Northwest Briefly: Man convicted in Skagit County road rage case

MOUNT VERNON — A 35-year-old man has been convicted of felony assault with a deadly weapon and hit and run in an April 2008 road rage incident.

A Skagit County jury returned that verdict Tuesday in the case of Willis “Chad” Moore, who chased down an off-duty park ranger who Moore thought had cut him off. Evidence showed Moore rammed the ranger’s sport utility vehicle with his pickup.

The Maple Falls man faces a maximum 26 months in prison for the conviction. Sentencing is set for Nov. 13. He remains free on $100,000 bail.

The Skagit Valley Herald saidMoore was convicted in 1996 of first-degree assault for hitting a man in the head with a baseball bat.

Seattle: Corps uses 400,000 gallons of grout to plug Hanson Dam

The Army Corps of Engineers has pumped nearly 400,000 gallons of grout into a leaky abutment at the Howard Hanson Dam on the Green River, southeast of Seattle.

That’s the figure given by Mamie Brouwer, program manager at the dam. The corps is hurrying to complete a grout wall within the abutment by Nov. 1 and the start of the winter rainy season.

The corps found the abutment at the flood control dam had a serious leak after record rains last January. Because of the leak, it can’t fill the dam’s reservoir as much as usual, raising the danger of flooding in the heavily developed Green River Valley downstream in Auburn, Kent, Tukwila and Renton.

Aberdeen: Fire destroys floor covering store

Aberdeen Fire Chief Dave Carlberg said a four-alarm blaze has destroyed the Stouffer-Moore Floor Covering store. The fire was reported about 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Carlberg told KBKW no one was in the building at the time and the response by fire crews quickly turned to containment. He said flames broke through the roof within a half hour.

Police helped control a crowd of nearly 200 that gathered to watch flames that rose high into the night sky.

Fort Lewis: Service today for Afghanistan casualty

Fort Lewis is holding a memorial service today for a soldier killed Oct. 17 in Afghanistan.

The Army said 23-year-old Spc. Michael A. Dahl of Moreno Valley, Calif., was fatally injured by a roadside bomb.

He was a member of the 5th Stryker brigade that was deployed to Afghanistan in July.

Montesano: Sheriff asks beachcombers to look for boat debris

The Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office is asking beachcombers on the southwest Washington coast to look for debris that may have come from a missing boat.

Undersheriff Rick Scott said the 25-foot Coronado sailboat “Connie B” and its owner, John Philip Stapp of Seattle, have been missing since the middle of the month.

On Friday, the body of a passenger, 47-year-old Teri Dascher of Kingston, washed ashore near Grayland.

KXRO reported debris on the beach led investigators to think the vessel may have had a serious accident.

Wapato: Pregnant Yakima woman killed in crash

A Yakima woman who was eight months pregnant and the unborn baby were killed in a collision near Wapato.

The Washington State Patrol said 24-year-old Lucille G. Martin died at Yakima Regional Hospital Tuesday following the crash.

Troopers said a 19-year-old driving the other car ran a stop sign. He was treated at the hospital and released. The State Patrol is investigating possible charges.

Washougal: State audit critical of city’s spending

A state audit could not find more than $100,000 of expected revenue for the city of Washougal.

The audit for last year also questioned credit card expenditures by Mayor Stacee Sellers and other city employees.

The Vancouver Columbian reported the City Council held a workshop Monday evening on the audit.

Sellers said the city has begun to address the problems by changing personnel policy and tightening internal controls. But she admitted many things slipped through the cracks.

Council members Jon Russell and Molly Coston said they have lost trust in the city administration. Russell said he wants to hold a special meeting to discipline the people responsible and ask for resignations if necessary.

Oregon: BPA proposes new power line between Washington, Oregon

The Bonneville Power Administration wants to build a new high-voltage power line to serve increasing demand for electricity between Portland and Longview.

The agency said Tuesday the existing system is nearly full due to growing industrial, commercial and residential demand in the region, and they need to enlarge capacity to avoid blackouts.

The proposal shows three different routes between a new substation north of Longview into Vancouver, Wash., and out to Troutdale, Ore. All three are east of -5.

The agency has launched an environmental impact statement, and expects to make a decision on building a new line, and what route to use, by 2012.

Land swap proposed at former Rajneeshee site

A swap involving land at the site of the former Rajneeshee commune could lead to the creation of two new wilderness areas in central Oregon.

The Bulletin newspaper of Bend reported that a Christian-based summer camp in Antelope is working on the exchange that would also make roughly 15,000 acres of popular hunting grounds accessible to the public.

The cult collapsed in 1985 and the land eventually became Young Life’s Washington Family Ranch.

The ranch, however, is intermingled with Bureau of Land Management parcels, and hunters often wander onto camp property.

The swap would better define the boundaries. Meanwhile, the land received by the BLM could help create two wilderness areas.

The exchange must be approved by Congress.

Eugene driver given prison term in fatal drunk-driving crash

A Eugene man who spent most of the afternoon drinking before an April 24 crash that killed a 65-year-old man has been sentenced to three years and three months in prison.

Terry Gates had pleaded guilty last month to drunken driving and criminally negligent homicide.

Police say his Chevrolet Astro Van crashed into a Chrysler PT Cruiser driven by the victim, David Doughty of Springfield.

Gates was injured in the crash. At the hospital, tests showed a blood alcohol level of .24 — three times the legal limit for driving.

High wind topples high school’s haunted maze

A gust of wind toppled a haunted maze at Crater High School, but there were no injuries.

Matthew Reynolds, director of drama and dance at the Central Point school near Medford, said the attraction was scheduled to open Monday, so it’s lucky no one was inside when the structure made of 2-by-4s and plastic sheeting fell.

Crater High drama students were working to get the attraction ready to open by Tuesday night. Money made from it will help pay for their trip to Scotland.

Associated Press