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Pellet gun causes lockdown at Tonasket Schools TONASKET – Devin Martinez, an 18-year-old Tonasket High School student, is in custody after being spotted on the Tonasket High School campus with what turned out to be a pellet gun, causing a district-wide lockdown for nearly an hour on Thursday, Oct. 24. “Basically he was being stupid,” said Tonasket Police Chief Rob Burks. “He said he’d bought it from a friend the night before and left it hidden overnight near the school. During lunch he was trying to sneak it to a friend’s car. “Someone saw him walking across the parking lot trying to hide it, and it has a wood stock so it looks like a real rifle. “He also had a knife on him, so between

that and the pellet gun we booked him cuted our district safety drill swiftly to for possession of a dangerous weapon on ensure the safety of our children. The school grounds.” person of interest “There was a was apprehended perceived threat in by our local law “The elementary looked like e n f o r c e m e n t . the community of a male walking toward a vacuum cleaner hit it. They Upon notification our campus with a from authorities, were out on recess and they school resumed as rifle at approximately 12 p.m …” said sucked into that building so normal.” Superintendent Paul Burks said the fast.” Turner in a stateoriginal call to ment. “The district dispatch indiPaul Turner, immediately put cated the suspect Superintendent, Tonasket School District schools into lockwas armed with a down. Students, handgun. He said staff and local law enforcement exe- he called Okanogan County Sheriff for

Quick reports on test results

all available units, put local EMS on stand-by and alerted the Tonasket Fire Department for traffic control. Burks said when he arrived at the school, “The kid had run off. We had one deputy on the scene already so I headed down the hill (toward town) to see if I could find anyone running, but didn’t. When I got back the principal and vice principal were walking with the kid, but he didn’t have a gun. So I asked him where the gun was; he took me to it and it turned out to be a pellet rifle.” Burks said Martinez claimed to not understand what the fuss was over a pellet rifle. “We have kids in class thinking there

might be a shooting, parents hearing about it and wondering what’s going on,” Burks said. “He wasted the time of fire, police and EMT. If I’d have pulled up on him while he was putting the gun in the car I very well could have pulled my gun on him. “With all the incidents we hear about these days, you don’t mess with something like that where someone could get shot.”

DEBRIEFING Turner said at the Monday, Oct. 28, Tonasket School Board meeting that he was very pleased with the overall

SEE LOCKDOWN | PG A8

Ground broken for Water Ranch

CELEBRATING THE WATER RANCH

Set for completion next Spring

BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR

BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM

OROVILLE – At last Monday’s Oroville School Board meeting Superintendent Steve Quick reported on several test results that track student progress over the years. Quick said that although students showed increased progress in some areas, there were others were more work was needed. He also said the district’s results compared favorably to other nearby districts.

“I think we’re very compatible with Tonasket... when it comes right down to it our kids perform just as well on tests”

Above, Jesse Olson cuts the ribbon at the Tonasket Water Ranch site at Chief Tonasket Park with some help from Mayor Patrick Plumb and encouragement from friends; left, project organizer Linda black and Plumb officially break ground on the Water Ranch, which is planned for opening next summer.

Supt. Steve Quick, Oroville School District

In going over the MSP/HSPE results for various grade levels. He projected charts that showed students’ progress over several years. “I think we’re very comparable to Tonasket... when it comes right down to it our kids perform just as well on all the tests. We scored a little higher in some areas than Tonasket and in some areas Tonasket scored a little higher,” said Quick. Principal Sarmiento said the charts reflect that student progress tends to dip as they transition from elementary school to junior high or middle school, much as it does across the state. “It is that period at the start of when you get the kids and when they leave (the elementary),” said board chairman Rocky DeVon in response. “We’ve got to get both schools on board to get a handle on that.” Under “Good News and Announcements” he announced that Lily Hilderbrand, a junior at OHS, will serve as the student representative to the board for the rest of the school year. During reports from the principals and Quick, Hilderbrand got the chance to talk about what was happening at the school. She said that last week was

SEE SCHOOLS | PG A4

Brent Baker/staff photo

TONASKET - There’s no turning back now. The Tonasket Water Ranch took another step toward becoming a reality on Friday, Oct. 26, as Linda Black and her team of organizers hosted a groundbreaking ceremony at Chief Tonasket Park to celebrate the beginning of the final stages of Black’s water park dream. After a year of fundraising - and a lot more time than that working with engineers, agencies and local businesses to make the park a reality - Black and Tonasket Mayor Patrick Plumb plunged their gold shovels into the dirt at the water park site. But not until after Tonasket Elementary School fourth graders, invited to the groundbreaking party, hosed down the mayor, TES principal Jeremy Clark and “Splash-man,” following Plumb and Jesse Olson performing the official ribbon-cutting. “I wanted the community to understand, with this ceremonial ground-breaking, that this really is happening,” Black said. “Right now I’m relieved; I’ll really be happy once it’s built. But I’m relieved because there is no turning back.” Black said there is still about $10,000 to be raised for things like picnic tables and some other thigns that aren’t part of the basic

SEE RANCH | PG A8

Trick or Treaters welcomed downtown Halloween party planned at Tonasket CCC BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR

NORTH COUNTY – Oroville merchants are again offering children a safe place to come Trick or Treating at their places of business this Halloween from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The popular annual event

OKANOGAN VALLEY GAZETTE-TRIBUNE Volume 109 No. 43

is sponsored by the Oroville Chamber of Commerce and participating businesses can be spotted by the green “Trick or Treat Here” signs on their windows or doors. The chamber is also encouraging staff at local businesses to dress up and decorate their places of business for the annual contest. As in past years the Chamber of Commerce will be sending around a group of judges to decide which businesses have the best costumes and the best decorations. Past winners have included the Oroville City Hall, the Oroville School District Office, Sterling Bank, Oroville Reman

and Reload and RE/MAX Town and Country Realty. In Tonasket, North Valley Hospital is inviting kids to come by and Trick or Treat from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Halloween Party In addition, The Tonasket Community Cultural Center will be having a Halloween Party for all kids. They will have finger foods, candy, games and a haunted house in the back room. The fun starts at 5 p.m. The Gazette-Tribune hopes that everyone will have a safe and fun Halloween.

Look for the Green Trick or Treat Here signs at local Oroville businesses.

INSIDE THIS EDITION

Hayride Homecoming Letters/Opinion

A2 A3 A5

Community A6-7 Cops & Courts A9 Classifieds/Legals A10

Real Estate Sports Obituaries

A11 A12-13 A14