In brief: Trooper at fault for injury collision
The State Patrol says a trooper was at fault for a collision at a U.S. 2 intersection in Wenatchee and will be disciplined.
State Patrol spokesman Rich Magnussen said Trooper Brian C. Moore, 29, failed to yield to another car Friday because his view was blocked. He suffered minor injuries in the crash that also sent the driver and two teenage passengers in the other car to Central Washington Hospital for treatment.
Lewiston
Police looking for Christmas joy rider
Police are looking for the Christmas Day joy rider who led Nez Perce County deputies on a high-speed chase along country roads and across a field before driving the car into a ravine and escaping on foot.
After responding to calls about an erratic driver Monday afternoon, police say they chased a 1998 Chrysler Sebring at speeds of up to 75 mph down a winding, 35 mph road.
The car was reported stolen Saturday night after its owner left it running outside a residence, said Nez Perce County Deputy Bill Madison.
Police picked up the car’s passenger, an unidentified 18-year-old, about two miles from the where the vehicle crashed. The passenger had demanded to be let out of the car, Madison said.
Police have not identified the driver.
Vancouver, Wash.
State, tribe work on Lewis-Clark site
The state is working with the Chinook Tribe to resume construction in the spring of a Lewis and Clark park near the mouth of the Columbia River.
Construction on the $6 million “Station Camp” was halted in September 2005 after workers unearthed the ancient remains of six Indians.
The 13-acre site is a mile northwest of the Astoria-Megler Bridge on Highway 101. It’s where Meriwether Lewis and William Clark spent their first night in view of the Pacific Ocean in 1805.
The state has agreed to change the park structure and move the highway about 60 feet from its original design to accommodate the burial site. If the tribal council allows work to resume, the park could be completed next year.
McMINNVILLE, Ore.
State buying land for road bypass
The state of Oregon has begun buying property for a highway bypass project in Oregon’s northern Willamette Valley wine country.
The Department of Transportation has scheduled a press conference Thursday in Newberg to announce that it has bought the first parcel, an 11,800-square-foot lot.
The 11-mile stretch would run south of Newberg’s downtown.
The McMinnville News-Register said property records also show the department picked up three other small city lots in the same area at about the same time.
But an official of the department said Tuesday that those lots were not intended for the bypass project, and at least two were part of a Newberg street job.
The project has been dubbed the Newberg-Dundee bypass.
It’s designed to reduce congestion on the two-lane Oregon 99W, which gives tasters access to some of Oregon’s most noted pinot noir vineyards and connects Portland with the Grande Ronde casino complex on the way to the Pacific coast.
Tim Potter, area manager for the transportation department, said current estimates are at about $100 million for right of way and $393 million for construction.
He said construction could take about two years and be complete, at the earliest, by 2010 or 2011.