Northwest Briefly: No-peanut zone for some M’s games at Safeco
Published 9:28 pm Wednesday, July 23, 2008
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners are declaring two sections of Safeco Field no-peanut zones for a couple of games this summer.
The club announced the move Wednesday to make the ballpark safer for children and grown-up fans with peanut allergies.
Special cleaning is planned in sections 311 and 312 down the right field line before the games, one on Aug. 5 against the Minnesota Twins and the other Sept. 9 against the Texas Rangers. Then signs will be posted to alert fans to the ban on peanut products in those sections.
Peanuts also will be banished from nearby concession stands.
A few other major and minor league teams have offered special seating to lower the risk for those who are allergic to peanuts. In May the entire minor league ballpark in Clinton, Iowa, went peanut-free.
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:Coast Guard tries to identify radio call
A radio distress call from a young girl who identified herself only as “Kelsey” remains a mystery, and the Coast Guard has suspended a search in the waters around Fox Island in south Puget Sound.
A Coast Guard spokesman, Jeff Poolinger, said Wednesday that investigators had were trying to determine whether the call was a hoax.
Shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday, a caller who said she was a 6-year-old girl talked of somebody named “Kelly” in the water and “not waking up.”
Then the transmission ended.
The area was searched with the aid of a Coast Guard helicopter from Port Angeles and a small boat from Seattle, but no sign of the girl or anyone in trouble was found.
Olympia: DNA tests confirm gray wolves
Washington state wildlife officials say genetic tests have confirmed that two animals captured last Friday in western Okanogan County are wild, gray wolves. Before releasing the wolves — a male and a lactating female — biologists fitted them with radio collars to track their movements.
The state Fish and Wildlife Department also noted Wednesday that a remote camera operated by a private group has photographed the radio-collared male wolf at a location where six pups were also photographed.
Wildlife officials say this is the first documented resident wolf pack in Washington since the 1930s.
Wolves are considered endangered in Washington state.
Quincy: Brush fire fully contained
Fire crews fully contained a blaze that briefly threatened several dozen homes near the Columbia River, but lightning sparked new blazes Wednesday in Washington’s north Cascades.
The Stuhlmiller fire burned 2.7 square miles, or 1,738 acres, in Grant and Douglas counties near the small town of Trinidad, about 20 miles southeast of Wenatchee. Strong wind gusts pushed the fire toward several dozen homes Tuesday night, but firefighters had the fire contained Wednesday evening.
To the north, a lightning storm sparked several small fires in Washington’s north Cascades, but none were threatening homes.
The Cold Springs fire, burning in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, state land and the Yakama Indian Reservation, was 90 percent contained.
Yakima: No ID yet on shooting victim
Yakima County investigators say they are close to identifying a woman found dead of a shotgun blast to her torso.
The body of the 18- to 25-year-old woman was found floating in a canal in Sunnyside on July 4. Coroner Maurice Rice said Tuesday he was awaiting the arrival of some dental records from Tacoma to confirm her identity.
The sheriff’s chief of detectives, Stewart Graham, says investigators have yet to determine who killed her.
Meanwhile, Rice says a man who drowned in the Yakima River has been identified as 24-year-old Alfe F. Turntoes-Kuhnhenn. His body was found Sunday, trapped under a log near the Yakima Greenway.
Springdale: Boyfriend held in stabbing death
The ex-boyfriend of a woman found stabbed to death near Springdale is being held on $1 million bond in the Stevens County Jail.
Stevens County Prosecutor John Troberg plans to charge 42-year-old Preston Lee Rogers Jr. with first-degree murder with a deadly weapon on Friday.
Troberg says Rogers’ defense attorney, Paul Wasson, has said his client will plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
The remains of 28-year-old Cheryl Lynn Hayward were found Tuesday in a wooded area close to her home.
An autopsy report confirmed Wednesday that Hayward was stabbed to death.
Friends and relatives say she had recently left Rogers, had a new boyfriend and was looking forward to a job interview.
Oregon: Cannon Beach warning issued
State health officials are advising the young, the elderly and those in poor health to stay out of the ocean at Cannon Beach.
The warning was issued after 85,000 gallons of sewage overflowed from the wastewater treatment plant.
The state says it plans to lift the advisory when tests show bacteria levels are back within acceptable levels.
Associated Press
