SUMNER – Vandals toppled 25 tombstones, some nearly 150 years old, at Sumner’s historic City Cemetery early Saturday.
Sumner police said the crime occurred sometime after midnight Friday and was discovered Saturday morning by Darlene Engels, cemetery clerk.
Police found five of the tombstones shattered. Another 20 were snapped off at their bases.
“It’s some pretty extensive damage done to the older part of our cemetery,” said Sgt. Jeff Engel.
The tombstones stood over graves dug between 1860 and 1935. A wooden grave marker believed to have been from 1860 was the only one taken from the cemetery, probably as a souvenir, Engel said.
Sumner City Council member Curt Brown, who teaches social studies at Sumner Junior High School, said the desecration of the historic cemetery likely would be discussed in class today.
The News Tribune
Castle Rock: Two are jailed in tire slashings
A pair of suspects in a scores of tire-slashings earlier this month in Castle Rock were arrested Friday, Castle Rock police said. Police arrested an 18-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy, both of Castle Rock, on suspicion of burglary and malicious mischief. The vandals slashed the tires on 16 school buses and all of the school district’s maintenance vehicles on the evening of Jan. 6, causing about $21,000 in damage, according to police. In all, they cut nearly 80 tires on school vehicles, police said. The vandals scaled two separate 8- to 9-foot tall fences to get to the buses parked in the middle and elementary school grounds, police said. A witness told police that the pair seemed to get a “rush out of popping tires,” Sgt. Scott Neves said.
The Daily News
Seattle: 10-year term in daughter’s death
A father who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of his young daughter was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Joe Landor Jr., 26, of Seattle admitted repeatedly shaking Nevaeh Divine Landor on several occasions. In a videotaped confession taken at his home shortly after the child died May 22, Landor told police he’d shaken the 1-year-old girl to make her stop crying. Landor initially claimed the girl had fallen off a table, but doctors said hemorrhages in her eyes indicated she might have been shaken.
Associated Press
Clallam Bay: Town’s only bank is leaving
The northwest Olympic coast is losing its only bank branch on Friday. Bank of America Corp. is following through on its decision to shutter its bank location, the only one on the northwestern tip of the North Olympic Peninsula. “When you have a small community that has already suffered a lot of blows to its basic economic structure, it will be difficult to maintain without having basic services,” said Sande Balch, longtime Clallam Bay resident. “I don’t feel like they treated this community very well,” she said. Bank of America officials in San Francisco said the decision to close the Clallam Bay branch wasn’t taken lightly. “The reality is the economics just weren’t there anymore,” said company spokeswoman Shirley Norton. Customers’ accounts are being consolidated into the Forks Bank of America branch, 30 miles away.
Peninsula Daily News
Tacoma: Tanker truck fire shuts down I-5
The cab of a gasoline tanker truck caught fire Saturday morning on I-5 in Tacoma, leading to the closure of all southbound lanes for more than two hours. The fuel tankers were scorched but did not ignite. The truck’s driver suffered a minor back injury, but no one else was hurt, the State Patrol reported. The State Patrol said Calvin Jones, 44, of Seattle was driving south of S. 56th Street on I-5 with two tankers when the truck experienced “catastrophic engine failure,” troopers said. Jones stopped and tried to put out the fire. Troopers arrived and shut down the freeway. The Tacoma Fire Department managed to put out the blaze before it spread to the tankers. Engine oil covered three lanes of the freeway, so a state truck sanded the roadway. A second tanker was brought in to transfer the contents of the damaged tanker.
The News Tribune
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