Carpenter who won $18 million in lottery retires

OLYMPIA — An $18 million lottery jackpot speeded up Richard Hurd’s plan to retire from his job as a carpenter at Western State Hospital.

The Tacoma resident had planned to leave six years from now, but winning Saturday’s Washington Lotto game has him hanging up the tool belt early.

Hurd left the state lottery office here at noon Thursday, bound for the hospital to submit his resignation.

"We are officially retired as of this morning," said Hurd, who plans a trip to Nevada with his wife, Nancy. He decided to take the money in payments over 25 years instead of a lump sum payout, and collected the first $525,600 check on Thursday.

Nancy Hurd also plans to quit her jobs as custodial supervisor at Western State Hospital and as a janitor for the city of Tacoma.

Tacoma

Detention ordered for 14-year-old in fatal gang beating: One of the youngest boys involved in a fatal gang beating has been sentenced to juvenile detention until he turns 21. Jamar Jay Spencer, 14, apologized before being sentenced Wednesday in Pierce County Superior Court for his role in the death of Erik Toews, 30. "I know what I did was wrong. I didn’t mean for the death of him, and I’m sorry. Please forgive me," he said. Spencer, 12 at the time of the attack, pleaded guilty in May to first-degree murder and first-degree robbery. He was among eight youths, then 11 to 19, who fatally beat Toews, a stranger whom they encountered walking on the sidewalk.

Seattle

Choreographer and dance instructor dies: Verla Flowers, a dance teacher and choreographer whose students included choreographer Mark Morris, a number of Rockettes and Las Vegas performers, is dead at 88. Flowers, who taught ballet, jazz, tap, acrobatics, baton, belly dancing, Hawaiian, ballroom, Spanish and breakdancing before she closed her studio in 1990, died Saturday at Columbia Lutheran Home after a long illness. Born in Seattle, she studied under a number of prominent teachers, including Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and began giving dance lessons in her parents’ home at age 14. "She was unbelievably fabulous, and generous, and supportive and great," Morris recalled, who studied with Flowers from age 9 until he was 17.

Second charge filed against former day care teacher: A former day care teacher, charged with raping a 4-year-old child late last year, has also been charged with molesting another youngster four years ago. Bail on Darryl Montise Betties was increased to $500,000 from $100,000 after he was charged Tuesday with first-degree child molesting. He remained at the King County Jail. Betties, 34, resigned Dec. 14 after eight years at Our Place Daycare, run by Catholic Community Services of Western Washington, starting as a teachers aide and then becoming a teacher.

Burien

School district ends 16-year bond drought: For the first time in 16 years, Highline School District voters have approved a construction bond issue, a $189.5 million plan to replace one-fourth of the schools in the suburban district. An unofficial tally of results from the election March 12 showed the measure drew a 61.5 percent yes vote. Certification of the voting is set for Friday. The same measure fell short of the 60 percent minimum in September with 59.3 percent. Most of the eight schools that are being replaced are more than 50 years old and plagued by outdated heating and ventilation systems, worn out plumbing, asbestos, fire safety problems and earthquake damage.

Richland

Husband, wife found shot to death: A married couple were found shot to death in their home Thursday, police said. The dead were identified as Lawrence A. Ulrich, 72, and his wife, Jo, 69, police Capt. Mike Cobb said. The case is being investigated as a double homicide. No one has been arrested, he said. The bodies were found by a family member who went to check on them. There were no obvious signs of forced entry at the house, Cobb said.

Prosser

Police recover missing 14-foot Paul Bunyan sculpture: Paul Bunyan and Babe, the big blue ox, are back in legitimate hands but somewhat the worse for wear, police in this Eastern Washington town report. A 14-foot-tall plywood and foam insulation sculpture of the legendary lumberjack and a 5-foot version of his sidekick were found Wednesday morning in a shed east of town, police chief Win Taylor said. They were located after a newspaper article resulted in three calls from the public, Taylor said. The adventure cost Babe a horn and an ear, and the legs of the logger and the ox were damaged. The sculptures vanished March 6 or 7 from the defunct Northwoods Restaurant.

Idaho

Idaho motorists can still drive high, federal court says: Idaho motorists can still drive high, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stood by its earlier ruling that it is legal to drive high in Idaho, as long as you can drive straight. In doing so, it shot down a request to rehear the case against an Idaho man arrested in 1998 for driving under the influence of marijuana. Federal prosecutors asked the appeals court to review its decision after a three-judge panel overturned Matthew Patzer’s impaired driving conviction in January because of a loophole in Idaho law. Idaho’s laws make it illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol and narcotics. But marijuana is not listed in the books as a narcotic, so police cannot assume that a person is impaired just because he smoked pot, the court ruled.

From Herald news services