14 horses, 13 dogs seized from ranch

Thurston County authorities seized 14 horses from a ranch for abused and neglected animals, saying the owner ignored repeated calls to improve living conditions.

Animal officers and sheriff's deputies removed the horses and 13 dogs Thursday from Miss Paula's Ranch, operated by Paula Nichols.

Many of the 14 horses appeared to be underweight and some had diseased hooves from standing in thick, cold mud and manure, authorities said.

County officials said they have warned Nichols for two years that she wasn't taking proper care of animals at the ranch.

"Basically, we tried to work with her. But things finally got to the point where we couldn't ignore it anymore," sheriff's Lt. Mike Ware told The Olympian newspaper.

The case is now being sent to the county prosecutor for possible animal-neglect charges, Ware said.

Nichols said she did her best to help the horses — going through 5 tons of hay a month, giving the animals medicine and calling in a veterinarian for a recent visit.

"How would you feel if your family was taken away from you?" she asked. "I would never do anything to hurt an animal; they're my babies."

Public-interest law scholarship offered

Seattle University is offering a new scholarship program for law students who make a commitment to devote much of their careers to public-interest law.

The Scholars for Justice Award is a three-year, full-tuition scholarship that will be awarded to two students beginning with the entering class next fall.

Seattle University, a Jesuit university, is the state's largest private college. For more information on the scholarship program, contact Carol Cochran, the assistant dean for admission, at ccochran@seattleu.edu or 206-398-4206.

Carport blaze destroys 5 cars

Five cars were destroyed and one severely damaged by a fire outside a Mill Creek apartment building early Friday.

Investigators from Snohomish County Fire District 7 are calling the 5:30 a.m. blaze in the 15400 block of County Club Drive "suspicious."

The six cars were under a carport in front of an apartment building, and the fire caused the carport to collapse, said fire district Assistant Chief Eric Andrews. The damage was estimated at $80,000.

Residents of a nearby apartment building were evacuated, and there was some damage to the building, but nobody was hurt, Andrews said.

2 motorists killed in crash identified

The two motorists killed in the wrong-way crash on Interstate 5 Thursday have been identified as Walter Vanheukelem, 88, of Everett, and Jeremiah Watkins, 27, of Anacortes.

Both were killed after Vanheukelem drove for as much as 2 ½ miles southbound in the northbound lanes on I-5 near Stanwood before hitting a car driven by Watkins about 1 p.m.

Troopers do not know what caused Vanheukelem to drive in the wrong direction, but said there was no evidence that he crossed the median, meaning he likely entered the freeway on an offramp or made a U-turn.

Seattle

Repairs to close exit to 520 from I-5

The exit to Highway 520 from southbound Interstate 5 in Seattle will be closed from 11 p.m. today to 6 a.m. Sunday.

Crews will be replacing a light pole and a signal junction box that were recently damaged in separate collisions. Crews also will be replacing lights in the tunnel as part of routine maintenance.

Division director at DSHS appointed

A veteran administrator of social and mental-health services has been chosen to lead Washington state mental-health services in the Department of Social and Health Services.

Richard E. Kellogg will become director of the Mental Health Division of the Health and Recovery Services Administration on Jan. 13, state officials announced this week. He now is state director of Community-Based Care Services in New Hampshire.

As Mental Health Division director, Kellogg will head a unit that includes the state's two mental hospitals, a Child Study Treatment Center in Lakewood that specializes in children's mental-health care, and the state's community mental-health program.

MaryAnne Lindeblad, who served as interim director, will return to her former post as director of the Division of Program Support in Health and Recovery Services Administration.

Naval Station won't lose carrier

The Pentagon announced Friday that an aircraft carrier from Virginia would replace an aging carrier in Japan, putting to rest concerns that Naval Station Everett would lose its carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln.

The USS George Washington will replace the USS Kitty Hawk as the forward deployed aircraft carrier in the western Pacific and will arrive in Yokosuka, Japan, in 2008.

Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Lake Stevens, who represents Everett, said the announcement caps a year in which local military installations avoided major changes recommended by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

"Between base-closing rumors and Lincoln-leaving rumors, 2005 has been the year of the rumor," Larsen said. "As a community, we made it successfully through all of them, and we end 2005 on a strong foot for the Northwest military's future."

Smith says vote on Iraq a mistake

Just back from Iraq, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Tacoma, says he is encouraged by the progress U.S. troops are making there. But Smith, one of two House Democrats from Washington state to vote in favor of the war, said Friday if he had to do it over, he would change his vote.

"I wanted to give our commander in chief a certain amount of trust," Smith said of his October 2002 vote authorizing President Bush to use force in Iraq.

"I decided we are at war, Saddam needs to be held accountable and I will trust the president," Smith told The Associated Press. "I feel like that trust turned out to be misplaced. If I had to do it all over again, I would not give it to him for that reason."

Smith's comments come a week after Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton, who also voted in favor of the war, said he now thinks the war was a mistake.

Smith, who returned Thursday from a five-day trip to Iraq and three other countries, said the morale of U.S. troops — including those from Washington state — is good.

Local labor activist joins Gregoire office

Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire has hired a longtime local labor activist as one of her key political advisers.

Ron Judd, Western region director for the AFL-CIO, will take over as Gregoire's director of external affairs Jan. 1. Before taking the AFL-CIO job in 2000, Judd spent seven years as head of the King County Labor Council.

In 1999, Judd organized the AFL-CIO protests at the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. And in 2000 he rallied support for Boeing engineers during their 40-day strike.

In his new job with Gregoire, Judd's main role will be to meet with special-interest groups and advise the governor on political matters. He also will oversee the governor's regional offices and appointments to state boards and commissions.

Judd replaces Kurt Fritts, a former Democratic campaign organizer, who left the job last summer. His annual salary will be $120,000.

Times staff and news services