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WATER STILL STANDS on Skokomish Valley Road after last
Thursday's flooding when the river threatened to cut a new
channel, prompting the county to declare an emergency.
Most at forum nix introducin00 animal to park:
Wolf plan howled down
By CAROLYN MADDUX
There were no middle opinions to speak of
when upwards of 90 people, most of them Ma-
son County residents, gathered at the Shelton
High School SUB on Tuesday evening to con-
verse electronically with researchers about
the notion of reintroducing wolves to Olympic
National Park.
In what they called a Town Hall Meeting,
folks from Olympic Natural Resources Center
drew on the expertise of Battelle and Elway
Research personnel and equipment to provide
for instant electronic responses to issues al-
ready identified as pertinent to the proposal.
It wasn't supposed to be a vocal session, said
Todd Peterson, the Battelle researcher who
moderated the process.
Nonetheless, Battelle was at times embat-
tled as members of the audience took excep-
tion to some of the questions. And the elec-
tronic equipment that was to have provided
quick feedback seemed periodically fed up, re-
SHS will
Emergency declared move up
In Skokomish Valley to AAAA
By JEFF GREEN
By MARY DUNCAN sandbagging exercise with the property. "Climber Pride" took a major
The Mason County Board of
Commissioners met in a special
Session last Thursday afternoon
to issue a declaration of emer-
gency in the Skokomish Valley
near Bambi Farms Road due to
imminent danger.
The river, they said in their
session, was threatening to
breach there.
By Friday afternoon the river
had receded, the danger had
passed and the declaration had
expired.
ON THURSDAY, Mason
County Public Works Director
Jerry Hauth told commissioners
John Bolender and Mary Jo Cady
that the U.S. Army Corps of En-
gineers had conducted a field in-
vetigatio on Wednesday after-
noon and informed him of the
potential for serious damage due
to avulsion - a breaking out - of
the river near Bambi Farms
Road.
Emergency services depart-
ment volunteers, gathered at the
site in the morning conducting a
What the county can do is no-
tify those affected families
through the department of emer-
gency services, which would ini-
tiate procedures to evacuate them
if necessary. Director of Emer-
gency Services Joe Murray said
no families were evacuated dur-
ing last week's flood event.
According to Rich Geiger, a
county hydraulics engineer, the
sequence of events began Wed-
nesday afternoon when he got a
call from Guy Parsons, a Bambi
Farms Road resident, who re-
ported that erosion of the river-
bank was "quite bad and some
open spots were exposed to the
river."
ON THURSDAY, the Corps
surveyed the scen and recom-
mended that the county request
its aid, Geiger noted. This re-
quest can only be made under
flood conditions, and the Corps
can only do repair work when the
river is at or above flood stage, he
explained.
(Please turn to page 10.)
Corps, confirmed the report from
the Corps of Engineers.
There is a serious scour, about
300 feet of riverbank washing
out, Hauth reported, and the
Corps wants to get in there to try
to deflect the river to the other
side. The Corps would mobilize
Friday morning after identify-
ing points of entry and obtaining
emergency permits.
CADY NOTED that a meeting
was scheduled for later Thurs-
day afternoon with the Skokom-
ish Indian Tribe, the county and
the Corps. She said the emergen-
cy declaration by the county is
necessary in order to use the re-
sources of the Corps and to re-
ceive reimbursement through
bderal funds.
On Tuesday, reviewing the
situation, Cady explained that
the county is not involved in a
diking project at this point on the
river because no county property
or roads are threatened. The po-
tential avulsion there would
create an oxbow through private
At the start of Monday's city commission
meeting, Hilburn told his audience that 14 of 30
employees at his car dealership volunteered to
take the training recently and last weekend, that
training paid off when one of his employees used
what he'd learned to save the life of a little girl.
Brentt Hensley, 27, who works in the individ-
ual maintenance and detail shop, was at a social
gathering in a private home when a young girl
began choking on a grape that she'd swallowed,
Hilburn said.
The girl's father was pounding on her back in
an effort to dislodge the grape, but was having
.--........
Man who'd just learned
CPR saves choking girl
Shelton Fire Department's two-day first- no success. The girl's face was turning blue when
aid/cardiopulmonary resuscitation course drew Hensley applied the Heimlich maneuver as he'd
high praise this week from Mayor Scott Hilburn. been taught in the class. The grape popped out,
the girl began breathing again and the color re-
turned to her face.
"He was pleased he could do it," Hilburn said
of Hensley.
"We just got through the training," Hensley
said, explaining that he had finished the course
only a few days earlier. "It helped me stay as
calm as I did."
Hensley thinks the girl is five or six years old.
She was gasping and choking, he said, when he
used the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge the
grape. "I only had to do it one time, one thrust,"
he said. "It was an experience, that's for sure."
jolt this week when Shelton High
School learned it was being re-
classified from a 3-A to a 4-A high
school.
The change takes effect next
fall and will have ramifications
on SHS athletic teams, but just
how much it will affect High-
climber teams in terms of who
their future opponents will be and
what league the school will ul-
timately join is unknown for now.
Shelton School District and
SHS officials were scrambling for
answers and options this week as
the impact of the announcement
sunk in.
SHS Principal ellody
Matthes and AthltiDirector
Bill Hick,s at,e'.Jed a;neeting of
athletic directors of the new Pa-
cific 9 League, to which Shetton
belongs, on Wednesday. Other
schools in the league (all of them
3-A high schools) include Tumwa-
ter, Black Hills, North Thurston,
Timberline, River Ridge, Aber-
deen, Chehalis and Centralia.
WHY IS SHELTON'S status
changing?
The Washington Interscholas-
tic Activities Association (WIAA),
which oversees high school athlet-
ics throughout most of the state,
informed Shelton School District
officials the high school was being
bumped up from 3-A to 4-A status
because of enrollment figures.
The school's new status takes ef-
fect next fall and will last for at
least the next two school years.
The change caught school dis-
trict officials off guard. "We're
scurrying right now, trying to
rind out what our options are,"
said Shelton Schools Superin-
tendent Bill Hundley.
"It actually came as a surprise
to us," Hundley said. Each month,
the Shelton district sends an en-
rollment count to the Washington
State Office of Superintendent of
Public Instruction. The Shelton
district does not include home-
school students in its enrollment
counts, but the WIAA does, and
that difference was enough to
push SHS into the higher enroll-
ment bracket.
Home-school students are eligi-
ble to participate in sports and
other extracurricular activities at
their local high school, Hundley
said. And adding 60 high-school-
age home-school students within
the Shelton district to the SHS
enrollment count sent the school's
enrollment above the 1,201-stud-
ent mark that separates 3-A
schools from 4-A schools.
"IT'S NOT WHAT I wanted,"
Hundley said of the change. We
were so, so happy with the new
league. Travel times were close;
there were natural rivalries."
Hundley said SHS has some
smaller classes coming up
through the system and there is a
good chance enrollment will drop
to enable the school to revert back
to 3-A status. But that won't hap-
pen until at least the 2001-2002
school year.
"It has set us back," he said of
the change. "It is disappointing."
Shelton may be able to stay in
the Pacific 9 League, but if it does
it would be a nQn-league particip-
(Please turn to page 12.)
quiring several returns to issues when the
hand-held keypads couldn't seem to register
with the scoring system.
FOR THE MOST part, results of the
questions appeared quickly as bar graphs on
the screen. And for the most part, they re-
flected the makeup of the audience: 25 to 30
percent folks who favored, or didn't oppose,
the presence of gray wolves in the wilds of the
Olympics; upwards of 60 percent folks who
objected, period.
Most of the questions or statements offered
a six-point range from strongly agreeing to
strongly disagreeing. Most of the responses
were divided, and hardly anyone took a mid-
point stance.
Demographic information gathered early
on indicated that the majority of the partici-
pants were aged 50 and up, had lived in the
area 20 years or more, used the Olympic Na-
tional Park 10 or more times a year, and
fished, hunted, hiked or camped regularly -
most of them doing all four. And over half of
them appeared to be members of organiza-
tions that had to do with the outdoors. Char-
lie Florek, who stood outside the SUB hand-
ing out flyers for a wildlife organization, said
the group had a strong showing inside. They
were hunters, he said, who worried that the
deer and elk populations were already wan-
ing.
"Some bikers who take park rangers in," he
said, "say they just don't see any wildlife any
more."
WHEN IT CAME time to register opinions
on matters more to the point of the meeting
than ages and length of residence, the bar
graphs looked nothing like the usual bell-
shaped curve. They looked like hedges with
paving stones between them.
Asked if they thought wolves would help
moderate the swings in deer and elk popula-
(Please turn to page 9.)
Thursday, January 21, 1999
113th Year - Number 3 5 Sections - 50 Pages 50 Cents
Youth gets 18 years
for Shaffer's murder
person can devastate everyone ar-
ound him."
Bud Nugent of Shelton said a,
few words on his son's behalf.
"Beau has not been a troubled
child. He has been a pretty good
kid," he said. "It was a bad snap
decision on his part."
NUGENT APOLOGIZED to
the family of his victim. "I can
honestly say I didn't try to kill
Vern," he said. ............
Marjorie Hagerup, a counselor
who has worked with Nugent,
wrote a letter asking Sawyer to
show compassion towards the
teen. She asked the judge to limit
his sentence to 10 years in prison.
"I have seen good qualities in
Beau. He has a tender heart and
is easily touched," she wrote. She
wrote that he is "haunted by the
memory" of what happened last
June 13 and that he cries and has
trouble getting to sleep.
"This is what you get when
kids, alcohol and weapons mix,"
she wrote.
He also sentenced Nugent to
24 months of community super-
vision and ordered him to pay
$656.05 in court costs, $500 to the
crime victims' compensation fund
and $750 in attorney's fees. He
scheduled a restitution hearing
for February 25.
Beau Edward Nugent, who is
18 years and 3 months old, was
sentenced last Thursday to 18
years and 4 months in prison for
the murder of Vernon Shaffer Jr.
Nugent was arrested last June
after Shaffer died in the small
hours of June 13 on the porch of a
home he had left a short time ear-
lier. Nugent pleaded guilty in No-
vember to murder in the second
degree in an episode that started
with taunts and a pair of sneak-
ers and ended in the stabbing
death on Mountain View of a 19-
year-old Shelton resident.
Judge James Sawyer gave Nu-
gent the maximum penalty al-
lowed under the state's standard
sentencing guidelines.
Robert Quillian, Nugent's at-
torney, had asked Sawyer to im-
pose a lesser sentence. "He does
not consider himself a murderer
as that term is normally under-
stood," Quillian said.
NUGENT'S codefendant, 18-
year-old Mickey L. Hodgson,
pleaded guilty to second degree
manslaughter in the middle of a
bench trial before Judge Sawyer.
He was sentenced to four years
and 10 months in prison shortly
after he entered that plea.
"I don't understand how the
young people of our society have
lost touch with the value of a hu-
man life," Sawyer said last week
in sentencing Nugent.
Shaffer was found bleeding on
the front porch of a house on the
2400 block of Washington Street
shortly before 2 a.m. on June 13.
Neighbors told police that Shaffer
had attended a party there and
had left with two companions.
Authorities say the dispute
started earlier in the week when
someone defaced Shaffer's sneak-
ers. This kicked off what Prosecu-
tor Gary Burleson described as "a
free-floating discussion" involving
a teenage girl and the knife Nu-
gent carried on his belt.
"IT WAS MORE along the
lines of bravado," Burleeon said.
"That knife had been put into
play by discussions and braggado-
cio during the week."
Sawyer said that Nugent's de-
cision to carry a knife was a criti-
cal part of the tragedy. "This
knife was a regular feature on
your belt," Sawyer said. "it was
your decision in this circumstance
to pull a knife on this young man
and tab him in the throat."
VaNeda Womack, Shaffer's
mother, attended the sentencing.
"This man took my son away from
us over a pair of shoes, a 13-year-
old girl and some language," she
said. "I don't understand how one
Office employees cite
stress in leaving port
Ahlf, a retired engineer.
"They are moving ahead,"
Trusler said. "It's a great bunch.
They've gone through the
resumes that we have and thefre
narrowing it down for us. We're
just trying to get the best person
for the job."
Trusler declined comment on
the resignations of Stewart and
Munch. "Basically we're going to
do some exit interviews and see
what we can come up with in
terms of what their concerns are
and how we can address those
concerns," he said.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIlUlIUUlIlUIIIIIUlUlIIlUUlIIIIIIIIlUlIIIIlUIIIlll
On the inside
Births ................................... .14
Classifieds ........................... 25
Community Calendar ......... 7
Crossword ........................... 29
Entertainment, Dining ..... 24
Health Journal ................... 14
Journal of Record ............. .30
Obituaries ....................... 10, 11
Opinions, Letters ................. 4
Sports ................................... 18
Tides ................................... ,. 30
Weather .............. , ................. 10
IlU|tlIIIIlilUlIIlIIlUlIIXIlUIUlIIIIIIIIIHII ' l|lHllllililli
Sheltonlan allegedly
threatens governor
A man described as a Shelton continued, that he was upset confirmed
resident was arrested last week
and charged with a felony after
1:geavleYrnmaking threats against
. b rnor and the state capitol
building.
Brian Ochoa, 31, was taken
into custody without incident af-
ter he entered the lobby of Gover-
nor Gary Locke's office at the
Capitol Rotunda and talked about
blowing it up, said Washington
State Patrol spokesperson Julie
Myer. Ochoa remained in the cus-
tody of Western State Hospital,
where he was sent for a mental-
health evaluation, this week.
"He entered the lobby ...and be-
gan making threats toward the
governor . Trooper Myer said.
"He talked about destroying the
capitol building and the
employees.- It appeared, Myer
"with the legislative process and
government in general."
STATE CAPITOL security of-
ricers contacted Ochoa and asked
him questions, she said, and he
continued to make threats. "He
was arrested on that ground," she
said. She described him as quiet
and cooperative in the course of
the arrest, and said no weapons
were found on his person.
Myer said an initial mental-
health evaluation was done at the
Thurston County Jail, where
Ochoa was booked, and he was
subsequently sent to Saint Peter
Hospital for evaluation. An order
of the Thurston County Superior
Court provided for the 15-day
mental-health evaluation at
Western State, Thurston County
Deputy Prosecutor Steve Straume
Two office workers cited stress,
conflict and too many bosses at
the Port of Shelton in submitting
their resignations to the Board of
Commissioners.
San-Dee Stewart is quitting
her job as administrative assis-
tant on Friday. She's held that
position for the last 13 months.
She'll start a new job on Monday.
Her resignation comes as the
port is once again looking for a
new director.
"Due to the exveve changes
in the port director position and
temporary fill-in staff for this po-
sition, the staff has never re-
ceived adequate direction or as-
sistance to fulfill their job respon-
sibilities and requirements for
their positions,"' she wrote to the
commission in a January 15 letter
of resignation.
Stewart wrote that the rapid
turnover of directors had the ef-
fect of turning the three-member
commission into her supervisor.
'his creates conflicting direction
and an inability for the staff to
adequately complete their tasks
in a manner that would satisfy all
concerned," she wrote.
Julie Munch will be stepping
down as bookkeeper on January
29 after I0 years on the job. Dur-
ing that time she has seen nu-
merous office workers come and
go. "This has created many
stressful situations for me while
also causing job-related and per-
sonal distress over the years," she
wrote.
Munch wrote that the situation
has "affected my health" and that
she cannot go through another
changing of the guard.
Shelton Port Commission Pres-
ident Henry Trusler reported at
last week's meeting that the com-
mission talked in executive ses-
sion about its efforts to find a new
executive director of the port.
The resumes of about 30 ap-
plicants for the position have
been reviewed by a citizens advi-
sory committee, whose names
were announced at the January
13 meeting. Advisory committee
members appointed .by the port
directors are Patti Case of Simp-
son Timber Company', Andrea
Fontenot, who is employed in the
property management division of
the Port of Olympia; Jill
Faughender of Centennial Bank;
Pare Ward of PUD 3; and Ron
Straume said Ochoa has been
charged with making threats
against the governor, a felony. No
arraignment date has been set,
however, Straume said.
THE WASHINGTON State
Patrol maintains security at the
state capitol, Myer said. This is a
good example of how well it
works," the Weeper added. The
situation, abe said, was resolved
without incident or danger to on-
lookers. "'
The court, Straume and Myer
said, has issued a no-contact or-
der barring Ochoa from the capi-
tol grounds,
Myer and Straume declined to
release Ochoa's address but Myer
confirmed that he is a resident of
Shelton.
J
J
WATER STILL STANDS on Skokomish Valley Road after last
Thursday's flooding when the river threatened to cut a new
channel, prompting the county to declare an emergency.
Most at forum nix introducin00 animal to park:
Wolf plan howled down
By CAROLYN MADDUX
There were no middle opinions to speak of
when upwards of 90 people, most of them Ma-
son County residents, gathered at the Shelton
High School SUB on Tuesday evening to con-
verse electronically with researchers about
the notion of reintroducing wolves to Olympic
National Park.
In what they called a Town Hall Meeting,
folks from Olympic Natural Resources Center
drew on the expertise of Battelle and Elway
Research personnel and equipment to provide
for instant electronic responses to issues al-
ready identified as pertinent to the proposal.
It wasn't supposed to be a vocal session, said
Todd Peterson, the Battelle researcher who
moderated the process.
Nonetheless, Battelle was at times embat-
tled as members of the audience took excep-
tion to some of the questions. And the elec-
tronic equipment that was to have provided
quick feedback seemed periodically fed up, re-
SHS will
Emergency declared move up
In Skokomish Valley to AAAA
By JEFF GREEN
By MARY DUNCAN sandbagging exercise with the property. "Climber Pride" took a major
The Mason County Board of
Commissioners met in a special
Session last Thursday afternoon
to issue a declaration of emer-
gency in the Skokomish Valley
near Bambi Farms Road due to
imminent danger.
The river, they said in their
session, was threatening to
breach there.
By Friday afternoon the river
had receded, the danger had
passed and the declaration had
expired.
ON THURSDAY, Mason
County Public Works Director
Jerry Hauth told commissioners
John Bolender and Mary Jo Cady
that the U.S. Army Corps of En-
gineers had conducted a field in-
vetigatio on Wednesday after-
noon and informed him of the
potential for serious damage due
to avulsion - a breaking out - of
the river near Bambi Farms
Road.
Emergency services depart-
ment volunteers, gathered at the
site in the morning conducting a
What the county can do is no-
tify those affected families
through the department of emer-
gency services, which would ini-
tiate procedures to evacuate them
if necessary. Director of Emer-
gency Services Joe Murray said
no families were evacuated dur-
ing last week's flood event.
According to Rich Geiger, a
county hydraulics engineer, the
sequence of events began Wed-
nesday afternoon when he got a
call from Guy Parsons, a Bambi
Farms Road resident, who re-
ported that erosion of the river-
bank was "quite bad and some
open spots were exposed to the
river."
ON THURSDAY, the Corps
surveyed the scen and recom-
mended that the county request
its aid, Geiger noted. This re-
quest can only be made under
flood conditions, and the Corps
can only do repair work when the
river is at or above flood stage, he
explained.
(Please turn to page 10.)
Corps, confirmed the report from
the Corps of Engineers.
There is a serious scour, about
300 feet of riverbank washing
out, Hauth reported, and the
Corps wants to get in there to try
to deflect the river to the other
side. The Corps would mobilize
Friday morning after identify-
ing points of entry and obtaining
emergency permits.
CADY NOTED that a meeting
was scheduled for later Thurs-
day afternoon with the Skokom-
ish Indian Tribe, the county and
the Corps. She said the emergen-
cy declaration by the county is
necessary in order to use the re-
sources of the Corps and to re-
ceive reimbursement through
bderal funds.
On Tuesday, reviewing the
situation, Cady explained that
the county is not involved in a
diking project at this point on the
river because no county property
or roads are threatened. The po-
tential avulsion there would
create an oxbow through private
At the start of Monday's city commission
meeting, Hilburn told his audience that 14 of 30
employees at his car dealership volunteered to
take the training recently and last weekend, that
training paid off when one of his employees used
what he'd learned to save the life of a little girl.
Brentt Hensley, 27, who works in the individ-
ual maintenance and detail shop, was at a social
gathering in a private home when a young girl
began choking on a grape that she'd swallowed,
Hilburn said.
The girl's father was pounding on her back in
an effort to dislodge the grape, but was having
.--........
Man who'd just learned
CPR saves choking girl
Shelton Fire Department's two-day first- no success. The girl's face was turning blue when
aid/cardiopulmonary resuscitation course drew Hensley applied the Heimlich maneuver as he'd
high praise this week from Mayor Scott Hilburn. been taught in the class. The grape popped out,
the girl began breathing again and the color re-
turned to her face.
"He was pleased he could do it," Hilburn said
of Hensley.
"We just got through the training," Hensley
said, explaining that he had finished the course
only a few days earlier. "It helped me stay as
calm as I did."
Hensley thinks the girl is five or six years old.
She was gasping and choking, he said, when he
used the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge the
grape. "I only had to do it one time, one thrust,"
he said. "It was an experience, that's for sure."
jolt this week when Shelton High
School learned it was being re-
classified from a 3-A to a 4-A high
school.
The change takes effect next
fall and will have ramifications
on SHS athletic teams, but just
how much it will affect High-
climber teams in terms of who
their future opponents will be and
what league the school will ul-
timately join is unknown for now.
Shelton School District and
SHS officials were scrambling for
answers and options this week as
the impact of the announcement
sunk in.
SHS Principal ellody
Matthes and AthltiDirector
Bill Hick,s at,e'.Jed a;neeting of
athletic directors of the new Pa-
cific 9 League, to which Shetton
belongs, on Wednesday. Other
schools in the league (all of them
3-A high schools) include Tumwa-
ter, Black Hills, North Thurston,
Timberline, River Ridge, Aber-
deen, Chehalis and Centralia.
WHY IS SHELTON'S status
changing?
The Washington Interscholas-
tic Activities Association (WIAA),
which oversees high school athlet-
ics throughout most of the state,
informed Shelton School District
officials the high school was being
bumped up from 3-A to 4-A status
because of enrollment figures.
The school's new status takes ef-
fect next fall and will last for at
least the next two school years.
The change caught school dis-
trict officials off guard. "We're
scurrying right now, trying to
rind out what our options are,"
said Shelton Schools Superin-
tendent Bill Hundley.
"It actually came as a surprise
to us," Hundley said. Each month,
the Shelton district sends an en-
rollment count to the Washington
State Office of Superintendent of
Public Instruction. The Shelton
district does not include home-
school students in its enrollment
counts, but the WIAA does, and
that difference was enough to
push SHS into the higher enroll-
ment bracket.
Home-school students are eligi-
ble to participate in sports and
other extracurricular activities at
their local high school, Hundley
said. And adding 60 high-school-
age home-school students within
the Shelton district to the SHS
enrollment count sent the school's
enrollment above the 1,201-stud-
ent mark that separates 3-A
schools from 4-A schools.
"IT'S NOT WHAT I wanted,"
Hundley said of the change. We
were so, so happy with the new
league. Travel times were close;
there were natural rivalries."
Hundley said SHS has some
smaller classes coming up
through the system and there is a
good chance enrollment will drop
to enable the school to revert back
to 3-A status. But that won't hap-
pen until at least the 2001-2002
school year.
"It has set us back," he said of
the change. "It is disappointing."
Shelton may be able to stay in
the Pacific 9 League, but if it does
it would be a nQn-league particip-
(Please turn to page 12.)
quiring several returns to issues when the
hand-held keypads couldn't seem to register
with the scoring system.
FOR THE MOST part, results of the
questions appeared quickly as bar graphs on
the screen. And for the most part, they re-
flected the makeup of the audience: 25 to 30
percent folks who favored, or didn't oppose,
the presence of gray wolves in the wilds of the
Olympics; upwards of 60 percent folks who
objected, period.
Most of the questions or statements offered
a six-point range from strongly agreeing to
strongly disagreeing. Most of the responses
were divided, and hardly anyone took a mid-
point stance.
Demographic information gathered early
on indicated that the majority of the partici-
pants were aged 50 and up, had lived in the
area 20 years or more, used the Olympic Na-
tional Park 10 or more times a year, and
fished, hunted, hiked or camped regularly -
most of them doing all four. And over half of
them appeared to be members of organiza-
tions that had to do with the outdoors. Char-
lie Florek, who stood outside the SUB hand-
ing out flyers for a wildlife organization, said
the group had a strong showing inside. They
were hunters, he said, who worried that the
deer and elk populations were already wan-
ing.
"Some bikers who take park rangers in," he
said, "say they just don't see any wildlife any
more."
WHEN IT CAME time to register opinions
on matters more to the point of the meeting
than ages and length of residence, the bar
graphs looked nothing like the usual bell-
shaped curve. They looked like hedges with
paving stones between them.
Asked if they thought wolves would help
moderate the swings in deer and elk popula-
(Please turn to page 9.)
Thursday, January 21, 1999
113th Year - Number 3 5 Sections - 50 Pages 50 Cents
Youth gets 18 years
for Shaffer's murder
person can devastate everyone ar-
ound him."
Bud Nugent of Shelton said a,
few words on his son's behalf.
"Beau has not been a troubled
child. He has been a pretty good
kid," he said. "It was a bad snap
decision on his part."
NUGENT APOLOGIZED to
the family of his victim. "I can
honestly say I didn't try to kill
Vern," he said. ............
Marjorie Hagerup, a counselor
who has worked with Nugent,
wrote a letter asking Sawyer to
show compassion towards the
teen. She asked the judge to limit
his sentence to 10 years in prison.
"I have seen good qualities in
Beau. He has a tender heart and
is easily touched," she wrote. She
wrote that he is "haunted by the
memory" of what happened last
June 13 and that he cries and has
trouble getting to sleep.
"This is what you get when
kids, alcohol and weapons mix,"
she wrote.
He also sentenced Nugent to
24 months of community super-
vision and ordered him to pay
$656.05 in court costs, $500 to the
crime victims' compensation fund
and $750 in attorney's fees. He
scheduled a restitution hearing
for February 25.
Beau Edward Nugent, who is
18 years and 3 months old, was
sentenced last Thursday to 18
years and 4 months in prison for
the murder of Vernon Shaffer Jr.
Nugent was arrested last June
after Shaffer died in the small
hours of June 13 on the porch of a
home he had left a short time ear-
lier. Nugent pleaded guilty in No-
vember to murder in the second
degree in an episode that started
with taunts and a pair of sneak-
ers and ended in the stabbing
death on Mountain View of a 19-
year-old Shelton resident.
Judge James Sawyer gave Nu-
gent the maximum penalty al-
lowed under the state's standard
sentencing guidelines.
Robert Quillian, Nugent's at-
torney, had asked Sawyer to im-
pose a lesser sentence. "He does
not consider himself a murderer
as that term is normally under-
stood," Quillian said.
NUGENT'S codefendant, 18-
year-old Mickey L. Hodgson,
pleaded guilty to second degree
manslaughter in the middle of a
bench trial before Judge Sawyer.
He was sentenced to four years
and 10 months in prison shortly
after he entered that plea.
"I don't understand how the
young people of our society have
lost touch with the value of a hu-
man life," Sawyer said last week
in sentencing Nugent.
Shaffer was found bleeding on
the front porch of a house on the
2400 block of Washington Street
shortly before 2 a.m. on June 13.
Neighbors told police that Shaffer
had attended a party there and
had left with two companions.
Authorities say the dispute
started earlier in the week when
someone defaced Shaffer's sneak-
ers. This kicked off what Prosecu-
tor Gary Burleson described as "a
free-floating discussion" involving
a teenage girl and the knife Nu-
gent carried on his belt.
"IT WAS MORE along the
lines of bravado," Burleeon said.
"That knife had been put into
play by discussions and braggado-
cio during the week."
Sawyer said that Nugent's de-
cision to carry a knife was a criti-
cal part of the tragedy. "This
knife was a regular feature on
your belt," Sawyer said. "it was
your decision in this circumstance
to pull a knife on this young man
and tab him in the throat."
VaNeda Womack, Shaffer's
mother, attended the sentencing.
"This man took my son away from
us over a pair of shoes, a 13-year-
old girl and some language," she
said. "I don't understand how one
Office employees cite
stress in leaving port
Ahlf, a retired engineer.
"They are moving ahead,"
Trusler said. "It's a great bunch.
They've gone through the
resumes that we have and thefre
narrowing it down for us. We're
just trying to get the best person
for the job."
Trusler declined comment on
the resignations of Stewart and
Munch. "Basically we're going to
do some exit interviews and see
what we can come up with in
terms of what their concerns are
and how we can address those
concerns," he said.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIlUlIUUlIlUIIIIIUlUlIIlUUlIIIIIIIIlUlIIIIlUIIIlll
On the inside
Births ................................... .14
Classifieds ........................... 25
Community Calendar ......... 7
Crossword ........................... 29
Entertainment, Dining ..... 24
Health Journal ................... 14
Journal of Record ............. .30
Obituaries ....................... 10, 11
Opinions, Letters ................. 4
Sports ................................... 18
Tides ................................... ,. 30
Weather .............. , ................. 10
IlU|tlIIIIlilUlIIlIIlUlIIXIlUIUlIIIIIIIIIHII ' l|lHllllililli
Sheltonlan allegedly
threatens governor
A man described as a Shelton continued, that he was upset confirmed
resident was arrested last week
and charged with a felony after
1:geavleYrnmaking threats against
. b rnor and the state capitol
building.
Brian Ochoa, 31, was taken
into custody without incident af-
ter he entered the lobby of Gover-
nor Gary Locke's office at the
Capitol Rotunda and talked about
blowing it up, said Washington
State Patrol spokesperson Julie
Myer. Ochoa remained in the cus-
tody of Western State Hospital,
where he was sent for a mental-
health evaluation, this week.
"He entered the lobby ...and be-
gan making threats toward the
governor . Trooper Myer said.
"He talked about destroying the
capitol building and the
employees.- It appeared, Myer
"with the legislative process and
government in general."
STATE CAPITOL security of-
ricers contacted Ochoa and asked
him questions, she said, and he
continued to make threats. "He
was arrested on that ground," she
said. She described him as quiet
and cooperative in the course of
the arrest, and said no weapons
were found on his person.
Myer said an initial mental-
health evaluation was done at the
Thurston County Jail, where
Ochoa was booked, and he was
subsequently sent to Saint Peter
Hospital for evaluation. An order
of the Thurston County Superior
Court provided for the 15-day
mental-health evaluation at
Western State, Thurston County
Deputy Prosecutor Steve Straume
Two office workers cited stress,
conflict and too many bosses at
the Port of Shelton in submitting
their resignations to the Board of
Commissioners.
San-Dee Stewart is quitting
her job as administrative assis-
tant on Friday. She's held that
position for the last 13 months.
She'll start a new job on Monday.
Her resignation comes as the
port is once again looking for a
new director.
"Due to the exveve changes
in the port director position and
temporary fill-in staff for this po-
sition, the staff has never re-
ceived adequate direction or as-
sistance to fulfill their job respon-
sibilities and requirements for
their positions,"' she wrote to the
commission in a January 15 letter
of resignation.
Stewart wrote that the rapid
turnover of directors had the ef-
fect of turning the three-member
commission into her supervisor.
'his creates conflicting direction
and an inability for the staff to
adequately complete their tasks
in a manner that would satisfy all
concerned," she wrote.
Julie Munch will be stepping
down as bookkeeper on January
29 after I0 years on the job. Dur-
ing that time she has seen nu-
merous office workers come and
go. "This has created many
stressful situations for me while
also causing job-related and per-
sonal distress over the years," she
wrote.
Munch wrote that the situation
has "affected my health" and that
she cannot go through another
changing of the guard.
Shelton Port Commission Pres-
ident Henry Trusler reported at
last week's meeting that the com-
mission talked in executive ses-
sion about its efforts to find a new
executive director of the port.
The resumes of about 30 ap-
plicants for the position have
been reviewed by a citizens advi-
sory committee, whose names
were announced at the January
13 meeting. Advisory committee
members appointed .by the port
directors are Patti Case of Simp-
son Timber Company', Andrea
Fontenot, who is employed in the
property management division of
the Port of Olympia; Jill
Faughender of Centennial Bank;
Pare Ward of PUD 3; and Ron
Straume said Ochoa has been
charged with making threats
against the governor, a felony. No
arraignment date has been set,
however, Straume said.
THE WASHINGTON State
Patrol maintains security at the
state capitol, Myer said. This is a
good example of how well it
works," the Weeper added. The
situation, abe said, was resolved
without incident or danger to on-
lookers. "'
The court, Straume and Myer
said, has issued a no-contact or-
der barring Ochoa from the capi-
tol grounds,
Myer and Straume declined to
release Ochoa's address but Myer
confirmed that he is a resident of
Shelton.
J