TACOMA — The state fined Tacoma Goodwill Industries nearly $50,000 for safety violations that contributed to the death of a developmentally disabled worker.
Nick Miller, 27, was crushed April 15 by a machine that lifts trash into a compactor.
The Tacoma News Tribune reports the Department of Labor and Industries found that Goodwill failed to properly train and supervise disabled workers and failed to make sure the trash-tipping machine had emergency stop controls.
Tacoma Goodwill Chief Executive Terry Hayes disputes the findings and says it will appeal. She says Goodwill has worked with the department in the past and inspectors did not find problems with the trash machine or ask for special accident prevention training for disabled workers.
Associated Press
Bellingham: Border agent charged
As the second in command at the Blaine sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, Joseph W. Giuliano “was the face of the Border Patrol in the Northwest,” spokesman Michael Bermudez said.
Giuliano, the sector’s deputy chief patrol agent, commanded approximately 250 agents who protected the U.S. border in Alaska, Oregon and Western Washington.
That was until Thursday, when Giuliano, 55, was arrested at his Sudden Valley home on suspicion of child rape and placed on indefinite suspension.
His bail was set at $50,000 Thursday. He was charged Wednesday with three counts of third-degree child rape. He has admitted to having sex at least 24 times since April with a 14-year-old girl staying in his Sudden Valley home, according to charging documents filed in Whatcom County Superior Court.
The Bellingham Herald
South Dakota: Expert can testify
The judge in the upcoming trial of two Hells Angels-affiliated bikers charged with an August 2006 gunfight ruled Friday that he will allow a state ballistics expert to testify.
Chad Wilson, 32, of LynnÂwood, and John Midmore, 34, of Valparaiso, Ind., are to stand trial starting Nov. 3 on five counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of commission of a felony while armed for the shootout that injured several rival Outlaws.
A charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder will be handled separately.
Defense lawyers earlier asked that Frans Maritz, a firearms expert with the state crime lab, be prevented from testifying.
Prosecution and defense lawyers questioned him Friday. Then Judge Gene Paul Kean ruled he could testify and jurors could weigh his qualifications for themselves.
Associated Press
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