My home away from home

This past weekend was a good weekend to visit Red Mountain—no, not because it was the Seahawks’ bye week—because Red Mountain held its annual block party.  Wine enthusiasts from throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond traveled to meet and talk to the Red Mt. winemakers, learn their stories, learn about the science and art and history of grape growing and wine making.

And taste the wines.

But going to Red Mountain is like going to Disneyland. You can’t do it all in a day.  About two dozen wineries took part this weekend, and wine tasting experts say your taste buds can usually handle about a half dozen tasting rooms and then call it day.

My taste buds had gone blissfully numb after the third tasting room.

Some personal highlights include my stop at Hamilton  Cellars, which opened its new, solar-powered tasting room just in time for the block party. With a spectacular panoramic view of the countryside, Hamilton Cellars is the first and only tasting room in Washington State that will make its own energy and sell it back to the grid.

Down the hill, Greg and Shae Frichette didn’t stop pouring for guests during my stop at the Frichette Winery. Their barn-turned tasting room is friendly and casual. They call the experience Edu-tainment. They ask visitors to pair different wines with the appetizers of homemade humus, which is made from garbanzo beans grown at the family farm in Eastern Washington’s Legume Country. If you’re at all intimidated about wine or the wine tasting experience, make it a point to stop off and visit Frichette. The Merlot is mind-bending. I’m going back in November when they release their new Semillon (a white).

The block party may be over for another year, but the experience continues up on Red Mountain. With the fantastic autumn weather and the crush about to begin, next weekend would be a perfect time to turn off the football and treat you and your friends to the wine tasting experience.

Besides, the Seahawks play on Monday Night Football.

BTW, Wine Enthusiast Magazine has nominated the Red MT AVA for Wine Region of the Year.

Calling all artists

Columbia Basin College is accepting proposals for a monument to be erected on campus honoring veterans.

Veterans Committee Chairman Jason Schlegel says CBC is looking for a creation that is timeless, gender neutral, and captures the spirit of service of veterans.

“We really want the piece to speak to all generations of veterans that are still alive to include Vietnam-era veterans, any remaining World War Two veterans, Korean War veterans and possibly future veterans.”

CBC hopes to raise $75,000 for the project through private donations made to the CBC Foundation. Schlegel says if they can do for it less, swell.

The 400 veterans currently enrolled at CBC will get to vote on the two finalists. The committee, which is made up of students, faculty, and staff, will then pick the winner in June. If everything goes right,  the monument will be ready by Veterans’ Day November 11.

Artists wanting more information–and to pitch their idea– can  click here.

The judge: Show me the money.

Dennis Huston

Dennis Huston walked into Courtroom 3 this morning a free man. Within a half hour, he was on his way to being booked into Franklin County jail while his family tried to secure a $50,000 bond. 

Superior Court Judge Robert Swisher

The former county public works accounting manager has been out on his personal recognizance, but Superior Court Judge Robert Swisher said he wanted to set a bail,  “because Huston is 64, and he could spend the rest of his life in prison.”

Two weeks ago, the Washington State Attorney General charged Huston with theft, money laundering, and cocaine possession. County Commissioners fired Huston in February, after newly elected auditor Matt Beaton discovered financial discrepancies in the public works department. Prosecutors say Huston embezzled $1.7 million dollars over a ten-year period. Some reports have the figure closer to $3,000,000.

Swisher agreed with Huston’s attorney that Huston doesn’t pose any public threat, and with his family here he’s not about to cut and run. Still, the judge wanted something tangible, not just Huston’s word.

The county has also initiated a civil lawsuit to get its money back.

Questions remain about the circumstances surrounding Huston’s hiring.  The public works department brought Huston aboard less than one year after Huston was released from federal prison in Montana for a similar embezzling offense while he worked for the Bureau of Reclamation.

Huston has pleaded innocent. The judge set Huston’s trial for August.

Former cop and victims avoid an embarrassing trial

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Ryan Graichen blamed “an addiction” when he apologized to Kennewick Police detectives at the conclusion of Monday morning’s hearing in which he pleaded guilty to seven felony sex offenses.

“I’m sorry. I was one of you guys for nearly nine years,” Graichen said, crying.

Graichen changed his plea just hours before attorneys were to begin picking  jurors for his trial.

Police arrested the former Portland, Oregon police officer last year after three teenagers identified him as the man who approached them in Columbia Park and offered them money, alcohol, and marijuana if they would go back to his place and be filmed while he masturbated.

Deputy prosecutor Anita Petra says she’s confident a jury would have convicted Graichen, but says she’s glad the victims won’t have to testify before a jury, and the media.

“One girl had agreed to sexual contact with Mr. Graichen, and this would have been embarrassing for her,” Petra said.

Last week after Graichen turned down a plea offer, the deputy prosecutor added two additional felony counts.

Over the weekend, Graichen had a change of heart and accepted the prosecutor’s offer.

Petra is asking for the maximum ten-year prison term when judge Vic Vanderschoor sentences Graichen next month. She says Graichen has accepted the length of time.  

Graichen, 35, will also have to register as a sex offender.

Because Graichen waited so long to accept the plea deal,  Petra says she’ll also ask Graichen pay the costs of summoning 60 prospective jurors to the justice center.

While out on bail, police arrested Graichen in April for allegedly stalking a former girlfriend on Facebook (He’s been in jail since). He had been scheduled to go on trial next month on the stalking charge. In the plea agreement, the deputy prosecutor dropped the charge.

Graichen worked for Portland Police from 1998 to 2007. He left during an investigation into allegations that he videotaped girls at a dance at the high school where he worked as the school’s resource officer. He allegedly zoomed in on the girls’ breasts and other private parts. He was never charged with a crime.