PORT ANGELES – A recreational vehicle apparently lost its brakes on the road coming down from Hurricane Ridge, hit three other vehicles and plowed through a railing and into a 20-foot gully, leaving 15 people injured, authorities said.
The RV driver, Lonnie Owens, 51, of Fairgrove, Mo., was listed in critical condition Wednesday morning at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Three others were in stable condition at Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles, and the other 11 were released Tuesday after treatment for minor injuries.
There were no official speed estimates, but a witness said the RV could have been going 70 mph around a curve on the long downhill grade into town from Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park before crashing.
Yakima: Street gangs banned by city
A divided City Council has made Yakima the biggest municipality in the state to prohibit membership in street gangs.
Rejecting a less-stringent measure drafted by municipal prosecutors to boost the jail term for gang members who commit crimes that benefit their group, the council voted 4-2 Tuesday night to adopt an ordinance identical to the one adopted by Sunnyside in June.
Union Gap did the same last month, but a similar measure was rejected in Prosser on July 9.
The measure bars gang membership and gang-related intimidation and threats, imposing a maximum penalty of a year in jail, and allows fines as high as $1,000 for parents who let their children join a gang or fail to stop them from joining.
“We need to send a message to Olympia that something needs to be done,” council member Norm Johnson said.
Olympia: Tent city ordinances approved
Ordinances to allow homeless encampments have been approved in Olympia and neighboring Tumwater but are not being considered in Lacey, which also adjoins Olympia, or surrounding Thurston County.
The city councils in Olympia and Tumwater both voted unanimously for the temporary tent city ordinances Tuesday night. Each requires that homeless encampments such as Camp Quixote be under the auspices of a church or other religious group and follow certain guidelines, including a limit of 90 days at one location.
The measures are to be in effect for six months pending review by the two municipal planning commissions.
Centralia: Tables turned on attackers
One man has been found dead and two are under arrest following a drug-related home invasion in which the tables were turned on the attackers, sheriff’s deputies say.
The dead man was identified Tuesday as James W. Shores Jr., 47, of Mossyrock. Deputies were trying to find Shores to arrest him when a family friend found his body Sunday night beneath a bridge in Salkum.
Shores was reported missing Friday, two days after two men wearing ski masks and armed with aluminum baseball bats forced their way into a Salkum house shortly after midnight on July 11 and attacked Steve Martin Jr. and Steve Martin Sr. Investigators wrote the attack apparently was retaliation for an unpaid drug debt by the younger Martin.
According to court documents, the older Martin’s girlfriend, Annette Gobel, heard the commotion, grabbed a golf club and bashed the larger assailant in the head. Her intervention allowed one of the Martins to grab a bat and swing repeatedly at the intruders, who then fled.
The body of Shores, believed by investigators to be the second attacker, was found face-down in a shallow creek beneath a bridge about half a mile from the house.
Sheriff’s Cmdr. Steve Aust said Shores “got a pretty good beating,” but it was not clear if he died where he was found.
Associated Press
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