In brief: Plastic boat better stretcher than sled

Thu., Jan. 19, 2012

HOQUIAM, Wash. – A 21-year-old Hoquiam, Wash., man who decided to go sledding in the city cemetery learned two lessons: An 8-foot plastic boat is not a good sled, but it works fine as a stretcher.

The man found that his “sled” quickly picked up speed Wednesday on the snowy cemetery hillside, sailing through trees and landing in a gully, police Chief Jeff Myers said.

Myers says the victim apparently suffered a broken leg.

Police, medics and friends used the boat as a rescue platform and managed to haul the victim out of the gully and up the hill.

Conclusion reached on gay marriage

OLYMPIA – An undecided Democratic lawmaker is taking a stance on same-sex marriage marriage.

Sen. Jim Kastama of Puyallup has scheduled a press conference for today to declare his position. Supporters of the bill are just two votes shy in the Senate, and Kastama is one of a half-dozen lawmakers who remain uncommitted.

Kastama is a conservative Democrat who voted in 1998 to define marriage as between one man and one woman. He supported a 2009 expansion of the state’s domestic partnership laws.

Baby born between floors of hospital

TACOMA – A baby was born on an elevator stuck between floors Wednesday at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma.

Blake Thacker entered the world early at 7 pounds, 15 ounces, just short of the 14th floor.

Some nurses who were moving his mother, Katie Thacker of Graham, to the birthing center made the delivery after the elevator stopped unexpectedly.

The News Tribune reports technicians got the doors open in time for his father, Luke Thacker, to climb inside and cut the umbilical cord.

Luke Thacker said everything went smoothly, considering the circumstances. Katie Thacker said she doesn’t remember much but kept asking, “Did I just really have a baby in an elevator?”

Man kills himself, cancer-stricken wife

OREGON CITY, Ore. – Police in Oregon City, Ore., say a husband and wife have been found dead in an apparent murder-suicide.

Lt. Jim Band said officers believe 56-year-old James “Mike” Hamel shot his 66-year-old wife Rhonda then himself.

Band told the Oregonian that Rhonda Hamel had exhausted conventional treatments for cancer, then turned to what he termed “extreme lengths” in hopes of finding a cure.

He said the couple had been married about 30 years.

Police received a call early Tuesday from a relative who said Mike Hamel had phoned to say his wife was “gone” and that he “couldn’t take it anymore.”

Teen will stand trial in shotgun incident

SANDPOINT – A North Idaho teen accused of firing a shotgun at a vehicle and injuring two people is expected to stand trial in March.

Larry Dean Flanigan Jr., 19, pleaded not guilty to felony aggravated battery and assault. Flanigan claims he acted in self-defense when he fired at the vehicle carrying five people near his Clark Fork home, injuring brothers Zachary and Nathan Nesbitt, the Bonner County Daily Bee reports.

The Dec. 6 confrontation started at a high school basketball game and then escalated.

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