SEATTLE — A University of Washington student recently made a surprising archaeological find on the Seattle campus. While doing some landscaping work near the botany greenhouse, the freshman dug up an ancient Indian artifact.
Ellen Van Wyk found a tan and red projectile point buried in the ground next to a chain-link fence. After she found the artifact, archaeologists from the Burke Museum dug three test pits nearby and uncovered two more stone tool fragments.
The artifact found by Van Wyk is estimated to be between 4,000 and 6,700 years old. UW archaeologists says it is a significant and unusual find in the middle of the city.
But long before the UW was built, Native American people lived there for thousands of years.
Nickels says climate protection goals met
Mayor Greg Nickels says the city’s greenhouse gas emissions last year were 7 percent below those of 1990, which meets the targets set by the Kyoto Protocol. That international agreement calls for reducing emissions by 7 percent from 1990 levels over the five-year period ending in 2012.
As president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Nickels made reducing carbon emissions a major theme. He said Seattle’s reduction of climate pollution is even more remarkable, given that the city’s population has grown 16 percent since 1990.
Nickels, who lost a bid for re-election this year, launched the city’s climate protection initiative in 2005.
Firefighters land in Lake Union
Two Seattle firefighters and one police Harbor Patrol officer went into Lake Union fighting a boat fire where freezing temperatures turned water to ice.
Fire department spokeswoman Dana Vander Houwen said all three were pulled out of the water OK. She said one firefighter slipped and fell in and the other went in to help.
No one was injured in the fire about 3:20 a.m. Tuesday that burned three motor yachts and part of a dock. Damage is estimated at $2 million.
Vander Houwen said the fire was started by an electrical problem.
A man who answered the phone at Sundance Yacht Sales but did not want to give his name said the fire burned 39-, 57- and 48-foot vessels.
Seattle police Harbor Patrol helped move other boats away from flames.
Port of Olympia is sued over pollution
An activist group is suing the Port of Olympia, claiming that discharges of storm water from its terminal are polluting south Puget Sound.
The nonprofit group Olympians for Public Accountability filed the Clean Water Act lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Monday. It says that despite previous promises, the port has failed to monitor and clean up its discharges into Budd Inlet, especially from Weyerhaueser Corp.’s log export facility. The lawsuit says the storm water is depleted of oxygen and includes unacceptable levels of zinc, copper and other pollutants.
The port’s executive director, Ed B. Galligan, issued a statement saying the port has been working with the group for some time and he’s “quite surprised” it filed the lawsuit.
Wenatchee: Ex-jail guard admits to sex
A man accused of having sex with a prostitute in the Chelan County Jail when he was a jailer pleaded guilty to lying to police.
William J. McMaster, 37, of Wenatchee was sentenced Dec. 1 in county district court to a day in jail with credit for time served.
The Wenatchee World reported he also was charged with sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute. The judge said those charges would be dropped if McMaster commits no more crimes in the next two years.
McMaster’s lawyer said he did not want to comment about the case. He is no longer employed by the jail.
The woman told deputies she engaged in consensual sex with McMaster in jail in November and December last year and after she was released.
Olympia: Stabbing trial postponed
Two Army Rangers facing felony charges in the stabbing of a man outside an Olympia bar have been allowed to deploy overseas.
Thurston County Superior Court papers said the deputy prosecutor handling the case last week did not oppose continuing the case until May because he was told the men were needed in their Special Forces unit.
Both soldiers are with the 75th Ranger Regiment: 20-year-old Alfred Joseph Sanchez and 22-year-old John Melville. The Olympian reported they face burglary and robbery charges in connection with the March 28 incident in which Brad Merten was stabbed in the back.
Court papers said the two had been thrown out of Charlie’s Bar and Grill and then broke down a back door to re-enter and took a knife from the kitchen.
Washougal: Mayor cans finance director
The city of Washougal has fired finance director Jeffrey Bivens.
Mayor Pro Tem Molly Coston told the City Council on Monday night that Monday was his last day. She said he no longer qualifies for the position.
The Vancouver Columbian reported the city is negotiating a severance agreement with Bivens.
He has been on administrative leave since Nov. 17 because he was not covered by a fidelity bond required of city officials.
Bivens was a member of the City Council in May when he was hired by former Mayor Stacee Sellers.
Fort Lewis: ROTC death ruled suicide
The Army says the death of an ROTC cadet in a night training exercise at Fort Lewis last summer was a suicide.
U.S. Army Cadet Command spokesman Lt. Col. Michael Indovina said Tuesday that 19-year-old Daniel N. Miller of St. Bonaventure University in New York, hanged himself in the woods of the Army post.
The Army Criminal Investigation Command conducted the investigation and has provided Miller’s family with a copy of the report.
The News Tribune of Tacoma reported Miller was one of about 5,000 cadets at Fort Lewis for the annual course that leads to commissioning as a second lieutenant.
Miller was reported missing in the early morning hours of July 9. His body was found after a seven-hour search.
Oregon: Freezing suspected in death
Freezing temperatures in Southern Oregon are suspected in the death of a 70-year-old Medford man.
KDRV-TV reported that emergency crews responded early Tuesday morning to a report of a man on the ground near railroad tracks in Medford.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity had not been determined.
Officials said it appeared he had gone to sleep at the location but only had a light blanket around himself.
An autopsy was pending to determine the cause of death.
One dead after pickup, big rig plow into house
Marion County sheriff’s deputies say one man is dead after a pickup truck and a tractor-trailer rig plowed into the side of a vacant house in Mount Angel.
According to a sheriff’s office preliminary investigation, the big-rig driver ran a stop sign and collided with a Ford Ranger driven by 51-year-old Marc Moberly of Silverton on Monday.
The two vehicles skidded along a road, over a tree and into the side of a house owned by Trinity Lutheran Church.
KPTV reports that Moberly was flown to Oregon Health &Science University but died Monday night.
Marion County deputies said the big-rig driver suffered only scrapes and bruises. No citations have been issued so far.
Oregon fines depot contractor $111,000
The state of Oregon has fined the contractor operating the incinerator at the Umatilla Chemical Depot $111,000 for violations of hazardous waste and air contaminant discharge permits.
The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility has not incinerated any chemical weapons agent or containers for 40 days while it addresses the issue.
The contractor, URS, reported the problems to the state, including eight occasions when the plant exceeded its emissions limit for carbon monoxide as it began incinerating mustard agent.
Carbon monoxide emissions are an indication that not enough oxygen is in the furnace to promote complete combustion.
The chemical weapons are being destroyed under an international treaty to get rid of aging stockpiles dating from the Cold War era.
From Herald news services
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