Local Digest
Parks panel OKs Ballard skate bowl

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The commissioners' recommendation goes to Parks Superintendent Ken Bounds, who has final say on the park design. Bounds said he expects to make a decision next week.

Two years ago, volunteers built what was supposed to be a temporary bowl at the northwest corner of 22nd Avenue Northwest and Northwest 57th Street. Parks Department staff have suggested a park design that calls for demolishing the bowl. But skate-bowl advocates have carried out a savvy campaign to save the bowl.

State regulators approve rate increase for PSE

OLYMPIA — State regulators yesterday approved a $44 million electricity rate increase for Puget Sound Energy.

The 3.2 percent increase will boost the average power bill by $2.30 a month, to $61.15.

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission said its order will allow the Bellevue-based utility to recover higher power costs, including a newly acquired share of a power plant in Frederickson, in Pierce County, and power from the Encogen plant in Whatcom County.

The company had sought a $54.5 million increase, a 3.9 percent increase. That would have increased the average bill by $2.82 a month.

Puget Sound Energy recently filed a general rate increase request, asking to boost electric rates by 5.7 percent and natural-gas rates by 6.3 percent. The commission will decide on that by next March.

Second team will join bidding on Green Line

SEATTLE — British engineering and construction firm AMEC, which helped Canadian train maker Bombardier build the SkyTrain in Vancouver, B.C., is now looking for a piece of the future Seattle monorail.
 
AMEC has joined Bombardier's team in bidding on the Green Line through the western half of the city, the Seattle Monorail Project disclosed yesterday. That ensures there will be two teams competing for an estimated $1.3 billion contract this summer. The other team is led by Washington Group International and Fluor and offers Japanese-designed Hitachi trains.

Bombardier's team was at risk of collapse last month when Granite Construction and Kiewit Construction pulled out as major partners. Granite is Bombardier's partner on the new Las Vegas Monorail, expected to open this year.

"It appears to me they've strengthened their team," said monorail agency Chairman Tom Weeks, because AMEC has more experience in transit projects worldwide.

Blowtorch accident causes tow-yard fire

MAPLE VALLEY — A warehouse at a Maple Valley wrecking yard caught fire yesterday afternoon after an apparent blowtorch accident, injuring the owner.

The fire was reported about 12:20 p.m. at the 4 Corners wrecking and tow yard at 26625 Maple Valley Highway S.E.

Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety officials said an employee cutting the pickup bed of a truck with a torch accidentally sparked a canister containing a flammable substance. The fire spread throughout the auto parts storage building, which is about 60 by 100 feet. Investigators estimate the loss at $350,000.

The owner tried to put out the fire but suffered burns to his hands. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The owner apparently did not have insurance.

Opponents of tent city plan to seek restraining order

BOTHELL — Opponents of a planned tent city near Bothell yesterday asked King County Superior Court for a temporary restraining order against plans to move the homeless community onto county-owned land.

The motion claims the county neglected to follow due process in not informing the community ahead of time about Tent City 4's move to fields next to the Brickyard Road Park & Ride, that County Executive Ron Sims violated the county's Sensitive Areas Ordinance, and that the county did not complete an environmental analysis for use of the site. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today.

Another lawsuit is filed against deceased priest

SEATTLE — Another lawsuit has been filed in King County Superior Court against the Seattle Roman Catholic Archdiocese and the Rev. Edmund Boyle, accusing the deceased Roman Catholic priest of sexually molesting a boy in the 1950s.

The suit, filed Wednesday on behalf of a Seattle man identified only by the initials D.W.J., accuses Boyle of molesting the boy over several years while the priest was assigned to Seattle's St. James Cathedral.

At least four other people have filed suits against Boyle, accusing the priest, who died in 1995, of molesting them when they were minors. In 1987, Boyle was given a two-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to exposing himself to a terminally ill boy in Reno. A Seattle Archdiocese spokesman said the church wasn't aware of any problems with Boyle until the Reno incident.

District may turn to voters on overcrowding issue

LAKE STEVENS — School district officials likely will turn to taxpayers next year to help address overcrowding at the district's high school and two middle schools. At its meeting Wednesday night, Lake Stevens School Board members voted to approve a facilities plan that proposes building a school for eighth- and ninth-graders. The school would accommodate about 1,350 students and be planned to expand into a full high school, if needed.

The board has yet to determine the cost of the project but may propose a bond election in February. If approved, the school could open as early as 2007.

Lake Stevens High School, with 1,951 students at the start of the year, is the state's 10th largest. The district's student population has grown 70 percent in 10 years.

Group may sue agency for failing to protect whales

ANCHORAGE — A conservation group said yesterday it is prepared to sue a federal agency for failing to do more to protect a group of very rare North Pacific right whales in the Bering Sea.

The Center for Biological Diversity this week submitted a 60-day notice to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) over what it says is a breach of promise to protect the whales first sighted in 1996.

The center contends NMFS made several promises in 2002 that it didn't keep, including coming up with a recovery plan and continuing annual surveys.

NMFS spokeswoman Sheela McLean said the agency has several projects planned this summer to learn more about the right whales seen during summers in the southeastern Bering Sea. The projects include an expanded survey to find them, a satellite tagging project to learn about migration and biopsy tissue collection for genetic analysis.

Times staff and news services