Lights & Sirens » Kris Sherman

Prosecutor’s office gets another $190,000 to fund gang unit through 2011

Kris Sherman — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:39:50 +0000

Pierce County Council members applauded the successes of Prosecutor Mark Lindquist’s gang unit Tuesday and awarded his budget an additional $190,000 through the end of the year.

The money will pay for two prosecutors and associated staff to keep the gang unit running through the end of the year, Lindquist said. His total annual budget is about $26 million.

The unit’s emphasis on prosecuting local gang members has sent nearly three dozen members of the Hilltop Crips to prison for an aggregate total in the hundreds of years, he added.

Last month, Lindquist held a press conference to talk …

University Place school community mourns loss of assistant principal who died in motorcycle crash

Kris Sherman — Sun, 01 May 2011 18:45:21 +0000

Bryan Beale “was a talented and dedicated administrator who touched the lives of hundreds” of students and families in the University Place School District, Superintendent Patti Banks wrote on the school system’s website this morning.

Beale, assistant principal at Drum Intermediate School, died Saturday following a motorcycle accident in Tacoma. He was 37.

Beale also played in the Tacoma Concert Band and served on its board of directors, according to the organization’s website.

He was riding his motorcycle at the intersection of South 12th and South Stevens streets in Tacoma at about 10:45 a.m. Saturday when an SUV headed in …

Repairs at South 15th and Market streets will take at least until the end of April

Kris Sherman — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 23:58:30 +0000

The hole in the road at South 15th and Market streets in Tacoma is going to stay there longer than originally thought – keeping the street closed and forcing detours, the city said his afternoon.

The work likely won’t be done until the end of April.

Traffic can still get to businesses but there are diversions around the work.

Crews have been working on repairs for more than a week after a sewer line built in 1906 collapsed.

They first thought repairs would take several days. As recently as Tuesday, an assiatant public works director told City Council members it …

“He could have drowned,” official says of worker rescued after being swept down sewer line

Kris Sherman — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 01:00:17 +0000

Dramatic photos and a short video show the final moments of a sewer worker’s rescue this morning after he was swept down a pipe at Pierce County’s Chambers Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The man was sluiced some 3,000 feet down a 72-inch sewer main line before he was caught at an access point, county officials said.

The 37-year-old contract worker reportedly suffered only minor injuries. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation, according to a news release from the county.

“Our staff really rose the occasion,” Terry Soden, a Public Works and Utilities manager, said in the news …

Bridge to the Beach reopen at Chambers Creek

Kris Sherman — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 15:37:16 +0000

You can stroll the beach or watch the incoming storms again from the waterfront at Pierce County’s Chambers Creek properties.

The $3.8 million Bridge to the Beach reopened over the weekend after closure due to a train derailment, the county reported.

The bridge, which provides access to about 2.5 miles of Puget Sound waterfront, is open from dawn to dusk.

It was closed Feb. 26 after two trains sideswiped each other, causing several cars to derail from the BNSF tracks that run along the edge of the property.

All but Bridge to the Beach now open at Chambers Creek properties

Kris Sherman — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 19:16:34 +0000

Everything at Pierce County’s Chambers Creek properties and recreation area is now open except the Bridge to the Beach, the county said today.

Operations at the golf course and popular walking, jogging and biking trails in University Place were disrupted following a train derailment along the waterfront on Saturday.

Here’s the press release from Pierce County:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 28, 2011

Most of Chambers Creek Properties reopens to the public

With one exception, Pierce County’s popular Chambers Creek Properties returned to normal operations Monday, Feb. 28, following disruptions caused by

…

As snow piles up, garbage could, too

Kris Sherman — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 20:15:38 +0000

Slippery residential streets and other roads could prevent garbage trucks from getting to their pickups in some areas today, Pierce County officials say.

Here’s a copy of the county;s news release on the subject:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Feb. 24, 2011

Garbage, recycling, and yard waste collections impacted by weather and road conditions

The solid waste collection companies serving unincorporated Pierce County and cities and towns other than Tacoma and Ruston report that weather and road conditions may impact normal operations on Thursday, Feb. 24.

They include:

American Disposal
DM Disposal
Murrey’s Disposal
Lakewood Refuse

Road crews are sanding and plowing in Tacoma and Pierce County, but be careful out there

Kris Sherman — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:26:07 +0000

Road crews in Tacoma and Pierce County are working overtime to dump sand, lay down rivers of brine and plow snow drifts away on major arterials to keep them passable for commuters, officials said this morning.

But their best advice: Be careful out there.

Though arterials are being treated to bare-and-wet conditions, county road maintenance manager Bruce Wagner and city spokesman ROb McNair-Huff said drivers should remain cautious on all roadways

Side streets, particularly those with hills or in higher elevations not near the water, are the most dicey, McNair-Hugg said.

Crews working 12-hour shifts concentrate on major roadways …

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7-year-old Kent boy dies in sledding accident

Kris Sherman — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 04:02:28 +0000

A 7-year-old Kent boy died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle at about 4 p.m. today, less than two hours after his sled left a snow play area and slid into oncoming traffic on eastbound State Route 906 at Snoqualmie Pass.

The boy was identified as Jacob D. Ponce-Espinoza, the Washington State Patrol said.

The accident occurred at about 2:20 p.m. when the boy slid down a driveway at Hyak Sno-Park and onto the roadway, the Patrol said in a news release. He flew off the sled and into the path of a Toyota Camry.

The driver of the car …

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Searchers find missing Covington-area woman, 78, cold but OK in a fiel

Kris Sherman — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 03:10:40 +0000

Searchers found 78-year-old Betty Bauder alive but cold early this morning after she spent nearly 12 hours wandering alone near her Covington-area home in unincorporated South King County.

She was found in a field in the 24500 block of 180th Avenue Southeast, King County Sheriff’s spokesman John Urquhart said in a news release.

She was taken to an Auburn hospital for evaluation.

Bauder, who has dementia, slipped away from the house where she lives with her daughter at about 3:30 p.m. Friday. The home is in the 24200 block of 156th Avenue Southeast.

The 4-foot, 10-inch, 130-pound Bauder has gone …

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