State back in court over care of foster kids
OLYMPIA— Lawyers for a dozen foster kids say they’re taking the state back to court to enforce a lawsuit settlement that hasn’t been fulfilled.
It’s part of a landmark 1998 lawsuit that accused the state of bouncing foster kids between homes without adequate services. The state settled the lawsuit in 2004, and promised to make changes.
But the state has fallen short on some measures, and lawyers for the foster children say they plan to take the case back to Whatcom County Superior Court today.
Gov. Chris Gregoire and state officials have defended the state’s foster-care reforms, saying big changes will take time.
Mount Vernon: Drug ring leader indicted
Federal prosecutors say the leader of an extensive Skagit County drug ring faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison.
Thirty-two-year-old Roberto Mendez-Sanchez, of Mount Vernon, was one of more than 40 people indicted after a yearlong investigation. He was convicted at trial Tuesday on multiple counts of drug trafficking and will be sentenced in May.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle says the organization would transport heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine to the Northwest and send cash back to Mexico, where it was based.
Thirty-three of the defendants have pleaded guilty, while seven remain at large and at least two are awaiting trial. Investigators bought 20 pounds of drugs undercover from the ring and seized more than $100,000.
Puyallup: Explosives at school called prank
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office says two explosions at a Puyallup school were a prank caused by putting dry ice and water in plastic bottles.
Spokesman Ed Troyer says investigators are not looking at Wednesday’s blasts at Ballou Junior High School as a serious threat.
School district spokeswoman Karen Hansen says there were no injuries or damage from the explosions about 10 a.m. in a commons area and a boys’ bathroom.
Students were briefly evacuated while deputies searched the building.
Bremerton: Robbers are zero-for-three
The two young would-be robbers are zero for three.
At a Wendy’s restaurant, they failed to convince the clerks that they wanted more than a “double stack.”
At a Rite Aid drugstore, a clerk confronted by one assailant, who was waving a serrated pocket knife, grabbed the intercom and announced to all the shoppers that a man with a knife was in the store. The young men fled.
At another Rite Aid, a clerk was attacked by one of the young men but managed to put him in a headlock and crash into a partition. Again, the young men ran from the store empty-handed.
After the muffed attempt at Wendy’s on Monday night, followed an hour later by the scuffle at a neighboring Rite Aid, Kitsap County sheriff’s deputies with a police dog tracked and arrested two South Kitsap County men — ages 23 and 17 — for investigation of robbery.
Evidence gathered at the scene — a handwritten robbery note — connects the pair to the knife-waving, failed Rite Aid robbery attempt on Jan. 9, deputies said.
Pasco: Jail suspect gets fourth lawyer
A Franklin County Superior Court judge has told a man accused of raping another jail inmate to get along with the fourth lawyer that has been appointed for his defense.
Judge Cameron Mitchell warned David Webster that if a problem arises with Yakima attorney Mike Lynch, then Webster may have to represent himself at trial. Three other lawyers have withdrawn or been disqualified.
Webster is accused of sexually assaulting a cellmate in 2003 in the county jail. He is already is serving a 26-year sentence for beating a woman and trying to hire someone to kill her.
Webster told the judge Tuesday that he had concerns about Lynch and found his name scary.
Seattle: Rabbi on trial in crosswalk fatality
An assault trial is under way in Seattle Municipal Court for a rabbi accused of fatally running down a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
The prosecutor, Kevin Kilpatrick, says Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz was talking on his cell phone at the time of the accident in November 2006 that killed 29-year-old Matthew Nakata.
Defense lawyer Diego Vargas says the city is out to get Schwartz because Nakata worked for former City Councilman David Della.
If convicted, Schwartz could face up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Seafood company sorry for bald eagle deaths
Ocean Beauty Seafoods Co. of Seattle is giving $11,000 to bird rescue centers in Alaska as it expresses regret for the eagles killed and injured in a truckload of fish waste in Kodiak.
About 20 birds drowned in the slime or were crushed in the guts when they dived into the truck Friday at a processing plant. Rescuers saved 28 eagles.
The company says the birds dived into the truck before it could be covered.
Ocean Beauty has donated $5,000 to the Bird Treatment and Learning Center in Anchorage and $2,000 each to three other raptor centers in Alaska.
Ocean Beauty has operated the Kodiak plant for over 40 years, and says this is the first incident of substantial bird death.
‘Prince of Pot’ agrees to plea deal in case
A Vancouver, B.C., marijuana activist says he has accepted a plea deal with federal prosecutors in Seattle.
Marc Emery, known as the “Prince of Pot,” says he’ll plead guilty to a 2005 Seattle grand jury indictment charging him with selling seeds. If the deal is accepted, the 50-year-old would serve five years in prison, most of that time in a Canadian prison.
Emery says the deal depends on sparing two associates from jail time.
Emery says his prosecution was political. He’s the publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine and promotes the legalization of marijuana.
Goldendale: Man dies after falls into river
A construction worker has died after a vehicle he was driving went off the U.S. 97 bridge over the Columbia River.
A witness, Bryan Zapfe, said the man was driving an excavator carrying a heavy steel plate across the bridge Tuesday morning when it went over a guardrail and fell about 75 feet into the water.
The man, an employee of Mowat Construction Co. of Woodinville, was apparently knocked unconscious and was in the chilly river for six to seven minutes. He was plucked from the water by a contractor’s boat but was pronounced dead after being rushed to Klickitat Valley Hospital in Goldendale, about a dozen miles north of the bridge.
The accident happened about a quarter-mile from the Oregon side of the bridge, which has been closed since Jan. 2 for a deck replacement project. Cleanup work and efforts to retrieve the excavator were pending.
Kennewick: Cancer patient gets apology
Benton County District Court Judge Holly Hollenbeck has apologized for telling a cancer patient to remove a knitted cap or leave his courtroom.
Hollenbeck says he told Bev Williams on Monday he was sorry and that the no-hat rule would no longer apply in his courtroom.
The Kennewick woman lost her hair due to chemotherapy and was in court Friday to support her teenage daughter, who was facing a misdemeanor charge.
Williams left the courtroom in tears. Hollenbeck refused to change his order even after being told about her cancer.
The story in the Tri-City Herald brought national attention and e-mails to the district court administrator.
Associated Press
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