Homeowners say broken city pipe made flood worse

Four homeowners near B Street at the base of Arnold Hill in Aberdeen say a broken pipe at the Fairview Reservoir made problems during the early January flooding even worse, sending water through backyards and into basements. They have filed damage claims against the city totaling more than $120,000, but the city says it doesn’t plan to pay.

Richard Pennant, a Hoquiam resident who owns a rental home on B street, filed his claim with the city for $45,000 under the condition that the city pay to demolish the house, or $60,000 if Pennant has to demolish the property, according to the claim form. The 24-inch supply line from the reservoir, Pennant said, sent water down Sixth Avenue behind the property, across the backyard, into the house and over B Street on the other side.

Pennant, a city council member in Hoquiam, owns and rents 36 properties.

His dispute has since become an argument over what caused the pipe to break, with the city maintaining that it was a result of land movement. Pennant argues the city’s maintenance of the pipe was substandard.

Pennant filed his claim days after the flood, and a week later received a notice from the insurance company explaining that the city wasn’t obliged to pay damages. Pennant talked with City Attorney Eric Nelson on Wednesday, who told him that the next option would be to bring a lawsuit to the city.

He then brought his case to to the city council meeting Wednesday night.

“I’m quite upset about this,” Pennant told council members during his public comment, “and I’d like to think the city of Aberdeen will make good.”

Mayor Bill Simpson, in response, said many residents echoed Pennant’s sentiments following the flood.

“The flood happened, the earth moved, there’s not a lot we can really do about it,” he said. “You’re not the only one in this world that got affected by the flood.”

Pennant was quick to retort.

“I didn’t get affected by the flood,” he said, “I got affected by the reservoir or lack of maintenance thereof, dumping thousands of gallons of water onto our rental house.”

It remains unclear how much water drained from the reservoir when the pipe broke, and how long the pipe’s valve remained open. Aberdeen Public Works Director Malcolm Bowie had not returned a phone call seeking comment as of press time, and officials in the city’s water department were unavailable.

In the meeting, Bowie told Pennant he disagreed, adding that the broken pipe had nothing to do with maintenance.

“Our maintenance was exemplary,” he said.

On Friday morning, the property at 1708 N. B St. had been almost entirely gutted and mold had claimed nearly every wall in the kitchen and much of the living room on the two-story house’s lower level.

Michelle Kerr had been renting the house for about seven years, Pennant said. Her boyfriend, Bill Jones, lives directly across B Street, and filmed the flooding the morning it happened. Jones said the furniture inside the house was floating high enough to touch the ceiling.

City Attorney Eric Nelson, on Wednesday, said the city’s insurance doesn’t cover losses to private homes, and that an adjuster for the city’s insurance company found no indication of negligence in regard to the city’s maintenance on the pipe.

Filing a claim against the city is a required step before a lawsuit can be filed. Nelson said a claimant must wait 60 days to file a lawsuit following a claim.

Pennant said he wasn’t backing down from suing the city. “That’s exactly what I intend to do,” he said.

Along with the four claims from property owners in the B Street area, a renter has filed a seperate claim. There are three others involving flood-related damage the city is allegedly responsible for.

Kyle Mittan, 360-537-3932, kmittan@thedailyworld.com. Twitter: @KyleMittan

Co-Op group forms new plan spurred by 2014 success

Bolstered by noticeable increases in local hotel/motel and sales tax receipts over the past year, a group of Ocean Shores business leaders last week announced details of another Ocean Shores Co-op Marketing Plan to help boost the city’s tourism advertising presence in 2015.

Last year’s “More than a Beach” theme and marketing plan involved $20,000 in city of Ocean Shores support, $21,000 raised from local businesses and $80,000 worth of scrip (gift or promotional vouchers) from local hotels to give away as part of travel packages.

“All the advertising projects focused on bringing more people to Ocean Shores,” said a report presented Feb. 11 in a dinner session at the Convention Center to unveil the 2015 campaign.

“Ocean Shores used to be able to market pretty heavily out there,” said Mike Doolittle, owner of Playtime Family Fun Center and the Peppermint Parlor, and one of the leaders of the co-op plan. “There was once quite a big budget to do a lot of work to get people to come to Ocean Shores.”

But the city in more recent years has had to shift funds formerly used to pay for marketing and advertising, Doolittle said, to pay for the escalating costs of the Convention Center itself. “Most of that marketing money sort of dried up,” he said.

Last year, a new effort was launched by a grassroots group of business leaders, and local businesses and hotels were able to come up with the co-op plan and get the City Council to agree to a portion of the costs as well.

“Lo and behold, that’s how it started because so many people thought it was a good idea,” Doolittle said. “I’m even more excited for 2015 because I feel like we are gaining a little momentum.”

The idea — like last year — is to continue to promote Ocean Shores in the Seattle-Tacoma-Everett metro market. In 2014, Ocean Shores ads were on Metro bus panels going into the summer tourist season, and other advertising included features on radio stations and print publications. The campaign also included digital billboards on the Interstate-5 corridor and a website to promote Ocean Shores: vistoceanshoreswa.com.

Members of the co-op steering committee include Doolittle, Ron Lambert of Bennett’s Fish Shack, Dianne Hansen of the Dusty Trunk in the Boardwalk Shops, Mark Plackett of Plackett Enterprises, and Don Kajans of Quinault Beach Resort and Casino.

“The mission is for the businesses to have a larger voice in advertising than they would have individually,” Kajans said.

The goal is to have “a better return on the money that we spend,” he explained, “and we want to create more tax revenue, more visitors coming to the city.”

City Finance Director Steve Ensley was at the meeting and noted that hotel/motel tax revenues were up more than 17 percent last year: “It was just shy of the best year we have had.” In addition, sales tax revenue increased about 9 percent, according to Ensley.

Kajans also said the city experienced about an 8 percent increase in traffic counts coming into Ocean Shores in 2014.

The co-op campaign proved to be such a success that “everybody is in again for 2015” with the addition of one more hotel, Kajans said. “We’re inching up from the worst years we have ever had. But we are getting some increases, and I think that is really due to us advertising at a time when Washington state is really coming out of the great recession.”

This year, the co-op also would like to see the city contribute $30,000 ($20,000 was earmarked for 2015 in the 2015 city budget already approved) and the business community contribute at least $50 for every business in town, for a total of $35,000, with scrip of $55,000 from the hotels.

While increasing the city’s portion still would take formal action, Mayor Crystal Dingler expressed “how excited the city is to be a part of this again this year. I think this has been fabulously successful.”

“We all really need to pull together to make something happen here for Ocean Shores,” she said. The co-op plan is to do bus panels again, along with digital billboards and other print and radio advertising, as well as placement in the family oriented Parent Map (150,000 monthly readers) magazine and website, ParentMap.com.

“We’re working together to pull together to make Ocean Shores a destination that people just can’t stay away from,” Doolittle said.

Although Quinault Beach Resort is not in the city limits, Kajans and the resort have been committed to promoting Ocean Shores. “We believe in Ocean Shores,” he said. “Ocean Shores has to work for us to work.”

Other cities on the coast, such as Long Beach and Westport, put more money into advertising than Ocean Shores, according to Kajans.

“We have got to be out there with a presence. Right now, Ocean Shores is the best place to vacation, especially for a family. But if they don’t hear about us, they’re not going to come out,” he said.

Businesses and citizens can contribute at the office of the Ocean Shores/North Beach Chamber of Commerce on Point Brown Avenue.

Thunderbird hearing slated for July, motel to remain open

The Thunderbird Motel in downtown Aberdeen, subject to closure following an inspection that turned up unsanitary conditions, will remain open at least another five months, pending a hearing on the violations.

In Mayor Bill Simpson’s report at Wednesday night’s City Council meeting, Simpson read an email between himself and city building inspector Bill Sidor giving a hearing date of July 15. Motel owners will also provide the state with a timeline on their plans to address the building’s problems.

The state Department of Health revoked the West Wishkah Street motel’s Transient Accommodations License earlier this month, citing numerous code violations that included an infestation of cockroaches, broken windows, hypodermic needles found in rooms of the hotel and mattresses stained with what appeared to be blood and urine, according to court documents. Motel ownership appealed the decision, and the motel still remains in business throughout the process.

The mayor’s announcement came to the dismay of many council members, who inquired about the city’s options to declare the motel a public nuisance and have it closed earlier. Police officers, Simpson added, are called to the motel on what appears to be a daily basis.

City Attorney Eric Nelson said the state and county health departments are also meant to serve the city, and piling the city’s already-limited resources on one problem would be inefficient. He added that although the public views the motel as a hub for many of the city’s prostitution and drug problems, the city can’t take action until those problems are properly documented and the owner is notified.

“We actually have to have a pattern of documented activity and that doesn’t mean Facebook-document activity,” Nelson told the council. “That means activity where there are actual identified suspects, police officers involved, reports being made that show a pattern.”

The process, Nelson added, is one that even cities like Seattle rarely resort to.

After the meeting, Simpson said he agreed with council members’ desires to have the motel closed down as soon as possible, but understood that the city’s best option was to wait for the appeal process to run its course.

“It’s very frustrating that we have the need for that kind of housing in this community,” he said after the meeting. “To have it on the main drag of town is the part that bothers me the most.”

City will weigh in on wind-powered beach vehicles

Ocean Shores formally will draft a letter to the state Parks Commission expressing some concerns over a proposal to allow wind-powered recreational vehicles on state beaches, including those within the city limits.

The City Council on Monday agreed to have Mayor Crystal Dingler draft a letter to the Parks board asking that such activity not be allowed on the city’s off-leash dog beach south of the Taurus beach approach, and to restrict it from the heavily populated beaches closer to the downtown area. Council members will add their concerns to the letter and it will be presented at a later regular meeting.

“I didn’t have any objection to the wind-powered vehicles” when they first were brought up, Dingler said. “I just didn’t expect it to be (permitted) on the whole length of the beach. We probably have the densest population year-round here of any place on the Washington coast, and a lot of visitors, not just in the summer.”

The Washington Parks Commission in March will act on a recommendation that large sections of the beaches be open to the wind-powered vehicles, which were demonstrated during test periods that began in 2008 and brought out for a recent public meeting at the Ocean Shores Convention Center. They include kite buggies, blo-karts, or kite boards — all now banned on beaches except by special permit.

The vehicles would be limited to a maximum speed of 25 mph, and they would be required to yield the right of way to all pedestrians, horses and vehicles also using the beach, according to Steve Brand, the Parks Department’s partnership and planning manager. Brand, a former North Beach area ranger, told the council Monday that the state wanted to have the city’s concerns addressed and apologized for not bringing the proposed areas to the council sooner.

During the test periods where use was permitted in certain areas, Brand said, “We experienced no documented problems, no big issues. Because of that experience we are proposing to change the rules to allow the vehicles to operate on the beaches in specific area to minimize the potential for conflict.”

Use will not be permitted during state-approved clam digs, he noted, and also agreed there was too much traffic year-round from the Chance a la Mer approach to the Damon Road approach to allow it on that section of beach.

“We’re open to changing the areas,” Brand said. “We’re open to adjusting based on what your recommendations are and the council’s interest.”

Other issues raised were how the rules would be enforced, what restrictions would apply seasonally, how much use it would attract, and whether the state would help improve collection of beach garbage and restroom maintenance.

“That’s why I’m here,” Brand said, expressing a “desire to collaborate” on the new policies.

The Parks Commission meeting will be March 26 at the Better Business Bureau Office, 1000 Station Drive, Ste. 222, in Dupont.

For more information online and to comment on the proposal: http://ift.tt/1EuQ6Lx

Credit Rating

Finance Director Steve Ensley announced the city had received a higher credit rating from Standard &Poor’s Ratings Services, which raised the city from an A-rating to A-plus.

“It’s primarily based on all of our actions to reduce debt and build the reserves back up,” Ensley said of the rating report. “They had a lot of critical things to say about the (local) economy, but the actions that we have collectively taken were enough for them to raise it. That’s good for us.”

One of the significant factors was the city’s ability to refinance the $10 million in Convention Center debt.

“We’ve done the right things, and this is kind of the reward,” Dingler said. “It means that when we go out to refinance something or whatever we need to do, we get a better rate for our citizens. That is really what it is all about.”

Overlake Bridge repair

The city has received an estimate of what it will take to repair the Overlake Bridge, which was closed in December after an inspection found some rot in the wooden structure. The state Department of Transportation estimate was for $32,332 for the timber cap and pile repair. The council voted 5-0 to pay for the repairs from its contingency fund, with the motion made by Councilman John Schroeder.

Beach erosion session

Dingler announced a March 9 study session on jetty beach erosion is being planned with likely participation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Port of Grays Harbor, the city as well as affected residents. The session will start at 2 p.m. with a roundtable discussion on issues, such as the failure of the geotube sand-filled structures designed to stabilize an area north of the jetty.

“I think this will be a very interesting meeting and something that Ocean Shores as a whole needs to pay attention to because we could have some catastrophic problems there,” Dingler said.

State approves razor clam dig starting March 2

OLYMPIA – Clam diggers can return to two coastal beaches Monday, March 2, through Thursday, March 5, to dig razor clams during a month packed with potential digging opportunities.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife approved the dig at Long Beach and Twin Harbors after marine toxin tests showed the clams are safe to eat.

As in previous openings, the dig is scheduled on evening tides. No digging will be allowed on any beach before noon.

Under state law, diggers are required to keep the first 15 clams they dig. Each digger’s clams must be kept in a separate container.

The four-day dig is scheduled for the following dates, beaches and low tides:

March 2, Monday, 4:49 p.m.; 0.5 feet, Long Beach, Twin Harbors

March 3, Tuesday, 5:26 p.m.; 0.4 feet, Long Beach, Twin Harbors

March 4, Wednesday, 5:59 p.m.; 0.4 feet, Long Beach, Twin Harbors

March 5, Thursday; 6:30 p.m.; 0.5 feet, Long Beach, Twin Harbors

WDFW shellfish managers have tentatively scheduled a nine-day dig beginning March 16. Low tides will switch to morning from evening tides midway through the proposed dig on the following dates, beaches and tides:

March 16, Monday, 4:15 p.m.; 0.3 feet, Long Beach, Twin Harbors

March 17, Tuesday, 5:08 p.m.; -0.2 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors

March 18, Wednesday, 5:57 p.m.; -0.5 feet, Long Beach, Twin Harbors

March 19, Thursday, 6:42 p.m.; -0.5 feet, Long Beach, Twin Harbors

March 20, Friday, 7:26 p.m.; -0.4 feet, Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks

Seasonal switch to morning tides

March 21, Saturday, 7:55 a.m.; -0.5 feet, Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks

March 22, Sunday, 8:42 a.m.; -0.7 feet, Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks

March 23, Monday, 9:31 a.m.; -0.6 feet, Long Beach, Twin Harbors

March 24, Tuesday, 10:21 a.m.; -0.3 feet, Long Beach, Twin Harbors

All diggers age 15 or older must have an applicable 2014-15 fishing license to harvest razor clams on any beach. Licenses, ranging from a three-day razor clam license to an annual combination fishing license, are available on WDFW’s website at http://ift.tt/1czn9Tv and from license vendors around the state.

State biologist says large, great white shark probably killed seal

A half-eaten seal that washed up in Ocean Shores last week was probably killed by a great white shark that could have been as long as 18 feet, state Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists said Wednesday.

A resident reported the female harbor seal last Thursday, and a biologist collected the body the next day, according to a report from the department. A necropsy determined the 200-pound seal had been attacked by a shark close to shore.

Dayv Lowry, a senior research biologist with the department, used a method he helped develop as a graduate student in Florida to identify the type and size of shark by analyzing the space between bite marks on the seal. Though the bite could have been from a seven-gill shark, salmon shark or orca, Lowry said a great white is most likely.

Lowry added that shark behavior — including their proximity to the shoreline — is hard to predict, and depends on a variety of factors, including depth and clarity of the water and where sharks can find food.

“If the sharks are in the area and they’re hunting seals and the seals are hanging out in the near shores in very shallow water, that’s where the sharks will hunt,” he said. “So having sharks come near shore while they’re hunting seals and sea lions and other things is not at all uncommon.”

The shark-attack risk for surfers and other water-goers in coastal towns like Ocean Shores and Westport, Lowry said, is also hard to calculate.

“At that point it’s essentially just a statistics game,” he said. “If there’re 10,000 people who surf a beach over the course of a summer in California, they may see 10 white sharks. If you’ve got 100 up here in Washington, they may see one.”

He added that the department has heard many anecdotes from Washington residents about encounters with sharks. Since the mid-19th century, the report says, the state has only documented two shark attacks on humans. Neither was fatal.

At 18 feet, the shark involved in the seal attack is quite large, said Craig Bartlett, a department spokesman. He added the largest sharks are typically around 21 feet long.

Most sharks, Bartlett added, appear 40 or 50 miles off the coast, hunting schools of tuna. Regardless of typical shark activity, he said, there’s always risk when sharing the waters with wildlife.

“We don’t actually have the authority to say, ‘OK, everybody out of the water,’” he said. “But I know that, personally, I wouldn’t want to be surfing out there right now.”

A second seal that washed up last Saturday had apparently been caught in a fishing net, Bartlett said.

Man arrested after driver is stabbed by pedestrian

A man suffered a severe laceration to his head after a stabbing near the intersection of Market and B streets in Aberdeen Tuesday at about 1 p.m., a statement from police says.

Aberdeen Police responded to the intersection after witnesses say a man had walked out in front of a car, causing the driver to make a quick stop. Witnesses told officers that the man on foot walked to the driver-side door of the car and hit the driver in the head with the knife, leaving a cut near his ear.

Witnesses said the victim then drove away and reported the incident from his home.

Police gathered a description of the suspect from witnesses, and reviewed surveillance video from the 7-Eleven convenience store at the intersection. A detective later identified and arrested the man, a 48-year-old from Aberdeen, in the 300 block of East Market Street for second-degree assault.

The suspect was taken to the City of Aberdeen Jail.

Police pursuit ends in crash on Port Industrial Road

A burglary suspect was taken away in an ambulance after crashing his car on Port Industrial Road outside Home Depot on Tuesday afternoon in Aberdeen. Police said they chased the suspect, who at times reached speeds near 100 mph, from east Hoquiam until he collided with two other vehicles.

Hospital talks about rebranding; 2014 losses worse than first thought

A relatively sparse official agenda prompted the commissioners of Grays Harbor Public Hospital District 2 to branch out into a discussion of whether it might be time for a little rebranding at Grays Harbor Community Hospital.

Board President Maryann Welch let loose the “trial balloon” for the board to discuss: Is the timing right to consider rebranding the hospital to include its larger scope of services beyond the building on Hospital Hill?

“The lines of business have expanded,” Welch said, adding that the question for the board is “whether the name Grays Harbor Community Hospital really represents what we do.”

“It’s worth considering,” said Commissioner Dr. Ryan Farrer. “Your point’s well taken. It’s not just the hospital any more.”

Commissioner Pete Scroggs cautioned that the cost and effort of rebranding the hospital should be a considerable factor in making a decision. “That said,” he added, “it’s not a reason not to.”

“I think the discussion’s well worth having,” Commissioner Bob Torgerson chimed in, though he recommended a thorough consideration of why rebranding the hospital might be beneficial. Before financial numbers and information on the process are gathered, Torgerson would want the board to answer those key questions.

“Do we want to? Do we need to? What’s the purpose? Then we can get into the weeds of the financing,” he said.

As the board circled around the question, Welch pointed out that all the recent changes at the hospital, including the creation of the public hospital district, might signal an opportunity to increase the community’s understanding of just how much of the county’s health care is connected, in some way, to the hospital.

“It’s a bit of an opportune time,” she said. “I don’t think our community understands the breadth of our services … it’s important for me to see the way branding can bring that all together.”

With the agreement of the commissioners, Welch asked CEO Tom Jensen to gather more information on what rebranding the facility might entail, and bring it before the board at its next regular meeting, at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24.

Hospital Finances

The final financials for 2014 have been completed for Grays Harbor Community Hospital, and they were worse than originally estimated.

Commissioner Miles Longenbaugh, reporting to the board as the chairman of the Finance Committee, said Tuesday that what was originally estimated to be about a $5.7 million operating loss for last year ballooned to just more than $10 million after the final adjustments were made to the hospital’s 2014 statements.

The facility was also in the red in 2013, to the tune of $2.6 million.

The major factors in 2014’s final numbers included an adjustment to the hospital’s pension liability, and a change in calculations for the hospital’s insurance reimbursements.

“That calculation hurt us,” Longenbaugh said.

This year, the hospital has much higher Medicaid reimbursement to look forward to, a benefit it didn’t have last year.

On a positive note, Longenbaugh added, the hospital is doing well so far in the new year.

“We came in 7 percent under budget (in January),” he told the board.

Longenbaugh also broached the subject of a possible property tax levy in the hospital district’s future, though discussions of whether the district will seek a levy are in very preliminary stages.

He said the commissioners would first need to look at what those funds might be used for, and where there might be a financial need to necessitate a levy.

“We haven’t made any decisions yet,” he said, “but we’re just going to wait and see if (a levy) is needed.”

Other Business

• Jensen briefed the board on a mobile Magnetic Resonance Imaging unit that was recently parked at Grays Harbor Community Hospital. The facility currently does not have its own MRI machine in-house.

He said the hospital’s plan is to have the mobile unit for six months and then evaluate what’s next.

“If it does well, we will focus on getting an internal MRI,” he said.

• Medical Chief of Staff Dr. Anne Marie Wong gave a presentation to the commissioners on the function and composition of the facility’s Medical Executive Committee, a group comprised of physicians that helps oversee compliance, credentialing and quality control with physicians connected to the hospital, among other functions.

At the end of her presentation, Scroggs asked if the physician community had any reservations or concerns about the creation of the public hospital district. Wong noted that some physicians have voiced concern about what exactly could become public record.

“Any time a physician is put in the spotlight over the care they provide, that will make them uncomfortable,” Wong said, relating some of the concerns she has heard. Specifically, when it comes to the credentialing reviews all doctors must periodically go through, “they feel uncomfortable that there is a potential that their report card could become public.”

Man charged with rape will have competency review

An Aberdeen man charged with raping a woman at knifepoint did not show up in court on Monday as his defense attorney recommended he have a competency evaluation done to decide whether or not he is mentally fit to stand trial.

Defense attorney James Foley said his client, 36-year-old Luis Lopez-Valdovinos was incoherent on Friday when Foley met with him and explained to Judge Stephen E. Brown that Valdovinos had experienced “a mental breakdown” while incarcerated.

Valdovinos was set to be arraigned on Monday and is charged with rape in the first degree and felony harassment for forcing a woman to have sex with him in Westport.

Court documents state that Valdovinos came to the Westport by the Sea condos at 1600 W. Ocean Ave. on Feb. 16 where he knew the victim was cleaning rooms. At approximately 1 p.m., Valdovinos went to room 1027 and knocked on the door.

When the victim let Valdovinos in, he slapped the victim to the floor and sat on her so she could not get up, according to court papers. The victim told police that she was scared for her life and told Valdovinos to get off of her, but he refused.

While on top of the victim, Valdovinos pulled out a silver pocket knife and made several threats to the victim, according to reports. Valdovinos placed the knife blade on the victim’s forehead, chest and neck and threatened to cut her if she said anything he didn’t like.

Valdovinos then pulled off the victim’s pants and forcibly had sex with her, court documents state. When the victim asked Valdovinos to stop, he responded, “Sorry, I want to do it. I’m going to do whatever I want,” court documents say.

The victim told police Valdovinos left the condo at approximately 3 p.m.

Valdovinos will have a mental health assessment done and will be in court again on March 30 to review the evaluation’s findings.

Cantwell supports bill to strengthen tsunami warning systems

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) announced they’ve introduced legislation that would reauthorize and strengthen the nation’s tsunami detection and warning systems and continue investing in research to better prepare coastal communities.

The Tsunami Warning, Education and Research Act of 2015 would strengthen the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) tsunami warning system and advance new research related to improving tsunami detection, forecasting, notification and response. The bill is scheduled for a Thursday hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

“Every second matters when it comes to tsunami preparedness and protecting our coastal communities,” Cantwell said. “That’s why I’ve introduced this legislation to ensure we have state-of-the-art detection and warning systems to protect lives and property. It’s especially critical in Washington state, where we border the Cascadia fault and more than 300,000 people live in a tsunami danger zone.”

“In the event of the next tsunami, adequate warning for Alaska’s coastal communities is essential,” Sullivan said. “This legislation will ensure that important monitoring centers, vital research advancements and community based mitigation programs continue in a cost effective manner.”

“Earthquakes in the Pacific have shown us that our tsunami warning system is more important now than ever. We must do all that we can to be prepared for an event that affords only minutes or hours for people to respond,” Schatz said. “This legislation will strengthen our tsunami detection, forecast, warning, research, and mitigation program to better protect Hawai‘i’s communities and save lives.”

Washington state’s coastal economy supports 165,000 jobs and produces $30 billion in economic activity each year. Nationwide, more than 120 million live on or near coastlines.

The Tsunami Warning, Education and Research Act of 2015 would:

· Advance new research related to improving tsunami detection, forecasting, notification and response;

· Enhance tsunami preparedness for ports and harbors by directing the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program to evaluate and recommend procedures for communication and response plans;

· Ensure supercomputing resources are available for tsunami forecast models and that guidelines and metrics for evaluating and improving tsunami models are disseminated;

· Direct NOAA to conduct a readiness assessment for areas at-risk for a near-shore tsunami such as the Cascadia fault;

· Require tsunami warning centers to work with local weather forecasting offices to ensure timely delivery of warnings.

In 2006, Cantwell pushed for passage of the Tsunami Warning and Education Act that enabled Washington state to improve tsunami evacuation routes, update maps, and increase the number of DART warning buoys worldwide. Cantwell also supported funding to purchase additional warning sirens for coastal areas in Washington state.

Hoquiam residents pressure council on oil

Crude-by-rail opponents barraged Hoquiam City Council members with questions at Monday night’s meeting as to why the city wasn’t doing more to stop the project from coming to the Harbor.

The concerns from residents come after a train in Mount Carbon, W. Va., carrying 3 million gallons of crude oil derailed and exploded last week. A train in Timmins, Ontario, also derailed nearly two weeks ago, spilling thousands of gallons of crude oil.

Some residents fear the same might happen on Grays Harbor.

Lisa Marie, a Hoquiam resident, started the discussion by asking each council member to provide his or her stance on the issue. Five of the city’s 12 council members responded, three of whom said they were against the project.

“I’ve been asked quite a few times to take a strong position one way or another,” said Ward 4 Councilman Ben Winkelman, adding that he’s learned a lot about the process over the years. “I’m not ready to put on a button or hold up a sign, but I’m still getting informed.”

Ward 1 Councilman John Pellegrini said he would like to see a draft of the environmental impact statement that the state Department of Ecology is spearheading before deciding.

A draft impact statement for the three oil terminals was originally slated for release in March, but has since been pushed back to a June release, City Administrator Brian Shay said.

Richard Pennant of Ward 2, after telling the council he was “adamantly against” crude-by-rail, expressed irritation over his colleagues’ side-stepping of the issue.

“Anybody that’s not answering — how long’s it going to take you to make up your mind?” he asked the other members. “This has been on the table for a couple of years now. I think everybody has had enough time to look into it. It’s a fair question for the people to ask and it warrants an answer from everybody here.”

Ward 5 Councilwoman Denise Anderson and Jasmine Dickhoff of Ward 2 also voiced opposition to oil projects.

Following the poll, Marie criticized members who didn’t respond.

“I think that people who elected you into your positions would be quite disappointed to know that you wouldn’t answer a simple question,” she said.

Diane Wolfe of Hoquiam then asked if the city would vote to deny the permits for the three oil terminals that bulk liquid companies at the Port plan to build in the coming years.

Shay said the council does not have the authority to deny permits, which are considered by city employees, not the council. Permits to build the terminals, Shay said, were issued about three years ago.

After the meeting, Wolfe said she thought the city issued those permits without considering what could happen after.

“The original permits that they’re talking about that staff issued were done arbitrarily and capriciously without sufficient evidence to make an accurate decision as to whether or not they were in compliance with Hoquiam city code,” she said, adding that she wished the city would revoke the permits.

Shay said the city can’t do that based on political reasons, regardless of what the permit is for, adding that doing so would open the city to lawsuits from those seeking the permits.

“It cannot be just because we simply don’t want something,” he said to Wolfe.

Wolfe, following the meeting, said the city was likely to be sued regardless of how officials proceeded.

“At this point, their two options in court are to either be sued by the companies that are proposing to make a great deal of money off of the degradation of Hoquiam and the whole of Grays Harbor,” she said, “or being sued by the citizens of Hoquiam and Grays Harbor.”

Legislative action can be taken to deny bulk liquid handling facilities in the city’s industrial zone, Shay said.

But even if the city changed that code, the applications for the terminal already in place would still be grandfathered in.

Others speculated that the permits were offered as a money-maker for the city — a claim Shay also disputed.

At the end of the public comment, Mayor Jack Durney pointedly told residents that the city has maintained a neutral stance on crude-by-rail, and couldn’t regulate its activity on the Harbor.

“The city of Hoquiam will play this down the middle because we are in a regulatory position. We do not regulate interstate commerce,” he said. “We cannot stand and tell the railroads that they can’t haul a product that, I guess, is legal.”

Your Shot — Sunset dog walker

A beach-goer walks their dogs last weekend in Ocean Shores at sunset. If you have a photo that helps show what life is like here on the Twin Harbors and you want to share it with the rest of the community, email a high resolution version to photo@thedailyworld.com. Include your daytime phone number, the name of the photographer, a description of what’s happening in the photo, when and where it was taken and the names of the people who are prominent in the shot.

Transportation co-op to house Elma, McCleary, Oakville, Olympia school buses

The Elma School District is one major hurdle closer to construction of a long-awaited and much-needed transportation center.

In mid-January, the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) signed off on the district’s proposal to build a transportation co-op that would serve the vehicles of the district and those of other districts and agencies throughout the region.

“We’re depending on the Legislature now to put the money in,” said Tom Boling, Elma School District’s transportation director.

Preliminary figures show the project — called the East Grays Harbor Transportation Cooperative — costing just more than $3.32 million with the state funding a majority of the cost. But the state will fund only certain aspects of the project, meaning actual costs likely will be higher and, when completed and operational, the district could fund somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of the final cost, according to Boling and district Superintendent Howard King.

“We’ve set aside $1.5 million,” King said. “It’s taken four years to save that. We scrimped and saved, and the reason we did that, is that we had this on a bond two times and failed both times. And the need is huge.”

Currently, the district’s transportation center is housed at the former site of the Hunters Prairie School. Buses park in a muddy, gravel lot. The two-bay shop is housed in the generations-old former school gymnasium. Offices are located in a cramped, aging modular building and the only restroom facilities for staff and drivers are outhouses on either end of the property.

“We’ve had ‘sani-cans’ out there for three years now,” King said. “It’s ridiculous. … So the need kept growing and we figured we’ve got to get it done. So we’ve been working our tails off to save money.”

The new cooperative will service buses and other vehicles from the Elma, McCleary and Oakville school districts, along with more than 20 buses and vehicles from Education Service District 113, located in Olympia. Its main features will be a 14,000-square-foot building with four service bays, a bus-washing bay, offices, restrooms, parking for scores of vehicles and room for expansion, if need be. There are 42 buses among the three school districts.

“You take the total number of buses and we qualified for the minimum size, which is 13,986 square feet,” Boling said, noting that OSPI would not take into account the ESD 113 buses because it is not a school district.

“ESD 113 will have some buses with us, too,” Boling said. “OSPI would not count those buses. We tried to argue that point, because we would have qualified for more square footage, but they wouldn’t go for it.”

But ESD 113 will still contract with the cooperative, King said.

“We’ll take care of servicing all their buses, and they’ll probably house their buses out here during the summer, so we’ll be really busy during the summer months.”

All that preventive maintenance and servicing will require the district to hire more workers, King said, including at least one new mechanic.

Should all go well with legislative funding, Boling said the estimated date to put the project out to bid would be some time this July, with groundbreaking hopefully in August. The project is estimated to take eight to 10 months of construction.

Boling, who started as a diesel mechanic and has been with the district for 33 years, expects other neighboring school districts or government entities may also choose to use the facility for vehicle maintenance and repairs down the road, so he said there is room for expansion should the need arise.

“I wanted it designed so it’s easily added onto,” he said of the facility. “We want the building designed so it can be easily expanded, because I think this is going to grow and possibly some other surrounding school districts may join. That’s one of the things we wanted, because I’ve seen so many things happen when you don’t plan ahead. When we first started talking about this I said, ‘Whatever we come up with in a design, I want it so we can add on to it and not go to the big expense of having to tear everything down to redo it, so if we do grow, it’s not such a big expense.’”

Refuse to be a Victim class offers many tips on safety

If you’ve ever felt the hairs on the back of your neck rise, a gut feeling about a situation that just wasn’t right or actually had your home buglarized, you might want to sign up for a “Refuse to be a Victim” class.

The class, taught by spirited instructor Monica Cowles of Northwest School of Safety, is cholked full of safety tips, encourages you to listen to your intuition and provides great hints about preparations you can make to diminsh the threat of becoming a victim. The four-hour morning course also aids in helping you make a plan in case the worst does happen and how you should deal with it.

Of the seven students who sat at tables strewn with chocolate candies and a packet of safety information, six were women. Many of the students had been a victim of crime. Students recounted storis of stolen passports, bikes, cars and jewelry. The students were lead through different aspects of crime prevention and personal safety, including the psychology of criminal predators, common characteristics of criminals, preparedness, home security, lighting, deterrents, and financial, auto, travel and technological security.

“Refuse to be a Victim” is a national program by the National Rifle Association that started in 1993 as a women’s safety course, but four years later it was adapted to include men in the class, Cowles explained.

Cowles, who also teaches a Women’s Firearm Safety Course, is passionate about safety and is very well-informed about choices we can make to keep ourselves and our families safe in an uncertain world.

“I’m not paranoid, I’m prepared,” explained Mike Schmidt who, along with his wife Nettie, attended the personal safety class. At his home in Hoquiam, the septuagenarian has taken steps to protect his property, including motion detecting lights. He also realizes there is a balance. “I’m not going to put bars on every window and a Gatling gun in the living room,” said Schmidt.

Cowles and her students offered tips, such as clipping your purse with a carabiner to your shopping cart to make theft inconvenient for perpetrators.

“We need to make ourselves a (difficult) target,” Cowles said. “Criminals are opportunists.”

Like a predator in the wild, predators in communities tend to take advantage of the weak, the injured or those who are simply not paying attention, said Cowles. “We don’t want to look like prey to predators,” she said.

She also asserted that 90 percent of crime is committed by people we know which, she said, dispels the “myth of the bad guy” lurking in the shadows. In preparing for violence involving a person you know, Cowles says to listen to your instinct. Pay attention to red flags, she said, if the hair stands up on the back of your neck, pay attention. “It’s our instinct that knows,” she said.

When you do find yourself in a compromised situation, she said, use whatever means necessary to keep yourself safe including voice, fingers, fingernails, elbows, knees, feet and keys. “We have to be ready to explode,” she said, citing that you need to balance the pros and cons of an attack. She suggests that perhaps handing over $20 in your wallet is worth escaping the clutches of a perpetrator, yet entering the car of a perpetrator so he won’t hurt you, is not in your best interests and warned that “second crime scenes are never pleasant.”

“Don’t stand for it,” she says while explaining that criminals view niceness as weakness. Again pay attention to your red flags. Some places, such as grocery stores and the local hospitals, she said, will provide an escort to your vehicle if you feel unsafe at night walking to your car.

Being prepared is part of the solution. One student in the class suggested practicing scenarios in your mind like an athlete to be ready in case something happens.

She said she realizes we can’t live in a cocoon and that we need to balance our fears with our safety.

Cowles warns against allowing strangers into your home, even if they say they are in need. She suggests that if a person comes to your door needing to call 911, that you make the call for them.

She also said it can be tricky knowing how to react when one feels vulnerable. We need to be responsible for our own safety, she said, but if we misjudge and over-react, we’re responsible for our own actions, and that can mean ramifications, she said, “All of life is about choices.” And if you make the wrong choice in a heated situation, you are responsible for your actions.

In addition to keeping your house secure, she suggests replacing all chained locks with bar locks and or keyless locks and making sure that doors leading to the outside are proper exterior doors. The goal, she said, is to delay or deter the crime and not make it easy for the criminal. She warns against keeping your garage door open for long periods of time and using the obvious places for your hide-a-key.

She suggests keeping your property well lit because that deters crime and keeping the bushes around your house well-trimmed so that perpetrators cannot hide in them. If you do want bushes, she suggests barberries or rose bushes that make hiding uncomfortable.

She said the single most important thing one can do to keep safe from criminals while in your car is to lock the door. And don’t make your car a target. Remove everything from your car.

If you do get pulled over by a police officer and you feel vulnerable, she says to ask the officer to call for a second police officer.

Cowles also teaches a Womens Firearm Safety Course as well as the Refuse to be a Victim class. The Women’s Firearm Safety Course will be held this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call Cowles at 360-532-2132 for more information or to sign up. You may also register on her website at northwestschoolofsafety.com Cost for firearm safety is $115 and cost for Refuse to be a Victim is $30.

If you are interested in current crime in your neighborhood, click http://ift.tt/1ENaUfr. The website marks assault, breaking and entering, theft, registered sex offender addresses, robbery and sexual assault incidents in the surrounding areas.

Second Kuhn to win crown at Miss Grays Harbor

Contestant number five, 20-year old Paige Kuhn, daughter of Tim and Dawn Kuhn of Central Park, was crowned 2015 Miss Grays Harbor at the 7th St. Theatre in Hoquiam on Saturday night.

Kuhn is the younger sister of Lauren Kuhn, who carries the titles of 2013 Miss Grays Harbor and 2014 Miss America Fourth Runner up as Miss Massachusetts. The elder sister was unable to be in the audience Saturday because, as a Harvard dental student, she was applying to a national position of the American Student Dental Association. The conference was the same weekend in Boston, her parents said.

With flowers in hand, Miss Kuhn, was very excited about her winnings. “I don’t know what… I’m so excited!” she said breathless. “I got so much scholarship money, now I can pay for school!” said the Eastern Washington University student who is studying elementary education.

Kuhn was the winner of the “Living Your Platform,” “Lifestyles and Fitness,” “Empowered Young Women,” “Top Interview” and “Together We Can (commitment to community)” scholarships and shared the “Top Evening Gown,” scholarship. In total, Kuhn won half of the $10,000 that was awarded Saturday evening. Kuhn’s platform is “Providing School Supplies to Those in Need.”

First runner up, Cora Foss, won the “Talent” competition scholarship, singing “Somewhere over the Rainbow” and also shared the “Top Evening Gown” with Kuhn. Foss also won the “Dash for Cash,” owing much thanks to her brother Elliot for running up and down the isles of the theater collecting money.

Second runner-up was Arianna Barré, who won the “Scholastic Achievement” and “Four Points of the Crown” scholarships.

“Staff Award” was given to Stephanie Hornback. Two “Personal Growth” scholarships were given away to Jess Marie Matthews and Alexi Pratte.

The “Miss Congeniality,” scholarship winner was chosen by the contestants as Kuinn Karaffa.

The evening was an extravaganza of singing and dancing. Besides the talent competition, numbers included “Dancing Queen,” and songs sung by 2014 Miss Grays Harbor Connie Morgan, “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” “I’ve got one less problem without you” and “Where is my Home?” as well as the antics of emcees, Liz and Pat Anderson, who kept the crowd laughing all night.

Special appearances were made by many past Miss Grays Harbor winners including 1995 winner, Krystle Ochsner Ramos from Nashville who sang, “This Girl is on Fire,” the Raindrop Princesses and Miss Auburn, Miss Washington, Miss West Sound, Miss Seattle, Miss Outstanding Teen contestant, Magin Chesley and the 2015 Miss Grays Harbor Outstanding Teen winner, Nora Coffelt. The Spirit of Miss Grays Harbor award was presented to Dawn and Tim Kuhn, who were representing the winner, their daughter, Lauren Kuhn.

Miss Grays Harbor director, Sue Drolz, said, “I had an amazing year last year and I plan to have another amazing year this year. I have two great title winners.”

Aberdeen man kills dog after he said the animal asked him to

An Aberdeen man has pleaded guilty to first-degree animal cruelty charges after stabbing his dog with a stake and then hitting the animal over the head with a board. He has been treated for mental illness and says the dog told him to kill it.

John Trafford Robinson, 27, told police his dog told him to kill it before he ended the animal’s life last summer. Robinson pleaded guilty to the charges on Monday after going through a competency “restoration” program at Western State Psychiatric Hospital in Lakewood. Court documents state that Robinson is schizophrenic.

According to court documents, police were sent to 1505 W. Market St. to conduct a welfare check on Aug. 21 after receiving a report that Robinson was possibly not taking his medications and had made statements about killing his mother’s dog.

One day earlier, Robinson reportedly said he had “put the family dog down,” because “the dog had told him to.” On Aug. 21, Aberdeen officers found Robinson, who explained he had taken the dog for a walk around 11 p.m. two nights prior at which the time the dog growled at Robinson and asked him to kill it.

During the walk, Robinson said he found a stake and stabbed the dog with it, before tying it to a fence post near the railroad tracks. Robinson told police he left the dog after he tied it up and came back to find it wasn’t dead.

Robinson stated that the dog “looked up at me and said, ‘This isn’t how I am going to go.’” Robinson then hit the dog over the head with a board to make sure it was dead, according to court documents.

When the dog was found by police, the stake was sticking out of the dog’s top left side and the animal appeared to have been stabbed several times. The dog was deceased and appeared to have suffered a punctured lung due to the assault. A wooden 4x4 post was also found near the animal.

Robinson will be sentenced next Monday.

Sheriff’s Office looking for information about shots at the beach near Westport

The Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office is looking for information regarding shots fired near the Bonge Avenue beach approach near Westport shortly before midnight Sunday.

The window of a pickup was shot out as one man sat in the cab and two others stood nearby. There were no injuries.

At about 11:30 p.m. three clam diggers came back to their vehicle, which was parked near the beach approach. One of the clam diggers was seated in the driver’s seat of a 2014 4-door GMC pickup. The vehicle was running with its headlights on, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The other two clam diggers were in front of the vehicle taking off their clam digging clothing in the illumination of the headlights. At that time four or five shots were heard coming from the area of the dunes. The rear passenger door window was shot out of the GMC pickup. No one was injured, but anyone with any information about the shooting is requested to contact Sgt. Brad Johansson of the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office at 360-964-1723.

Quinaults, DNR move to dismiss Lake Quinault lawsuit

The Quinault Indian Nation and the state Department of Natural Resources have filed motions to dismiss a lawsuit filed against them in December that challenges the Indian Nation’s jurisdiction over Lake Quinault.

The suit was filed on Dec. 31 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma by North Quinault Properties, LLC and Thomas and Beatrice Landreth. It asks the federal court to determine the public’s right to access the lake, its shore and lake bed as well as what rights property owners who live on the lake have.

The Quinault Indian Nation regulates recreational use of the lake for non-tribal members and has implemented fishing and boating bans on the lake in the past, although most of those restrictions are now lifted.

The initial complaint states that jurisdiction of the lake revolves around the Public Trust doctrine, saying navigable waters are preserved for public use and when Washington State joined the union in 1889 it was given “equal footing” as other territories, which included use of public waters.

The Quinault Indian Nation states in its motion to dismiss that the suit is not valid given the tribe’s immunity to lawsuits without its consent as a federally recognized, sovereign nation. The motion also argues that since the land is held in trust for the nation by the United States, with the tribe having beneficial use rights, the U.S. has to be involved in the case in order for it to move forward.

“Because the U.S. has a legal interest in the property, it has to be involved in the case,” said Rob Roy Smith, an attorney representing the Quinault Indian Nation.

A response filed by the plaintiff’s lawyers says the Quinault’s dismissal should be denied as the suit is not filed against the Indian Nation itself or tribal members, but rather tries to determine jurisdiction of the lake, making irrelevant the Quinault’s’ claim of immunity from suit as a sovereign entity.

It also states that the doctrine of tribal immunity does not apply where a state maintains jurisdiction over the property in question, which the plaintiff’s lawyers argue is the case.

Regarding the Nation’s argument that the U.S. is a required party to follow through with legal action, the plaintiff’s lawyers say that position is “premature,” in that there has yet to be a determination regarding as to whether the property is “held in trust such that the United States has an interest in the property.”

“If the motions are granted, we’ll just end up in state court. These are jurisdictional issues,” said Elizabeth Thompson, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. “It will be up to the client what happens. It’s kind of speculative at this point.”

The Department of Natural Resources’ motion to dismiss cites its immunity from suit under the 11th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

The argument in the motion quotes the amendment as saying, “… the judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.”

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that the state defendants are only being provided noticed to have the party be a part of the issues related to those rights associated with Lake Quinault.

Judge Ronald B. Leighton will review the dismissal motions.

According to the Deputy Clerks Office in Tacoma, if the case moves forward, hearing dates won’t be set until a joint status report is filed in April.

More than 15 years for man who committed violent stabbing

Courtroom pews were filled on Friday when John W.A. Russell was sentenced to 15 years and three months in prison for the gruesome stabbing last June that nearly killed a woman.

Russell, 26, of Aberdeen was convicted by a jury earlier this month of first and second degree assault after he slit one woman’s throat, nicking a major artery and then stabbed one of her friends as he tried to intervene.

Jeanette Johnson was sitting at the counter in her kitchen with Russell and Issac Stone for a get-together on June 29 when the stabbing took place, according to court documents. Johnson told police that the three were having a conversation when Russell stood up, walked behind Johnson and slit her throat in an unprovoked attack.

When Stone tried to intervene, Russell came toward him with the knife and cut him on the neck and chest. During the struggle, Stone asked why Russell had cut Johnson, to which Russell replied, “she hurt me,” and then said he wanted to show he could assault people for no reason, court documents state.

Johnson’s husband took her to the hospital.

Johnson, obviously upset, addressed the court during Friday’s sentencing.

“I just wanted to point out that a whole lot of people were hurt for no reason. I can’t change what’s happened here but he (Russell) can change what’s next,” she said.

County Prosecutor Katie Svoboda expressed disbelief as to the senseless nature of the crime.

“To me this is a crime unlike most that we see. Very rarely does this county have truly violent crime that’s so random in nature,” she said. “There was no provocation that would explain what happened, let alone justify it.”

Svoboda also told that the court that Russell’s lack of remorse, coupled with the fact that he was carrying two knives and a loaded gun the night of the crime, adds to the severity of the incident.

Russell appeared calm as he told Judge Mark McCauley that he had no recollection of what happened the night of the assault.

“I don’t remember anything that happened, but I do know the Johnsons are good people,” he said.

Russell said he would spend his time in prison trying to “better himself as a person.”

McCauley made it clear he was troubled by the actions committed by Russell. McCauley said he didn’t believe the maximum sentence under state guidelines was sufficient given the violent nature of the crime.

“If it was my decision, he’d be going away for most of the rest of his life,” he said. “It’s scary he could act out like he did with no justification,” adding that Johnson most likely would’ve died if it weren’t for her husband getting her to hospital immediately.

McCauley ordered Russell to have a mental evaluation completed while incarcerated and even mentioned the possibility of civil commitment after Russell served his time. Russell’s defense attorney, Christopher Baum, questioned the court’s authority on such a matter, but McCauley made it clear he thought the consideration was necessary.

“I’m not sure the court has authority on this (civil commitment),” said Baum.

“I’m not sure either, but I’m going to try,” responded McCauley.

After the trial, family members of both Johnson and Russell were visibly emotional and refused to speak with a reporter.

“I don’t want anymore,” said Johnson refusing to comment. “I just want closure.”

Second Kuhn to win crown at Miss Grays Harbor

Contestant number five, 20-year old Paige Kuhn, daughter of Tim an Dawn Kuhn, was crowned 2015 Miss Grays Harbor at the 7th St. Theatre in Hoquiam on Saturday night.

Kuhn is the younger sister of Lauren Kuhn, who carries the titles of 2013 Miss Grays Harbor and 2014 Miss America Fourth Runner up as Miss Massachusetts. The elder sister was unable to be in the audience this evening because, as a Harvard dental student, she was applying to a national position of the American Student Dental Association. The conference was this weekend in Boston, her parents said.

With flowers in hand, Miss Kuhn, was very excited about her winnings. “I don’t know what… I’m so excited!” she said breathless. “I got so much scholarship money, now I can pay for school!” said the Eastern Washington University student.

Kuhn was the winner of the “Living Your Platform,” “Lifestyles and Fitness,” “Empowered Young Women,” “Top Interview” and “Together We Can (commitment to community)” scholarships and shared the “Top Evening Gown,” scholarship. All in total, Kuhn won half of the $10,000 that was awarded Saturday evening. Kuhn’s platform is “Providing School Supplies to Those in Need.”

First runner up, Cora Foss, won the Talent Competition, singing “Somewhere over the Rainbow” and also shared the “Top Evening Gown” with Kuhn. Foss also won the “Dash for Cash,” owing much thanks to her brother Elliot for running up and down the isles of the theater collecting money.

Second runner-up was Arianna Berré, who won the “Scholastic Achievement” and “Four Points of the Crown” scholarships.

“Staff Award” was given to Stephanie Hornback. Two “Personal Growth” scholarships were given away to Jess Marie Matthews and Alexi Pratte.

The Miss Congeniality, was chosen by the contestants as Kuinn Karaffa.

The evening was an extravaganza of singing and dancing. Besides the talent competition, numbers included “Dancing Queen,” and songs sung by 2014 Miss Grays Harbor Connie Morgan, “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” “I’ve got one less problem without you” and “Where is my Home” as well as the antics of emcees, Liz and Pat Anderson who kept the crowd laughing all night.

Special appearances were made by many past Miss Grays Harbor winners including 1995 winner, Krystle Ochsner Ramos from Nashville who sang, “This Girl is on Fire,” Raindrop Princesses and Miss Auburn, Miss Washington, Miss West Sound, Miss Seattle, Miss Outstanding Teen contestant, Magin Chesley and last night’s Miss Grays Harbor Outstanding Teen winner, Nora Coffelt. The Spirit of Miss Grays Harbor award was presented to Dawn and Tim Kuhn, who were representing the winner, their daughter, Lauren Kuhn mentioned above.

Miss Grays Harbor director, Sue Drolz, said, “I had an amazing year last year and I plan to have another amazing year this year. I have two great title winners.”

Mayor says Cobain celebration not in City hands

Despite the city of Aberdeen’s declaration of Kurt Cobain Day on Feb. 20 last year, there was no official celebration to be found on what would have been Cobain’s 48th birthday on Friday.

A year ago, Mayor Bill Simpson offered a proclamation calling for an annual citywide celebration. Hundreds turned out to celebrate Aberdeen’s most famous rocker and founder of Nirvana on his birthday. He committed suicide in Seattle in 1994.

Simpson, who hosted last year’s event, said this week that the celebration has since changed hands, and is now under the direction of Troy Richart of Boomtown Records. The record store on Wishkah Street, Simpson said, asked late last year to host the celebration.

“Go for it”

“It was hard last year to put it together in the matter of a week, week and a half,” Simpson said Thursday. “When Boomtown suggested they would like to do it, and have a street dance, I said, ‘Hey, go for it.’”

A Boomtown Records employee said Thursday that a celebration is in the works for later this summer. Richart, the store’s owner, was not available for comment.

For years, many suspected the city had avoided celebrating Cobain’s memory due to the star’s history of drug abuse, but plaques in the downtown area, a mural, a museum exhibit and a landing on the Wishkah River all commemorating Cobain have been installed in recent years. Simpson said he’d like to see the observance of Cobain’s and Nirvana’s place in music kept alive.

“I just hope that we can keep celebrating it,” Simpson said. “It’s important not for just Kurt Cobain’s birthday but for Nirvana and what they’ve done as far as music goes.”

Kyle Mittan, 360-537-3932, kmittan@thedailyworld.com. Twitter: @KyleMittan

Retail marijuana store’s sign of contention

The owner of the Have a Heart retail marijuana business in Ocean Shores is challenging a city attempt to have him take down a sign on an existing readerboard outside the facility on Ocean Shores Boulevard.

“When they make them take down the liquor store and beer signs in town, I’ll take mine down,” said Ryan Kunkel, one of the owners of the new store that opened recently at 668 Ocean Shores Blvd. NW.

Kunkel said he talked with the city building inspector at his store this week, showed him definitions of what was allowable under state Liquor Control Board regulations, and then called the Liquor Control Board for clarification. Still, he was unsure what the next step would be and the sign was still up.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.

Kunkel, who has a successful marijuana business in the Seattle area, said he believes his business is being unfairly singled out: “I have dealt with this in a lot of towns with a lot of other stores.”

The issue was raised Feb. 9 at the last Ocean Shores City Council meeting by Councilwoman Ginny Hill, who asked city attorney Brent Dille about the sign.

“I don’t know how many of you have noticed the recreational marijuana sign that’s newly posted,” Hill said.

“And the sign is huge,” she added.

When the council held meetings and a public hearing about the business last year, Hill said, the representation then was the sign would be “very small, unobtrusive and no one would even know they had a store there.”

According to Hill after talking with the city attorney, “That sign can be no more than 16 square inches.”

Kunkel said he intends to show the sign is in compliance.

The dimensions that Hill referred to, he explained, pertain to the signage that is allowed on the business structure itself.

“But the readerboard is not part of my business premises. So I am allowed under advertising rules to put up billboards or be on readerboards,” he said.

Here’s what Have a Heart noted from the Liquor Control Board:

“Can my property owner place advertising on their reader board? In other words, sign on my business AND sign on strip mall reader-board at edge of parking lot?”

Answer: “Yes. This would be permissible if the second sign would not be located on the premises.”

Nora Coffelt wins teen pageant

Tonight the Miss Grays Harbor pageant will take center stage at the 7th St. Theatre in Hoquiam, but last night the Miss Grays Harbor Oustanding Teen Pageant had the limelight.

Nora Coffelt, a 16-year-old Aberdeen High School sophomore, took home the crown. Her peer, 15-year-old Grace Aiken was awarded the title of first runner up, Miss Congeniality was awarded to 14-year-old Alex Elledge and 15-year-old contestant Magin Chesley was recognized for her academic achievement.

The Miss Grays Harbor pageant will take place at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15.

Tsunami surge study produces sobering results

When a major earthquake strikes the Northwest, destructive shaking won’t be the only thing the region has to worry about.

“The big one” could also trigger a tsunami that threatens communities up and down the Washington and Oregon coasts. And the surge could also push miles inland along the Columbia River, raising water levels as much as 13 feet at the river’s mouth, according to a new study by researchers at Oregon State University.

The study found that the Columbia would rise by about 6.6 feet at river Mile 12, within 3 miles of Astoria, Ore. At Welch Island, just downstream of Cathlamet, the river would rise by about 1.6 feet. It wouldn’t be until Longview — some 50 miles upstream — that the tsunami would largely dissipate and cause no measurable rise on the Columbia, according to the study. The Portland-Vancouver area would also be unaffected by the surge.

The study also found the tsunami’s severity would be impacted by ocean tides more than the amount of water flowing in the river at the time.

“We were a little surprised that the river’s water flow didn’t really matter that much,” David Hill, an associate professor of civil engineering at OSU’s College of Engineering, said in a released statement. “The maximum reach of a tsunami on the Columbia will be based on the tidal level at the time, and of course the magnitude of the earthquake causing the event.”

Researchers assumed a 9.0-magnitude earthquake for their study. That’s on par with the monster temblor that struck Japan and caused a devastating tsunami there in 2011. That event also saw the tsunami reach far inland through local rivers and cause damage, according to the study. That’s why researchers are paying more attention to tsunami risks facing residents along such rivers, including the Columbia.

“There have been previous models of Columbia River run-up as a result of a tsunami, but they had less resolution than this work,” Hill said.

As part of the study, researchers created a map detailing the specific areas on the Columbia that could see tsunami-caused flooding. The study was recently published in the Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering. It was authored by Hill and OSU graduate student Kirk Kalmbacher.

The Northwest’s next major earthquake is expected to come from the Cascadia Subduction Zone. That’s the fault scientists believe is due for another large event causing widespread damage across the region. The Cascadia fault sits off the Pacific coast, and stretches roughly from Vancouver Island to northern California.

Though a tsunami wouldn’t push far enough inland to pose any risk to Clark County, people should still be prepared for an earthquake or any type of disaster, said Eric Frank, emergency management coordinator for the Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency. Residents should have adequate water, nonperishable food and other supplies on hand in case basic utilities are unavailable for an extended period of time, he said. Phone systems could be overwhelmed; firefighters and first responders could be out of reach, he added.

“Realistically we just do not know what types of resources will be available,” Frank said.

When preparing for any disaster, including an earthquake, residents should also be mindful of medication and other needs specific to them, he said.

“That means different things to different people,” Frank said.

Flood cleanup this weekend

A volunteer flood cleanup scheduled for Saturday morning aims to mitigate lingering damage and effects from the January storm and flood and anyone can show up to help, according to The Grays Harbor Storm Recovery Incident Management Team.

The purpose of the cleanup is to help keep residents safe within their existing housing. Volunteers will be able to move items and debris, clean surfaces and remove wet insulation, but will not be able to make major structural repairs. During the cleanup, flood victims will be provided with a list of resource for additional repairs beyond the abilities of the volunteers.

Volunteers should report to the Pearsall Building (2109 Sumner Ave.) in Aberdeen at 7 a.m. for training session. At 7:30 a.m. volunteers will be registered as state emergency workers before they receive team assignments at 8 a.m. and will be assigned to homes at 9 a.m. The cleanup will aid homes who have requested assistance through Coastal Community Action Program.

Assistance will be provided to renters, homeowners and landlords. Landlords must provide authorization of any work done in the home beyond the renter’s personal belongings. The management team also said it is critical that residents who have requested assistance maintain contact with the CCAP flood line (360) 500-4551 and are home on Saturday.

Additionally, three teams from the state Department of Ecology’s Washington Conservation Corps arrived this week to assist with flood recovery efforts, with two additional teams are expected this weekend, according to the Incident Management Team.

Gov. Jay Inslee has authorized the deployment of the Conservation Corps, with the Department of Ecology stepping up to cover the team costs within existing agency funds.

The three regular teams assigned to the effort are being housed by the Immanuel Baptist Church in Hoquiam and the Incident Management Team hopes they will be able to remain in service for up to two more weeks.

Shirt sleeves clamming in February

Montesano resident John Boerner pulls a razor clam from the sand Wednesday evening on the beach at Grayland. The clam opening continues through Sunday at various beaches. Today, Long Beach and Twin Harbors just south of Grays Harbor are open. Friday, Mocrocks is added to those two. Saturday, Copalis is added to the list. Sunday, Copalis comes off the list.

No contaminants found in Hoquiam River oil spill

State Department of Ecology officials have found no traces of contaminants in the Hoquiam River following a light oil spill, though the water is not completely clean, officials said Wednesday.

A Coast Guard incident management team responded to the spill on Saturday afternoon after receiving reports of a sheen on the river’s surface near the Harbor Paper Mill. The Coast Guard, in conjunction with the departments of Ecology, Fish and Wildlife and the Grays Harbor PUD, is now investigating the spill.

As one of the leaseholders of the mill site, the PUD is helping with clean-up efforts following the spill. Spokesman Ian Cope said the district hasn’t taken responsibility for the spill, and that tests to determine the cause remain ongoing.

“Our contractors immediately stopped the demolition work and started work on containment and clean up of the site,” Cope said. “At this point, we don’t know the source of the oil.”

Lisa Copeland, communications director for the Department of Ecology, said tests so far haven’t shown any signs of contaminants, though the waters where the spill happened, she said, have not been deemed completely clean as of Wednesday afternoon.

The department, she added, was especially concerned about polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs — toxic chemicals found in electrical transformers and other equipment found near the Harbor Paper Mill, where the spill originated.

“We were a little worried there might be some PCBs in there because they’re demolishing and dismantling that plant,” Copeland said. “So we thought there may be some electrical components (in the river).”

The spill, Copeland said, was a mixture of diesel fuel, hydraulic fluid and other lubricants. She added the department will have a better understanding of what was in the spill following the tests.

Copeland added that the sampling of water in the area is expected to last several more days. The samples will then be used to further investigate the environmental impact of the spill.

Aberdeen Police say they have leads on hanged dog

Aberdeen Police Capt. John Green said police are still looking for whoever is responsible for the death of a dog that was found hanged last week in Aberdeen, although they have some leads in the case.

Since the case is still open, Green couldn’t disclose what information police have obtained since an Aberdeen Officer found the dog hanging by a leash that was tied to the top of a wooden fence last Thursday. Police and Animal Control believe the dog, discovered in the 400 block of West Fifth Street, suffocated as a result of being hanged.

Green said police have talked to residents who lived near where the dog was found and are also hoping someone recognizes the leash and collar that was found on the animal. He said leads have been chased down and Detective Jon Hudson is actively pursuing the case.

“We’re suspecting people have information, we’re just hoping they let us know,” said Green. “It (the dog’s death) hit a lot of people right in the nerves. This is really wrong.”

As of right now, there is a combined $1,200 reward for anyone with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for the dog’s death. Operation Dog Rescue has put forth $300 of that reward, Harbor Rescue contributed $200 and an anonymous donor has offered $700.

In addition to these donations, Harbor Rescue Founder Debra Thomas-Blake said she is in the process of setting up a donation fund at Timberland bank that will go toward the reward. She expects the fund, titled “animal cruelty reward,” to be set up sometime later this week.

Those who would like to donate can inquire at Timberland Bank branches. All proceeds will go to the reward only and Thomas-Blake said what isn’t claimed of the money for the dog will be saved for another animal cruelty case.

Anyone with information regarding the case is asked to call the Aberdeen Police Department at (360) 533-3180 or the department’s tip line, (360) 538-4450.

Fires at train derailment still smolder as investigators look for answers

MONTGOMERY, W.Va. — Small fires continued to burn for a third day at the site of the latest crude oil train derailment, more than 100 people remain locked out of their homes and investigators trying to determine the cause endured work in subzero temperatures.

Only one resident was treated for minor injuries after 29 cars of a 109-car CSX train derailed Monday. Nineteen of those cars carrying crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken shale region caught fire, with several exploding into massive fireballs.

A unified command post for the derailment was established Wednesday in this town of about 1,600, about 30 miles southeast of Charleston, the state capital. The post combines several federal agencies and their state counterparts involved in the accident cleanup and investigation.

“The top priorities for response personnel remain the safety of the community and responders, and mitigating the impact to the environment,” said Coast Guard Capt. Lee Boone, the federal on-scene coordinator.

As 1 to 3 inches of additional snow fell on top of several of the derailed tank cars, workers began re-railing and moving some of the ones still loaded with oil. Officials from the Federal Railroad Administration got a closer look at the derailment site Wednesday morning and were able to review video footage from cameras on the train’s locomotives.

But 48 hours after the derailment, conditions were not safe enough for CSX to begin transferring the oil from the damaged tank cars to trucks.

“That is the first priority,” said Rob Doolittle, a CSX spokesman.

The evacuated residents remain in nearby hotels, and Doolittle said they will be able to return to their homes “as soon as it’s safe.”

Water service was restored Wednesday morning to some area residents who had been without it since Monday. Though no oil has been detected in the nearby Kanawha River, which supplies drinking water for the area, intake pumps were turned off as a precaution. Residents were still advised to boil their water.

About 500 feet of oil containment boom was deployed in the river as a precaution, according to officials. The derailment site is just downstream from the New River Gorge, a national park and popular recreation area.

Even as the scent of burning oil permeated the frigid air Wednesday, residents who evacuated Monday night were trying to get their lives back in order, stocking up on groceries and shoveling their snow-covered driveways.

Brandon Truman, 32, who lives in Boomer, across the river from the wreck site and had worked in the North Dakota oilfields, where the cargo originated, said he and others felt the explosions, then the heat from the fire.

“It shook the whole (river) bottom,” he said.

Environmental groups, meanwhile, sounded the alarm about the threat to public safety and the environment from fiery oil train derailments. Only a day before the West Virginia incident, another oil train derailed and caught fire in northern Ontario.

Last April, a train carrying crude oil also from North Dakota’s Bakken shale region derailed in Lynchburg, Va., spilling 30,000 gallons. Some of the oil burned, but some also spilled into the James River, a water supply for many nearby towns.

Pat Calvert, a river conservationist whose office overlooks the site of April’s derailment, called for increased inspections of the rail lines used to move oil.

“This is an alarming reminder that our rivers and communities continue to be at risk every day without stronger safety requirements for Bakken crude oil transport,” he said.

Former substitute teacher pleads to child porn, molestation charges

A former Aberdeen substitute teacher accused of child molestation entered into a plea agreement on Tuesday in Grays Harbor Superior Court after being charged with possessing child pornography and molesting a minor last spring.

Ryan A. Rocquin, 33, pleaded guilty to child molestation in the first degree and possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first and second degree as part of the agreement.

He will be sentenced on March 20.

According to court documents, a 5-year-old girl told her mother that Rocquin had touched her inappropriately and taken “naughty pictures” when the girl was at Rocquin’s house during the weekend of April 11, 2014.

Immediately after the conversation with her daughter, the girl’s mother called police and reported what the 5-year-old told her.

A search warrant was served at Rocquin’s house on April 17 at which time a number of items that were thought to contain digital images were seized and sent to Bellevue Police for forensic examination.

The forensic analysis revealed a total of seven nude pictures of the 5-year-old victim along with 400 digital images that depicted both male and female children engaged in sexually explicit poses or acts, according to court documents.

Rocquin initially pleaded not guilty to the charges last fall.

As part of the plea agreement, the prosecution agreed not to allege any aggravating circumstances surrounding the crime, but no charges were dropped.

Rocquin could face more than 16 years in prison, as the top of the sentencing range.

Escapee located, taken into custody

A Grays Harbor woman who escaped from police last week while being loaded into a van to be transported to the Grays Harbor County Jail has been located and taken into custody, said Aberdeen Police Capt. John Green.

Jessica J. Krebs, 23, escaped from a corrections officer who was loading her into a jail van to take her from Aberdeen to the county jail last Monday around 6 p.m. Krebs was arrested for auto theft and forgery the same day as she escaped.

Green said the Aberdeen Police Department received information on Wednesday that Krebs was at a motel in Centralia. The Centralia Police Department went to the motel and took Krebs into custody.

Green said she is now at the City of Aberdeen Jail awaiting formal charges for escape in the second degree.

Aberdeen man charged with hit and run, drug offenses

An Aberdeen man plead not guilty to hit-and-run and drug charges on Monday in Superior Court stemming from an incident that took place in December.

Christopher Lee Butterfield, 29, is charged with causing a hit-and-run injury accident and possessing methamphetamine after he allegedly backed his vehicle into a Hoquiam man before police found drugs in his possession.

According to court documents, Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a a hit and run injury at 2221 E. Hoquiam Road on Dec. 14 on reports of a man, later identified as Butterfield, backing into the owner of the residence and fleeing the scene.

The owner told police he and his son had gone to the property and parked their vehicle out of sight around 6 a.m. to see if they could catch someone stealing anything from the property, as many thefts had occurred at the house lately. Shortly after 7:50 a.m., a white Ford pickup arrived at the property, driving past two “no trespassing” signs and then slamming on the brakes when the owner came into view.

When the owner of the property attempted to walk to the driver side of the vehicle, the pickup backed towards him and the handle on the canopy window struck him in the chest. The trailer hitch went between the owner’s legs and the truck struck his right knee before he fell to the ground.

As the vehicle was backing to the right, the owner grabbed onto the truck’s windshield wiper in fear he would be run over by the left front tire and hung on for 25 or 30 feet while the vehicle was moving, before the side of the vehicle approached two trees and the owner had to let go.

Butterfield and the passenger were later located near US 101 near MP 103 where they had abandoned the pickup truck.

When contacted by police, Butterfield said he had been given a ride by a “crazy guy” named “Dave” at the time of the incident, according to court documents. Police showed Butterfield a picture taken during the incident that showed the truck and the passenger, refuting his story.

When asked by police if there was anything inside of his backpack, Butterfield said there was a loaded syringe and requested the officer “just empty it out and forget about it,” according to court documents.

After Butterfield was taken to the Hoquiam Police Department, a syringe, cotton ball and a metal spoon was discovered in Butterfield’s backpack. The cotton ball found tested positive for methamphetamine and Butterfield was booked into jail.

Light oil discharged into Hoquiam River from former mill site

HOQUIAM — A Coast Guard incident management team has responded to the waters off of Hoquiam’s Harbor Paper Mill site after receiving reports of a sheen coming from the Hoquiam River. The sheen was caused by a light oil product, testing revealed.

The report, which came into the National Response Center on Saturday, according to the Coast Guard, prompted the Coast Guard to dispatch the incident team and representatives from Cowlitz Clean Sweep to contain and clean up the pollution. The responders boomed off the area, and are using absorbent materials, flushing the waterway, setting up containment berms and using vacuum trucks to remove contaminated water.

The source of the discharge was found to be from one of the subcontractors working on the demolition of the Harbor Paper Mill. Once the contamination was reported, demolition operations were halted and clean up efforts began, the Coast Guard reported. Pollution samples were tested, and found that the discharge contained a light oil product.

“The actions of the initial witnesses, contractors and Coast Guard personnel ensured the source was promptly secured and discharge contained,” said Chief Petty Officer Bradley Bennett, a pollution investigator a Sector Columbia River. “The Coast Guard will continue to monitor clean up efforts to help minimize the damage that may have been caused.”

Fiery oil-train crash probed by U.S. rail, pipeline regulators

U.S. regulators joined the investigation into a fiery CSX Corp. oil-train derailment in West Virginia that forced residents to flee their homes in frigid weather and threatened drinking water.

The crash, the second in 10 months involving a CSX train laden with Bakken oil, promises to add to the public-safety debate over North American crude-by-rail shipments. The Obama administration is revising standards after a series of oil-train derailments led by a 2013 Quebec accident that killed 47 people and non-fatal explosions in the U.S.

Sarah Feinberg, acting administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, and Chief Safety Officer Robert Lauby were traveling to the crash site, and investigators from the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration were already on the scene, according to the FRA.

As firefighters worked Tuesday to douse the remaining flames following Monday’s derailment, authorities’ focus turned to learning why the train came off the tracks and whether the cargo of North Dakota Bakken crude had reached a municipal water intake on the Kanawha River.

Ice dams may have kept the crude from reaching a local water system, and authorities are testing samples to be sure the spill was contained, said Terrance Lively, a spokesman for the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety in Charleston.

“We do know there is some crude oil in the stream,” Lively said Tuesday by telephone.

Gary Sease, a CSX spokesman, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday about track conditions and the train’s speed at the time of the accident, which occurred after 1 p.m. on Monday.

The rural nature of the crash site may have limited the fallout from having 27 oil cars derail and as many 15 of them catch fire. Even with power lines damaged, the possible jeopardy to the water system and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declaring a state of emergency covering Kanawha and Fayette counties, only about 85 people had to use local shelters, Lively said.

CSX is cooperating with federal authorities, Sease said by email. The train — with 107 oil cars, two cars of sand and a pair of locomotives — was headed for Yorktown, Virginia, according to Sease.

The destination was a rail-to-marine terminal operated by Plains All American Pipeline LP, according to New York-based ClipperData, which tracks waterborne crude movements. A Plains All American spokesman, Brad Leone, didn’t immediately respond to a voice message and e-mail left before regular business hours Tuesday.

The April 2014 crude-train derailment in Lynchburg, Virginia, also involved a CSX train headed to the Plains All American facility. About 15 cars came off the tracks, and the resulting fire led to dramatic video of flames and billowing smoke against the backdrop of a small city’s downtown.

The tank units on the West Virginia train were CPC-1232 rail cars made with either 7/16-inch (1.1-centimeter) carbon steel shells and 1/8-inch carbon steel jackets, or cars with 1/2-inch carbon steel shells, according to an e-mail from Sease.

The new U.S. standards for trains carrying crude would first require companies to upgrade tank cars known as DOT-111s, which safety investigators have said are prone to puncture in rail accidents, a person familiar with the proposal said this month.

The draft rule also would require that new cars be built with steel shells that are 9/16th of an inch thick, people familiar with the plan said. The walls of the current cars, both DOT-111s and the newer CPC-1232 models, are 7/16th of an inch thick.

Monday’s derailment was the second in three days in North America. Canadian National Railway Co. shut its main line linking western and eastern Canada after an eastbound train carrying crude oil came off the tracks in Ontario.

The train of 100 cars, all carrying crude from Canada’s oil-producing region of Alberta to eastern Canada, derailed just before midnight Saturday in a remote and wooded area about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Gogama, Ontario, spokesman Patrick Waldron said in an e-mail.

— Dufner reported from Dallas. Contributors: Theo Mullen in Atlanta, Rebecca Penty in Calgary, Aaron Clark in Tokyo, Jim Polson in New York and Dan Murtaugh in Houston.