FATHER-DAUGHTER DANCE
ANNUAL TALENT SHOW AT THE CCC
Saturday, Feb. 15, 7-9 p.m. Oroville High School Commons
See Page A3
SERVING WASHINGTON’S
OKANOGAN VALLEY
SINCE 1905
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FAA OKs Oroville Airport Plan
OFF TO THE RACES
Dorothy Scott runway relocation not slated until at least 2020 BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR
OROVILLE – The long awaited approval of the revised Capital Improvement Plan for Oroville’s Dorothy Scott International Airport was received from the Federal Aviation Administration. City Clerk Kathy Jones made the announcement at the Tuesday, Feb. 4 meeting of the Oroville City Council. The plan calls for crack sealing, seal coating, pavement marking and apron reconstruction. This project gets rid of the taxiways and builds aprons at each end of
“We wanted to be able to spend a little as possible and what we do spend to not be ripped out when we’re ready to do the relocation.” Kathy Jones, Oroville Clerk/Treasurer
the runway which can be used even after the runway is moved. The project will begin sometime later this year. “We wanted to be able to spend as little as possible and what we do spend not be ripped out when we are ready to do the relocation,” said Jones. The runway relocation project remains several years out as the city saves towards its portion of the costs. “The environmental study for the runway relocation is planned for 2019, with construction not until 2020,” said Jones. “This is all very exciting,” said Councilman Ed Naillon. Mayor Chuck Spieth also received approval of Resolution 531 declaring February 2014 as General Aviation Month. Councilman Tony Koepke made the resolution, which was seconded by Naillon and approved unanimously.
STP GRANT APPLICATION The hearing to amend the city’s 20142019 Six-Year Transportation Program was cancelled as the application the city had made to resurface Central/Ridge Drive from Main Street west to the city limits, including sidewalk upgrades, was not selected for funding. If the city had been selected to receive the STP funds for the project, the amendment would have been required. AMBULANCE STANDBY REQUEST A request for the ambulance to stand by at Molson for the NW Ice Fishing Festival was turned down, despite be approved in past years. Ambulance Coordinator Debra Donahue reported that the city could be left shorthanded if the request was approved because three members of the crew were still taking classes in Tonasket on Saturdays. Donahue added that maybe members of the county’s search and rescue team could be at the event. She added that the ambulance would respond to the event if needed, however. Donahue also reported that the EMR class has been completed with six graduates with scores over 80 percent. Two students, however, did not complete the class and have reimbursed the city for the costs. A third, who successfully completed the course, but is moving from the area, will reimburse the city as well. The next meeting of the Oroville City Council will be Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. in the city council chambers located at 1308 Ironwood St.
Brent Baker/staff photo
John Sasse gets off to a rip-roaring start at Saturday’s Bonaparte Lake Snow Drags, which came off without a hitch despite temperatures that started at 12 below zero. For more photos and an account of the event, see page A2.
Fraud investigation leads to body Son says ailing father killed himself BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR
OKANOGAN - The investigation of a possible Social Security fraud by an Oroville area man led to the discovery of his father’s dead body buried 16 miles northeast of Ellisforde. On Wednesday, Feb. 5, the Okanogan County Sheriff ’s Office was contacted by an agent from the Special Agents of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General and a detective of the Washington State Patrol Cooperative Disability Investigation Unit (CDIU), according to Sheriff Frank Rogers. “Their units investigate fraud cases, including social security frauds. During one of their investigations they had received information that a subject living in Okanogan County had been taking his father’s Social Security funds, after the father had killed himself and the son had buried him on their property,” Sheriff Rogers wrote in a press release on Monday. Interviews were conducted on family and friends to try and determine what was going on. The investigation showed that Bruce Thompson had been receiving social security funds but had made no more withdrawals from his account since 2010. The investigation also showed that there had been no activity at all involving the elder Thompson since 2010. The next day detectives contacted Kenneth C. Thompson, 52 of Oroville, the son of Bruce E. Thompson, who was born in 1943. When the son was interviewed he was very open with the detectives, according to Rogers. “Kenneth Thompson said that several years ago his father had cancer and was dyeing from it. Kenneth Thompson told Detectives that his father refused to go to the doctors and told him that he was going to kill himself. Kenneth Thompson said that his father owed him money and they had decided that after he was dead, Kenneth Thompson would keep drawing money from Bruce Thompson’s account for about a year to pay back the money he was owed,” the sheriff writes.
OKANOGAN VALLEY GAZETTE-TRIBUNE Volume 110 No. 07
OCSO/submitted photo
Members of the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab and volunteers began digging on Friday, Feb. 7 looking for the body of Bruce Thompson. After three days of digging they found his remains on Sunday, Feb. 10, around 1:15 p.m. The body was removed from the site and an autopsy will be performed. The son admitted that in November 2009 he had helped his father finish digging a hole on their property located at 47 Emily Road, Oroville. He said that sometime just prior to Thanksgiving in 2009 he came home and his father was not there. He went out to the burial site and found his father lying in the hole dead, according to Rogers. “Kenneth Thompson said that his father had shot himself with a shotgun,” continues Rogers. “...Thompson said he removed the shotgun from the hole and then buried his father. (He) also said that he did use his father’s debit card to with-
draw money for about eight months until the card expired.” Search warrants were obtained for the elder Thompson’s bank accounts in Nevada and a search warrant was also obtained for the property on Emily Road. After the interview, Kenneth Thompson took Detectives to the property located at 47 Emily Road, which is approximately 15 miles northeast of Ellisforde, to show them where his father was buried. On Friday, Feb. 7 detectives, members of the Okanogan County Sheriff ’s Office, the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab and volunteers began digging at the site
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for the body of Bruce Thompson. After three days of digging on Sunday, Feb. 9, at around 1:15 p.m., they unearthed the remains of Bruce Thompson. The body was removed from the site and an autopsy will be performed, said the sheriff. “From what we found at the scene everything matches pretty much what Kenneth Thompson had told us. The weapon that was supposedly used was not found during the search warrants but was located late last night at another families residence in Idaho. The investigation at this time is ongoing,” said Rogers.
Snow Drags Talent Show Letters/Opinion
A2 A3 A5
Community Schools Cops & Courts
A6-7 A8 A9
Classifieds/Legals A10 Sports A12-13 Obituaries A14