In brief: Salvation Army behind its goal
Salvation Army bell ringers need some help.
Today is the last day of their annual kettle drive, and the Army is about 10 percent behind its goal for the holiday fundraising season.
Rich Silva, the business administrator for the Salvation Army, said the agency is hoping for a total of $635,000 between its kettle collections and mail fundraising efforts.
He said cold weather early in the drive followed by wet weather may have hurt collections since people normally rush past the kettle bell ringers in bad weather.
“We’re not panicking,” he said.
However, the Salvation Army does not go out on Christmas Eve day, so today is the last chance to give to the charity, which operates a homeless shelter, transitional housing, a social service bureau and a community center.
Colfax
Rollover crash kills driver, 26
A 26-year-old man was killed Friday when his truck rolled on State Highway 26 about 10 miles west of Colfax, the Washington State Patrol reported.
Nicholas Eugene McMillen, of Cottonwood, Idaho, was eastbound on the highway about 10:30 a.m. when the 1971 Ford pickup he was driving drifted to the shoulder, the State Patrol said.
The truck rotated and rolled off the south shoulder of the road, coming to rest on its top in a field, the WSP said.
McMillen died at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt, the WSP said.
OLYMPIA
Agency to review response to storm
Gov. Chris Gregoire has ordered the head of the Emergency Management Division to review how the state responded to last week’s damaging windstorm.
She asked for a fast review of damage so that federal assistance can be sought quickly.
In a letter to Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, head of Washington’s Emergency Management Division, she asked for a report on the damage and suggestions for improvements.
The governor wants to know how effective was the communication system across the network of first responders; did the elderly and disabled receive help; and how effective was delivery of carbon monoxide warnings to non-English speakers.
Thirteen deaths have been attributed to the storm, with several people being struck by falling trees and others succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to heat their homes.
The report is due no later than March 1.
SEATTLE
Utility crews help with King outages
Utility crews from Snohomish, Pierce and Thurston counties arrived Friday to help restore power to the 15,000 customers who remain in the dark in King County from last week’s windstorm.
About 100 crews – 400 workers – drove north from Pierce and Thurston counties to work on Puget Sound Energy outages affecting 14,000 customers, mainly in suburbs east of Seattle.
Eight service crews from the Snohomish County Public Utility District arrived to help Seattle City Light restore power to 1,100 customers still without it.
The storm hit Dec. 14-15, packing heavy rain and winds of nearly 70 mph in the Seattle area and knocking out power to 1.5 million utility customers. Thirteen deaths have been attributed to it in Washington state, with several people being struck by falling trees or succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to heat their homes.
Compiled from staff
and wire reports