Second child sickened after eating magnets

SEATTLE – A second child has been hospitalized after swallowing small magnets from a Magnetix building set, leading local health officials and the hospital to issue a warning about the toy’s dangers.

Doctors blamed the Magnetix building toys for the death of a toddler in November and the illness of a 5-year-old boy currently in serious condition at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle.

The parents of the toddler who died in November after swallowing two small magnets from a Magnetix building set filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court against the manufacturer on Wednesday.

The 5-year-old’s parents took him to the hospital last week with abdominal pain, vomiting and fever. During surgery, doctors found two small magnets from the Magnetix toys had eroded holes in his intestine.

Associated Press

A 14-year-old boy shot his friend in an incident near Silverdale on Thursday that the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office believes was an accident.

The victim, also 14, was taken by helicopter to Mary Bridge Children’s Medical Center in Tacoma, where he was in critical condition Thursday night.

Sheriff’s detectives still are investigating the incident.

Scott Wilson, a Kitsap County sheriff’s spokesman, said the gun belonged to the father of the boy who fired it. The 9mm semi-automatic handgun had been stored, but its location was known to the boy, Wilson said.

Wilson said sheriff’s detectives believe the boy wasn’t trying to shoot or injure his friend. Detectives were not sure, however, whether the boy meant to pull the trigger, or if the gun’s firing was an accident.

The boy’s parents were not home when the incident occurred.

Kitsap Sun

More than 20 businesses were victims of a smash-and-grab burglary rampage this week.

The string of burglaries occurred late Wednesday and early Thursday in Renton, Issaquah, Bellevue and Redmond.

Police are trying to determine whether any might have been done by a man arrested Thursday for a string of recent burglaries in south King County.

The 44-year-old man is a suspect in eight burglaries in south King County since January.

Deputies pulled over the man about 6 p.m. Wednesday near Sea-Tac Airport, but he drove off and got away as a deputy walked toward his car.

He was arrested in Redmond early Thursday morning after another traffic stop. The man was in possession of evidence “that indicated he was involved in a smash-type burglary,” said Officer Thom Conroy, Redmond police spokesman.

The man told Redmond officers that he committed several robberies Wednesday night, including one store in Redmond’s Overlake neighborhood.

King County Journal

Arrowhead fragments and flint shaping tools have been found at the site of a proposed road project in Lewis County.

County workers surveying the area found the artifacts about a month ago on the ground at the end of Maurin Road, near Jackson Highway. The discovery – revealed Tuesday by Mark Cook, the county’s public works director – could delay the project for a year.

John Barnett, chairman of the Cowlitz Tribe, said he hadn’t been told about the find, but believes the area was once inhabited by his ancestors. He said the tribe wants to protect its heritage, but will cooperate with the county.

County road engineers hoped to begin work this summer and finish by 2007, said John Huestis, the county’s senior engineer for design and construction.

Associated Press

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