Buddhist temple stabbing; landscaping goats; Burning Man jet
- Updated
Odd and interesting news from around the West.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The city of Las Cruces is once again using goats to keep public property free of weeds and vegetation.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that about 70 goats are munching across the 2.5-mile Las Cruces Flood Control Dam, which is a popular recreation area for hikers and bird watchers. The goats arrived May 20 and will remain through the end of June.
In addition to the goats, three alpacas travel with the herd to help protect them from coyotes.
Streets and Traffic Operations Department Administrator Willie Roman says the goats also save the city money. When they were first used in 2012, the goats cost $250 compared to $700 for human labor.
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Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News, http://www.lcsun-news.com
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man who found two forgotten theme park statues under a pine tree has restored the Snow White characters and given them to the Utah State Developmental Center.
KSL-TV reports that Paul Strong found the statues from the Fairyland Park last year buried near a tree at the Developmental Center. The statues had been forgotten for years since the American Fork storybook-themed park was torn down in 1976.
Strong got permission from the city to restore the statues. The effort took almost a year, but now the figures have been positioned back in place.
Utah State Developmental Center Superintendent Guy Thompson says the center is happy to have a tribute to Fairyland Park and that he hopes to find the other dwarfs to complete the scene.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
ZILLAH, Wash. — The Yakima County Sheriff's Office says five orchard workers were injured when they were hit in the legs by shotgun pellets near Zillah.
Sheriff's Sgt. William Boyer says police believe whoever fired the shots Sunday afternoon was actually aiming at birds.
He says police believe the shots, which were fired from a canal bank about 100 yards away, were not intentional.
The Yakima Herald-Republic reports (http://goo.gl/xYrtqo ) that none of the workers had life-threatening injuries and most sought medical care in their own vehicles.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
RENO, Nev. — A Los Angeles-based entrepreneur is planning to bring a 747 airplane to Burning Man, a feat he failed to accomplish at last year's festival.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that Ken Feldman says a 75-foot portion of the plane will be towed 450 miles to the Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada in time for the annual 70,000-person festival in August.
Feldman and his arts nonprofit Big Imagination Foundation had intended to haul the plane to Burning Man in 2015, but logistical and financial setbacks kept the art car grounded.
This year, the foundation has secured a plane and crews are working to gut it and transform the front half into an art installation.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
LAS VEGAS — The family of a Las Vegas man who died after falling from a cliff said he was trying to save a fellow hiker who lost her footing.
Sean Christopher Randles, 49, was trying to pull Melanie Leigh Kushnir, 42, up on Saturday afternoon when they were hiking at Red Rock Canyon, his family said Sunday.
Randles had almost pulled Kushnir back to safety and told her, "You're not going down," when momentum forced both experienced hikers to fall down a 50-foot cliff, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Sunday.
The pair was hiking with four other people, who made their way through the trail and called for help.
Police received several emergency calls about the man and woman who had fallen in the Red Rock National Recreation Area, according to authorities. An air rescue unit found both of them near the Pine Creek Trail but they were pronounced dead.
Randles was the group leader for the team of hikers, said his ex-wife Stephanie Randles. She said he likely felt responsible for their safety.
She said she was not surprised that Sean Christopher Randles died trying to save someone's life, as he has done things like that in the past. She called him a hero, saying he once grabbed a hiker who almost fell.
Kushnir's family members did not comment on the incident.
Randles' family has raised over $12,000 through a fundraising website to help pay for the memorial for the father of three.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
FLAGSTAFF — Health officials say fleas collected near urban trails in Flagstaff have tested positive for plague.
The Arizona Daily Sun reports (http://bit.ly/1XZOQtI ) that Coconino County Public Health Services District officials say the infected fleas were found in prairie dog burrows in the area.
Signs have been posted in the infected area and the burrows have been treated. Officials say they will monitor the area to determine if further action is required.
The bacterial disease can be spread by flea bites or by direct contact with infected animals. Officials say symptoms of plague in humans include fever, chills, headache and weakness, and that prompt diagnosis and treatment greatly reduces the fatality rate.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SALEM, Ore. — Authorities say they have arrested a man suspected of stabbing his friend multiple times inside a Buddhist temple in Salem.
The Statesman Journal reports that 23-year-old Jose Murillo faces charges of attempted murder and assault in connection with the Friday incident.
The Marion County Sheriff's Office says Murillo and his friend, Cynthia Veazey, had broken into the Buddhist Temple of Oregon and used methamphetamine. Authorities say Murillo began acting erratically and stabbed Veazey more than 10 times.
She was eventually able to escape and was found by monks from the temple in serious condition.
Murillo was arrested after Oregon State Police spotted him walking on Interstate 5. He was taken to a hospital and treated for a cut to his hand.
He is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.
- By ANDREA FISHER Great Falls Tribune
- Updated
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Marilyn Fritz receives two or three calls a month from Montana Department of Family Services asking her to provide foster care for children being removed from their homes.
A single mom with four foster children, two of which she has adopted, Fritz has to say no to the other children she knows need support.
"It makes me sick to my stomach to say no," Fritz said.
There were 1,000 more Montana children in foster care in November 2015 than the same month in 2011, according to statistics provided by DFS.
And as the number of child protection cases in Montana continues to grow, there is a shortage of available foster families able to take these children into their homes.
"The dominant factor on these cases is drug abuse — predominantly methamphetamine," Cascade County Attorney John Parker said.
According to DFS, there were 851 children in foster care in 2010 due to abuse or neglect resulting from parental substance abuse. In early April of this year that number was 1,658.
Local data shows that 59 percent of the 160 cases filed this year in Cascade County have some tie to meth. That's according to statistics compiled by District Judge Greg Pinski while preparing a Drug Treatment Court grant application.
The data showed 15 percent of the cases were filed due to suspected substance abuse involving alcohol, prescription drugs or other opiates and marijuana. Physical abuse accounted for 17 percent of the cases filed through May 20.
The demand on the foster care system continues to grow, but, finding a safe place away from a dangerous situation is just the beginning for children removed from their homes.
Fritz has provided a home to at least 40 children in the past four-and-a-half years. Her parents fostered children for 30 years.
"I wanted to continue what they started," she says.
Fritz adopted two of the children currently in her care. J.J., now 13, came to Fritz when he was 9. She took Sam, now 3, from the hospital days after his birth. His adoption was just finalized last November. Her foster children are siblings ages 16 months and 5 months.
J.J. was Fritz's 21st foster child. She was asked to provide temporary care until he could be admitted to Shodair Children's Hospital in Helena, the state's only acute and residential psychiatric treatment facility for children and adolescents.
Fritz had J.J. evaluated locally and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. He stayed with her and began a medication and treatment regimen.
J.J.'s birth mother was only 15 when he was born. Fritz was told she was addicted to opioids — prescription pain pills — and probably took them while she was pregnant.
J.J. recalled times he had to call 911 as a child when she would threaten to stab herself in front of him.
He's been with Fritz for six years, but he still struggles with emotional issues, a problem she's seen in all of her foster children stemming from abandonment, separation anxiety and anger management.
"It gets worse before it gets better," Fritz says of the treatment process.
Fritz says the kids she's cared for gravitated toward bad behavior even if they didn't want to. They engage in harmful habits for comfort.
For example, Fritz says, J.J. rubbed a bald spot on his head for years because his mother rubbed his head repeatedly in an attempt to comfort him when he suffered from untreated illnesses.
A young girl frequently masturbated because it reminded her of the only relationship she had with a sexually abusive family member. Another child Fritz fostered kept the last bite of food he ate in his mouth because he frequently went hungry at home.
The 16-month-old in Fritz's care suffers from reactive attachment disorder, the result of being neglected during the critical early months of infancy. According to the Mayo Clinic, reactive attachment disorder occurs when a child's basic needs for nurturing, comfort and affection are not met, and the child fails to establish any stable, loving attachments with a caregiver.
The 16-month old was removed from his home at 3 months old and came to Fritz three months after that, but "the damage was done," she said.
Fritz says the toddler's condition is improving, yet sometimes he'll drift off "somewhere else," rocking, moaning and sucking his thumb, the evidence of how he coped during his earliest weeks. These are typical symptoms of the disorder, along with a lack of social interaction and unexplained sadness or irritability.
"It's hard to watch the kids go through this," Fritz says with tears in her eyes. "You feel helpless."
The child's 5-month-old sibling has respiratory issues after visiting with his biological mother, "who can't stay clean," Fritz says. The father of Fritz's foster children is abusive, and still involved with their mother, though he is currently in jail.
The proximity of her foster children's parents has been a concern for Fritz.
"It doesn't just affect the kids," Fritz says of a birth parent's behavior. "It affects me and my other kids."
The life children lead before their removal also impacts everyone they come in contact with - peers, teachers, care providers and others they form relationships with in the future.
Sleep can be a problem, too, as issues seen in other children such as bed wetting or waking during the night stretch on for years.
Despite the conditions the children endured in their previous homes, being taken from those homes, and the only family they know, is extremely traumatic. The older children feel helpless, with no control over their lives, Fritz says.
Her children receive counseling or therapy, but the progress takes time and the work is constant.
"You go once a week," Fritz says. "Every other day the foster parent is the therapist, trying to correct behavior."
Behavior, bad or good, is one of the only things the kids can control after being removed from their homes.
Fritz views her role as "breaking the cycle," as she figures the parents of many of the children she cared for were subjected to similar treatment when they were young.
It's hard work, she says, but "it's where things start to get good."
At this point Fritz has no way of knowing how long she will be a part of her foster children's lives. Their cases are still open.
Open cases are Lisa Goff's business. She is the executive director of Cascade County CASA-CAN, a nonprofit group matching volunteer guardians ad litem to children involved in youths in need of care (YINC) court cases. The guardians appear at hearings on a child's behalf after they've been removed from the home.
"The kids are the real victims," Goff says. "It's not their fault, yet they are underrepresented."
The cases ultimately end with parental custody restored or terminated. Goff says cases involving substance abuse, especially drug addiction issues, can prompt cases to drag on as a parent struggles with sobriety.
"Our first priority is to reunite the family, make them whole," she says. "But, if a parent can't stay clean, that's not an option."
The staff and volunteers at CASA are seeing the same increase in meth-related cases as other facets of the justice system. According to Goff, 49 percent of the cases CASA has taken in the last two and a half years have a tie to meth, including meth-dependent newborns, children exposed to the drug in some fashion, a caregiver driving while impaired or an instance of drug-fueled domestic violence.
She also says meth was tied to about 24 percent of "re-abuse cases" filed during the first three months of 2016. These cases involve a child who has been involved in a previous YINC case.
The number of YINC cases filed each year continues to rise, but CASA's volunteer levels remain flat, meaning they can't assign guardians to every child in the system. This trend began in 2014.
Goff says they need more volunteers. "We need people who can be a voice for kids, advocate for their rights in a state where parents' rights are paramount."
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Information from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com
- By PHUONG LE Associated Press
- Updated
SEATTLE — After a massive toxic algae bloom closed lucrative shellfish fisheries off the West Coast last year, scientists are turning to a new tool that could provide an early warning of future problems.
Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Washington last week deployed the so-called ocean robot about 50 feet into waters off the coast of La Push, Washington, near a known hotspot for toxic algae blooms.
The tool, dubbed "a laboratory in a can," will remain in the water until mid-July, providing real-time measurements about the concentrations of six species of microscopic algae and toxins they produce, including domoic acid.
The instrument is equipped with sensors and cellular modems that will allow it to take water samples and send that information to shore three times a week for the next several weeks. Scientists plan to deploy it again in the fall, another critical time for harmful algae blooms.
Last year, dangerous levels of domoic acid were found in shellfish and prompted California, Washington and Oregon to delay its coastal Dungeness crabbing season. Washington and Oregon also canceled razor clam digs for much of the year.
The domoic acid was produced by microscopic algae that flourished during the summer amid unusually warm Pacific Ocean temperatures. The massive algae bloom produced some of the highest concentrations of domoic acid observed along some parts of the West Coast.
Shellfish managers, public health officials, coastal tribes and others will be able to access the algae data and get advanced warning of toxic algae blooms off the Washington coast before they move to the coastline and contaminate shellfish.
Domoic acid is harmful to people, fish and marine life. It accumulates in shellfish, anchovies and other small fish that eat the algae. Marine mammals and fish-eating birds in turn can get sick from eating the contaminated fish. In people, it can trigger amnesic shellfish poisoning.
Stephanie Moore, a scientist with NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, said the instrument will make it much easier to get crucial information about blooms and toxins sooner.
Researchers typically would have to go out in a boat, collect water samples and bring them back to a lab to be analyzed, a process that could take days, she said.
"We're actually miniaturizing a lab, putting it in a can and then leaving it out in the field to do the work for us," Moore said. "This is so great because in so many of these remote offshore locations, we can leave the lab out there and get this information in a matter of hours rather than days."
The tool, called an environmental sample processor, was developed at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Dozens of engineers, scientists and others from multiple institutions worked for about a year and a half on the processor, which was sent out for the first time in the Pacific Northwest a week ago.
Dan Ayres, coastal shellfish manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, called the instrument "a huge step forward."
The state has a robust monitoring program on beaches, he said, but receiving data about offshore conditions would give people even more time to make decisions, such as when and where to sample shellfish for toxins or when and where to open beaches for razor clamming.
"If we had more time and can give businesses more time to plan, staff and place orders, and residents to make decisions, the impacts would certainly be lessened," he said.
Last year's toxic algae bloom roiled tourism in coastal communities and marine ecosystems and "hit us across the face," he added.
Vera Trainer, who manages the marine biotoxin program at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, said this year appears to be a much more typical year for toxic algae blooms.
The vision is to have multiple robots in multiple hotspots to track harmful algae blooms along the coast, she said.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
KUNA, Idaho — A 17-year-old driver has died and two teenage passengers were injured when his pickup truck crashed in the desert south of Kuna.
A family member tells KTVB-TV that Clay Tully graduated from a high school in Meridian a day before he died in Sunday's crash.
The Ada County Sheriff's Office says the teens were at a graduation party nearby when they decided to go for a drive east of the Swan Falls Dam. Tully was driving on a dirt road when he apparently lost control.
A 15-year-old boy was seriously injured and taken by air ambulance to a hospital. A 16-year-old boy was taken to a local hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.
Deputies are investigating what caused the crash.
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Information from: KTVB-TV, http://www.ktvb.com/
- The Associated Press
- Updated
DELTA, Colorado — Members of the Delta County Republican Central Committee say a racist Internet meme shared on an official's personal Facebook page was the result of hacking.
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports that last week a photo that compared President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee appeared on Delta County Committee Chairwoman Linda Sorenson. Committee Vice Chairman Vic Ullrey says Sorenson did not post the image and that her account was accessed by someone else.
Ullrey says it is unclear why Sorenson was targeted, but he thinks it was to make the Republican Party look bad. He says Sorenson is not racist.
Sorenson in an interview last week after the image was posted said she didn't care if people were offended by it. She has not commented on the issue since.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SALT LAKE CITY — Authorities say a barbecue sparked a fire that gutted a Sandy home over Memorial Day weekend.
The Sandy Fire Department says a propone grill sparked the blaze Sunday afternoon. It quickly spread from the siding of the house inside. The home was engulfed when firefighters arrived.
The family escaped without injury but two cats were killed in the fire.
Damage is estimated at $300,000.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — The newest resident of the Idaho Falls Zoo looks like a typical baby deer, but it barks like a dog and has fangs like a vampire.
The 2-pound fawn is a Reeves's muntjac, a small deer native to China and Taiwan. The Post Register newspaper reports that the fawn is now on display along its mother as part of the eastern Idaho zoo's "Little Asia" exhibit.
Aaron Young, a zookeeper who cares for the muntjacs, said in a prepared statement that it's the cutest baby he's seen.
The Idaho Falls Zoo is also opening a new exhibit with three rare snake species: a Thai bamboo rat snake, a Mandarin rat snake and two albino Burmese pythons. The "Jewels of Asia" exhibit will stay open through Labor Day.
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Information from: Post Register, http://www.postregister.com
- The Associated Press
- Updated
GEORGE, Wash. — Grant County officials are asking everyone to leave the area of a wildfire burning just east of the Columbia River within 3 miles of the Gorge Amphitheater.
There are few homes in the area of the fire near Old Vantage Highway and Frenchman Coulee, but the region is home to many camping and recreational spots.
Grant County Sheriff's Office spokesman sheriff's office Kyle Foreman said some campers and hikers were moved out of the area, the Seattle Times reports (http://bit.ly/1qVXUlW.)
The Times reports that smoke from the fire could be seen from the Gorge Ampitheater.
The amphitheater in George, Washington, is hosting its annual Memorial Day weekend event, the Sasquatch! music festival. The Times reports that the festival canceled main-stage sets by the bands Houndmouth and Tacocat, citing high winds.
- By RYAN VAN VELZER Associated Press
- Updated
PHOENIX — Conservation groups have sued to block the development of a massive master-planned community in southern Arizona in the hopes of protecting the last major free-flowing river in the Southwest.
The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity and five other groups are suing a pair of federal agencies, saying they permitted El Dorado Holdings Inc. to fill in desert washes without adequately studying the development's effects on the environment.
Their attorney said they want to ensure the San Pedro River and all the wildlife it supports is protected.
El Dorado Holdings Inc. has proposed a 28,000-home community about 2 miles from the river. The company isn't a party in the lawsuit and plans to move forward with development.
The lawsuit names the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife Service. Both agencies declined to comment.
- The Associated Press
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The city of Las Cruces is once again using goats to keep public property free of weeds and vegetation.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that about 70 goats are munching across the 2.5-mile Las Cruces Flood Control Dam, which is a popular recreation area for hikers and bird watchers. The goats arrived May 20 and will remain through the end of June.
In addition to the goats, three alpacas travel with the herd to help protect them from coyotes.
Streets and Traffic Operations Department Administrator Willie Roman says the goats also save the city money. When they were first used in 2012, the goats cost $250 compared to $700 for human labor.
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Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News, http://www.lcsun-news.com
- The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man who found two forgotten theme park statues under a pine tree has restored the Snow White characters and given them to the Utah State Developmental Center.
KSL-TV reports that Paul Strong found the statues from the Fairyland Park last year buried near a tree at the Developmental Center. The statues had been forgotten for years since the American Fork storybook-themed park was torn down in 1976.
Strong got permission from the city to restore the statues. The effort took almost a year, but now the figures have been positioned back in place.
Utah State Developmental Center Superintendent Guy Thompson says the center is happy to have a tribute to Fairyland Park and that he hopes to find the other dwarfs to complete the scene.
- The Associated Press
ZILLAH, Wash. — The Yakima County Sheriff's Office says five orchard workers were injured when they were hit in the legs by shotgun pellets near Zillah.
Sheriff's Sgt. William Boyer says police believe whoever fired the shots Sunday afternoon was actually aiming at birds.
He says police believe the shots, which were fired from a canal bank about 100 yards away, were not intentional.
The Yakima Herald-Republic reports (http://goo.gl/xYrtqo ) that none of the workers had life-threatening injuries and most sought medical care in their own vehicles.
- The Associated Press
RENO, Nev. — A Los Angeles-based entrepreneur is planning to bring a 747 airplane to Burning Man, a feat he failed to accomplish at last year's festival.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that Ken Feldman says a 75-foot portion of the plane will be towed 450 miles to the Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada in time for the annual 70,000-person festival in August.
Feldman and his arts nonprofit Big Imagination Foundation had intended to haul the plane to Burning Man in 2015, but logistical and financial setbacks kept the art car grounded.
This year, the foundation has secured a plane and crews are working to gut it and transform the front half into an art installation.
- The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — The family of a Las Vegas man who died after falling from a cliff said he was trying to save a fellow hiker who lost her footing.
Sean Christopher Randles, 49, was trying to pull Melanie Leigh Kushnir, 42, up on Saturday afternoon when they were hiking at Red Rock Canyon, his family said Sunday.
Randles had almost pulled Kushnir back to safety and told her, "You're not going down," when momentum forced both experienced hikers to fall down a 50-foot cliff, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Sunday.
The pair was hiking with four other people, who made their way through the trail and called for help.
Police received several emergency calls about the man and woman who had fallen in the Red Rock National Recreation Area, according to authorities. An air rescue unit found both of them near the Pine Creek Trail but they were pronounced dead.
Randles was the group leader for the team of hikers, said his ex-wife Stephanie Randles. She said he likely felt responsible for their safety.
She said she was not surprised that Sean Christopher Randles died trying to save someone's life, as he has done things like that in the past. She called him a hero, saying he once grabbed a hiker who almost fell.
Kushnir's family members did not comment on the incident.
Randles' family has raised over $12,000 through a fundraising website to help pay for the memorial for the father of three.
- The Associated Press
FLAGSTAFF — Health officials say fleas collected near urban trails in Flagstaff have tested positive for plague.
The Arizona Daily Sun reports (http://bit.ly/1XZOQtI ) that Coconino County Public Health Services District officials say the infected fleas were found in prairie dog burrows in the area.
Signs have been posted in the infected area and the burrows have been treated. Officials say they will monitor the area to determine if further action is required.
The bacterial disease can be spread by flea bites or by direct contact with infected animals. Officials say symptoms of plague in humans include fever, chills, headache and weakness, and that prompt diagnosis and treatment greatly reduces the fatality rate.
- The Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. — Authorities say they have arrested a man suspected of stabbing his friend multiple times inside a Buddhist temple in Salem.
The Statesman Journal reports that 23-year-old Jose Murillo faces charges of attempted murder and assault in connection with the Friday incident.
The Marion County Sheriff's Office says Murillo and his friend, Cynthia Veazey, had broken into the Buddhist Temple of Oregon and used methamphetamine. Authorities say Murillo began acting erratically and stabbed Veazey more than 10 times.
She was eventually able to escape and was found by monks from the temple in serious condition.
Murillo was arrested after Oregon State Police spotted him walking on Interstate 5. He was taken to a hospital and treated for a cut to his hand.
He is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.
- By ANDREA FISHER Great Falls Tribune
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Marilyn Fritz receives two or three calls a month from Montana Department of Family Services asking her to provide foster care for children being removed from their homes.
A single mom with four foster children, two of which she has adopted, Fritz has to say no to the other children she knows need support.
"It makes me sick to my stomach to say no," Fritz said.
There were 1,000 more Montana children in foster care in November 2015 than the same month in 2011, according to statistics provided by DFS.
And as the number of child protection cases in Montana continues to grow, there is a shortage of available foster families able to take these children into their homes.
"The dominant factor on these cases is drug abuse — predominantly methamphetamine," Cascade County Attorney John Parker said.
According to DFS, there were 851 children in foster care in 2010 due to abuse or neglect resulting from parental substance abuse. In early April of this year that number was 1,658.
Local data shows that 59 percent of the 160 cases filed this year in Cascade County have some tie to meth. That's according to statistics compiled by District Judge Greg Pinski while preparing a Drug Treatment Court grant application.
The data showed 15 percent of the cases were filed due to suspected substance abuse involving alcohol, prescription drugs or other opiates and marijuana. Physical abuse accounted for 17 percent of the cases filed through May 20.
The demand on the foster care system continues to grow, but, finding a safe place away from a dangerous situation is just the beginning for children removed from their homes.
Fritz has provided a home to at least 40 children in the past four-and-a-half years. Her parents fostered children for 30 years.
"I wanted to continue what they started," she says.
Fritz adopted two of the children currently in her care. J.J., now 13, came to Fritz when he was 9. She took Sam, now 3, from the hospital days after his birth. His adoption was just finalized last November. Her foster children are siblings ages 16 months and 5 months.
J.J. was Fritz's 21st foster child. She was asked to provide temporary care until he could be admitted to Shodair Children's Hospital in Helena, the state's only acute and residential psychiatric treatment facility for children and adolescents.
Fritz had J.J. evaluated locally and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. He stayed with her and began a medication and treatment regimen.
J.J.'s birth mother was only 15 when he was born. Fritz was told she was addicted to opioids — prescription pain pills — and probably took them while she was pregnant.
J.J. recalled times he had to call 911 as a child when she would threaten to stab herself in front of him.
He's been with Fritz for six years, but he still struggles with emotional issues, a problem she's seen in all of her foster children stemming from abandonment, separation anxiety and anger management.
"It gets worse before it gets better," Fritz says of the treatment process.
Fritz says the kids she's cared for gravitated toward bad behavior even if they didn't want to. They engage in harmful habits for comfort.
For example, Fritz says, J.J. rubbed a bald spot on his head for years because his mother rubbed his head repeatedly in an attempt to comfort him when he suffered from untreated illnesses.
A young girl frequently masturbated because it reminded her of the only relationship she had with a sexually abusive family member. Another child Fritz fostered kept the last bite of food he ate in his mouth because he frequently went hungry at home.
The 16-month-old in Fritz's care suffers from reactive attachment disorder, the result of being neglected during the critical early months of infancy. According to the Mayo Clinic, reactive attachment disorder occurs when a child's basic needs for nurturing, comfort and affection are not met, and the child fails to establish any stable, loving attachments with a caregiver.
The 16-month old was removed from his home at 3 months old and came to Fritz three months after that, but "the damage was done," she said.
Fritz says the toddler's condition is improving, yet sometimes he'll drift off "somewhere else," rocking, moaning and sucking his thumb, the evidence of how he coped during his earliest weeks. These are typical symptoms of the disorder, along with a lack of social interaction and unexplained sadness or irritability.
"It's hard to watch the kids go through this," Fritz says with tears in her eyes. "You feel helpless."
The child's 5-month-old sibling has respiratory issues after visiting with his biological mother, "who can't stay clean," Fritz says. The father of Fritz's foster children is abusive, and still involved with their mother, though he is currently in jail.
The proximity of her foster children's parents has been a concern for Fritz.
"It doesn't just affect the kids," Fritz says of a birth parent's behavior. "It affects me and my other kids."
The life children lead before their removal also impacts everyone they come in contact with - peers, teachers, care providers and others they form relationships with in the future.
Sleep can be a problem, too, as issues seen in other children such as bed wetting or waking during the night stretch on for years.
Despite the conditions the children endured in their previous homes, being taken from those homes, and the only family they know, is extremely traumatic. The older children feel helpless, with no control over their lives, Fritz says.
Her children receive counseling or therapy, but the progress takes time and the work is constant.
"You go once a week," Fritz says. "Every other day the foster parent is the therapist, trying to correct behavior."
Behavior, bad or good, is one of the only things the kids can control after being removed from their homes.
Fritz views her role as "breaking the cycle," as she figures the parents of many of the children she cared for were subjected to similar treatment when they were young.
It's hard work, she says, but "it's where things start to get good."
At this point Fritz has no way of knowing how long she will be a part of her foster children's lives. Their cases are still open.
Open cases are Lisa Goff's business. She is the executive director of Cascade County CASA-CAN, a nonprofit group matching volunteer guardians ad litem to children involved in youths in need of care (YINC) court cases. The guardians appear at hearings on a child's behalf after they've been removed from the home.
"The kids are the real victims," Goff says. "It's not their fault, yet they are underrepresented."
The cases ultimately end with parental custody restored or terminated. Goff says cases involving substance abuse, especially drug addiction issues, can prompt cases to drag on as a parent struggles with sobriety.
"Our first priority is to reunite the family, make them whole," she says. "But, if a parent can't stay clean, that's not an option."
The staff and volunteers at CASA are seeing the same increase in meth-related cases as other facets of the justice system. According to Goff, 49 percent of the cases CASA has taken in the last two and a half years have a tie to meth, including meth-dependent newborns, children exposed to the drug in some fashion, a caregiver driving while impaired or an instance of drug-fueled domestic violence.
She also says meth was tied to about 24 percent of "re-abuse cases" filed during the first three months of 2016. These cases involve a child who has been involved in a previous YINC case.
The number of YINC cases filed each year continues to rise, but CASA's volunteer levels remain flat, meaning they can't assign guardians to every child in the system. This trend began in 2014.
Goff says they need more volunteers. "We need people who can be a voice for kids, advocate for their rights in a state where parents' rights are paramount."
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Information from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com
- By PHUONG LE Associated Press
SEATTLE — After a massive toxic algae bloom closed lucrative shellfish fisheries off the West Coast last year, scientists are turning to a new tool that could provide an early warning of future problems.
Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Washington last week deployed the so-called ocean robot about 50 feet into waters off the coast of La Push, Washington, near a known hotspot for toxic algae blooms.
The tool, dubbed "a laboratory in a can," will remain in the water until mid-July, providing real-time measurements about the concentrations of six species of microscopic algae and toxins they produce, including domoic acid.
The instrument is equipped with sensors and cellular modems that will allow it to take water samples and send that information to shore three times a week for the next several weeks. Scientists plan to deploy it again in the fall, another critical time for harmful algae blooms.
Last year, dangerous levels of domoic acid were found in shellfish and prompted California, Washington and Oregon to delay its coastal Dungeness crabbing season. Washington and Oregon also canceled razor clam digs for much of the year.
The domoic acid was produced by microscopic algae that flourished during the summer amid unusually warm Pacific Ocean temperatures. The massive algae bloom produced some of the highest concentrations of domoic acid observed along some parts of the West Coast.
Shellfish managers, public health officials, coastal tribes and others will be able to access the algae data and get advanced warning of toxic algae blooms off the Washington coast before they move to the coastline and contaminate shellfish.
Domoic acid is harmful to people, fish and marine life. It accumulates in shellfish, anchovies and other small fish that eat the algae. Marine mammals and fish-eating birds in turn can get sick from eating the contaminated fish. In people, it can trigger amnesic shellfish poisoning.
Stephanie Moore, a scientist with NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, said the instrument will make it much easier to get crucial information about blooms and toxins sooner.
Researchers typically would have to go out in a boat, collect water samples and bring them back to a lab to be analyzed, a process that could take days, she said.
"We're actually miniaturizing a lab, putting it in a can and then leaving it out in the field to do the work for us," Moore said. "This is so great because in so many of these remote offshore locations, we can leave the lab out there and get this information in a matter of hours rather than days."
The tool, called an environmental sample processor, was developed at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Dozens of engineers, scientists and others from multiple institutions worked for about a year and a half on the processor, which was sent out for the first time in the Pacific Northwest a week ago.
Dan Ayres, coastal shellfish manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, called the instrument "a huge step forward."
The state has a robust monitoring program on beaches, he said, but receiving data about offshore conditions would give people even more time to make decisions, such as when and where to sample shellfish for toxins or when and where to open beaches for razor clamming.
"If we had more time and can give businesses more time to plan, staff and place orders, and residents to make decisions, the impacts would certainly be lessened," he said.
Last year's toxic algae bloom roiled tourism in coastal communities and marine ecosystems and "hit us across the face," he added.
Vera Trainer, who manages the marine biotoxin program at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, said this year appears to be a much more typical year for toxic algae blooms.
The vision is to have multiple robots in multiple hotspots to track harmful algae blooms along the coast, she said.
- The Associated Press
KUNA, Idaho — A 17-year-old driver has died and two teenage passengers were injured when his pickup truck crashed in the desert south of Kuna.
A family member tells KTVB-TV that Clay Tully graduated from a high school in Meridian a day before he died in Sunday's crash.
The Ada County Sheriff's Office says the teens were at a graduation party nearby when they decided to go for a drive east of the Swan Falls Dam. Tully was driving on a dirt road when he apparently lost control.
A 15-year-old boy was seriously injured and taken by air ambulance to a hospital. A 16-year-old boy was taken to a local hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.
Deputies are investigating what caused the crash.
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Information from: KTVB-TV, http://www.ktvb.com/
- The Associated Press
DELTA, Colorado — Members of the Delta County Republican Central Committee say a racist Internet meme shared on an official's personal Facebook page was the result of hacking.
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports that last week a photo that compared President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee appeared on Delta County Committee Chairwoman Linda Sorenson. Committee Vice Chairman Vic Ullrey says Sorenson did not post the image and that her account was accessed by someone else.
Ullrey says it is unclear why Sorenson was targeted, but he thinks it was to make the Republican Party look bad. He says Sorenson is not racist.
Sorenson in an interview last week after the image was posted said she didn't care if people were offended by it. She has not commented on the issue since.
- The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — Authorities say a barbecue sparked a fire that gutted a Sandy home over Memorial Day weekend.
The Sandy Fire Department says a propone grill sparked the blaze Sunday afternoon. It quickly spread from the siding of the house inside. The home was engulfed when firefighters arrived.
The family escaped without injury but two cats were killed in the fire.
Damage is estimated at $300,000.
- The Associated Press
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — The newest resident of the Idaho Falls Zoo looks like a typical baby deer, but it barks like a dog and has fangs like a vampire.
The 2-pound fawn is a Reeves's muntjac, a small deer native to China and Taiwan. The Post Register newspaper reports that the fawn is now on display along its mother as part of the eastern Idaho zoo's "Little Asia" exhibit.
Aaron Young, a zookeeper who cares for the muntjacs, said in a prepared statement that it's the cutest baby he's seen.
The Idaho Falls Zoo is also opening a new exhibit with three rare snake species: a Thai bamboo rat snake, a Mandarin rat snake and two albino Burmese pythons. The "Jewels of Asia" exhibit will stay open through Labor Day.
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Information from: Post Register, http://www.postregister.com
- The Associated Press
GEORGE, Wash. — Grant County officials are asking everyone to leave the area of a wildfire burning just east of the Columbia River within 3 miles of the Gorge Amphitheater.
There are few homes in the area of the fire near Old Vantage Highway and Frenchman Coulee, but the region is home to many camping and recreational spots.
Grant County Sheriff's Office spokesman sheriff's office Kyle Foreman said some campers and hikers were moved out of the area, the Seattle Times reports (http://bit.ly/1qVXUlW.)
The Times reports that smoke from the fire could be seen from the Gorge Ampitheater.
The amphitheater in George, Washington, is hosting its annual Memorial Day weekend event, the Sasquatch! music festival. The Times reports that the festival canceled main-stage sets by the bands Houndmouth and Tacocat, citing high winds.
- By RYAN VAN VELZER Associated Press
PHOENIX — Conservation groups have sued to block the development of a massive master-planned community in southern Arizona in the hopes of protecting the last major free-flowing river in the Southwest.
The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity and five other groups are suing a pair of federal agencies, saying they permitted El Dorado Holdings Inc. to fill in desert washes without adequately studying the development's effects on the environment.
Their attorney said they want to ensure the San Pedro River and all the wildlife it supports is protected.
El Dorado Holdings Inc. has proposed a 28,000-home community about 2 miles from the river. The company isn't a party in the lawsuit and plans to move forward with development.
The lawsuit names the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife Service. Both agencies declined to comment.
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