Letters in snow help rescuers find hiker

Authorities on Saturday rescued a hiker who had been lost in the mountains near Bellingham for four days.

The 34-year-old man was spotted by U.S. Customs officials after he spelled out "help" in the snow on Church Mountain. The U.S. Coast Guard lifted the man by cable into a helicopter and took him to St. Joseph's Hospital in Bellingham, where he was in satisfactory condition Sunday night.

19 people arrested after street fight

Nineteen people were arrested early Sunday after a street fight broke out in response to racial slurs, authorities said.

Fife police went to the 3400 block of Daybreak Avenue East about 1:45 a.m. after residents called 911 to report the crowd, according to a police news release.

Several people were hospitalized after being kicked, punched and attacked with large wooden sticks. One man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a possible head injury, police said.

During the fight, police said, someone came out of a home and fired a gun into the air.

By the time police arrived, some of those involved had gone into nearby homes, police said. Officers from Fife and neighboring departments went to the neighborhood, brought in a SWAT team and ordered people outside.

The news release did not give specifics about the fight.

Edmonds

Man stabbed; girlfriend arrested

Edmonds police arrested a 46-year-old woman on suspicion of assaulting her boyfriend with a steak knife Sunday, said police spokesman Sgt. Don Anderson.

The 46-year-old man had a knife wound on his right shoulder and was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. His injuries were not life-threatening, Anderson said.

Claim filed in deaths at rail crossing

The family of two Castle Rock women killed in a train collision in July has filed a $5 million claim against Cowlitz County, calling the intersection where the accident happened a death trap.

San Rafael, Calif., lawyer Jeffrey Nevin filed the claim in Longview last week on behalf of Warren Dean Mako and his son, Dean Mako. Warren Dean Mako lost his wife and daughter in the accident.

Donna K. Mako, 44, was driving across the tracks north of Castle Rock when her car was struck by an Amtrak train. She and her daughter, Laura, 17, were killed, along with two friends of the girl.

The Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office speculated that the driver's view was obscured by a freight train.

Times staff and news services