Puyallup police find pipe bombs at courthouse
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, August 17, 2006
Police found pipe bombs at the Puyallup Municipal Court early Thursday about a week after two of the building’s windows were broken with a bat.
Police and firefighters arrived at the court shortly after midnight to check out burglary and smoke alarms that had gone off. One unexploded pipe bomb was found in an office area, along with remnants of a pipe bomb that exploded, causing minimal damage, said police Lt. Dave McDonald.
Bomb technicians removed the pipe bomb with a robot and detonated it in the building’s parking lot, he said.
The two pipe bombs were thrown through a window, breaking it, police said.
Police said they don’t know if Thursday’s and last Friday’s incidents were related.
Associated Press
Olympia: Bar sales drop, restaurants are up
Sales at bars and taverns dropped during the first three months after the state’s strict smoking ban took effect in December, but restaurant sales were up during that same time, the state Revenue Department said Thursday.
State numbers show that the gross business income reported by bars and taverns declined 3.4 percent to $122 million during the first quarter of this year, compared to a 4.3 percent increase in sales during the same period last year.
Sit-down restaurants, however, increased sales by 8.1 percent to $1 billion during this year’s first quarter, just slightly more than the 8 percent growth reported during the same time last year.
Researchers said it’s too early to draw conclusions about the economic impact of the smoking ban, and noted that businesses affected by smoking bans in other states have tended to adapt and recover. They added that the bar and tavern industry can be volatile on its own, which can complicate the numbers.
Associated Press
Supreme Court justice failed to report crash
Supreme Court Justice Tom Chambers failed to report a motorcycle crash last month, even though the woman riding with him was injured and needed emergency treatment.
State law requires motorists to report any accident involving an injury. Failure to do that can result in a traffic citation.
Chambers, 62, confirmed the crash and said he didn’t realize he needed to file a report. He said he thought he did what was required by taking his passenger to the emergency room.
The woman, Carrie Brown, 54, whom the justice described as a longtime friend, suffered a broken collarbone and severe bruising of her side.
Chambers said he notified his insurance company and would file a police report.
Associated Press
Port Orchard: Inmate has chickenpox
Chickenpox has been diagnosed in an inmate at the Kitsap County jail, and health authorities have instituted an infectious disease control plan.
The 31-year-old inmate was booked into custody last week and resided in three different inmate housing units by the time his ailment was discovered, Kitsap County Health District officials said Wednesday.
The inmate complained to guards Tuesday evening, was examined by medical personnel and was placed in medical isolation. The disease was confirmed Wednesday in tests at the state Health Department laboratory in Shoreline.
As part of a plan to keep the disease from spreading, health officials and jail staff announced a vaccination program, established a medical isolation unit for all inmates who are found to have the disease and assigned inmates booked into custody after 10 a.m. Wednesday to a previously unoccupied unit.
Associated Press
Walla Walla: 32 arrested in drug bust
Neighbors applauded as police in Walla Walla and Columbia counties arrested 32 people on various drug-related charges this week, capping a multiagency probe, investigators reported Wednesday.
Officers still are searching for at least three more people, including Cory J. McCullough, 27, of Burbank, who is wanted on suspicion of dealing methamphetamine and first-degree illegal possession of a firearm.
Walla Walla County Sheriff Mike Humphreys said the arrests are the culmination of a two-week investigation that included the help of agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
During this week’s raids, police seized more than 2 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, bags of marijuana, illegal prescription pills, eight handguns and other weapons.
Tri-City Herald
Bellevue: Highway 520 carpool cheats targeted
Complaints from motorists fed up with seeing carpool lane cheaters whiz past them have led to a crackdown by Washington State Patrol troopers on Highway 520 just west of I-405.
That’s where the minimum number of people per vehicle in a high occupancy vehicle lane is three rather than the usual two.
More than 300 people have been ticketed for driving in the HOV lane without at least three in the car since the crackdown began last month.
That stretch of 520 can be tricky. Drivers have to merge into the fast-moving HOV lane and then try to merge into the stopped traffic in the general lanes. Some people, unsure of what to do with traffic barreling up behind them, simply keep driving illegally in the HOV lanes.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Kelly Spangler said the proper procedure for those with only one or two in the car is to merge into the HOV lane, slow to a stop, put on the blinker and wait to merge.
Of course, other drivers should make room for those non-HOV vehicles.
King County Journal
Oregon: 125,000 acres of wilderness proposed
Oregon’s two U.S. senators proposed Thursday that 125,000 acres be protected as wilderness on Mount Hood and along the Columbia River Gorge.
Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, and Republican Sen. Gordon Smith said they will introduce their bill when Congress returns in September.
The House has approved legislation protecting 77,000 acres. To become law, both houses of Congress must approve identical bills before the session ends this fall.
Associated Press
