Published: Saturday, July 19, 2008
Northwest Briefly: Participant in 2001 UW arson gets five years
TACOMA -- A federal judge sentenced a Seattle woman to five years in prison Friday and demanded she repay more than $7 million for her role in the 2001 ecoterror arson of the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture.
Jennifer L. Kolar, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of arson, conspiracy, attempted arson, and using a destructive device. She must reports to prison in September.
Kolar started the UW fire by placing an incendiary device in a professor's office. The radical Earth Liberation Front claimed credit for devastating fire, saying at the time -- mistakenly -- that researchers there were genetically engineering poplar trees.
Another participant in the UW arson, Lacey Phillabaum, faces three to five years when she is sentenced in August. In addition, Justin Solondz, accused of building the incendiary device, is a fugitive and believed to be out of the country.
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:Plane-hopping boy detained for evaluation
A judge said a plane-hopping 11-year-old should remain in detention until a mental health evaluation is completed and until the judge learns more about the Tacoma boy's family life.
The boy has been in detention since he was arrested for investigation of residential burglary on July 5.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Frank Cuthbertson said Thursday he was concerned about the boy's safety -- and community safety.
The boy has twice made national headlines by traveling to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport alone and talking his way through security, most recently in May. In January 2007, when he was 9, he managed to make his way onto a flight from Seattle to Phoenix and from there to San Antonio. He said he wanted to be with his grandfather in Texas.
The day before his flight to Texas, the boy took a car and led police on a high-speed chase in Lakewood, near Tacoma.
Trout Lake: Wildfire 30 percent contained
A lightning-sparked fire that has been burning near Mount Adams is 30 percent contained.
The Cold Springs fire has burned 12 square miles, or 7,933 acres, about 10 miles northeast of Trout Lake in Washington's south Cascades. The fire is burning among timber in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and on the Yakama Indian Reservation.
More than 1,000 firefighters are on the scene.
The Badger Mountain complex fire north of Wenatchee is 98 percent contained at 15,023 acres, or more than 23 square miles.
East of Spokane, the Spokane Valley fire is 90 percent contained. That fire has burned 1,006 acres and destroyed 11 homes.
Spokane: Kevin Coe denied venue change
A judge has rejected a request by Spokane rapist Kevin Coe to move his upcoming civil-commitment trial out of Spokane County, or to bring in jurors from elsewhere.
Superior Court Judge Kathleen O'Connor denied the motion Friday. She said it could be re-evaluated if an impartial jury cannot be seated in Spokane County.
Coe was originally charged in several rapes that terrorized Spokane in the late 1970s and early 1980s. After appeals, only one conviction ultimately stood, and he finished serving his 25-year prison sentence in 2006.
But the state kept him in custody and seeks to have him civilly committed indefinitely as a sexual predator likely to reoffend. His commitment trial is scheduled to start Sept. 15.
Coe has steadfastly denied he committed any rapes.
Chehalis: Five arrested in wire thefts
Authorities say the arrest of five people has smashed a copper wire theft ring in Lewis County. Sheriff Steve Mansfield said Brian Bradley, 45, of Winlock was arrested Thursday and Daniel McEwen, 35, of Selah, a day earlier.
Investigators believe the pair worked with three people who were arrested last week -- Myndee Kelly, 41 of Winlock, and Charles Tanner, 34, and Clayton S. Fraley, 30, both of Toledo.
Mansfield said the five have been linked to almost all of the 65 thefts of copper wire from the Lewis County Public Utility District since January.
Seattle: One shot to death, one wounded
Four men are being sought in the shooting death of one man and the wounding of another Friday morning in Federal Way.
Police said the four were seen leaving in a black or dark green Acura after the shooting, which was reported shortly before 1 a.m. at the Park at Dash Point Apartments. A gun was found at the scene.
According to a police news release, officers arrived to a 25-year-old man dead in the parking lot. Not long afterward, a badly wounded 22-year-old man arrived at Auburn General Hospital and was transferred to Harborview Medical Center. Police believe the two shootings are connected.
Associated Press
Jennifer L. Kolar, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of arson, conspiracy, attempted arson, and using a destructive device. She must reports to prison in September.
Kolar started the UW fire by placing an incendiary device in a professor's office. The radical Earth Liberation Front claimed credit for devastating fire, saying at the time -- mistakenly -- that researchers there were genetically engineering poplar trees.
Another participant in the UW arson, Lacey Phillabaum, faces three to five years when she is sentenced in August. In addition, Justin Solondz, accused of building the incendiary device, is a fugitive and believed to be out of the country.
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:Plane-hopping boy detained for evaluation
A judge said a plane-hopping 11-year-old should remain in detention until a mental health evaluation is completed and until the judge learns more about the Tacoma boy's family life.
The boy has been in detention since he was arrested for investigation of residential burglary on July 5.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Frank Cuthbertson said Thursday he was concerned about the boy's safety -- and community safety.
The boy has twice made national headlines by traveling to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport alone and talking his way through security, most recently in May. In January 2007, when he was 9, he managed to make his way onto a flight from Seattle to Phoenix and from there to San Antonio. He said he wanted to be with his grandfather in Texas.
The day before his flight to Texas, the boy took a car and led police on a high-speed chase in Lakewood, near Tacoma.
Trout Lake: Wildfire 30 percent contained
A lightning-sparked fire that has been burning near Mount Adams is 30 percent contained.
The Cold Springs fire has burned 12 square miles, or 7,933 acres, about 10 miles northeast of Trout Lake in Washington's south Cascades. The fire is burning among timber in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and on the Yakama Indian Reservation.
More than 1,000 firefighters are on the scene.
The Badger Mountain complex fire north of Wenatchee is 98 percent contained at 15,023 acres, or more than 23 square miles.
East of Spokane, the Spokane Valley fire is 90 percent contained. That fire has burned 1,006 acres and destroyed 11 homes.
Spokane: Kevin Coe denied venue change
A judge has rejected a request by Spokane rapist Kevin Coe to move his upcoming civil-commitment trial out of Spokane County, or to bring in jurors from elsewhere.
Superior Court Judge Kathleen O'Connor denied the motion Friday. She said it could be re-evaluated if an impartial jury cannot be seated in Spokane County.
Coe was originally charged in several rapes that terrorized Spokane in the late 1970s and early 1980s. After appeals, only one conviction ultimately stood, and he finished serving his 25-year prison sentence in 2006.
But the state kept him in custody and seeks to have him civilly committed indefinitely as a sexual predator likely to reoffend. His commitment trial is scheduled to start Sept. 15.
Coe has steadfastly denied he committed any rapes.
Chehalis: Five arrested in wire thefts
Authorities say the arrest of five people has smashed a copper wire theft ring in Lewis County. Sheriff Steve Mansfield said Brian Bradley, 45, of Winlock was arrested Thursday and Daniel McEwen, 35, of Selah, a day earlier.
Investigators believe the pair worked with three people who were arrested last week -- Myndee Kelly, 41 of Winlock, and Charles Tanner, 34, and Clayton S. Fraley, 30, both of Toledo.
Mansfield said the five have been linked to almost all of the 65 thefts of copper wire from the Lewis County Public Utility District since January.
Seattle: One shot to death, one wounded
Four men are being sought in the shooting death of one man and the wounding of another Friday morning in Federal Way.
Police said the four were seen leaving in a black or dark green Acura after the shooting, which was reported shortly before 1 a.m. at the Park at Dash Point Apartments. A gun was found at the scene.
According to a police news release, officers arrived to a 25-year-old man dead in the parking lot. Not long afterward, a badly wounded 22-year-old man arrived at Auburn General Hospital and was transferred to Harborview Medical Center. Police believe the two shootings are connected.
Associated Press
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