Stryker Brigade member dies in Iraq

Fort Lewis

Stryker Brigade member dies in Iraq

The Department of Defense announced Monday that a member of the Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade died on Saturday in Iraq.

Spc. David L. Watson, 29, of Newport, Ark., died in Baqubah, Iraq, of injuries suffered from a non-combat-related accident, the Department of Defense said. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis.

The circumstances surrounding his death are under investigation, the Department of Defense said.

Seattle

66 houses in park to be torn down

Military housing in Discovery Park will be torn down, the Seattle City Council decided Monday. The city will buy the Capehart property, 24 acres in the center of the park, for $11 million from the U.S. Navy, which is moving the families who live there to Marysville in 2009.

Housing advocates had asked that the 66 single-family houses and duplexes be preserved because of the affordable-housing crisis in the region. Parks advocates argued that Seattle had long-standing plans to demolish the housing to create more open space.

On Monday, the council added a clause to the legislation, saying that it plans to buy the Fort Lawton Army Reserve property that borders Discovery Park and build at least 66 units of low-income and moderate-income housing on that site. The council also added a clause saying the city is committed to one-for-one replacement of the housing that will be torn down.

Renton

Boeing employees evacuated in fire

A fire in a pile of rags Monday morning prompted the evacuation of about 1,800 employees at Boeing's Renton plant.

Renton Fire Department spokesman Mark Peterson said firefighters responded to reports of smoke at the complex at about 10:30 a.m. Firefighters found the burning rags in a small mezzanine area where mechanical equipment is stowed.

The fire was contained to the area by noon and there were no injuries, Peterson said.

The cause of the fire and how much damage it caused have not been determined.

Carnation

Special-needs camp gains council OK

Camp Korey, a Hole in the Wall Gang facility for seriously ill children, moved one step closer Monday to opening at the historic Carnation Farm. The Metropolitan King County Council approved an ordinance allowing special-needs camps to be established on agricultural land.

The camps must be at least 500 acres, not diminish the agricultural value of farmland, and encourage active agricultural production on the property.

The nonprofit camp board plans to purchase the 818-acre farm from Nestlé USA, which has operated a regional training center on the site since 1999.

Actor and activist Paul Newman established the Hole in the Wall Gang camps in 1988 to give sick children a recreational respite.

Okanogan

Teacher jailed on stalking charges

A teacher and reserve police officer has been jailed on charges of stalking a 15-year-old girl, one of his former students, while awaiting trial on charges that he raped her.

Vernon Heizer, 50, of Nespelem, a teacher at Grand Coulee Dam Middle School, remained in jail Monday with bail set at $100,000. He has been dismissed as a Grand Coulee reserve police officer and placed on leave from his school job, Okanogan County Sheriff Frank T. Rogers and school-district officials said.

Heizer came under scrutiny after his estranged wife found a cellular telephone marked "broken" with other items in a box after he moved out of their home in June, according to documents filed by prosecutors. Sheriff's detectives determined that the phone had been used to exchange numerous calls and text messages with a girl who told authorities they had also exchanged nude photographs of each other, sheriff's Sgt. Michael Lee Worden wrote.

Heizer said he formed a close relationship with the girl when she was in a sixth grade but denied her account that they had been having sex since October or November, when she was 14.

Heizer was arrested and charged in July with two counts of third-degree child rape and one each of third-degree child molesting and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. Heizer was released on bail.

Several witnesses reported that Heizer began driving by the girl's home and school in mid-August and that he had been seen in a vehicle parked near her home, Rogers said. Heizer was arrested Sept. 14 on charges of stalking a witness in violation of a protection order.

Seattle

UW sends warning about armed robber

University of Washington police sent an e-mail warning to students, faculty and staff on Monday of a man who stole a student's wallet at gunpoint early Saturday.

The student was standing at Northeast 45th Street and 15th Avenue Northeast around 2 a.m. when he was approached by a man who asked for a "light." The stranger then pulled out a gun and told the student to get on the ground and hand over his wallet, UW police said.

The suspect took the wallet and told the victim to walk in the opposite direction, police said.

Seattle police are investigating and, according to spokesman Jeff Kappel, the suspect is described as a black male in his 20s, who is 5 feet 9 inches, has a thin build and a goatee. He wore a puffy jacket and a beanie-style cap during the robbery.

Bend, Ore.

It takes 3 drug darts to capture bear

State wildlife officers have removed a bear from a Bend yard, but it took three rounds of sedatives to get the job done.

Bend police say a woman called them Monday morning and said a bear was in her yard. Police described the black bear as a young adult.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officers say they found the bear under a tree, in the fenced yard, and shot it once with a tranquilizer dart.

Police say the bear ran a little way and sat down. After a 15-minute wait, in went a second dart.

That allowed the wildlife personnel to get close enough for a third dose, after which the bear was muzzled, hobbled and taken away to be released in the wild.

Port Angeles

B.C., U.S. cooperate on boat smugglers

Smugglers who think they're safe from the U.S. Coast Guard when they enter Canadian waters or have escaped from Canadian law enforcement when they reach U.S. waters may be in for a big surprise.

Since August, under a program called Project Shiprider, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers have occasionally been riding aboard two Coast Guard vessels and Coast Guard personnel have sometimes been on two Canadian enforcement boats in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and other inland marine waters.

Under the agreement, boats that authorities believe are being used for smuggling may be stopped and those aboard may be arrested regardless of where they are in the waters between the southern end of Vancouver Island and Washington state.

The project resulted from U.S.-Canadian talks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Coast Guard spokesman Shawn Eggert said, adding that the experiment is scheduled to end this month but may be extended into October.

Seattle Times staff and news services