THE RECORD
Mercer Island rEporter | www.mi-reporter.com
The year in crime JANUARY Wise Son: The 25-year-old
son of a Mercer Island woman involved in a DUI hit-and-run followed his intoxicated mother in an attempt to prevent her from driving after 11:50 a.m., Jan. 7. Police arrested the woman, 59, at 12:42 p.m. in the 3600 block of 84th Avenue S.E. She refused standard sobriety tests. Police released her to the fire department, and she was taken to Overlake Hospital to be evaluated. The victim in the hit-andrun was a 16-year-old Mercer Island boy whose vehicle was damaged on its driver’s side. Both vehicles were damaged in the incident. Not us: Two plumbers drove away from an accident scene after backing into a vehicle and inspecting the damage at 12:30 p.m., Jan. 17, in the 4800 block of Forest Avenue S.E. One of the plumbers was cited for hit-and-run and driving with a suspended license (for unpaid tickets). Two witnesses observed the plumbing truck back out of a driveway into the road. One of the witnesses, who was outside at the time, heard a crash and “ripping sound,” according to the police report. The two occupants of the truck got out and looked at the bumper of a vehicle parked on the street, as if they had hit the vehicle. The vehicle was dented and marked with the transfer of white paint. When they were contacted by police after leaving the scene, they denied hitting the vehicle. Tag team: A man acted as a “lookout” while his accomplice stole two bottles of champagne worth $439 off the shelf and hid them in the front of his jacket in the South end QFC between 5:10 and 5:24 p.m. on Jan. 22. After discovering that the bottles were missing, an employee reviewed a sur-
veillance camera video for clues, which revealed the incident. The two men were in their 30s.
FEBRUARY Thirsty: Alpenland
Delicatessen was robbed on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 4, and police located the suspect within an hour. At 2:40 p.m., a 22-year-old Bellevue man threatened an Alpenland employee with a pocket knife after stealing a bottle of Bud Light beer from the deli. The employee had followed the suspect out of the store, demanding that he return the beer and telling him to open his jacket. Witnesses provided police with a description of the suspect, who fled. Police found and arrested him in a multi-level parking lot at 3:45 p.m. in the 2700 block of 78th Avenue S.E. The suspect admitted he was in the deli. Passed out: A paper carrier reported a Ford Explorer in some bushes at 5:01 a.m., Feb. 19, in the 2200 block of 77th Avenue S.E. A 24-yearold man was unconscious in the driver’s seat after consuming alcohol. An open beer can was in the center console. A police officer detected a strong odor of intoxicants around the man, who got his wallet out and fumbled through his money when he was contacted. He left his vehicle abruptly and was considerably off-balance, having to steady himself on the vehicle, according to the case report. His explanation
“The Homeguy”
711598
Jack Alhadeff
Serving Mercer Island and the Eastside homeguy@coldwellbanker.com
206-230-5460
Wednesday, December 26 | PAGE 7 for running into the bushes was that he was resting. He was arrested at 5:20 a.m.
MARCH gardening: Someone dug a
small Japanese maple tree worth $700 out of a South end woman’s backyard in the 9100 block of S.E. 78th Place and stole the tree. Smashed: A thief dropped four bottles of wine as he fled from Albertsons on foot at 7:45 p.m. on Sunday, March 4. He kept two bottles, having stolen six total, as he ran away northbound in the 2700 block of 77th Avenue S.E. One witness was present, and the suspect was followed out of the store. uninvited guests: More than 100 teenagers crashed a 16-year-old girl’s party and ransacked the house at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 10, after one of the girl’s friends tweeted an invitation to the party, intended for only a half dozen girls, in the 2900 block of 74th Avenue S.E. The girl and her friends tried to lock the house, but the intruders — from Seattle and unknown to the girls — entered by force and brought alcohol. Three police officers responded to the scene at 9 p.m. and found cars parked all over. Police ordered everyone to leave. A Macbook Pro worth $1,000
was reported missing.
APRIL Repeat: The same woman who stole wine from the South end QFC on Monday, April 16, repeated her crime between 7:29 and 7:36 a.m. the next Monday, April 23. The woman stole six bottles of wine worth a total of $377.94 at approximately the same time as the first theft. prospecting : A teenage girl stole a purse after asking about it at the Mercer Island Community and Event Center between 6:40 and 6:50 p.m. on April 26. A 38-year-old Seattle woman left her purse on a chair for more than 15 minutes, and when she returned, the purse was gone. The purse contained $20 in cash, multiple gift cards, including Macy’s cards worth $275, and bank cards. A witness said that the suspect had asked about the purse before taking it and walking toward the front counter. The purse, however, was not turned in, and the victim found it later in a restroom garbage can without its contents. MICEC has a surveillance camera video of the girl taking the purse.
MAY wrong way: A MercedesBenz backed into two
pedestrians leaving Zaw Pizza at 1:30 p.m., May 8, in the Tabit Square parking lot on S.E. 27th Street. A Zaw employee, 25, was carrying out a customer’s pizzas and was knocked down along with the customer, 33, who was leaving with her young daughter. The 22-year-old driver was following a friend and both entered the parking lot in the wrong direction. When they realized their mistake, they both began backing out. The 22-year-old driver did not look behind her at first. The mother and employee sustained injuries and were treated at the scene. Police cited the driver for unsafe backing. stash: Students hid drugs in woman’s yard near Mercer Island High School at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 23, in the 4200 block of 91st Avenue S.E. The woman, 35, saw a white vehicle park in front of her residence. Two male teenagers got out of the vehicle and placed a red duffel bag in some bushes in the woman’s yard. After they drove away, the woman retrieved the bag and found drugs and smoking pipes inside.
JUNE Don’t mess with grandma:
An 81-year-old woman did not let a thief get away with her purse in Albertsons at 2:45 p.m. on Sunday, June
10, at 2755 77th Ave. S.E. The woman confronted the thief, a tall man in his 20s, after he snatched her purse out of her shopping cart while she was choosing grocery items. She had left her cart unattended. The woman got her purse back after stopping the suspect, who then fled in a green Ford Explorer. She gave a detailed description of the suspect to police. The purse contained cash, credit cards and papers. wasteful: A 39-year-old Seattle man hid bottles of wine worth $136.90 in his backpack and stole them from Albertsons at 10:51 p.m., June 25. An Albertsons employee confronted the suspect, who fled northeast toward the park and ride. A bus passenger saw the suspect throw his backpack into some bushes. Police arrested the suspect, a repeat offender who admitted the theft.
Crime | Page 8
Service announcement Irene Uhl Fleming, born Sept. 3, 1906, died Dec. 9, 2012. A memorial service will be held at the Mercer Island United Methodist Church at 1 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 28.
Dr. William Howell Hatheway, Professor Emeritus Dr.William H. Hatheway died peacefully at the age of 89 on Tuesday, December 11, 2012, at his Mercer Island home of 42 years. Born November 28, 1923, in Hartford, Conn., Bill grew up nearby in Litchfield, Connecticut. A lifelong academic, he left home at the age of 13 to attend Andover Academy and, soon after,Yale University. He made his first trip to South America at age 17 to study Spanish, foretelling a career in that area of the world. Before completing his degree at Yale WWII called him to service and he served four years in the U.S. Army. Following the war he enrolled at the University of Chicago where he received a BS degree in mathematics with a minor in mathematical statistics in 1948. At Chicago, in addition to mathematics, he became interested in botany and biology, receiving his MS in botany in 1952. He pursued his passion for tropical plants at the University of Hawaii and Harvard University, where he earned a MF in forestry in 1953 and a PhD in biology in 1956. Bill received a John Parker Fellowship from Harvard in 1954. Bill met his wife of 42 years, Merilyn, while completing his PhD studies in Cuba. They married in 1953. Bill and Merilyn moved to Medellin, Colombia, when Bill took a position as a statistician with The Rockefeller Foundation. There, in addition to his statistical work, he studied the biology of maize and corn. As a post-doc at North Carolina State University he studied experimental statistics and quantitative genetics from 1956 to 1957. Bill’s three sons, Dave, Bob (Wendy) and Larry (Joan), were born in Colombia between 1956 and 1958. The family moved from Columbia to Mexico City in 1961 where they resided until 1964 as Bill continued his work with Rockefeller. From Mexico the family moved to Costa Rica where Bill joined the Organization for Tropical Studies as their Executive Director
and where he continued his botany studies at the Tropical Science Center in San Jose. Bill continued his teaching career at North Carolina State University when the family moved from Costa Rica to Raleigh in 1967. Then, in 1969, the University of Washington recruited Bill as a professor in the College of Forest Resources where he taught applied statistics and experimental design as professor of quantitative science until his retirement in 1986. His background and numerous scientific publications merged mathematics and tropical biology. Following retirement and Merilyn’s passing in 1995, Bill remained active in academics at the University of Washington, supporting Rose Ann Cattolico’s Marine Molecular Biology lab assisting graduate and post-graduate students. In addition, Bill created and funded the James and Marinelle Bethel Endowed Scholarship in honor of his friend and former CFR Dean, Dr. James Bethel. He is survived by his brother Curtis (Virginia), his sister Lee Jordan (Paul), his three sons, six grandchildren, and dear friends Rose Ann Cattolico and her son,Toby. He will be fondly remembered as a brilliant lifetime student and academic, a wonderful and caring teacher, a serious investor, a lover of all living things (especially plants), an expert in rhododendrons, and a most generous father, grandfather and friend. A memorial service in celebration of Bill’s life will be held on January 10, 2013 at 1:30 PM at the University of Washington, Anderson Hall Forest Club Room, 2nd floor, Seattle, Washington. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to The University of Washington Foundation.To make a donation, please make checks payable to the UW Foundation, 3718 Brooklyn Avenue NE, Box 355055, Seattle, WA 98195-5055. Please indicate “Bethel” in the memo line. (To make a gift online, visit http://bit.ly/jbethel.) 719326