Northwest briefly: Flood wall arrives at Green River
Published 9:38 pm Sunday, October 3, 2010
TUKWILA — Equipment that will be used to build temporary flood walls along the Green River has arrived in Tukwila.
The large prefabricated steel containers will be filled with sand to build barrier walls along the river. The equipment was delivered to a warehouse on Boeing Co. property.
King County and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are working together to protect the communities along the Green River.
In January, officials announced that the weakened Howard Hanson Dam would not be able to hold back heavy rain this winter so the Green River could flood.
Meanwhile, workers are cutting trees on the levees along the lower Green River through Kent, Renton, Auburn and Tukwila. They’re clearing space to make room for giant sandbags and temporary flood walls.
Olympia: Fighter’s vandalism sentence
Mixed martial arts fighter Jeff Monson was sentenced to 90 days of work release for spray-painting anti-war graffiti on the Capitol in Olympia and an armed services recruitment center in Lacey.
Work release will allow the 38-year-old Olympia man to help pay off $22,000 in restitution he was ordered to pay at Thursday’s sentencing in Thurston County Superior Court. He pleaded guilty in July to malicious mischief.
Monson told The Olympian he hopes that spraying the anarchist symbol and the words “no war” last year raised consciousness of the illegality of the Iraq war.
Monson was charged after a picture of him and the graffiti was published in ESPN The Magazine.
Fort Lewis: 100 soldiers return
More than 100 Fort Lewis soldiers are returning from a deployment in southwest Asia.
The Army says members of the 218th Veterinary Services Medical Detachment were deployed in four countries over 15 months, providing care for military dogs and inspecting food and water supplies.
The Army says members of the 520th Medical Company provided medical care to soldiers in a year-long deployment in Iraq.
Iraq war objector leaves Army
An Army lieutenant who refused to deploy to Iraq in 2006, saying he believed the war was illegal, has officially left the service.
Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek confirmed that Ehren Watada was discharged Friday.
Watada was charged with missing his unit’s deployment and with conduct unbecoming an officer for denouncing President Bush and the war — statements he made while explaining his actions. His court-martial ended in a mistrial in February 2007. The Army wanted to try him in a second court-martial, but a federal judge said a second trial on key charges, including missing troop movement, would violate Watada’s constitutional right to be free from double jeopardy.
Watada lawyer Kenneth Kagan said last week that the Army had finally allowed his client to resign. Kagan added that Watada was granted a discharge “under other than honorable conditions.”
The 31-year-old Watada, a Honolulu native, has told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin he’s happy the matter has finally been resolved. Through his lawyer, Watada declined other interview requests. Kagan says his client wants to reclaim his privacy.
Associated Press
