Herald staff
KENT — A ninth-grade student injured a security guard in a fight Tuesday at Meeker Junior High School.
The female security officer was taken to Valley Medical Center, where she was treated for head, neck and back injuries and released.
King County sheriff’s deputies were called and arrested the boy, who was booked into the youth center for investigation of assault, said sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart.
The boy was expelled from school, Kent School District spokeswoman Becky Hanks said.
State teachers’ pay low in comparison: Pay for starting teachers in Washington state’s three largest cities ranks in the bottom 10 in a survey of the nation’s 100 largest cities. Tacoma was ranked 91st, Seattle 92nd and Spokane 95th in the ratings based on Defense Department data from 1998-99 and compiled by the American Federation of Teachers. Among the cities with higher pay in the survey were Baton Rouge, La., Oklahoma City and Omaha, Neb.
Courthouse evacuated: Fumes that sickened one worker and prompted an emergency evacuation of the King County Courthouse’s basement and first floor Tuesday apparently came from cleaning fluid, a Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman said. Several workers were using cleaning supplies in the basement when one reported feeling sick. No spill was reported. The worker was treated at a local hospital and released later in the day. Third Avenue between James Street and Yesler Way was closed temporarily.
Plane makes emergency landing: A TWA airliner flying from Seattle to St. Louis made an unscheduled landing Tuesday after a smoke detector light went on. The plane was at Great Falls International Airport for about 90 minutes and resumed its flight to St. Louis after being checked by mechanics, airport manager Cynthia Schultz said. The pilot decided to land when flight attendants could not find any sign of smoke, yet the indicator light would not go off. The plane carried 108 passengers.
School cafeteria shooter sentenced: A 13-year-old Renton boy who fired a gun into the cafeteria ceiling at his school was sentenced Tuesday to 65 weeks in juvenile detention. Josh Warnock will enter a rehabilitation program when he is released. He pleaded guilty to assault and other charges for the shooting last July at Dimmitt Middle School.
Suspicious package halts ferries: A suspicious suitcase found aboard the state ferry Walla Walla prompted ferry officials to take both Seattle-Bremerton car ferries out of service for about two hours Tuesday evening. The suitcase was X-rayed by a bomb squad and found to be empty, said Trooper Glenn Tyrrell of the Washington State Patrol. The second car ferry on the route, the Kitsap, also was pulled from service as a precaution, but service by both ferries resumed about 8:15 p.m. Bremerton also is served by passenger-only ferries.
Man crushed in compactor identified: Woodburn police have identified the body of a man found crushed in a recycling center earlier this month. Police believe Jose Adame Salgado, 29, crawled into a cardboard recycling bin for warmth on Nov. 6. The next morning, a truck picked up the bin and dumped its load at Willamette Resources in Wilsonville. Workers at the recycling center found the body under pieces of cardboard.
