Herald staff
LAKEWOOD — A judge who hears drunken driving cases in this Tacoma suburb has been charged with drunken driving after being involved in a three-car accident.
Municipal Court Judge Carolyn A. Lake was charged in Pierce County District Court last week. State troopers said she was arrested after she rear-ended another car and registered a blood alcohol level exceeding .11 percent on two breath tests. The legal threshold is .08.
"As a longtime prosecutor, city attorney and judge, she is well aware of the responsibilities each of us has when we get behind the wheel of a car," her attorney, Michael Schwartz, said in a statement Friday. "She also regrets that she is in any way connected with any action that might be perceived to detract from the integrity of the City of Lakewood, the office of municipal judge, or her profession as an attorney."
Lake is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 4. She would not comment on the case.
In 1998, Lake was appointed to replace Municipal Court Judge Ralph H. Baldwin, who resigned after he admitted he bought beer for attorneys and jurors in a drunken driving case.
Documents filed in court gave the following account:
Lake, 42, was swerving in her car on I-5 on Sept. 9, then accelerated under an overpass and hit a car and pushed it into another vehicle, a witness told State Patrol investigators.
A trooper noted a strong odor of liquor and saw that her eyes were red and bloodshot. Lake said she had been drinking.
The trooper tested her eye movements and described them as very jerky. Lake refused to take additional sobriety tests.
Motel shut down: A motel infested with cockroaches and suffering other problems has been closed, the state Department of Health said Tuesday. Inspectors were shocked by the condition of the Whitman Annex Motel. Gary Bennett of the state Department of Health said the building suffered from dry rot, carpets were filthy and guests had to supply their own towels. Air conditioners were held together with duct tape, contained dirt and scum buildup and emitted a stale smell, the agency said. Motel operators had no comment Tuesday.
Demonstration turns rowdy: Scores demonstrated in downtown Portland Tuesday in solidarity with protests in the Czech Republic against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. At least 20 people were arrested after a police officer was assaulted and protesters painted an anarchist symbol on a billboard, according to Lt. Mike Hefley, a police spokesman. Most were charged with interfering with a police officer. Hefley said about 80 protesters took part. Protesters threw rotten eggs and bottles at officers on horses.
Men sent to prison for starvation death: Two men who are borderline retarded have been sentenced to prison for starving to death a 68-year-old man in their care at an adult foster home. Jack Cockrell Jr., 34, and his brother, Johnnie Cockrell, 32, pleaded guilty to reduced charges of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Edward Hayes, who weighed only 110 pounds in December 1998 when he was taken to the hospital from an adult foster home outside Central Point. According to defense testimony, IQ tests scored the brothers in the low 70s, compared with an average score of 100. An IQ ranging from 70 to 75 is considered the threshold for retardation.
Boy charged in race-related incident: A Latino boy who spit on a black girl and threatened her after they exchanged racial insults was charged with harassment and may be expelled from Springfield High School. The boy, 16, also was charged with intimidation and carrying a concealed weapon after spitting on the 15-year-old girl on Sept. 13, said police Sgt. Richard Jones. The two were arguing about the Latino boy’s advances toward a friend of the black girl as a group of students walked from school to a recreation class at Willamalane Park. The two exchanged racial insults before the boy threatened the girl and spat on her, Jones said.
