Memorial service for slain Forest Service officer today

Port Angeles

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. today for U.S. Forest Service Officer Kristine Fairbanks, a 22-year veteran officer who was shot and killed Sept. 20 while on duty in the Olympic National Forest.

Radar, Fairbanks' K-9 partner, is expected to be part of the service at Civic Field in Port Angeles. Gov. Christine Gregoire is scheduled to speak. Up to 5,000 people are expected to attend.

Investigators believe 36-year-old Shawn Matthew Roe, of Everett, killed the 51-year-old Fairbanks at the Forest Service's Dungeness Forks Campground in the mountains about six miles south of Sequim.

Investigators think Roe also shot and killed a Sequim-area retiree, 59-year-old Richard Ziegler, later that day.

Two Clallam County sheriff's deputies shot and killed Roe that night.

Kitsap County

Fatally hurt worker is identified

A worker who was fatally injured while helping to install a septic tank in Kitsap County has been identified.

Sheriff's Deputy Scott E. Wilson says 26-year-old Derek L. Calhoun, of Seabeck, Kitsap County, was hit by the boom of an excavator and buried in earth Friday afternoon.

Co-workers dug Calhoun out, and he was given first aid before being flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He died several hours later.

Calhoun was working for Cleaver Construction on the installation of a septic tank at a home near Southworth. Wilson says the excavator was holding the tank when it started to slip on a steep slope, and Calhoun couldn't get out of the way.

Olympia

Lawyer group favors same-sex marriages

The Washington State Bar Association is now on record in favor of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples.

The resolution was adopted unanimously last week by the group's 14-member board of governors. Board President Mark Johnson, of Seattle, says there was considerable opposition and he knows some will be distressed, but the leadership felt action was justified.

Washington has a domestic-partnership law, but Johnson says lawyers still face difficulties in all areas of practice, from contracts to family law, because of the differing legal status of same-sex couples.

He adds that for the bar association, "one of the guiding principles is access to justice."

Tacoma

Plea deal for man in alleged drug ring

One of three brothers accused of running a Southwest Washington methamphetamine ring has pleaded guilty to reduced charges. Ulises "Mono" Barragan-Mendoza, of Lacey, Thurston County, pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to conspiracy to distribute marijuana and to being an alien in possession of a firearm. Charges of conspiracy to distribute meth and engage in money laundering were dropped.

Investigators believe Barragan and his two brothers from Arteaga, Mexico, led a group that brought large amounts of meth into the country.

One of Barragan's brothers also was arrested. The other is believed to be in Mexico.

Seattle Times staff and news services