Anti-government activist Bundy protests at officer’s home
MERIDIAN, Idaho — Anti-government activist Ammon Bundy was one of several dozen protesters who showed up at a southwestern Idaho police officer’s home after the officer took into custody an activist at a city playground closed because of the coronavirus.
The protesters at the officer’s home on Tuesday are angry with Republican Gov. Brad Little’s stay-at-home order that went into effect March 25 and is in place until at least April 30. Meridian is one of numerous cities that have closed at least some portions of parks.
Anti-vaccine activist Sara Brady, 40, was one of several parents who on Tuesday went to the closed playground at a city park in Meridian and refused to follow an officer’s instruction to leave while one of her acquaintances recorded the scene.
After some back and forth, Brady told the officer to arrest her and turned her back to the officer and put her arms behind her back, then expressed shock at being taken into custody.
That evening, protesters showed up at the officer’s home, where other uniformed officers stood as a barrier.
Bundy, who lives in southwestern Idaho, was the leader of an armed group of anti-government activists who took over a national wildlife refuge in Oregon in 2016. He faced numerous charges but was acquitted in federal court.
Bundy asked one of of the officers guarding the home to give some type of grievance Bundy had written to the officer in the home, and it was placed on the door of the home.
Washington justices strike down conviction in border case
OLYMPIA — Washington’s Supreme Court has unanimously struck down the drug possession convictions of a man who was detained at a U.S.-Canada border crossing for five hours without being advised of his rights.
Alejandro Escalante was returning with three friends from a music festival in Canada in 2017 when border guards at the Frontier crossing, north of Spokane, stopped them for inspection. The guards found small amounts of drugs on the driver and another passenger, but not on Escalante.
However, they kept Escalante in a locked lobby for hours as they searched their van and found a backpack with a small amount of heroin and LSD. Upon questioning, Escalante admitted the backpack was his.
Federal prosecutors declined to file charges because of the small amount of drugs, but state prosecutors did so. They argued that the border guards were not required to advise Escalante of his right to remain silent or other rights because he was not “in custody” while being kept in the lobby during the border inspection.
Washington’s high court disagreed. In an opinion Thursday by Justice Steven Gonzalez, the justices reversed his drug possession convictions, saying that just because the government called the locked room a “lobby” instead of a holding cell didn’t mean he wasn’t in custody.
Body of missing Helena man found south of Townsend, Mont.
TOWNSEND, Mont. — The body of a Helena man who was reported missing in December was found late last week along U.S. Highway 287 south of Townsend, Broadwater County Sheriff Wynn Meehan said Thursday.
An autopsy completed Monday confirmed the victim was Philip Arthur Pietz, 48. His cause of death wasn’t released.
Pietz was a transient who lived in his truck in the Walmart parking lot in Helena.
Pietz was listed as a missing endangered person on Dec. 19, after his truck was found crashed near a ranch north of Helena, Lewis and Clark County officials said. He was last seen Dec. 2 at Walmart.
His body was found April 17.
Pietz’s death is being investigated by officers in Broadwater and Lewis and Clark counties and the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation.
Port of Kalama files $3 million claim against ship for damage
LONGVIEW, Wash. — The Port of Kalama has filed a claim against the owners and operators of a container ship it believes is responsible for damaging the marina and boats when it passed by at an excessive speed earlier this month.
The port estimated damages at $3 million for port docks, wharves and related structures, the Longview Daily News reported. The port estimates another $2 million damage to private vessels.
The port identified the SM Mumbai, owned and operated by SM Line Corp., as the responsible ship based on video, tracking and other information.
The port filed a claim against SM Line in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon seeking to recover damages to the marina, said port spokeswoman Liz Newman.
The Portland-bound vessel passed by the marina at about 4 a.m. April 13 and caused a swell and suction of the water that affected the marina, according to the port. The tracking system recorded the ship going more than 15 knots, or about 17.3 mph, Newman said.
The Coast Guard is investigating the incident, said Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier, public affairs. The Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots is also investigating.
