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April 29, 2012
Port Townsend-Jefferson County’s Daily Newspaper
Verser to seek new term
The
‘I’m feeling great,’ says judge of bout with cancer in 2011 BY CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Sediment flows out of the mouth of the Elwha River into the Strait of Juan de Fuca on Friday as the river cuts through a century of silt collected behind two dams now being removed upstream. Aerial photos of the dam sites — and the near-empty reservoirs behind them — appear on Page C1.
A century of sediment flows down released river BY ROB OLLIKAINEN PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
century’s worth of murky sediment from the newly liberated Elwha River has begun to form a palpable plume as it pours into the blue waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. River flows have spiked in recent weeks as winter turned to spring and dam removal continues, causing a plume of silt visible to the naked eye. “The river is definitely flushing a lot of its sediment, so people have been seeing that,� said Barb Maynes, Olympic National Park spokeswoman. The sediment is being unleashed from the man-made reservoirs behind the 99-year-old Elwha and 85-year-old Glines Canyon dams west of Port Angeles. The last remnants of the 108-foot
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Elwha Dam, which ONLINE . . . formed Lake Aldwell 5 miles upstream from the river’s mouth, were removed in March. Its 210-foot counterpart, which forms Lake Mills 9 miles ■Real-time upstream, is about views of the halfway gone as part of dam sites: the $325 million federal http:// project to restore the tinyurl.com/ river’s legendary salmon pdndams runs. The dams were built without fish ladders, blocking salmon migration to 70 miles of pristine habitat, much of which is in Olympic National Park. Maynes said the median turbidity of the lower river was 1,300 Formazin
Nephelometric Units, or FNU, on Thursday, with a peak instantaneous value of 1,680 FNU. So far, the sediment is not killing fish. “They’re not dying, but we can see some irritation on some of their gills,� said Robert Elofson, river restoration director for the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe. The industrial water-treatment plant that feeds the state-of-the-art $16.4 million new fish hatchery at the tribe was built specifically for the dam removal project. The facility was designed to accommodate 24,000 FNU, and last week’s average was 950 FNU, Maynes said. “It seems to have peaked yesterday,� Maynes said Friday. TURN
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PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Craddock D. Verser, who was absent from the bench for several months while undergoing cancer treatment, has announced he will seek a third term as judge. “I’m feeling great, and I love my job,� Verser said Friday. “The doctors have given me a clean bill of health verbally, so I’m going to run for another term.� Verser, 62, was diagnosed with pancreatic Verser cancer in July and underwent treatment in Seattle. Visiting judges from other counties and pro tems substituted for him until he returned to the bench earlier this year. Verser’s initial treatment was in Seattle, but he will continue with radiation treatments in Sequim. He said that will make it easier for him to continue treatment while serving as judge. Verser was appointed to the bench by Gov. Gary Locke in 2002 to succeed Thomas Majhan, who died of cancer while in office in 2002. Voters elected Verser to the position in 2004 as well as in 2008, when he ran unopposed.
County commissioners Two incumbent county commissioners have not announced their plans for the November general election. Commissioners David Sullivan and Phil Johnson, both first elected in 2004, would be seeking third terms should they decide to run. On Friday, neither would commit to running again. “You’ll be the first to know,� Johnson told the Peninsula Daily News. “You’ll have to be patient,� Sullivan said. Candidate filing will begin in two weeks, on May 14. TURN
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First day of trout fishing brisk on Anderson Lake BY LEAH LEACH PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT TOWNSEND — Anderson Lake was a popular place Saturday morning when it opened for trout fishing and other recreational uses. “We had a very full parking lot,� said state Ranger Aaron Terada on Saturday afternoon. “We had about 85 fishermen on the lake at about 10 a.m.,� he added, pointing
out that this is an indication of the number turning out but was not an overall attendance number, which wouldn’t be known until after the park closed for the day. People were lined up at the gates when they opened at 6:30 a.m., allowing access to the 410-acre Anderson Lake State Park and the 70-acre lake within. Both will be open from that time to dusk throughout the season.
A Discover Pass is needed to visit the park. It can be bought at the state park and costs $10 for oneday use or $30 for an annual pass good for one year from the date of purchase. Although the date of the opening of the entire park was never in doubt, the lake’s status depended on the results of tests for algaeproduced toxins in the water. TURN
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LINDA SUTTON/FOR PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Ben Widener of Port Hadlock launches his boat carrying his son,
LAKE/A6 Nicholas, on reopened Anderson Lake on Saturday.
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