens Food Supply

U of W: Speaker for hire, must be famous!

By a mystery speaker betrayed,
The U of Dub's commencement's waylaid,
And until they acquire,
A new speaker for hire,
They're at a loss for words, I'm afraid!

Story here: Wanted, Commencement speaker, must be famous

DEQ: Aquifer Mousketeers

So now DEQ gets aggressive,
Out levying fines most impressive,
But when BNSF leaked,
3000 gallons they squeaked,
"Please don't be so waste expressive."

Compare story here: Alleged dumper facing big fine (May 3/2007)
to story here: BNSF cleared to reopen fuel depot (May 10/2005)

Police Fatalities: Statistical Anomally?

Just consider our cop shooting spree,
as a cluster statistically,
Yet while some seem OK,
A good portion are gray,
Yes, it looks like a "cluster" to me!

Story here: Police shootings occur in clusters

Where There's Smoke...

All you Idaho breathers beware,
‘Cause prairie grass could once again flare,
Seems that smoke’s still legit,
If the state will permit,
Now if Boise would just clear the air!

Story here: Field burning may resume

Olympia:NIMBY

Olympia still thinks us handy,
For dumping offenders most randy,
The state project is nice,
-If we ignore the price-
How ‘bout it Spokane-want some candy?”


Story here: Spokane to be home, where the perverts roam

Left Lane Loafers

On I90 we need to explain,
It's for passing we use the left lane,
Now that's not time or gas-
But it's cars that we pass,
If you loaf in the left you're a pain!

Avista: Profits Down - Rates Up

Avista is a true money pit,
Where salaries are more than legit,
And the rate-payer role,
Is to fill up the hole,
Without ever complaining one bit!

Story here: Avista wants 16 percent rate increase