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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
March 15, 1973     Shelton Mason County Journal
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March 15, 1973
 
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] Thursday, March 15, 1973 Eighty-seventh Year, Number 1 | 34 Pages - 5 Sections l0 Cents Per Copy TWO MASSIVE PIECES of the overpass which crosses the Shelton bypass freeway on the road to the city dump were put in place last week. The freeway is scheduled for completion in September 1974. School Board at night voted ~nt Louis tree-year contract year. The an increase of Present salary of The board voted to advertise for bids for seating for the fieldhouse and classatorium for the new high school complex. Assistant Superintendent Bruce Jaros told the board he had investigated various types of seating which are available and as spee City Commission is for the area from the PUD sday received a equipment building to about 49 persons one-fourth of a mile past limit on an Kneeland Center or to the city of Highway limits. of Kneeland Since part of the highway is in from 60 to 35 the City of Shelton, the city must Petition States the request Rae Jr., General after a pass an ordinance even though the road is a state highway. The city action is then sent to the state which approves of the new speed limit. The petition said: "Our request is an urgent one as we have witnessed numerous bad accidents in the last two years at the Kneeland Center and the situation is deteriorating with the in his increased flow of traffic, not only d. ,fled after the hospital by the boy had a 22-caliber him in his his mother on Highway 101, but by employees working at Kneeland Center and visitor traffic. There have been many near misses in attempting to get on the highway from Kneeland Center and it is further complicated by logging trucks and transport trucks with had prepared specifications which he believes would bring bids on equipment the quality desired. Bruce Moorehead, head of the music department, outlined the music program to the board. He stated the biggest need was for a music coordinator in the lira" useable. The street department was. given approval to advertise for a new four- to five-yard dump truck. elementary schools to provide a more equal program between schools. He stated the new uniforms for the high school band have been ordered and about half of the necessary $10,000 had been raised. The board voted to set its April meeting one week early, April 3, because some of the board members will not be in town on the regular meeting date of April 10. Grinnell reported enrollment was 3,124, or 23 less than last year at this time and down three from February 1. in the were laid the trailers parking in front of Ted's Steak House, completely obscuring oncoming traffic from both directions. This should be a A hiker and a scuba diver were taken to hospitals after incidents in Mason County over the weekend, the Mason County Sheriff's office reported. Glen R. Grace, 34, was hiking on Mount Stone about 500 feet abOVe the timberline, officers reported- As he was walking along the face of a ridge, an avalanche carried him about 500 feet down the side of the mountain into the timber. He suffered injuries to his lung, rib and shoulder as well as internal injuries. He was taken to Mason General Hospital by a fellow hiker, officers said. Vicki Vanderdeen, 30, Lakebay, was taken to Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle after suffering bends while scuba diving in Hood Canal, officers reported. The "Dust Off" helicopter from McChord Field answered a call from a Washington State Patrol Trooper here and transported the woman to the Seattle hospital. CausingStruck it with no-parking zone and posted aS pof the ental vai b it to such. is not part I .o_ene oosted restaurant parking lot. -~ard the noise, City Engineer Howard Godat tn program at ptoneer tter discoveringtold the commission he and Police d took the boy Chief Frank Rains had studied the By CATHYCOcKRELL more than removing food treatment, problem, and that he would .... . . particles, is now believed to bethe N Mrs. recommend a speed limit of 45., ~ent.al_hyg~ene was promotea aim;a thorough cleanin~ once a enm, miles an hour in the area. == ,,,-¢er ~ichool during ~u~ day is sufficient to destro~ la ue The commission approved the annual presentation by the Y P q that has formed on u ceof purchase of a small tractor for use Washington State Health the teeth, the s rfa t~epartment on March 8. . . id f~lr by the park department. Third th aders, Using a thera eutlc aste ard A hearing was held on " rough sixth gr .... p p including Euclid AvenUe from with parents' permission, were a brush wlm straight, softbristpS Second to Seventh streets in the instructed in the proper, provided by the health toothbrushin b Mrs department, the studen .26, 303 South • ram There was, _ g method Y. . • . . six-year street prog - . ,,.. being held in no one present to object to ut~ tvlary lrimble, dental hYg1ernst practlcea brushing with a from the s artment,v br.atmg mot o t charge of proposal. . ~ tare health dep . " " "on, as opposed ;hicle. A letter was received irom by. Colleen. MarilleV~, a Seattle the up-and-down, roll previousY Umvers]t and by prescribed 'Y SheltonSimpson Timber Company stating . Y student nurse, md~ , in a its wells seven and eight would be Mrs Job a arent volunteei n Raymond, ' P As 40 per cent of the tooh ~as laterturned over to the city for . surface cannot be reached bya as stolen development. The city engineer Research has created a new was asked to~ do testing and theory as to why and how teeth brush, dental floss is the secod continuing their studies on the 'wells to see what should be brushed, according to part of the once-a-day thorouh would be needed to make them Mrs. Trimble. Destroying plaque, cleaning now recommended. The Kerr case did not go to the jury Wednesday evening as planned when the state was unable to get its rebuttal witnesses in. The trial will resume Thursday morning with Georgie Layman, the first rebuttal witness for the prosecution, being cross-examined by defense attorney Clay Nixon. The jury which has been hearing evidence for eight days in the second-degree nmrder trial of Harry E. Kerr, Grapeview, was expected to begin deliberating after getting the case Wednesday evening. Kerr is charged in the shotgun slaying of George Davidson, a brush picker, December 22, 1971. Defense testimony, which started Monday morning, was concluding Wednesday afternoon. Prosecuting Attorney Byron McClanahan completed his case Friday afternoon. Defense witnesses began testifying Monday. Motions by defense attorney Clay Nixon for a change of venue and for dismissal of the charge for lack of evidence were overruled by Judge Robert Doran. Nixon, in his opening statement, said the defense would prove that brush thieves were a problem in the area and that Kerr had had trouble with brush thieves and was told when he contacted the Mason County Sheriff's Office that he should try to hold the thieves on his property and then call the sheriff's office. Nixon said this was what Kerr intended to do the day Davidson was shot when Kerr went into the wooded area with a 12-gauge shotgun after hearing a dog bark and believed someone was back on the property. The defense attorney said Kerr carried the gun to bluff anyone whom he might meet and also to signal his wife if he should have problems in the woods. He stated that Kerr saw a man picking brush on his property and was attempting to apprehend him when the man lunged at him and Kerr fell backwards and the shotgun went off, killing Davidson. Kerr took the witness stand to lead off for the defense. He stated he was 62 years old and in poor health because of a health problem. He stated the 20 acres of property on which he and his wife, Ann, live is on the Thomas Road in the Grapeview area. The property, he said, belonged to his wife when they were married 18 years ago. She inherited it from her late husband, Robert E. Young. Kerr said he was retired on a disability from his job as a sheet metal worker at the navy shipyard in Bremerton and that he had served in the U.S. Navy in World War I1. He said he and his wife had thought of picking brush on the property to earn a little extra money, but brush thieves took so much of it that it was not worthwhile. Kerr stated after he had become ill in 1965, the doctor had advised him to get light exercise and he had started walking m the woods. Twice when he first started walking there he had encountered brush pickers, one of whom threatened to beat his head off when he ordered the man off his property and another who had chased him back to his home. He stated after that be started carrying a gun for protection when he walked in the woods. After giving the preliminary testimony, Kerr was off,the stand while several other witnesses testified briefly. He resumed the witness stand Tuesday morning to describe the events which led up to the fatal shooting of Davidson. Kerr said he had first observed Davidson in the area two days earlier, on December 20,when he had gone to the back of his property and observed a man wearing an aluminum hardhat and a yellow rain jacket on the Butler property which is behind the Kerr property. He said he watched the man as he came over onto the Kerr property picking brush. Kerr said he returned to the house and after his wife had talked to the sheriff's office, he had gone back into the woods with his shotgun with the intention of holding the man on the property until a sheriff's deputy arrived. Kerr stated when he got back to the area where he had seen the man the man was gone. He stated he believed the man he saw that day was the same man who had been shot two days later. He stated he carried the gun with the intention of bluffing or intimidating the man, and had no intention of shooting anyone. He stated another reason he carried the gun was to signal his wife in case he had problems in the woods because of his poor health. He stated the morning of December 22 he had gone back into the woods to check how much brush had been taken and had taken his shotgun with him. He stated he had first followed a trail to the south property line and was on his way back north when he observed a man he thought was the same man he had seen two days earlier. He said at the time he saw the man the man was on his property and was picking brush. He stated he had gone around by a different trail and gotten to a point where he could observe the man. Kerr stated he had called to the man "Hold it right there, this is private property." He said the man dropped the brush and started running up the trail and that he started in pursuit and called "Halt, or I'll shoot." He said he then pumped a shell into the chamber of the shotgun and fired a warning shot, pointing the gun away from the direction he saw the man going. Kerr said the man kept on running and that he went in pursuit, reloading the gun as he went. He said the man got part way up the hill on the trail and stopped. He said the man stated he wanted to get to his car which he indicated was parked up above. Kerr said he told the man "No. you don't, you are going to the house and 1 am going to call the sheriff. I have already talked to him about you and my wife and I have seen you picking our brush. The sheriff wants to see you." He stated the man said,"Like hell I'll go to see the sheriff." He said the man appeared to be winded from the run up the hill, and after pausing, the man started to walk slowly down the hill toward him. Kerr said the man appeared larger than he and that he was afraid of him. Kerr said the man continued to walk down the trail toward him and that he (Kerr) stepped off the trail to allow the man to pass so the man would be ahead of him and he could direct him to the trail to the Kerr home. He said that as the man walked toward him that all of a sudden the man whirled and lunged at him with his fists clinched. Kerr stated when the man lunged, he jumped back and tripped over some brush and fell back against a tree and the gun discharged. He stated after he got himself disentangled from the brush he had stood up and looked at the man, but did not go near him, believing the man might be playing possum and would grab him if he got close enough. He stated he did not see any blood on the man and did not know how badly he was injured. He stated he returned to the house, meeting his wife on the trail where she was coming up to see what was the matter because of the shots which had been fired. He stated he had waited at his home until Deputy Marvin Synder arrived and then had gone with Snyder to a road on the Hofert property which led down toward where the body of the man was found. Kerr testified the map which was being used in the courtroom by the prosecution was accurate to a point, but that the boundary line between his and the Nicklaus property was not accurate. He stated that his wife had been shown four iron pipes driven into the ground when she and her former husband had bought the property and that she had shown him the pipes after they were married. Kerr stated one of the property corner marker pipes was moved to a different location during a survey which had been conducted for Nicklaus. He stated he had pulled up that pipe because it was in the wrong place. He also stated that the location shown on the prosecutor's map which indicated where he had said he had first seen l>avidson was not correct. He stated he did not deliberately fire the shot which killed Davidson and that he had not intended to kill anyone. Under cross-examination by McClanahan, Kerr said he had not told Deupty John Hays he had not actually seen anyone and could give no description of anyone. He also stated he had not told Chief Criminal Deputy Tom Creekpaum December 24 that he had never seen the man who was killed before the day of the shooting; ! STUDENT NURSE Colleen Marilley helps Robert Meacham, Pioneer School sixth grader, brush up on dental skills. i!,