LEAVENWORTH — An avalanche has swept through an area northwest of Leavenworth, knocking a large vacation home off its foundation and demolishing it. Chelan County Sheriff Mike Harum says no one was in the house and there were no injuries.
The snowslide hit about 4:15 p.m. Thursday.
Harum says the owners of the home used it as a rental for vacationers. It was located beside the Kahler Glen Golf Course.
The sheriff’s office says another home in the area was damaged and crews evacuated other nearby homes as a precaution.
Associated Press
Olympia: Tax on fuel efficiency proposed
Sen. Ed Murray of Seattle has introduced a bill backed by Mayor Greg Nickels to tax car owners based on fuel efficiency.
The owner of a Prius would pay $60 a year and the owner of a Hummer would pay $180.
Murray and Nickels say the bill would make car owners take responsibility for emissions that contributed to global warming.
The tax revenue would be split between local governments and the Transportation Department.
The bill was introduced Wednesday as Gov. Chris Gregoire’s Climate Advisory team recommended cutting greenhouse gases by increasing road tolls and parking costs and requiring that fuel release lower levels of carbon dioxide.
Associated Press
Lacey: Man charged in funeral home thefts
The son of a Lacey town council member has been charged with stealing $1.8 million from his family’s funeral home business mostly to invest in get-rich-quick schemes that failed.
Joseph Patrick Burgman, 38, was charged Wednesday with eight counts of first-degree theft, 31 counts of second-degree theft, three counts of third-degree theft and unlawful use of criminal proceeds.
Burgman confessed to taking $1.4 million from trust funds for prearranged funerals and cemetery maintenance and $400,000 from Forest Funeral Home in Shelton and Woodlawn Funeral Home in Lacey, and he will be summoned to appear in Thurston County Superior Court, according to documents filed by prosecutors.
The thefts occurred when Burgman was vice president of Southwick Corp., which controls both funeral homes.
Associated Press
Kelso: Burglar alarm leads to drug raid
Kelso police say a false burglar alarm led to a marijuana raid and the controlled detonation of a bomb.
Officers were sent to a house early Tuesday when a security company attendant reported that the occupant failed to give the correct code. Police say 27-year-old Joshua Stewart Ball of Longview answered the door and a strong odor of marijuana was evident.
Police say they verified that Ball was not a burglar and obtained a search warrant. Inside they reported finding a suitcase containing processed marijuana and $1,000 in cash, 25 growing pot plants and an improvised explosive device.
A bomb squad from Portland, Ore., detonated the device and Ball was jailed for investigation of marijuana manufacture and delivery and possession of an incendiary device.
Associated Press
Camas: Suspect swims through culvert
With Camas police hot on his heels, Robert W. Carter made a very cold decision, police said.
He plunged into a ditch in the Port of Camas-Washougal area along state Highway 14 and swam several hundred feet, including through a 70-foot culvert, before surrendering, police said.
Carter, 20, a Vancouver resident, was suffering from hypothermia and exposure when captured, according to a police bulletin.
He was taken to Southwest Washington Medical Center for treatment, then to the Clark County Jail on suspicion of resisting arrest, malicious mischief and domestic-violence crimes including assault and violating a judge’s no-contact order.
Carter was being held without bail on the allegations and previously issued arrest warrants Wednesday night.
The Columbian
Bellingham: Guilty verdict in drug case
A Canadian man caught at Blaine’s Pacific Highway border crossing with 157 pounds of Ecstasy in a hidden gas tank compartment could face up to 20 years in prison.
James Leystra, 38, of Vancouver, B.C., was found guilty Wednesday of conspiracy to import Ecstasy, unlawful importation of Ecstasy and possession of Ecstasy with intent to distribute, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials inspected Leystra’s 1995 Chevrolet Suburban in November 2006 and found the Ecstasy, which had a street value close to $4.5 million.
The Bellingham Herald
Ellensburg: Man rescued from silo
Surrounded by walls of grain, buried up to his neck and chest, Dan Brunson had no choice but to wait.
Brunson, 65, of Ellensburg fell into a 30-foot grain silo south of Ellensburg on Tuesday morning and spent more than four hours partially buried in grain while rescue crews from Ellensburg and Yakima tried to free him.
“It was like quicksand,” said Kittitas Valley Fire &Rescue Fire Marshal Joe Seemiller, who was lowered into the silo to dig out Brunson. “The more you move, the more you sink down.”
Brunson was working with his son to fill a truck with grain on Tuesday when the machine pumping the grain stopped. Brunson climbed on top of the silo to investigate the stoppage and tumbled inside.
Rescue personnel cut holes in the silo, allowing grain to pour out. Seemiller and several other rescuers were lowered into the silo and began shoveling grain out the holes, digging a path to Brunson, who was half buried at the bottom of a funnel of grain.
Brunson was taken to Yakima Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for hypothermia.
The Daily Record
Seattle: Zoo selling orangutan’s paintings
The Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle is auctioning two paintings on eBay that were created by an orangutan named Towan.
Keepers says painting is one of Towan’s favorite activities. He uses chalk and pens filled with nontoxic paint, favoring primary colors.
A keeper, Carolyn Austin, says the 40-year-old is the most accomplished artist in the zoo’s orangutan family and the most willing to part with the creations. Others tend to tear up their work.
The zoo plans to use money from the art auction to help support an international zookeepers conference next year in Seattle.
Associated Press
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