YAKIMA – A U.S. Army medic was killed by a bomb blast in Iraq, his family says.
Becky Morrison said an officer told her Monday that her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Lawrence Morrison, 45, was killed while on a mission with a Marine Corps unit.
“I told him I didn’t want to hear it. I told him I didn’t want to know anything,” Becky Morrison said from her Yakima home.
Morrison never saw combat while on active duty between 1979 and 1995. He was working for the U.S. Postal Service when he was called up in March from the inactive reserves. He was due to return home in October.
In addition to his wife and 14-year-old stepson, Morrison leaves a son who is a military police officer.
Associated Press\
Tacoma: Man who was hit by a firetruck dies
A man was fatally injured after being struck by a firetruck carrying firefighters to a communications center to have their portable radios serviced, authorities said.
Richard Churchill, 76, of Tacoma, who was hit by the firetruck Sept. 15, died Friday at Tacoma General Hospital, investigators in the Pierce County Medical Examiners Office said.
“We are saddened to hear about his death,” Assistant Fire Chief Jolene Davis said. “The chief and the entire department want to express their concern and condolences.”
Police are investigating, and a Fire Department investigation is planned.
Associated Press
Olympia: Woman who drove car up wire cited
A Thurston County woman was cited for leaving the scene of an accident after she drove a car up a wire anchoring a power pole, Olympia police reported Wednesday.
The driver of the 1997 Kia sedan backed up to the wire, then continued driving until the rear of the car was nearly 7 feet off the ground, police said. The car was found abandoned Tuesday night in an alley.
A witness at the scene pointed officers to the suspect, who was using a phone booth at a shopping center across the street. Kathleen S. Dear, 43, was cited for leaving the scene of an accident, police Sgt. Ray Holmes said.
Police say the car belongs to an acquaintance of Dear. Investigators think she backed into the wire and accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake, Holmes said.
The Olympian
Ione: Pilot dies when plane crashes in river
A small plane clipped a power line and plunged into the Pend Oreille River near Ione in northeast Washington, killing the pilot, Pend Oreille County sheriff’s deputies said.
The body of Hans C. Henrickson, 57, of Oakesdale, owner of the four-seat Cessna, was recovered hours after the plane sank in the river about 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to a sheriff’s office statement.
Gary Mayer, Federal Aviation Administration regional operations officer in Seattle, said it was unclear where the flight originated or where Henrickson was heading. The plane, built in 1949, was pulled from the river.
Associated Press
Oregon: Strip club slogan a hit with teens
PORTLAND – A T-shirt boasting about Oregon strip clubs has become a best seller for a major retailer that caters to teenagers.
The slogan says: “Come for the fishing. Stay for the strip clubs.”
The $18 shirt has become the most sought among 50 state-themed shirts rolled out in the spring by Hot Topic, a mall-based retailer that sells edgy apparel for teens at about 600 stores nationwide.
It turns out there’s truth to the slogan.
Oregon has 93 such clubs, or 2.6 per 100,000 residents – second only to West Virginia’s 53 clubs, or 2.9 per 100,000 residents. Other states, led by Texas and Florida, have bigger total club numbers.
The slogan doesn’t bother Todd Davidson, chief executive for the state’s tourism board.
“It starts by encouraging people to come for the fishing, and that’s year-round,” he said. “I guess the other thing isn’t seasonal, either.”
It could’ve been worse. Consider some of the T-shirt slogans for other states, including California’s “Break me off a piece of that” and Washington state’s “Way less murders than Washington, D.C.”
Associated Press
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