Seattle activist, lawmaker dies of leukemia

SEATTLE — George L. Trautmann, a longtime civic activist in the suburbs south of the city and briefly a state legislator, is dead at 77. Trautmann, founder of the Exchange Club of Highline and former president of the White Center Chamber of Commerce, died Sunday at age 77 after an 11-year battle with leukemia. Trautmann was a decorated World War II veteran who flew torpedo bombers for the Navy. After moving to the Seattle area, he opened Floorcovering &Interiors by Jayme in White Center in 1960. Trautmann, a Democrat, was appointed to fill the last three months of an unexpired term in the state House in 1966 but lost an election for the post that year to William Leckenby, a Republican.

Woman pleads guilty to killing mother: A woman accused of killing and dismembering her mother in Kent pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder with a deadly weapon. The King County prosecutor’s office said Karhryn Williams faces a possible 25-year prison term when she is sentenced Feb. 8 in Seattle.

Williams, 25, of Renton had pleaded innocent by reason of insanity and had been scheduled to go to trial Jan. 9. Assistant Prosecutor Mark Larson says there was no plea bargain, and that Williams pleaded guilty as charged.

Her mother, Karolyn Sue Wagner, was killed in June of last year.

Prosecutors say Williams shot her mother in the head and hacked off her arms and legs with an ax. Parts of the body were left in trash bins around Kent.

Williams, whom investigators say has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was arrested near Saint Augustine, Fla.

Man ordered held without bail for anthrax mailing: A white supremacist accused of mailing white powder and racist literature to a woman during the height of the anthrax scare is being held without bail. Donald Bruce McAninch, 45, pleaded innocent to "threatened use of certain weapons of mass destruction," mail theft and mail fraud. He was ordered Friday to remain in federal detention pending trial in February. The pizza delivery driver had pleaded guilty to past mail-related crimes and was sentenced in 1991 to 2 1/2years in prison. Prosecutors accuse him of mailing an envelope containing white powder to a woman with a Chinese surname because of her "actual or perceived" race.

Vancouver

Car thefts blamed on Portland street racers: Street racing aficionados in and around neighboring Portland, Ore., have fueled a boom in the local market for stolen car parts, a Clark County task force detective says. Insurance industry statistics indicate that vehicle theft nationwide rose 1.2 percent last year from 1999 after a 10-year decline. In the same two-year period, state crime statistics indicate, vehicle theft was up 7.5 percent in Clark County. Illegal street races, typically held on short notice in lightly patrolled industrial areas, typically draw a crowd ranging in age from 17 to 25, said a police undercover detective who asked that his name be withheld. "Our biggest problem with stolen vehicles now is probably within the street-racing circle of people," the detective said. "You could go to any large gathering of our street racers and solicit certain stolen parts for your car." A member of a Vancouver auto theft unit that includes two Washington State Patrol detectives and an agent from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, he said the main theft targets are Honda Civics and Accords, especially those with upgraded wheels, spoilers, tail lights, dashboards, leather interiors and other special features.

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