SEATTLE — Port Townsend officials want to name a new state ferry after a Jamestown S’Klallam tribal chief known as a peacemaker and friend to early settlers.
The name Chetzemoka was the only one submitted by the city to the state Transportation Commission, which is expected to make a decision by the end of the month.
The 64-car ferry under construction at Todd Shipyards in Seattle will be in service next summer, connecting Port Townsend with Whidbey Island.
The Seattle Times reported Chetzemoka lived from 1808 to 1888. In 1857 he argued with other tribal leaders who wanted to drive out white settlers. He went to Sentinel Rock near Sequim every day for 10 days to signal settlers about the talks, and on the 10th day he shouted that the threat of war was over.
City Council approves new Capitol Hill streetcar line
Another streetcar line is headed for Seattle.
The Seattle City Council this week approved a deal with Sound Transit for a line to connect the downtown transit tunnel from the International District to the light rail station at Capitol Hill, which is now under construction.
The Daily Journal of Commerce reports Sound Transit will pay the city $120 million to build the line plus about $5 million a year to operate it.
Sound Transit spokesman Bruce Gray said the First Hill Streetcar Connector compensates for dropping plans for a light rail stop on First Hill.
The streetcar line will be funded by the $18 billion package regional voters approved last November.
The city’s south Lake Union streetcar line opened in December 2007.
Lawsuit filed against Seattle waterfront tunnel
A lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court contends the state Transportation Department is breaking environmental laws by going ahead with a plan to replace Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday by activist Elizabeth Campbell and the group Seattle Citizens Against the Tunnel said a final environmental impact statement, required by law, won’t be finished until 2011. However, it said the state already has started preliminary work on the $1.9 billion tunnel.
Campbell earlier filed a similar lawsuit in federal court. Assistant Attorney General Deborah Cade, who is representing the state in the federal lawsuit, told seattlepi.com that she had not yet seen the county lawsuit.
Seattle plan returns kids to neighborhood schools
Racial diversity is no longer the Seattle School District’s top goal for its student assignment plan.
The district said its top goal is to provide a high-quality school in every neighborhood. Its new plan is to send kids to neighborhood schools. The school assignment plan also will save money on busing and will be easier to navigate for both parents and the district.
The plan will be phased in over the next several years, starting next fall with students entering kindergarten, sixth and ninth grades. Other students will stay in the schools they have chosen. Parents who want to send their kids to another school will still be able to apply for reassignment and some high school slots will be chosen by lottery.
Seattle port commissioner settles with ex-girlfriend
Port of Seattle Commissioner John Creighton paid $5,000 to a former girlfriend in return for her withdrawing a request for a court protection order.
The Seattle Times reported Creighton sent crude, unwanted text messages to Susan Robinet threatening to come by the woman’s home.
She petitioned for the protection order Sept. 10 and then asked for it to be dismissed Sept. 24 before it went before a judge.
Creighton called the events an unfortunate situation arising out of the sad end to a four-year relationship.
The 43-year-old is single and unopposed for re-election to the port commission.
WaMu employees’ 401(k) lawsuit against JPMorgan dismissed
A judge in Seattle has dismissed an attempt by former Washington Mutual Inc. employees to recoup their retirement account losses from JPMorgan Chase &Co.
Under the ruling by U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman, the New York banking giant cannot be held liable for WaMu mismanagement that caused the 401(k) plans to vaporize.
Bad housing loans sank WaMu, the largest bank collapse in U.S. history, and JPMorgan acquired most of its assets for $1.9 billion in September 2008. Pechman wrote on Monday that fiduciary responsibility for WaMu’s retirement plans did not pass to JPMorgan in the deal.
At the end of 2005, WaMu’s 401(k) plans had more than 70,000 participants. As of Dec. 1, 2006, the plan held about 8 million shares of WaMu stock worth about $341.4 million.
Pullman: WSU student behavior may have helped spread flu
Washington State University officials say students may have helped spread the swine flu virus by simply doing what college students normally do.
Erica Austin of WSU’s College of Communication said interviews with students found they knew they were taking risks by staying out too late, not getting enough sleep, and by doing such things as drinking from other people’s cups. The communication school and the Washington Health Foundation conducted the interviews to learn more about student behavior during the outbreak of swine flu-like symptoms at the Pullman campus last month.
Austin told Seattle television station KING that many students were too worried about missing classes to stay home after showing symptoms.
Olympia: New license plates will get a fourth letter
Washington’s passenger car license plates are getting one letter longer.
The state Department of Licensing says it is switching to a new seven-character plate configuration, similar to that used by California. The change will be made in November or December, as licensing offices around the state exhaust their existing supply of six-character plates.
Since the late 1980s, Washington car plates have been made up of three numbers followed by three letters. Under the new plan, it will be a number, a letter, two more numbers and then three letters. The mountain background and the slogan “Evergreen State” won’t change.
The department says that with an estimated 350 million combinations, the new configuration will avoid running out of plate numbers.
State repairing Olympia WWII memorial over artist’s objections
The state is moving ahead with repairs on the World War II Memorial at the Capitol in Olympia, despite the artist’s attempt to stop the work.
Simon Kogan of Olympia alleges in a lawsuit that the Department of General Administration violated terms of the contract commissioning the artwork. He claims it was damaged in a 2007 power washing.
Department representatives told The Olympian the power-washing did not damage the memorial.
Last week, a Thurston County Superior Court judge rejected Kogan’s request for a restraining order to prevent the agency from installing a drainage system.
The bronze and granite memorial features a cluster of blades and a wheat field to commemorate those who died during World War II.
Nisqually shellfish area to fully reopen
Washington state health officials said the last of about 1,000 acres of commercial shellfish tidelands near the mouth of the Nisqually River should be approved for harvesting clams, oysters and geoducks by the end of the month.
The Olympian newspaper reported that in 1992, Health Department officials ruled the area off-limits to harvest after rainstorms because of unsafe bacterial contamination. About 900 acres were approved for harvest in 2002 after residents worked to reduce livestock waste in the Nisqually Valley and repair faulty septic systems.
The state said the last 37 acres to recover should be approved for unrestricted use by late October, when a Health Department interim order becomes final.
Aberdeen: Man who bore cross from Texas arrives in hometown
A man who dragged a 12-foot cross from Longview, Texas, had some good news when he arrived in Aberdeen, his hometown.
Capt. John Green said police decided not to arrest James Strickland Tuesday night when he rolled his cross into town. Green told KXRO radio he considered Strickland a good risk and will trust him to appear before a judge to clear up four misdemeanor warrants.
The 39-year-old Strickland admitted he has a troubled past that includes drug use, run-ins with the law and falling out with his family.
He was praying about his problems when he received a message to start walking in May on a journey of renewal.
In Aberdeen he hopes to reconcile with the mother of his two young children.
Federal Way: City to pay family of girl choked at playground
Federal Way’s City Council has voted to pay $2.2 million to the family of a girl who suffered severe brain damage when she was caught on some playground equipment three years ago.
The council approved the settlement Tuesday with the family of Tanayia Blanchard, who was 11 at the time of the incident. She was found unconscious, hanging by her neck from a rope tied to a playground zip line at a King County Housing Authority apartment complex.
Her family sued Federal Way’s police department, saying the officer who responded concluded the girl was dead and didn’t immediately try to resuscitate her. The city admits no wrongdoing, and insurance is to pay the settlement.
The family earlier sued the housing authority and the apartment management company and were awarded $7 million.
Oregon: “River Rat” bank robber reward boosted to $15,000
The FBI said the reward for information leading to the arrest of the “River Rat” bank robber is now $15,000.
FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele says the banking industry in Washington has added $5,000 to the initial reward offered in Oregon.
The robber has been dubbed the “River Rat” because he hits banks on both sides of the Columbia River.
Steele says the River Rat may have expanded his territory. She said investigators have added the robbery of a bank near Seattle to the list of those possibly committed by the River Rat.
The River Rat is now believed responsible for at least eight bank robberies and seven robberies at check-cashing or payday loan advance stores in the Northwest.
Associated Press
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