Northwest briefly
Published 10:44 pm Monday, August 25, 2008
Fort Lewis helicopter unit headed home
FORT LEWIS — About 270 soldiers in a Fort Lewis helicopter unit are scheduled to return home today after a 15-month deployment in Iraq.
The Army says the 4th Squadron, 6th Air Cavalry killed 135 enemy and wounded 56 in combat.
The unit deployed with more than 600 soldiers in May 2007 and was stationed in northern Iraq. The remaining soldiers will return through September. The unit flew UH-58 Kiowa Warriors and UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters in air attack and support operations out of forward operating bases.
The welcome home ceremony today is scheduled in a hangar at Gray Army Airfield.
Seattle: Monorail running after delay
The Seattle monorail is running again after a Monday morning delay and a Saturday stoppage.
General manager Tom Ditty said routine testing Monday discovered a problem with seals in the pneumatic system, similar to Saturday’s air valve failure. Replacing seals delayed the start of Monday’s service less than an hour.
Firefighters had to rescue 190 passengers after Saturday’s air leak shut down the train on its elevated track. The monorail resumed service on Sunday.
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:Missing swimmer is presumed drowned
Seattle police say a missing swimmer from New Mexico is presumed drowned in Puget Sound.
Brent M. Sweet of Los Alamos, N.M., disappeared Thursday night.
Sweet and a 29-year-old man had difficulty while trying to swim to a buoy about 200 yards off Golden Gardens Park. After someone on the beach heard yelling, the other man was found and rescued, but Sweet could not be located by police, firefighters, Coast Guard personnel or the crew of a King County helicopter.
Richland: Couple ties knot on Ferris wheel
Friends say Chris and Tabitha Brown of Richland wanted to do something different for their wedding. They wound up getting married on a Ferris wheel high above the Benton Franklin Fair and Rodeo.
They decided to enter a local radio station’s contest for a Ferris wheel wedding and found out just days before the event that they’d won.
The mother of the groom was among those watching from the ground Saturday — and clapping when the radio station mascot gave the signal that the ceremony was over.
Then it was off to the reception, with plastic champagne flutes atop picnic tables, bags of cotton candy and freshly fried corn dogs stacked in a pyramid, with lots of ketchup and mustard nearby.
The newlyweds will also receive 60 years of fair tickets.
Anacortes: Elwha returns to San Juans
The state ferry Elwha has returned to service on the route between Anacortes and the San Juan Islands.
Its Monday morning run was the first since the Elwha lost power Aug. 6 and had to be towed to Anacortes.
Ferry spokeswoman Hadley Green said the Elwha had a problem with its electric propulsion control system. The return of the 144-car Elwha returns the San Juan routes to full capacity in time for the Labor Day weekend.
Oregon: 4 dogs taken from shelter, killed
Four dogs stolen from the Josephine County Animal Shelter near Merlin over the weekend have been found beaten to death along a nearby road.
Animal control supervisor Brad Tally said four others are missing. Someone cut locks to get at the animals.
He said a passer-by found the four dead border collies along Pleasant Valley Road, and they had been struck in the head. They had been brought to the shelter as strays.
Associated Press
