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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 13, 2007     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 13, 2007
 
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Diehl's struggles cross state line (Continued from page 25.) the person whose project Diehl was disputing before the Shore- lines }Iearings Board after the person received a permit from Mason County. Diehl's filing with the court in California states that Kim Johannes- sen received a copy of a e-mail which French sent the day af- ter his arrest "with obvious per- sonal animus" to the office of Mason County Prosecutor Gary Burleson. According to Diehl's filing with the court, French's e-mail indicated the Crescent City at- torney had spoken with Johan- nessen and suggested it would be "nice" if Diehl were picked up befbre his scheduled appear- ance with the hearings board "so he would be unable to press a bogus claim against an in- nocent landowner" and French expressed the hope that "the jail will keep him, in light of his blatant efforts to ignore my- self." DIEHL SPENT TWO weeks in the Thurston County Jail be- fore deciding not to fight his ex- tradition to California. He faced one felony count and 108 misde- meanor charges and maintains that the felony charge was filed merely to secure his extradition. The felony charge was dropped last year, and half of the misde- meanor charges were dropped last month. Diehl said the other misdemeanor charges were dis- missed in Del Norte County Su- perior Court in response to his filing in the case. That filing alleges that French broke the rules of pro- fessional conduct which guide attorneys in California and violated Diehl's constitutional rights to due process and equal protection under the law. It also describes the sequence of events that brought them to this pass. The property at 475 K Street in Crescent City was a fbrmer lumberyard and hardware store that had been owned by L.C. Bliss & Soils Livestock Corporation since 1976. The firm sold the site in 1994 and began a cleanup of the property required by the presence of un- derground storage tanks that had leaked petroleum. The last of three underground storage tanks was removed in 1995 un- der the terms of an agreement with the buyers, an employee stock ownership trust. How- ever, the soil excavated from around the tanks remains on- site, safely stacked in mounds deposited on an impermeable surface, protected from erosion by a roof. Diehl acquired the property through foreclosure after the buyers declared bankruptcy and defaulted on his loan to them. qhe Bliss family then stopped working on the clean- up, leaving Diehl in possession of the contaminated soil. As his court filing tells it, he was sub- jected to pressure by-French to sell the property at a loss and named in an action by the Cali- forni0 Regional Water Qual- ity Control Board alleging that the site was an environmental hazard that has contaminated the groundwater. This cast a pall over Diehl's efforts to sell the property and might have obliged him to cough up more than $300,000 to finish the cleanup job the Blisses had be- gun. ALL THAT IS according to Diehl's filing with the court. Prior to the sale which closed last month, he alleged that French and others tried to pres- sure him to sell the property at a loss. He makes the point that he and another attorney employed by Crescent City threatened him with criminal prosecution in the same week he received an offer to purchase the subject property. Richard Littlefield, a businessman who operates a food market there, offered Diehl a price the latter described as "much less than what I believed to be a fair mar- ket value." Pressure mounted when city officials took a couple of local journalists on a tour of the old lumberyard. Added to the mix were complaints that the place was littered with garbage, over- run with weeds and home'to a runaway blackberry bush. Die- hl stated that in conversations and e-mails French urged him to "sell your property to some- one who cares" and stated that the city "would go away" if "you would just sell your property." With the passage of time, Diehrs estimate of the price the property would have to fetch if he was to get out of Crescent City without losing his shirt was rising. With taxes, interest and fees related to the foreclo- sure and an attorney, the cost of making good on the $560,000 loan had risen to $712,564.51. His filing with the court also conjures up the specter of Wal- Mart in response to the corn- plaint that his mana the property was the central business Crescent City. "If I may be blamed ing out for a price that me to protect my security est and recover most of have spent on the city bears responsibility for', have reduced de !:" icies that for downtown commercial erty, most notably in allo / development of a new co cial center on the outs town, centered around a Mart store," he stated, i Weather spotters needed in rural The Mason County Division of Emergency Management is host- ing a training session for persons interested in the Skywarn Weath- er Spotter program of the National Weather Service. Training will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 27, at 410 West Business Park Road. The location is just north of the Shelton city limits off Highwy 101 at the Sanderson Field Airport and Industrial Park. Instruction is for new or veteran spotters including interested citizens, amateur radio enthusiasts, emergency respond- ers, members of the Community Emergency Response Team and others. Training includes and video demonstrations cove8! how to look for and report si1 = event-driven weather e cant to the Mason County DivisiO I Emergency Management an I National Weather Service. / tern are needed, especially i rural parts of the county. HI weather instrumentation, an anemometer, is a plus not required to take the Class size is limited to sons. Those who are attend are asked to res September 21 by sending an to Sandi Kvarnstrom at co.mason.wa.us or calling 427-9670 Extension 801. Comcast Demo Locations TA£ 0 H A H A L L Visit the Comcast kiosk in front of Macy's for a demo today! Comcast Cable Store Locations Aberdeen 600 West Wishkah St., 98520 M-F 9am-6pm (closed daily 1:30-2:30) SOUTH HILL MALL Visit the Comcast kiosk near the Food Court for a demo today! Bremerton 1225 Sylvan Way, 98310 M-F 10am-6pm Olympia 440 Yauger Way SW, 98502-8153 M-Sat. 9am-5pm Tacoma 5401 6th Ave., Ste. 505, 98406-2645 M-Sat. 9am-6pm Nasdaq: CMCSA Offers end 9/21/07. After promotional period regular monthly rate (currently $32.43-$50.25 for Enhanced Cable and $15.99 for HBO) depending on area, level of service and equipment, apply. Equipment cbages may apply. Offer good for new customers only. Installation charges apply. Offer available in participating Comcast systems (and may not be transferred) and is limited to new residential customers who do not currently subscribe or have not subscribed during the past 60 days to the service offered, located in Comcast serviceable areas (and is not available to former Comcast customers with unpaid balances). Prices shown do not include applicable taxes, franchise and FCC fees. Services are subject to Comcast's standard terms and conditions of service. Call Comcast for restrictions, minimum requirements and complete details about services and prices. HBO '.' is a service mark of Home Box Office, Inc. ©2007 Comcast. All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owner. llb "rY: Certain services are available separately or as a part of other levels of service. Basic Service subscription is required to receive other levels of service. A converter, remote control and other equipment is required to receive certain services, Not all programming and services are avaUable in all areas. Pricing alld programming may change. On Demand requires subscription to a qualifying digital cable package, available On Demand content vades based on the digital cable tier subscdloed to, and certain On Demand selections subject to charge indicated at time of purchase. O307 SEPTROP VID Page 30 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, September 13, 2007 Diehl's struggles cross state line (Continued from page 25.) the person whose project Diehl was disputing before the Shore- lines }Iearings Board after the person received a permit from Mason County. Diehl's filing with the court in California states that Kim Johannes- sen received a copy of a e-mail which French sent the day af- ter his arrest "with obvious per- sonal animus" to the office of Mason County Prosecutor Gary Burleson. According to Diehl's filing with the court, French's e-mail indicated the Crescent City at- torney had spoken with Johan- nessen and suggested it would be "nice" if Diehl were picked up befbre his scheduled appear- ance with the hearings board "so he would be unable to press a bogus claim against an in- nocent landowner" and French expressed the hope that "the jail will keep him, in light of his blatant efforts to ignore my- self." DIEHL SPENT TWO weeks in the Thurston County Jail be- fore deciding not to fight his ex- tradition to California. He faced one felony count and 108 misde- meanor charges and maintains that the felony charge was filed merely to secure his extradition. The felony charge was dropped last year, and half of the misde- meanor charges were dropped last month. Diehl said the other misdemeanor charges were dis- missed in Del Norte County Su- perior Court in response to his filing in the case. That filing alleges that French broke the rules of pro- fessional conduct which guide attorneys in California and violated Diehl's constitutional rights to due process and equal protection under the law. It also describes the sequence of events that brought them to this pass. The property at 475 K Street in Crescent City was a fbrmer lumberyard and hardware store that had been owned by L.C. Bliss & Soils Livestock Corporation since 1976. The firm sold the site in 1994 and began a cleanup of the property required by the presence of un- derground storage tanks that had leaked petroleum. The last of three underground storage tanks was removed in 1995 un- der the terms of an agreement with the buyers, an employee stock ownership trust. How- ever, the soil excavated from around the tanks remains on- site, safely stacked in mounds deposited on an impermeable surface, protected from erosion by a roof. Diehl acquired the property through foreclosure after the buyers declared bankruptcy and defaulted on his loan to them. qhe Bliss family then stopped working on the clean- up, leaving Diehl in possession of the contaminated soil. As his court filing tells it, he was sub- jected to pressure by-French to sell the property at a loss and named in an action by the Cali- forni0 Regional Water Qual- ity Control Board alleging that the site was an environmental hazard that has contaminated the groundwater. This cast a pall over Diehl's efforts to sell the property and might have obliged him to cough up more than $300,000 to finish the cleanup job the Blisses had be- gun. ALL THAT IS according to Diehl's filing with the court. Prior to the sale which closed last month, he alleged that French and others tried to pres- sure him to sell the property at a loss. He makes the point that he and another attorney employed by Crescent City threatened him with criminal prosecution in the same week he received an offer to purchase the subject property. Richard Littlefield, a businessman who operates a food market there, offered Diehl a price the latter described as "much less than what I believed to be a fair mar- ket value." Pressure mounted when city officials took a couple of local journalists on a tour of the old lumberyard. Added to the mix were complaints that the place was littered with garbage, over- run with weeds and home'to a runaway blackberry bush. Die- hl stated that in conversations and e-mails French urged him to "sell your property to some- one who cares" and stated that the city "would go away" if "you would just sell your property." With the passage of time, Diehrs estimate of the price the property would have to fetch if he was to get out of Crescent City without losing his shirt was rising. With taxes, interest and fees related to the foreclo- sure and an attorney, the cost of making good on the $560,000 loan had risen to $712,564.51. His filing with the court also conjures up the specter of Wal- Mart in response to the corn- plaint that his mana the property was the central business Crescent City. "If I may be blamed ing out for a price that me to protect my security est and recover most of have spent on the city bears responsibility for', have reduced de !:" icies that for downtown commercial erty, most notably in allo / development of a new co cial center on the outs town, centered around a Mart store," he stated, i Weather spotters needed in rural The Mason County Division of Emergency Management is host- ing a training session for persons interested in the Skywarn Weath- er Spotter program of the National Weather Service. Training will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 27, at 410 West Business Park Road. The location is just north of the Shelton city limits off Highwy 101 at the Sanderson Field Airport and Industrial Park. Instruction is for new or veteran spotters including interested citizens, amateur radio enthusiasts, emergency respond- ers, members of the Community Emergency Response Team and others. Training includes and video demonstrations cove8! how to look for and report si1 = event-driven weather e cant to the Mason County DivisiO I Emergency Management an I National Weather Service. / tern are needed, especially i rural parts of the county. HI weather instrumentation, an anemometer, is a plus not required to take the Class size is limited to sons. Those who are attend are asked to res September 21 by sending an to Sandi Kvarnstrom at co.mason.wa.us or calling 427-9670 Extension 801. Comcast Demo Locations TA£ 0 H A H A L L Visit the Comcast kiosk in front of Macy's for a demo today! Comcast Cable Store Locations Aberdeen 600 West Wishkah St., 98520 M-F 9am-6pm (closed daily 1:30-2:30) SOUTH HILL MALL Visit the Comcast kiosk near the Food Court for a demo today! Bremerton 1225 Sylvan Way, 98310 M-F 10am-6pm Olympia 440 Yauger Way SW, 98502-8153 M-Sat. 9am-5pm Tacoma 5401 6th Ave., Ste. 505, 98406-2645 M-Sat. 9am-6pm Nasdaq: CMCSA Offers end 9/21/07. After promotional period regular monthly rate (currently $32.43-$50.25 for Enhanced Cable and $15.99 for HBO) depending on area, level of service and equipment, apply. Equipment cbages may apply. Offer good for new customers only. Installation charges apply. Offer available in participating Comcast systems (and may not be transferred) and is limited to new residential customers who do not currently subscribe or have not subscribed during the past 60 days to the service offered, located in Comcast serviceable areas (and is not available to former Comcast customers with unpaid balances). Prices shown do not include applicable taxes, franchise and FCC fees. Services are subject to Comcast's standard terms and conditions of service. Call Comcast for restrictions, minimum requirements and complete details about services and prices. HBO '.' is a service mark of Home Box Office, Inc. ©2007 Comcast. All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owner. llb "rY: Certain services are available separately or as a part of other levels of service. Basic Service subscription is required to receive other levels of service. A converter, remote control and other equipment is required to receive certain services, Not all programming and services are avaUable in all areas. Pricing alld programming may change. On Demand requires subscription to a qualifying digital cable package, available On Demand content vades based on the digital cable tier subscdloed to, and certain On Demand selections subject to charge indicated at time of purchase. O307 SEPTROP VID Page 30 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, September 13, 2007