Northwest briefs
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, January 28, 2006
SPOKANE – A Chicago-bound Amtrak passenger train derailed early Saturday near Spokane, but there were no serious injuries.
Minor injuries to a few of the 86 passengers and six crew members on the eastbound Empire Builder were treated at a high school gym in the town of Sprague, near the accident site about 45 miles west of Spokane, Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy Connell said.
Passengers were bused to hotels in Spokane, where they were to resume their journey on Saturday night’s Empire Builder, which travels between Chicago and Portland, Ore. There is one westbound and one eastbound train on the route daily.
The derailed train’s engine and four cars remained upright after leaving the track, and equipment was brought in before dawn from Spokane and Pasco to get them back on the tracks, said Seattle spokesman Gus Melonas for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, which owns and maintains the tracks.
Amtrak passengers will be bused between Spokane and Portland, Ore., during the interruption, Melonas said.
The cause of the derailment is under investigation, he said.
Associated Press
Bremerton: Suspect arrested in rape of girl
A 29-year-old registered sex offender was arrested Friday morning in connection with Wednesday’s abduction and rape of a 17-year-old Bremerton girl.
The man allegedly approached the girl at a school bus stop near Bremerton Lanes, ordered her into his car and drove her to the woods off Old Belfair Highway, where he raped her. Later, he drove her back to Bremerton and let her go.
Surveillance video from the bowling alley provided a description of the suspect’s car. Officer Mike Davis, on patrol Friday morning in West Bremerton, noticed a car that matched the description of the suspect’s vehicle, according to Bremerton Patrol Sgt. Kevin Crane.
The car was parked at an apartment complex, and inside the car were items reported by the rape victim.
While officers were in the area, a man walked out of the apartment complex and approached the car, Crane said. When he noticed the officers, he stopped abruptly and tried to walk away. Officers identified the man as a registered level 1 sex offender who recently had moved to this area from Pierce County. He registered his new address on Jan. 3.
The victim later identified the man as the person who had raped her, Crane said.
The suspect is being held in Kitsap County Jail on suspicion of second-degree rape. Bail was set at $500,000, and a court appearance has been scheduled for Monday afternoon.
Kitsap Sun
Hoquiam: Kalakala ferry a historic place?
A state historic panel is nominating the long-retired art-deco-style ferry Kalakala for the National Register of Historic Places – a bit of a stretch since the vessel has no fixed location.
The former state ferry, an elementary school attended by rock guitar wizard Jimi Hendrix and Hoquiam’s Olympic Stadium also will be added to the Washington Heritage Register, the state Advisory Council on Historic Preservation decided Friday at its quarterly meeting.
The panel voted to nominate the Kalakala and the Depression-era stadium to the national register. The National Park Service will make the final call.
The deteriorating Kalakala, which ran between Seattle and Bremerton from the 1930s to the 1960s, has been in Tacoma’s Hylebos Waterway for more than a year.
Associated Press
Olympia: Bomb threat conviction overturned
The airport bomb threat conviction of an angry and intoxicated man has been overturned by the state Supreme Court because of faulty jury instructions.
The King County Superior Court panel that convicted Tracey Jade Johnston in 2001 was wrongly told by Judge Dale Ramerman, now retired, that intent was not important in deciding whether Johnston made a “true threat,” the nine justices ruled unanimously on Thursday.
Eight justices said the case should be sent back to the trial court, and deputy prosecutor James Whisman said Johnston would be brought to trial again.
According to the trial record, on May 2, 2001, an Alaska Airlines flight attendant saw Johnston and another man drinking alcohol they had brought onto the plane, informed them that private alcohol was against the rules on the flight, and confiscated it when they persisted.
Upon landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Johnston became angry when he was arrested on outstanding misdemeanor warrants and reportedly told police he would return to the airport with “a Ryder truck and some nitro diesel fuel.”
His defense lawyer said in the trial that Johnston was drunk, and argued that his comments could not be taken seriously, but a prosecutor’s objection was sustained by Ramerman, Justice Barbara Madsen wrote in the Supreme Court decision.
Associated Press
Kennewick: Drug raid rounds up 43 suspects
A two-day series of drug raids that began just after 5 a.m. Wednesday resulted in 43 arrests, Mid-Columbia law enforcement agencies announced Friday.
“This is the way it’s supposed to work,” said James McDevitt, U.S. attorney for Eastern Washington, praising the collaboration of local, state and federal agencies.
Seized were a half-pound of methamphetamine, softball-sized bags of cocaine, about a pound of marijuana, more than $10,000 in cash and eight illegal weapons, including an assault-style rifle and sawed-off shotgun. Twenty-three homes in Mabton, Prosser, Richland, Kennewick, Pasco and rural Benton and Franklin counties were searched.
Federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives worked with the Tri-Cities Metro Drug Task Force, the Kennewick, Prosser, Pasco and Richland police departments, the Benton and Franklin county sheriff’s offices and the Washington State Patrol.
Tri-City Herald
Carson: Search put off for missing aircraft
A search for a twin-engine plane with one person aboard that disappeared on a flight from Arizona to Tacoma was suspended Friday evening, a Skamania County sheriff’s official said.
The pilot was last heard from Wednesday afternoon telling the Federal Aviation Administration’s Auburn flight control center that he had a problem.
Poor visibility kept search aircraft grounded.
Associated Press
B.C.: Mass murder suspect’s trial to begin
Robert Pickton’s trial begins Monday on 27 charges of first-degree murder, most involving drug-addicted women in the Vancouver sex trade, and a published report says he will plead not guilty.
Pickton’s lawyer, Peter Ritchie of Vancouver, confirmed in an interview with the Toronto Globe and Mail that Pickton will enter a not-guilty plea..
Pickton, 56, of Port Coquitlam, B.C., was arrested in February 2002. He was initially charged with two counts of murder. More charges were filed as the investigation progressed at the family pig farm, where remains of numerous victims reportedly were found.
On Monday, a judge will hear Pickton’s plea at the formal start of the trial and begin hearing legal arguments about what evidence is admissible. Those arguments and the evidence will be heard under a publication ban.
Associated Press
