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Thursday, May 17, 2012
Week 20 The Voice of Mason County since 1886 --- Published for Mason County and Darlene Hale of Belfair -- $1
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natalie@masoncounty°com
On May 7. Union resident
David Snider, 55, set out on
what he thought would be a
pleasant afternoon hike near
the North Fork Campground in
Olympic National Park.
The following Saturday
morning, a King County search
and rescue helicopter found
Snider tired, cold and a little de-
hydrated, but alive, and in the
middle of the park several miles
away from where he started.
Snider walked from his car
at the North Fork Campground
along the trail to Irely Lake.
"I was just going to possibly
go for an afternoon hike," he
said.
As Snider walked farther up
to an area near Three Lakes
and the Tshletshy Ridge he en-
countered more snow than he
expected, which obscured the
trail.
"I knew I was near the trail
but I wasn't exactly on it," he
said. "The bad decision was to
take a shortcut."
However, when night fell,
Snider realized he was much
farther from the trail than he
thought.
"When the moon came up I re-
alized I wasn't where I thought
I was," he said.. "I was probably
a quarter mile
from the trail."
Snider has
been hiking
since the sum-
mer of 1980,
and has hiked
many times
throughout the
Southwest, as
well as Olympic
National For-
est. He used his
skills to survive
in the park for
four nights,
and tried sev-
eral strategies
to figure out his
exact location, and try ~o find
the best place ~o either signal
for help, or cross the park to the
Quinault River. which could
lead him back to his car.
First, Snider navigated diffi-
cult terrain to the top of a ridge
to get his bearings, and then
tried to move across the park.
On Tuesday morning, he
tried to cross a creek. While try-
ing to get to the water, Snider
slipped down a ridge.
"Right before I crossed was
where my glasses got caught
by a blackberry
bush," he said.
"[ knew I was Snider de-
near the trail scribes himself
as "extremely
but [ wasn't
exactly on it
.., The bad
decision was
to take a
shortcut."
nearsighted,"
and only has
good vision
within 4-6
inches from his
eyes.
~Before Tues-
day afternoon
he had already
battled snow
and steep ter-
rain. After los-
ing his only
pair of glasses,
the task of finding his way out
of the woods became even more
difficult.
"It was kind of scary. I looked
for them for an hour, an hour
and a half," he said.
Snider gave up the search
for his glasses and used a stick
he found near the creek and his
trusty 20-year old walking stick
to get away from the creek and
continue his efforts to find his
way out of the forest.
Although he is an experi-
enced hiker, Snider found him-
self fighting panic during the
beginning of his ordeal.
"I had ~o go through this
funny psychological transfor-
mation -- the first day or two I
was so scared. Eventually that
dissipated," he said. "I was able
to do things I never thought I
could do."
When Snider set out Mon-
day, he had a backpack with
him. including extra clothing
like a wool sweater and cap,
three liters of water, six Cliff
bars, flashlights and a camera.
On Tuesday night, he said
his extra clothing came in Han-
dy.
"The wool sweater I had
saved my butt," he said.
Because his legs were most-
ly uncovered, Snider wore the
sweater on his legs to keep
warm in what he estimated was
sub-freezing nighttime tem-
peratures on at least two of the
See Hiker on page A-7
Courtesy pnoto
Terra Kathleen Dittmer, 38,
of Shelton, was killed after
a car crash Tuesday on East
Mikkelsen Road.
Woman killed
in car crash
Driver charged with
vehicular homicide
By KEVIN SPRADLIN
kevin ~masoncou~ty,co,,,n
The driver of a vehicle in which
a Shelton woman was killed early
Tuesday morning faces a charge of
vehicular homicide.
Mason County residents Dylan J.
Burke, Jason J. Brown and Terra K.
Dittmer comprised a group celebrat-
ing Cody R. Laney's 21st birthday
at the Towne Pub Monday night in
Shelton..
See Crash on page A-7
Former
hoops
star tells
of drug
add ction
By KEVIN SPRADLIN
Donning a simple, short-
sleeve gray top, blue jeans
and sandals, Katie Searle
wasn't wearing anything
that made her stand apart
from a crowd.
Where she chose to sit,
however, spoke volumes.
Searle, 28, of Olympm,
sat in the front row of the
Skookum Creek Event Cen-
ter in Kamilche on Tuesday
night to listen to the up-
and-down:then-up-again
tale of Chris Herren.
Herren, 36, was at one
time among the best high
school basketball players
in the country. A hard-core
drug addiction derailed his
short-lived professional bas-
ketball career.
Over 14 years, Herren,
from Fall River, Mass.,
went from being on top of
the world and a first-round
NBA draft pick to sleeping
in a nondescript California
alley between a garbage bin
and a chain link fence.
Due to his drug addiction,
Herren lost millions of dol-
lars. He almost lost his fam-
ily. And, without stretching
his tale a bit, the recovering
addict almost lost his life.
Herren said many things
during his two-hour pre-
sentation that made Searle
nod, shake her head, shut-
ter or gasp in sympathetic
despair.
And then Herren said the
one thing that hit home --
See Addiction on page A-7
81111U!!IJ!IIU!!I]UIIII2
;ournal pnolos D/ Natahe Johnso[
The Garage Floor Gals, including Kelsey Smith, left, Chaney Curry and Amy Davis, sponsored by VanderWars
Garage and Olympic Panel Products, took home first place in this year's Sound Learning Spellebration.
Garage Floor Gals win top
prize with 'Jaberwocky'
By NATALIE JOHNSON
nata/ie@masoncounty.com
Sound Learning's annual Spellebra-
tion fundraiser drew 18 ~eams and raised
more than $10.000 for the nonprofit Fri-
day night, said interim Executive Direc-
tor Shannon Kiassell.
"With the economy the way it is I think
it's a fabulous year," she said.
Sound Learning, formerly Mason
County Literacy, is celebrating 20 years
of promoting literacy in Mason and Thur-
ston counties this year.
The organization offers basic educa-
tion and reading classes for adults, as
well as help preparing for GEDs and
English for Speakers of Other Languag-
es (ESOL) classes.
Spellebration judges Curt
Bennett, left, Tamra Ingwaldson
and Janice Byrd confer on the
spelling of a word during the
final round of the fundraiser
spelling bee Friday night.
ESOL Coordinator Jenny Blumen-
stein introduced three Sound Learning
students before the spelling bee Friday
evening -- Domingo Juan, Brian Lisk
and Imelda Acosta -- and asked them to
briefly talk about how Sound Learning
has helped them.
Blumenstein drew the subject for
the segment of the evening from Sound
Learning's mission statement "To ed-
ucate adults so they are equipped to suc-
ceed and contribute in society."
"There's three verbs that come from
the missmn statement that we ask the
students to respond ~o in ~erms of how
they experience those words in their ev-
eryday lives after being in the program,"
Blumenstein said. "Educate. succeed and
contribute. "
Each of the students is involved in a
different program, or level of progress
at Sound Learning. Juan is taking be-
ginning English classes, and said they
have helped him learn to ask and answer
questions in English. and order food at
restaurants.
Lisk, who takes classes in the basic
adult education program and is prepar-
ing to take his GED. is learning to write
See Spellebration on page A-7