Facing budget cuts and fewer bodies, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office is undergoing a wholesale restructuring this year, resulting in what Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich calls “a dynamic shift in the way we’ve done business in the past.”
Most “traumatic,” says Knezovich, is the total reorganization of the investigative unit by combining into one body the Property Crimes Task Force and the Investigative Support Unit, more commonly known as the drug unit.
Knezovich says the patrol deputies will help pick up the resulting slack in investigations, but the office will be limited in its ability to chase the same number of criminals it had previously.
“We’ll be focusing very heavily on career criminals,” he says. As for petty criminals, “we’ll be chasing them, but it’ll only be when they rise to a certain level.”
Because of a tight county budget this year, the Sheriff’s Office had $3 million sliced from its law enforcement resources. Knezovich says this cost him 19 positions — including two lieutenants, one sergeant, five detective corporals and four deputies — and forced the “total reorg of the agency.” And Sgt. Dave Reagan, who acted as the office’s main spokesman, has been put on patrol duty. Knezovich anticipates more losses and restructuring next year when the county expects to tighten its budget even further.
“We’re going to have to pick and choose the crimes we’re going to be investigating,” Knezovich says. “But our biggest concern is what we’re going to do Jan. 1, 2011.”
Tags: Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich , budget cuts , Spokane County Sheriff , News
“We wanted to go in the direction of relationships,” says Deborah DiBernardo,
owner of ROAST HOUSE COFFEE. With the expertise of roast master Dave Rier, this
new north Spokane roasting company is focused on helping people make the
connection from farm to cup. If you visit Roast House, you’ll see pictures of
the farmers who grew the coffee and learn about their families.
Roast House
specializes in high-quality “socially conscious” coffee, meaning it’s Fair
Trade, shade grown, organic or relationship coffee, which is produced by family
farms or small co-ops.
DiBernardo, active in the Slow Food movement,
encourages people to apply Slow Food ethics to coffee: Do you know where it
comes from? Is it good for you?
Roast House supplies private-label coffee
to coffee houses and retail grocery stores. The Main Market carries a unique
Roast House Colombian coffee. After visiting the farm in Colombia, Rier liked
the coffee so much he bought the entire crop for the Market. Look for Roast
House coffee education classes in the future, possibly at the Main
Market.
Latah Valley’s newly established TOM SAWYER COUNTRY COFFEE is
part coffee roasting facility, part museum: Along its walls are coffee pots,
tins and grinders dating back to the early 1800s.
Gary Thomas Sawyer —
yes, he goes by “Tom” — encourages his customers to be involved in blending
coffees to suit their needs. Although he focuses on coffee service to businesses
and restaurants, you might just leave with a special coffee blend for your next
dinner party and dessert recipes in hand if you visit. Keeping his business
small and roasting 10-pound batches allows Sawyer to be creative. “I can’t do
what the big guys do — and they can’t do what I do,” he says.
Sawyer also
offers home coffee roasters, green beans and the training to get you started on
making your own “legal, very addicting drink.” He’s so excited to share his
passion about coffee that he might even deliver it all to your house. But only
if you invite him in for a cup of coffee.
Visit www.roasthouse.net and www.tomsawyercountrycoffee.com.
Tags: Closing , Small Planet Tofu , Food
Tags: Honky Tonk Angels , Interplayers Professional Theatre , Reed McColm , StageThrust
Tags: Avenue Q , Best of Broadway Spokane , Ashley Eileen Bucknam , StageThrust
Tags: Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre , Laura Little , StageThrust
Tags: best American plays , Denver Post , John Moore , StageThrust