PORTLAND, Ore. – William Clark scribbled “Ocian in View! O! the joy!” in his field notes when he thought (incorrectly) that the Lewis and Clark expedition had finally spotted the Pacific on Nov. 7, 1805.
America’s newest coin, the last of four in the U.S. Mint’s “Westward Journey” series of commemorative nickels, recalls the moment but with some editing.
U.S. Mint officials changed Ocian to Ocean, erasing an enduring reminder of Clark’s famously free hand with spelling.
Coin designer Joe Fitzgerald admits to some disappointment.
“I thought it would be an educational opportunity to get teachers talking about changes in our language,” he said.
Associated Press
Tacoma: Judge blocks moving park shelters
Concerns over natural preservation trumped arguments for historical preservation when a federal judge blocked the National Park Service from flying two trail shelters by helicopter into the backcountry of Olympic National Park.
U.S. District Court Judge Franklin Burgess ruled Monday that moving the prefabricated shelters into the mountainous area northwest of Lake Cushman would violate the federal Wilderness Act, which prohibits roads, structures and motorized equipment in areas designated as wilderness.
The two new shelters are replicas of now collapsed historic shelters that had been at Low Divide at Quinault Pass and Home Sweet Home near the headwaters of the Duckabush River.
Associated Press
Spokane: Chiropractor convicted of tax evasion
An East Wenatchee chiropractor who spent more than four months in jail for refusing to turn over business records has been convicted of federal income tax evasion, U.S. Attorney James McDevitt announced Thursday.
After a three-day bench trial, Biffer Arthur Wellendorf was convicted of willfully failing to file federal income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service from 1998-2001.
Wellendorf, 49, faces four years in prison, fines totaling $400,000, and could be ordered to pay all taxes due when he is sentenced Oct. 7 by U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush.
Associated Press
Wenatchee: Fire strikes paper plant second time
For the second time this year, fire broke out at Keyes Fibre Corp. amid huge stacks of paper fruit-packing trays.
The fire, which was reported Thursday morning, closed Highway 97A, damaged power poles and blanketed Wenatchee with a smoky haze. The plant was evacuated and the power was shut off, and no one was injured, said fire Chief Randy Johnson of Chelan County Fire District 1.
Bus service was rerouted to Chelan along the east side of the Columbia River.
Associated Press
Port Angeles: Arrest in triple-fatality crash
A man was arrested following the death of three people in a three-vehicle smashup on the northern Olympic Peninsula, and three other people died in a one-car crash north of Spokane.
Michael John Jones, 48, of Port Angeles, was being held on suspicion of vehicular homicide and driving while impaired after a three-vehicle crash east of Port Angeles, State Patrol trooper Brian George said Wednesday night.
“It was not even inattention,” George said. “It was 100 percent preventable.”
Across the state, Spokane County sheriff’s deputies said speed appeared to be a factor in the death of three people after a 1991 Oldsmobile Alero missed a sharp curve in Mead, went off the road, slammed into a tree and burned early Wednesday morning, sheriff’s Sgt. David VanWormer said.
Associated Press
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