Small groups of people wait outside their parked cars on eastbound Interstate 90 near Exit 184 for a traffic accident to be cleared Tuesday, May 30, 2006. A four-mile stretch of freeway was closed for more than two hours as emergency responders tried to clear the roadway. According to a Washington State Patrol spokesman, a flatbed truck hit a sedan that had slowed down as a small animal crossed the roadway in front of it. No injuries were reported. (Photo by JOE BARRENTINE, The Spokesman-Review)

(It's one of the quirks of the way our computer system works that "caption-only" photos that don't accompany stories don't appear on our website. Putting the picture and caption here is one way to provide that information to our online readers.)

I had a four day weekend for the Memorial Day holiday, but it didn't end nicely.
I've been reading "Son," the book about Fred Coe, and it's really getting into my head. I kept replaying a certain chapter in my mind and couldn't sleep.
I'm not a native Spokanite, but I can easily imagine the fear and the frustration that must have existed when the South Hill rapist was loose. I read and watch a lot of crime stuff, and usually they don't get to me at all. But for some reason, this one just sticks in my head.

It's amazing what you hear sometimes. Today the scanner picked up a call from a woman at Good Times who was asking if the poles she ordered had come in.

I have a love, hate relationship with cell phones. I'm grateful, as a reporter, that so many contacts carry these communication devices. But why do people answer the dang things when they can't talk. I've had people answer when they are in meetings or talking to suspects. Then I just feel bad for interrupting them.
I think they answer during meetings because they are looking for an excuse to leave.

When will people who commit crimes figure out that bragging about their illegal activity will only get them in trouble?

Spokane's criminals do some amazingly dumb stuff, but I think a bank robber in Ohio one upped them. The would-be robber took a cab to a bank, had the cabby wait while he robbed a bank and jumped back in the cab to get away. But the robber was caught after the dye pack tucked into the money went off and the cabby called the police.

The extensive list of police codes I recently received for the most part aren't humorous. But I found one code, or I should the neccesity for this code, funny. The code is KEG, for KEGGER.

This message is for Lindsey. If you call me, Jody Lawrence-Turner, I'll see if I can point you in the right directions.

Most people on the run from police usually try keeping a low profile.

Then there's Steven Unruh, a suspected gunman implicated in a May 7, 2005 home invasion robbery of an elderly Spokane couple.

The 46-year-old was performing with a band on stage last Saturday at a nightclub in Shawnee, OK when FBI agents and local police took him into custody for Spokane police.

He became the last of four suspects to be arrested in connection with the attack. A month earlier, 41-year-old Karen Applegate was taken into custody in Shawnee as well.

Both are being extradited to Spokane, where they will be held in lieu of $250,000 bail for trial on charges of first-degree robbery and second-degree assault.

Two women already pleaded guilty in connection with the case and are serving time in prison, according to Spokane police. They are 35-year old Dalinda Combs and 43-year old Pamela Drake, both of whom also are from Oklahoma.

It was unclear why the group was in Spokane last year. The victims, an elderly couple on the Five Mile Prarie, were held at gunpoint and robbed of jewelry after assailants forced their way into the home, police said.

Days can go by and there isn't much in the way of breaking news worthy of coverage. Then on one day, four or five incidents will occur worthy of more than a brief.

The Valley firefighters still offer small town tyoe services. If your child locks you out of the car or house, firefighters will help. If your basement floods, and you call, they will come and help drain the water out.
It's nice that a department that serves more than 120,000 residents still has the time for the smaller stuff. However, I don't think they'll rescue your cat from a tree. You're on your own with the pesky felines.

Two guys on the police and fire scanner are talking about a truck that's for sale. Apparently one of them doesn't like the color and the back window isn't big enough for his dog to fit through. It's the important stuff, ya know.

I was duped by scanner traffic today. I thought the sheriff's office had a hot pursuit going. It turned out to be radio traffic from the police academy. If I had kept listening I would have known that, because the pursuits are happening over and over again, on the same streets and almost exactly the same scenario.

I was listening to scanner traffic about deputies surrounding a house when I heard a deputy make a request. He asked a dispatcher to call inside and ask the man to come out with his hands up. The dispatcher? I thought. That seems odd. Could I have heard wrong? No. The dispatcher comes back on the radio: should I leave a message if he doesn't answer? I laughed. The deputy's response: just tell him his house is surrounded.
Well, when I asked the sheriff's office spokesman about this, he told me asking the dispatcher to call inside wasn't unusual. The deputies do it all the time. He said it wouldn't be safe for them to dial a cell phone while holding a gun. Someone could potentially get hurt.
In all the years I've covered cops, and monitored scanner traffic, I've never heard law enforcement ask the dispatcher to call inside the house they had surrounded.

Maybe I haven't been paying attention.

From crime reporter to entertainment, you just never know what the cops beat will offer from day to day. I wrote about the filming of the "Home of the Brave" yesterday because rapper 50 Cent, who has gang hits out on him, is in the film.
Sometimes I get to be a humorist, I like that a lot. Sometimes I go from writing to feeling like more of a counselor, which is fine, but can be time consuming. I guess the day-to-day changes are yet another reason why I love what I do.

If your curious about gang activity in Spokane, do a ride along with police. It's revealing and a little scary.

I went to watch police dogs train last night as part of a story I'm working on. Training is like play time for the dogs and they love what they do. During one of the exercises, I was in a dark warehouse with the officer and his dog. The dog had gotten the pretend bad guy and was headed back. But when he almost made it past the officer to me, my heart started pounding. What did I do? I closed my eyes and stood real still. Who knows? Maybe that would have worked. Maybe not.

I went to a crime prevention conference today. It was interesting. I learned a lot about Spokane's gang problem, sex offender registry, and crime scene investigations. I met several law enforcement officers, took some crap for being a reporter and met some Spokane residents.

One of the most interesting tips I heard was from an attendee. The first place a burglar looks for stuff is in the master bedroom. So don't hide your valuables in there.

An eye in the sky is guiding cops to drivers making traffic violations on Interstate 90. Speeding, loose loads and illegal lane changes are what I've heard so far. Mostly speeding though. The man in the helicopter clocks the vehicle, oddly most of the speeders are in trucks, and gives a description and location to a state patrol officer. This has gone on for a few hours. I can't tell what area of the freeway is being watched, but it sounds like it's where the speed limit changes from 60 to 70 mph.
Did anyone here about the Web site, speedtrap.org. I heard it tells people where cops will set up to look for speeders.

Sheriff's deputies were chasing a suspect through the Sherwood neighborhood this afternoon, and caught him. Foot and car chases alwasys sound exciting on the scanner, but rarely turn into news stories.

It's been quiet on the scanner today, Feb. 28. Just car crashes and basic stuff. Changes in weather, rain or otherwise, seen to slow criminals down for a day or two. I don't know why.

Oh wait, it sounds like there's a big fire near Airway Heights. Several columns of black smoke.

No it's just a garden tractor puffing smoke.

I just spent a week with courts and cops reporters from all over the United States. It was interesting to learn that in cities such as Houston and Dallas, Texas, they have so many homicides that the deaths are just a mention in a briefs column.
In those cities cops and cops reporters call some murders, "misdemeanor homicides." Most of those are either drug or gang related. It's rare that a homicide becomes a story.
Maybe this isn't news to most. But I didn't grow up in a town where there were homicides almost everyday. And Spokane has about 25 to 30 a year. So it was interesting.

You know how people will go up to a microphone and say: testing 1,2,3... Someone has been doing that all morning on a station intended for South Spokane County fire districts. The man can obviously count to five, and the timbre in his voice is making me laugh. Maybe a fire district got new radios or something.

And it continues into the afternoon. Now the tests are starting to get on my co-workers' nerves.

What do you want to know about crime in Spokane and Spokane County? What stories would be considered interesting?