Crabber’s body found on Port Townsend beach

PORT TOWNSEND – A body found on a beach here Tuesday was identified as that of a Clallam County roads supervisor reported missing from a crab fishing outing with his son, who also died.

The body of Steve Wasankari, 65, was found at about 7 a.m. on a beach below a bluff along Seaview Drive on the north side of Port Townsend, Clallam County Undersheriff Joe Martin said.

Wasankari’s son, Steve Wasankari Jr., 30, was pulled unconscious from the waters of the bay by a helicopter crew Sunday night. He later died at Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.

Montesano

Man dies at wife’s funeral: Jim Myhre, father of nine and grandfather of 23, had warned family members he wouldn’t be far behind his wife of 34 years after she died of cancer. Myhre, 65, collapsed at Maxine Myhre’s funeral on Monday and died in an ambulance on the way to a hospital. He was stricken as family members were gathered for a private viewing at the end of the service at the Assembly of God Church in Montesano, a town of about 3,500 about 35 miles west of Olympia. Maxine Myhre, also 65, died Feb. 4 of complications from cancer at St. Peter Hospital in Olympia.

Three arrested in beating death: Three men are in custody in Montesano following the beating death of a man who, according to one of the three, gave them money to buy marijuana and smoked it with them, investigators said. Jason H. Wakeman, 18, of Montesano, was charged Friday in Grays Harbor County Superior Court with first-degree murder and robbery in the death of Michael E. “Columbo” Smith, 54, of Humptulips. Jon Lamb, 19, of Montesano is being held on an unrelated probation violation, and Larry Ellsworth Luther Jr., 23, of Hoquiam, was arrested Friday for investigation of first-degree murder and robbery.

Ellensburg

Man held in wife’s fatal stabbing: A 33-year-old Ellensburg man is being held on a charge of second-degree homicide in the stabbing death of his wife. John E. Johnson was in the Kittitas County Corrections Center Tuesday on $750,000 bail after the Saturday death of his wife, Lela, 28, who suffered a single stab wound to the chest with a large knife. Johnson’s arraignment was set for Feb. 19.

Olympia

Hospital employees catch whooping cough: Six emergency room employees at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Health Center have contracted whooping cough, and all ER personnel at the hospital have been given antibiotics. No patients have been linked to what Marcia Patrick, the hospital’s infection control manager, said Sunday was a “cluster” rather than an outbreak of the disease. Six children were treated in the emergency room for whooping cough in the previous week, but there is no apparent link between the two sets of cases, she said.

Seattle

Microsoft gives to train teachers: Microsoft Corp. is giving $50 million in software and equipment over three years to train teachers around the country to use the company’s products, chief executive Steve Ballmer said. Appearing Monday at the start of a three-day Microsoft conference on technology and education, Ballmer said the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education will coordinate distribution of the material to 300 partnerships that are being formed between teacher education programs and schools. Microsoft ranks second to Apple Computer in sales to schools, and donations like the one announced Monday could help increase Microsoft’s market share.

Chewelah

Students expelled for threats: Two students at Jenkins High School were permanently expelled Monday after administrators last week found what appeared to be a hit list. The list named 27 people, including other students, three staff members and some people not associated with the school, school officials said. No weapons were found.

Oregon

Meteorite chunks auctioned: Two small fragments of Oregon’s Willamette Meteorite were auctioned for $14,400 in bidding described as “spirited” over the weekend in Tucson, Ariz. Darryl Pitt, curator of the Macovich Collection of Meteorites in New York City, said the smaller rectangular piece – about a half-inch long and weighing one-third ounce – sold for $3,300 on Sunday. The larger 6-inch-long, 3.4-ounce specimen sold for $11,000. He declined to say who bought the fragments. The auction drew criticism from officials of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, who say the meteorite – called “Tomanowos” by the Clackamas people – is sacred to them. They said the tribe was “saddened” by the sale of the “spiritually significant” fragments. Found 100 years ago in West Linn, the 15 1/2-ton meteorite is the world’s sixth-largest and the largest ever discovered in the United States.