In brief: West, one of nation’s first black Marines, dies at 91
BEND, Ore. – Jonathan West, a World War II veteran who was among the first black Americans to serve in the Marines, has died in Bend. He was 91.
Less than two months ago West was among a few hundred of the surviving veterans of the Montford Point Marines to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’ highest civilian honor.
About 20,000 black Marines trained in a segregated Marine camp in Montford Point, N.C., from 1942 to 1949 after President Franklin Roosevelt allowed them to serve.
West was a mechanical engineer, graduating from the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Later, he worked in education and was a member of the school board in Eugene. He and his wife had retired in Seattle before moving to Bend six months ago, the Bend Bulletin reported Friday.
Police say man kidnapped ex-girlfriend’s daughter
YAKIMA – Police say a 20-year-old Yakima woman was found bound and gagged in the trunk of a car near the Yakima airport after being kidnapped from her home Thursday.
Police said the woman was taken from her home by her mother’s ex-boyfriend.
The Yakima Herald-Republic reported Friday the 44-year-old man is jailed pending possible charges of burglary and kidnapping.
Police said he broke into the daughter’s house, bound and gagged her, and locked her in the trunk of his car. Then he used the woman’s cellphone to send texts to her mother asking her to come to Yakima to talk.
The mother contacted police and asked them to check on her daughter. Police went to the daughter’s house and found the man there, and he led police to the car.
Truckload of fish parts spills on Highway 101
ILWACO, Wash. – A semitruck hauling a trailer full of salmon heads and guts intended for cat food spilled its load on Highway 101 north of Ilwaco.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Russ Winger said the “soupy” cargo apparently started sloshing around on a curve and caused the trailer to tip over Friday, closing the highway with the slimy mess.
The truck cab remained upright, and the driver was not injured.
An excavator was brought in to scoop up as much of the spill as possible. The rest was practically on the shore of Willapa Bay near the Willapa Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Winger said it would make a banquet for seagulls and crabs.
The truck was carrying the salmon leftovers from a rendering plant to a cat food factory.
Man charged with killing father with hatchet
TACOMA – A 29-year-old man accused of killing his father with a hatchet Thursday at their Tacoma home was charged Friday with first-degree murder.
The Pierce County prosecutor’s office said Jonathan Meline told investigators he had been planning to kill his father for several months. He said he believed his father had been hurting children.
Meline turned himself in at the Pierce County Jail in Tacoma.
The dead man, 56-year-old Robert Meline, was a sixth-grade teacher at Camas Prairie Elementary School in the Bethel School District.
The prosecutor’s office said Jonathan Meline has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He was committed to Western State Hospital then released last January to live with his parents.
Assault suspect dies after jumping out of window
EVERETT – A man suspected of assaulting a woman at an Everett hotel jumped to his death from a fourth-floor window as deputies attempted to arrest him.
The Snohomish County sheriff’s office said the man threw a table through the window and jumped. He suffered head injuries and died early Friday before help could arrive.
The woman was sent to a hospital with serious injuries from the assault.
The 39-year-old woman from California didn’t know the man, who has not been identified. Both were staying at the Hilton Garden Inn at Paine Field.
Deputies responded about 3 a.m. to the report of the assault.
Wenatchee-based ruling limits city loan guarantees
OLYMPIA – The state Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a case sparked by debt troubles involving Wenatchee’s events arena that municipalities can’t guarantee a loan to other entities if the obligation exceeds the city’s debt limit.
In the 5-4 ruling, the high court affirmed a Chelan County Superior Court decision that the city of Wenatchee would exceed its constitutional debt load if it backed nearly $42 million in bonds for the Town Toyota Center.
Arley Harrel, an attorney who represented the city, said the ruling doesn’t impact the center or the city because the city had refused to continue to back the debt in 2011 after the trial court ruling. Voters subsequently authorized the arena’s Public Facilities District to impose a 0.1 percent regional sales tax increase in April to bail out the arena.