Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part one, with part two scheduled to appear in Sunday’s Tribune.

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COLFAX — The city swore in Officer Perry Tate as the Interim Acting Police Chief during its Monday meeting, City Administrator Chris Mathis said. Tate had taken on the role Aug. 1, and would be in for the next three months.

City Clerk Lynda Kramlich read Tate the oath, stating he would solemnly swear to support the constitution of the United States of America, the State of Washington and all valid local ordinances.

“I will faithfully and impartially perform and discharge the duties of Police Chief for the City of Colfax, Wash., according to the law and the best of my ability,” Tate repeated after Kramlich during the meeting.

After being sworn in as acting chief, Tate gave an update to councilors on the police department stating that Officers Erica Warren and Chase Kurtz had resigned. “We are down to myself and Bruce,” Tate said, adding that the Police Department had taken on a new hire Cody Johnson.

Tate said they are picking an academy that he can go to as soon as they decide which one is best. “We are picking up from there and rebuilding,” he said.

Tate said he was hired by Chief Bill Hickman on Oct. 3, 2006, has spent 18 years on the force and worked at the jail for three years.

“I’m just running the department I’ve been part of for the better part of two decades,” Tate said. “I want to keep the same heartbeat.”

— Teresa Simpson, Whitman County Gazette (Colfax), Thursday

Boise man tased amid fireworks complaint; firefighters threatened with handgun

McCALL — Two men have been charged with resisting arrest in connection to a fireworks complaint in McCall on July 30, according to Valley County Prosecuting Attorney Brian Naugle.

William Simplot, 63, of Boise, and Joshua Simplot, 41, of Meridian, became combative with first responders were called to a lakefront home at 4098 Warren Wagon Rd. and at one point threatened to pull a gun on firefighters, Valley County Sheriff Kevin Copperi said.

A taser was eventually deployed on one of the men after they continued to be combative and ignore commands by police. One of the men was found to have a handgun at the time of his arrest, Copperi said.

“It is never acceptable to threaten a first responder with any form of violence,” he said. “When that happens, we will take it very seriously and we will bring you to justice.”

An arraignment hearing for the men will be held on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Valley County Courthouse in Cascade before Magistrate Judge Adam Dingeldein.

McCall Fire and EMS was first dispatched to the house at 10:08 p.m. on July 30 after multiple neighbors called to report aerial fireworks, which are illegal in Idaho without a permit.

“According to dispatch, the people shooting off fireworks were throwing things at neighbors and shooting fireworks towards their homes,” McCall Fire Chief Garrett de Jong said.

Two firefighters were dispatched to the home on Engine 11 to ask the men to stop launching aerial fireworks and to educate them on the dry conditions, de Jong said.

The men, however, immediately became combative with the firefighters and screamed at them to leave the property.

“One male threatened to remove them at gunpoint and put his hand behind his back,” de Jong said.

The firefighters then left the house and staged near North Beach while officers from the McCall Police Department and the sheriff’s office responded.

Responding officers were also met with belligerent behavior, including a flashlight being shined in their eyes and a refusal by the suspects to show their hands, Copperi said.

“After refusing to comply when law enforcement told them to stop and that they were under arrest…law enforcement deployed a Taser and safely gained control of the situation by placing the suspects under arrest,” he said.

McCall Fire sent an ambulance to the home at 11:39 p.m. and transported William Simplot to St. Luke’s McCall with non-life-threatening injuries.

The incident remains under investigation by the sheriff’s office.

McCall Fire will no longer be responding for fireworks complaints following the incident, which de Jong said marks the most severe occurrence of a common problem on many fireworks complaints.

“Often, when we respond to these, the people shooting them are drunk and belligerent and knowingly breaking state law,” he said. “This one took the cake.”

McCall Fire has responded to about a dozen fireworks complaints this summer, nearly all of which were around the Fourth of July holiday. Three of those complaints also had associated brush fires.

After the incident on July 30, however, the agency will no longer respond to fireworks complaints, de Jong said.

“We will not put the health and safety of our responders on the line,” he said. “It is a law enforcement issue, and our folks are not law enforcement.”

The McCall Police Department is ready for additional fireworks complaints the agency’s 12 sworn officers will now be tasked with responding to, Police Chief Dallas Palmer said

McCall police have responded to eight fireworks complaints since July 1. None of those complaints have resulted in citations, Palmer said.

“We generally provide education and warnings to first-time violators of our fireworks ordinance, and issue citations when deemed necessary by the responding officer,” he said.

— Drew Dodson, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday