Northwest Briefly

ELLENSBURG – A 40-year-old Everett man died Saturday afternoon while snowmobiling with family and friends on Meadow Creek Pass Road.

Kittitas County Sheriff Gene Dana said Steven R. McElroy complained of not feeling well and had taken a break from riding Saturday when he collapsed.

Dana said family members told officials McElroy had a family history of heart problems. The preliminary cause of death was due to apparent heart problems, Dana said.

Deputies received a call shortly after 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Kittitas County Search and Rescue team members were in the area because of an avalanche training; however, after a quick response and performing CPR they were unable to resuscitate McElroy who died at the scene, Dana said.

The Daily Record

Seattle: Protesters outnumber neo-Nazis

Dozens of protesters and a skinhead came looking for a neo-Nazi rally that never materialized in Seattle. In Olympia, eight neo-Nazis canceled a march and rallied in a parking lot after 150 to 200 counter-demonstrators showed up.

Responding to rumors of a neo-Nazi gathering Sunday morning at the base of the Space Needle in Seattle, about 70 people marched in a circle, waving signs and chanting, “No Klan, No KKK, No Fascist USA.”

One young man said he was a skinhead looking for other neo-Nazis, but all he found were the counter-demonstrators, some of whom argued with him for nearly an hour.

The neo-Nazi gathering later in the day in Olympia was organized by Justin Boyer, a unit leader of the white supremacist National Socialist Movement who had obtained a permit for a march down State Avenue. Confronted by at least 20 times as many counter-demonstrators, the small band held a rally in a parking lot across from The Olympian newspaper.

“This was a better location – more visibility,” Boyer said. “We didn’t want the antis here at all.”

Associated Press

Tugboat sinks at mouth of Duwamish River

A 101-foot tugboat sank at its moorage off the mouth of the Duwamish River in Seattle and nearly dragged down a second tug, officials said.

The cause of the sinking of the tug Island Brave was unknown, said David Zanzig, port captain for Island Tug &Barge, owner of the vessel. He said some of the more than 20,0000 gallons of diesel fuel in the tugboat’s tanks leaked before company divers sealed the fuel tanks.

Someone driving over the Spokane Street Bridge notified the company about 11 a.m. Sunday that the Island Brave and Patricia S, to which it was tied, were listing north of the bridge and east of Terminal 5. The Island Brave sank about 1:15 p.m.

A large crane on a barge was brought to pull upward on the sinking tug so the Patricia S could be cut free, Zanzig said.

Associated Press

Olympia: Capital’s rainy day string ends at 35

Raindrops quit falling after a record 35 days of measurable precipitation in the state capital.

Sunday was the first dry day since Dec. 18 at the National Weather Service’s official measuring station at the airport south of town.

The rainy day streak broke Olympia’s old record of 33 days sent in 1953.

The city has received 10.43 inches of rain through Sunday, almost double the normal 5.38 inches for the first 22 days of January.

Associated Press

Aberdeen: Rainfall streak now at 37 days

The rainy day streak is at 37, but it’s not likely to go any higher as sunny weather was predicted for today.

The National Weather Service rain gauge at Bowerman Field in Hoquiam had recorded 0.10 of an inch by mid-morning Monday, not much more than a drop in the bucket, but enough to count.

The National Weather Service is forecasting no chance for rain and a sunny day today – followed by more rain the rest of the week.

The Daily World

Oregon: Duplex fire kills two boys in Salem

Two boys, ages 6 and 3, died Monday in a Salem duplex fire. Three other children and an adult were injured, authorities said.

The names of the dead and injured were not immediately released.

All six people were in the same unit of the duplex apartment, said public information officer Bill Holmstrom of the Salem Fire Department. He said five were immediate family members.

He said two investigators each from the local fire and police departments were at the duplex trying to determine what caused the fire, which broke out about 4 a.m.

The injured youths were two girls, ages 1 and 8, both of whom were released from Salem Hospital, and a boy, 4, who was listed in critical condition and transferred to a hospital at Oregon Health &Science University. Holmstrom said the adult remained in Salem Hospital.

Associated Press

B.C.: Investigators focus on engine in plane crash

Canadian Transportation Safety Board investigators will focus on the engine of a plane that crashed Saturday on Vancouver Island, killing three people and leaving five others seriously injured.

Board spokesman Bill Yearwood said it does not appear that icing was a factor in the crash near Port Alberni, despite an earlier warning from the U.S. that icing could be a problem for Cessna Caravan aircraft.

The plane had been en route from Tofino to Vancouver with eight people on board Saturday afternoon when the pilot radioed an emergency, seeking an unpowered landing at Port Alberni.

A 3-year-old boy, the pilot and an adult male passenger were killed, while a 13-month-old girl, four women and a dog survived.

Associated Press

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