Sales-tax deduction won't be on form

Thinking of getting a jump on preparing your tax return? Double-check your forms first.

Internal Revenue Service Form 1040, which should arrive in your mailbox within the next couple of weeks, will not have a line for deducting local and state sales taxes in Washington or seven other states without income taxes. That's because Congress restored the tax break for two more years in December after the IRS forms had gone to press.

The IRS will mail a special Publication 600 with instructions on how to calculate the deductions. You can claim either an optional deduction based on your income or actual sales taxes you paid in 2006 (if you kept all your receipts). You also can download the form at www.irs.gov.

Most U.S. taxpayers file electronically. Software will be updated to include the sales-tax write-off and two other renewed deductions, for educator expenses and higher-education tuition costs.

Lakewood, Pierce County

New chief named for children's unit

A veteran psychologist who spent two decades working with Washington's toughest mental cases will take charge of the state's only psychiatric hospital for children.

On. Feb. 1, Rick Mehlman will become chief executive of Child Study and Treatment in Lakewood, a 47-bed facility for children ages 5 to 17 with severe mental disorders who may be a danger to themselves or to others. The center is on the campus of Western State Hospital, which treats Washington's most difficult adult psychiatric patients.

Mehlman worked as a counselor and psychologist in California and Missouri before coming to Western in the late 1980s. He most recently was director of forensic services, a unit at Western that evaluates and treats criminal defendants. Mehlman twice won the Washington Department of Social and Health Services' Statewide Outstanding Employee award.

Corbett, Ore.

Man lending aid falls to his death

A Vancouver, Wash., man who stopped to help at an accident scene on Interstate 84 fell to his death when he jumped over a guardrail to dodge a passing truck.

Brian Allen Bernier, 37, a native of West Richland, Benton County, had stopped to help the crash victim about five miles east of Multnomah Falls just before 10 p.m. Friday, the Tri-City Herald newspaper reported.

A passing truck forced him over the guardrail, where there was a 50-foot drop, according to the Oregon State Police.

A state trooper performed CPR on Bernier, but emergency workers arrived 15 minutes later and declared him dead.

The driver Bernier had stopped to help, Macon Lee Davis, 32, of Portland, was treated at Mount Hood Medical Center in Gresham, Ore., and released. He was cited on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Bernier worked for the Postal Service. Survivors include his wife, son and stepdaughter.

Times staff and news services