PORT ORCHARD — Kitsap County sheriff’s deputies say a day care operator put a troublesome 4-year-old boy in her car trunk and drove about a third of a mile.
Deputy Scott Wilson says no charges have been filed against 57-year-old Linda Clarke, owner of Grandma Linda’s Home Daycare. However, a report was sent to prosecutors, and KING-TV of Seattle reported that the state Department of Social and Health Services has pulled her license.
Clarke told a deputy she put Nicholas Wickstrom into the trunk of her 1994 Chrysler Concorde on Tuesday after he bit another child and tried to shut the car door on her hand.
She says she drove about five miles an hour for less than half a mile with him in the trunk. She then told the boy’s mother, Linda Hooper, who called the sheriff’s office.
Associated Press
Olympia: Five more protesters arrested
Five anti-war protesters were arrested Thursday after trying to block the movement of military equipment out of the Port of Olympia.
Several semi-trucks moved at least a dozen military vehicles, including Stryker vehicles used in Iraq, out of the port and back to the Fort Lewis throughout the day without incident. In the afternoon, five protesters sat down in the intersection in front of the port and were pepper sprayed by police before being arrested.
A squad of police in riot gear was at the scene in response to the small group of protesters.
Associated Press
Yakima: Defeated councilman sues
A Yakima city councilman who lost his bid for re-election has sued his opponent’s wife for posting an anonymous blog that contained unfounded rumors he had been arrested for drunken driving.
Rick Ensey, a property manager, defeated Councilman Ron Bonlender, a sandwich shop owner, with 52.5 percent of the vote last week.
Throughout the campaign, an anonymous blogger criticized Bonlender and Democrats on the Web site InsideYakima.com. The blogger also referred to “rumors” that Bonlender had been arrested several times for investigation of drunken driving and that the arrest reports had been covered up by the police, the city manager and the local newspaper.
The blogger offered no evidence and a review of state records by the Yakima Herald-Republic found nothing to back up the claims.
Two days after the election, Ensey acknowledged his wife was the anonymous blogger. The site was taken down the day after the election.
On Wednesday, Bonlender sued Diane Ensey for defamation and portraying him in a false light. The lawsuit, filed in Yakima County Superior Court, does not cite damages. It names Rick Ensey as a co-defendant for his share of marital assets.
Associated Press
Spokane: Children repossessed with SUV
Spokane police say two children were accidentally repossessed with their father’s SUV.
Because he was working quickly, the repo driver did not notice the 5- and 7-year-old children when he arrived at a grocery store parking lot Thursday morning to take the 1996 Ford Explorer, police officer Jennifer DeRuwe said.
The father had left the children in the vehicle when he ran into the store for doughnuts. He called police when he saw the car and kids missing; the repo man also called police after arriving at the repo lot and discovering the passengers.
It’s not illegal to leave children unattended in a car as long as it’s not running, is not outside a bar and the weather doesn’t pose a danger, DeRuwe said.
Police said the children were returned unharmed to their father.
Associated Press
Birch Bay: Six pets shot since May
Pet owners have been on edge after reports of dogs and cats being shot in two different housing developments.
Security Specialists Plus has received four reports of pet shootings and recently learned of two additional incidents that had not been reported, security operations director Bob Gardner said. Altogether, four cats and two dogs were reported shot. All but one of the pets — a dog — survived.
The incidents began in May and have occurred sporadically since then, with the latest, a cat shot in the leg, occurring Sunday.
It’s unclear whether the same person is responsible for all of the shootings, but their proximity to each other has raised suspicions.
Bellingham Herald
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