July 31, 1975 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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July 31, 1975 |
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Grossenbacher Bros. Inc,
6]./, N. 6th Ave,
GAY
parked on the street
pointing the
gismo at your car
Mars; he's from the
Police Department and
with a hand-held
that is making it a lot
the cops to catch
a ride with
Mark Oliviero one
last week when he
flagrant speeders in
in hour,
have been trying
radar gun for the past
they're catching people
On Wednesday, Shelton
wrote 12 tickets for
on Thursday, they
and on Friday they
1. Police Chief Frank
the department hopes
one of the $1,400
with money from a
grant.
radar gun makes it easier
speeders because no
involved and it is a
Operation than the old
is fixed to the side of
With the radar gun,
have you coming and
other words, if a
is parked on a street,
the radar gun at you
which way you're going
works like this: high
radio waves are emitted
unit, bounce off objects
and come back to the
farther away an object
longer it takes the waves
back. The differences in
takes for the waves to
to the unit are used by
to calculate the
r anobject." ' Of course the
for the radio waves
back is only a small
of a second.
purpose of the radar is
tickets," said Oliviero
for a spot near
on Railroad. "In the
1, it's to prevent accidents.
is no quota of tickets
has to turn in. This is
known, but people
(when the policeman
over), 'Oh, I suppose
make your quota'."
on Railroad, took
and pointed it out the
going out of town
The second car
us was going 37 miles
ir in a 25 zone. The police
ting right beside the
view. He pulled over
and wrote a ticket.
don't try to hide from
Oliviero. "The state
kind of sneaky that way.
of your purpose is to be
to create a deterrent.
sight of a police car
explained that there
areless speeders and
Mason County commissioners
Monday chopped off the payroll
two eniployecs of the Mason
County Sheriff's Department
hired by Sheriff Dan McNair.
The action is the latest
consequence of a $22.3 million
lawsuit fded against numerous
county officials by Robert
Johnson, a former sheriff's
..... ..... .... department employee who started
the class action suit on behalf of
PATROLMAN MARK OLIVIERO points the police's new radar gun at a
passing motorist. The numberlights on the back of the gun register the speed
of the object at which the gun is pointed.
offender and simply forfeited so
the offender doesn't have to go to
court. The bail (or what turns
into a free) ranges from $15 for
going five miles per hour over the
limit to $23 for nine mph over, to
$41 for 15 over, to $81 for 25
over, to $100 for 30 over, to
$165 for 40 over and includes all
the speeds in between.
"Thirty-two dollars!"
exclaimed the lady sitting next to,
the driver of the car Oliviero
cited. "It should be $20 or $15.
'TII just have to sit it out in
jail, I guess," said the driver.
"You get a lot of that," said
Oliviero. "They think they're
being cute when they tell you
they're going to sit it out in jail."
We moved to the log
monument (on Highway 101) on
Hillcrest. Within five minutes, the
officer said, "I got the truck going
40." It was a 30 zone.
The truck passed the patrol
car and Oliviero pulled out into
traffic and turned on his light.
When the driver got out of the
truck, Oliviero asked him to come
back to the patrol car to look at
the radar gun, which still had
"40" in fights registered on its
backside.
"Can't argue with that, I
guess," said the offender.
"We show it to the violators
when we stop them," said
Oliviero. "It (radar's 'authority')
makes it a little easier for us, you
know. People take it a little
better."
The police try to work streets
all over town, said Oiiviero. There
are people speeding all during the
day, he said, not just in the
morning and late afternoon. He
moved to Pioneer Way and the
second car that passed us was
going 37 in a 25 zone.
"It's a good public relations
piece of equipment," said the
officer as he sat in the car
pointing the instrument. "Kids
come up to us and we show them
how we use it.
"It makes police work a little
more professional."
The radar is checked for
accuracy with a tuning fork
before the policeman hits the
streets. The tuning fork vibrates
deliberate speeders.
"Careless speeders don't pay
attention to what they're doing,
so they won't see us even when
we're in full view. Deliberate
speeders will probably see us
before we get them. Both kinds
can cause accidents because
they're going too fast for the road
they're on."
Oliviero showed us a copy of
the bail schedule, which is set by
taw. I;% pretty expensive to have
a lead foot and get caught. The
bail is usually posted by the
all the citizens of the county.
The lawsuit claims that
McNair, Chief Criminal Deputy
Tom Creekpaum and the county
Civil Service Commission violated
civil service procedures in the
hiring of employees for the
department.
last week Prosecutor Byron
McClanahan said the
commissioners could ask McNair
to resign if they thought he was
running the sheriff's department
unfairly or in iolation of the law.
The commissioners declined
to do that ~at their Monday
meeting, but i instead passed a
resolution thatI Undersheriff Ed
Doench and ~Administrative
Assistant Dim~tri Todd not be
paid afterl July 31. The
commissioners took the action as
the result of a recommendation of
McClanahan, who said the
sheriff's office was in apparent
violation of a 1959 Attorney
General's opinion in hiring
Doench, who does not live in the
county. MeClanahan also said
Todd never took the civil service
examination and has been hired
by the sheriff's office ever since
1973 by special contract.
McNair denied that there is
anything wrong with the way he's
been running his office or with
the people he's hired.
"Judging by the amount of
verbiage Mr. McClanahan has put
out, it's time I said something,"
said McNair. "The commissioners
and I finally met and went over
the claim. As far as I'm
concerned, there's no fact to the
damn thing. I don't understand all
of tl ~s svgge::!~on from one area
tha', ', aio ~d ue fired nr asked to
resign.
"First of all, I was dected and
the commissioners cannot fire me,
and I have no intention of
resigning. If it takes every dime
I've got and can borrow, I'm
going to take this thing right
down to the wire."
McClanahan told the
commissioners Monday that he
investigated the claims in the
lawsuit and found that
Creekpaum had been one of the
questioners at the oral civil service
examinations. "I think this is not
proper," he said. "The sheriff
should not be involved in the"
examinations and he should be
told to cease and desist having
any member of his department
take part in those examinations."
McClanahan suggested that
the sheriff's department's
involvement in the civil service
exams was unfair and that any
exams in which a sheriff's
department member took part
should be discarded.
"I'm not saying there was
fraud or skullduggery involved,"
said McClanahan to the
commissioners, "but under the
apparent fairness doctrine, the
sheriff shouldn't have anything to
do with those exams."
McNair said it was his
at a constant frequency (say 65 privilege to appoint one man, the
mph) and it takes only a fewundersheriff, and he did. He also
seconds for the officer to see if
the radar machine registers the
correct speed by "reading" the
~ __1
waves from the tuning fork. ~~th~
A truck passed us on Pioneer
Way and the radar clocked it at
39 mph. The driver didn't believe
it.
"Forty miles an hour up that
crooked road? By God, that's
said the Attorney General's
opinion McClanahan quoted was
hard to believe," he protested. He Southside School District will
also mentioned that he knew increase the size of its board of
Frank Rains. , ", directors from three to five
"See?" said Oliviero. 'Heres people as a result of school
• district reclassification, tcts
a case of somebody being famihar
with the road getting used to Third class school distr"
knowing how fast he can drive his have been reclassified as second
truck on a particular road." The class districts and are required to
man lived just off Pioneer Way. increase the number of members
Oliviero said a lot of people of their boards from three to five
mention that they know Frank by SeptemberThe Southside29" school
.... ~ Rains, or some other official. "Of directors will consider applicants
course'it does them no good,"he for two positions at their next
said. , .
MATT HAWKINS, 13 (lying down) of Shelton was riding on People who don t believe tlae regular meeting to be held August
11 at 7:30 p m. at Southside
the back of a stingray bike down First Street near Kneeland cops about the speed they we; School.
Park Thursday morning when the bik ' , ........ .4 ,..
e s dr,~, ~vw,v~u tu traveling are the exception, sal
miss a concrete abutment sticking out in the road and ran Oliviero. Most take their lumpS as . The appointment period for
into a motor home driven by Corrine W Duckham of
Shelton. The boy on the front Of the bike was not seriously if theYAnddeservethe police'sthem" new radar" generalfr°mthe neWseptemberelectionrnemberSinuntilWillNovembelaStthe onlYne:~
injured but Matt suffered lacerations to h s head and was gun is dealing a lot of lump this ye~ir.
taken to Mason General Hospital in an ambulance.
lately.
out of date. "Today it is not an
uncommon practice to have
sheriff's department employees
live out of the county," he said.
The sheriff also denied there
was anything wrong with having
Creekpaum in on the questioning
at civil service exams. "I see no
problem there," he said. "Other
counties do this, and one in.
particular has a chief criminal
deputy who is also the chief
examiner for the civil service
colnmission."
The commissioners' official
motion included cutting off the
pay of the two employees, calling
for the re-examination of job
candidates in civil service jobs
where there was a question of
fairness, and saying that the
county does not condone any of
the allegations of wrongdoing in
the claim.
Thursday, July 31, 1975 Eighty-ninth Year, Number 31 4 Sections - 36 Pages 15 Cents Per Copy
,oroner
ose
caus
Tw enty-five-year-old Russell
Charles Viger Jr. of Shelton died
of a drug overdose early
Wednesday morning, the Mason
County Coroner reported
Wednesday.
Coroner Byron McClanahan
said the results of lab work were
not known at press time
Wednesday, but that he believes
Viger died of an overdose of
heroin.
McClanahan said the physical
facts surrounding the case and the
statements of witnesses indicated
that Viger had given himself a
shot of something Tuesday night.
The coroner said Viger had
also been drinking away from his
home and his condition was such
that he could not drive home to
Union, so he stayed at the Jeff
White residence, Rt. 5, Box 665,
Shelton.
Friends said they assumed
Viger passed out, but he couldn't
be awakened at 6 a.m.
Tragedy struck Belfair State
Park Sunday evening when
68-year-old Walter Hawks of
Bremerton apparently suffered a
heart attack while swimming and
died.
The Kitsap County Coroner
said Hawks, of 1209 Gregory Way
in Bremerton, was dead on arrival
at Harrison Memorial Hospital in
Wednesday. McClanahan said he
apparently died at about 2 or 3
o'clock Wednesday morning.
Viger was born on December 6,
(Please turn to page two.)
Bremerton after being transported
there by the Belfair Aid Car.
Efforts to revive Hawks
enroute to the hospital failed. The
incident happened at about 7:30
p.m. Sunday.
Hawks was a former Puget
Sound Naval Shipyard draftsman
who retired in 1966.
SC
ool
!
commission open
Five people, including the
three incumbents, had filed by
Wednesday afternoon for Shelton
City Commission elections this
fall and three people had fried for
the Shelton School District Board
of Directors.
Filing for mayor were James
F. Lowery of 1611 Monroe and
Frank A. Travis, the incumbent.
Bradley Owen, 918 Ellinor,
and incumbent David T.
Kneeland, 1240 East Fairmount,
had filed for Commissioner of
Finance.
Incumbent Michael J. Byrne
was unopposed at press time for
the position of Commissioner of
Public Works.
George Hermes, 2308
Callanan, filed for the district 1
position on the school board now
held by Dr. Mark Trucksess.
Vicki Lee Conley, 522 North
Third, was the lone flier in district
number 5, the post now held by
"I'om Weston.
DL Geo, ge Radlch, 1713 King
Street, flied to keep his position
Frank Travis
in distlic~ 2.
Citizens have until Friday to
file.
Jim Lowery
.....
David Kneeland
Brad Owen
Michael Byrne
Vicki Lee Conley
George Radich
George Hermes