A joke on a Seattle radio station about the city of Bremerton’s water supply apparently went too far Wednesday morning as city and county officials scrambled to calm concerns.
KIRO-FM radio, known as 100.7 The Buzz, played a joke for three hours Wednesday morning saying Puget Sound Naval Shipyard contaminated the city’s water supply with dihydrogen monoxide. Some know that as the chemical name for water, but many don’t.
Customers jammed the phone lines of numerous area water purveyor agencies and a few called 911.
"These idiots. I’m trying to figure out legally if I can send them my bill," said Phyllis Mann, director of Kitsap County Emergency Management.
The Sun
Seattle: Protestors plead innocent
Eight demonstrators who took over a downtown Seattle construction crane for a protest pleaded innocent Wednesday to charges of felony criminal sabotage. Five of them spent hours atop a 240-foot construction crane tower in the Feb. 18 protest, unfurling a banner to protest logging in old-growth forests by Weyerhaeuser Co. A ninth demonstrator, who is in Canada, missed the arraignment in King County Superior Court. The defendants were released on personal recognizance. They must appear in court again April 15.
Associated Press
Prosecutor rejects death penalty in police slaying
King County prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing Federal Way police officer Patrick Maher. Jason Scott Roberts is charged with aggravated first-degree murder in the Aug. 2 shooting of Maher. If convicted, he would be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng said each case is different and there are details in this case that prompted him not to seek the death penalty.
Associated Press
Oregon: Chlorine spilled in dam project
An estimated 23,000 gallons of diluted chlorine spilled from the Bonneville Dam into the Columbia River, officials said. The spill occurred when contractors began installing new drinking water pipes at the dam on Wednesday, said Matt Rabe, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dam. Part of the installation process involves rinsing the new pipes with chlorine.
Associated Press
Vancouver: Spirit Lake Highway study nixed
Citing limited transportation funding, Gov. Gary Locke on Wednesday vetoed part of a transportation bill that would have dedicated $400,000 to study the economics of extending the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway across the pumice plain of Mount St. Helens. The study would have analyzed traffic patterns and economics of the proposed extension connecting Johnston Ridge with Windy Ridge.
The Columbian
Bellingham: Murder suspect arrested
An 11-day manhunt ended Wednesday when authorities caught a Lynden murder suspect in Bellingham, about 12 miles from where police said he fatally stabbed his estranged wife’s date in her mobile home. Francis "Frank" A. Brunner, 42, apparently has been living under an abandoned railroad bridge over I-5, north of Sunset Drive, said Lynden Police Chief Jack Foster. Brunner is charged with aggravated murder, assault and burglary for allegedly bursting into Kat Brunner’s mobile home with a rifle, striking her with a hammer and fatally stabbing Kenneth Allan Hoshowski, 40, of Langley, B.C.
Bellingham Herald
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