Local Briefly
Published 11:03 pm Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Driver loses control; car hits Bothell house
BOTHELL — A car smashed into a home early Tuesday morning severing a natural gas pipeline and forcing home evacuations, officials said.
A man in his 20s was apparently adjusting the radio or heater in his Kia sedan when he slid off the road, then overcorrected and slammed into an attached garage, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said. No one was injured.
The accident occurred around 5:30 a.m. in the 4400 block of 212th Street SE, she said. No citations were issued.
Snohomish County Fire District 7 evacuated the home and a neighboring home until the gas line was shut off, assistant chief Gary Meek said.
“It seemed like a lot but really turned out to be not that big an incident,” Meek said.
Olympia: Legislature OKs ferries spending
A plan to build up to three new ferries to serve the Whidbey Island-Port Townsend run cleared the state legislature Tuesday.
The bill’s next stop is Gov. Chris Gregoire, who had requested the measure and is expected to sign it into law.
The bill earlier was approved by the state Senate. It passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday by a 80-17 vote.
The bill calls for construction of up to three new ferries capable of carrying no more than 100 vehicles. The measure mandates that the new boats be built in Washington and be sized to replace the Steel Electric-class ferries that were pulled off the Keystone-to-Port Townsend route in November because of safety concerns about their 80-year-old hulls.
State officials say they expect the first boat will be a Steilacoom II-class ferry capable of carrying 50 vehicles. Service on the ferry run resumed this weekend using a similar ferry leased from Pierce County.
Larger vessels also are being explored. State Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, who heads the Senate Transportation Committee, on Tuesday urged state transportation officials to send a ferry captain and chief engineer familiar with the run across Admiralty Inlet to Nantucket, where a larger Island Home-class ferry is operating.
“I think the Steilacoom II is off to a good start, but after riding along on the sea trials I realized that we need something better for the long run,” Haugen said.
From Herald staff reports
