Local briefly: Granite Falls man charged in fatal wreck
Published 11:31 pm Friday, March 28, 2008
GRANITE FALLS — A Granite Falls man was charged Thursday in Snohomish County Superior Court with vehicular homicide after he reportedly drove drunk, careered off a roadway and allegedly killed his wife in the crash.
Steven James Manske, 49, had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit when he was tested, deputy prosecutor Ed Stemler said in charging documents.
The Jeep that Manske had been driving April 20 failed to negotiate a sharp curve. The vehicle had been traveling nearly 50 mph despite a caution sign warning drivers to slow down to 15 mph, Stemler said.
Jeannette Manske, 46, was pronounced dead at the site of the crash, Stemler said.
Monroe: Prison unit to ease lockdown Sunday
A unit at the Monroe prison complex is expected to continue to be on lockdown through today due to a fight involving 12 inmates, state officials said.
On Sunday, the Washington State Reformatory will start switching from lockdown to normal operation, as officials search cells and investigate the incident. Inmates will be able to make phone calls on a limited basis. Inmate kitchen workers are expected to return to work on Sunday.
The fight happened on Wednesday morning in the reformatory, which houses about 800 inmates. It’s one of the five units at the state’s largest prison complex. About 2,400 inmates are incarcerated at the prison complex.
No inmates suffered serious injuries in the fight; no staff members were hurt. All inmates involved in the fight have been placed in segregation in the prison complex’s maximum security unit.
Mukilteo: Jeweler robbed at gunpoint
The only jeweler in Mukilteo was robbed at gunpoint on Friday morning, and the crook got away with thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, Mukilteo police Detective Lance Smith said.
The owner of Harbour Pointe Jewelers, in the 11700 block of Mukilteo Speedway, was entering her shop through the back door about 9:05 a.m. when a masked man with a gun reportedly snuck up behind her, Smith said.
The man ordered her to disable her shop’s alarm system and open the safe. Then, he told her to lay on the floor behind the shop counter, Smith said.
He didn’t steal any cash, but the retail value of the jewelry he swiped could amount to “tens of thousands” of dollars, Smith said.
In nine years at its current location, the jewelry shop had never been robbed, Smith said.
“(The owner) was surprisingly calm,” he said. “I told her I would have been crying, so I was very impressed with her.”
A witness told police the man drove away in a green “Honda-like” car, Smith said.
Police are hoping for help from the public, because the shop owner could not see the man’s face. She described him as a white man, about 5 feet, 10 inches tall with a medium build.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call the Mukilteo Police Department at 425-353-8222.
From Herald staff reports
