SEATTLE — Plans to replace Seattle Center’s Fun Forest with a Dale Chihuly museum has been met by debate and protest.
But that hasn’t stopped Seattle Center from quietly dismantling the amusement park and using some of the land for a new Center Square. It will feature basketball hoops, a children’s garden built by the Children’s Museum, and a painted maze on asphalt.
The center is spending about $500,000 for Center Square. The money came from the settlement with the departing Seattle Sonics. When more money becomes available they hope to build a wading pool that can be converted to an ice-skating rink.
Anacortes: San Juan ferry service to slow through weekend
State transportation officials said there will be decreased ferry service in the San Juan Islands through Memorial Day weekend.
The ferries division is participating in a marine rescue exercise with the U.S. Coast Guard this week. Two ferries are needed for the emergency response training and six vessels are being moved to different routes to make the exercise possible.
Starting today, a 34-car ferry will serve the inter-island ferry route. A bigger ferry has been added for the holiday weekend on the Anacortes-San Juan Islands, but ferry officials said passengers should still plan for delays.
Seattle: Aurora Bridge fence work resumes
Work is set to resume Monday on a suicide-prevention fence for Seattle’s Aurora Bridge.
The 8-foot, 9-inch fence around the rim of the bridge has been designed to discourage people from jumping. More than 230 people have jumped to their deaths since the 167-foot bridge opened in 1932.
The state Department of Transportation said the $4.6 million project is expected to continue through the fall. Crews will work on mostly Sunday through Thursday nights, closing lanes at times. The project was first scheduled to begin in April, but the contractor had to resolve equipment problems.
Seattle man sentenced for claiming disability
A Seattle man who falsely claimed he had a disability has been sentenced to spend a year in prison.
James Pitman pleaded guilty in February after an investigation found he had received Social Security disability benefits for years while he was fully employed and running his own business.
Chief U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnic imposed the sentence on the 48-year-old.
Olympia: Dog muzzled with wire rescued
A Thurston County Animal Services investigator who rescued two dogs from an Olympia house says one was emaciated and the other had apparently been muzzled with wire so long it cut into her face.
KING-TV reports the dogs have recovered. Their owners have been charged with two counts of felony animal cruelty — and they have disappeared.
Animal Services investigator Erika Quinn says she was able to rescue Kona the Pomeranian and Annie the Lab mix after neighbors reported the abuse.
Lacey: 3 teens arrested in school vandalism
Thurston County sheriff’s detectives have arrested two 13-year-old boys and a 14-year-old girl in a vandalism spree at Nisqually Middle School in Lacey. The vandals smashed as many as 30 windows and trashed two classrooms early Thursday. School officials estimate the damage at $15,000.
The teens reportedly sent text messages bragging about what they had done.
Associated Press
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