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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS February 10, 2013 | $1.50

Port Townsend-Jefferson County’s Daily Newspaper

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The heroin connection Peninsula law enforcement finding opiate linked to recent home burglaries The annual caseload report from Washington Courts at www.courts.wa.gov showed 45 counts of burglary filed in Jefferson County Superior Court urglars fueled by heroin and other drug in 2012, down from the 50 filed in 2011, but Heraddictions have ramped up activities on the nandez said the number of burglary reports is North Olympic Peninsula, law enforcement higher than the number of cases in which charges officials say. “We certainly are seeing an increase in property are actually filed by the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. crimes across the whole area,� Jefferson County Sheriff Tony Hernandez said, adding that the priClallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict said: mary problem is an ever-evolving and sophisticated “What we are finding is an opiate drug habit set of serial burglars. seems to be the common denominator in our burEvidence of the rise in Jefferson County is anec- glary suspects. dotal, since crime data from the Sheriff’s Office are “It may well be they’re not connected to heroin, trapped inside a computer system the department but it sure seems to be a lot of the same people,� he implemented last year but could not use because of said. technical challenges, according to Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Stamper. TURN TO HEROIN/A6

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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

Michael Pierce, as he appeared in Jefferson County Superior Court via closed-circuit video from jail in Port Hadlock.

Retrial is set back until May Accused murderer’s defense wins delay BY CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

PORT TOWNSEND — The retrial of a Quilcene man who was convicted in 2009 of double murder was continued until the middle of May after the defense asked for more time to prepare. The retrial of Michael J. Pierce, 37, has been postponed to May 20. Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Keith Harper on Friday approved the request from attorney Richard Davies, who for the second time is representing Pierce, who was convicted in 2010 of the firstdegree murders of Pat and Janice Yarr on March 18, 2009, in their farmhouse near Lake Leland. The retrial, which is expected to take three weeks, originally had been scheduled for March 4. TURN

CHARLIE BERMANT/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

Former Port Townsend Mayor Kees Kolff, left, and Helen Kolff run into current Mayor David King by chance in Kah Tai Lagoon Park on Friday. The city park could be a part of the metropolitan park district that will be discussed at a special meeting Monday.

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City-county park district proposed Meeting this week on presentation to voters BY CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

PORT TOWNSEND — There is nothing certain about the idea of creating a metropolitan parks district, now under consideration by the governing boards of Port Townsend and Jefferson County, aside from the fact that an alternative funding channel is necessary to support

local parks and recreation. “Since the recession hit, we’ve been looking for a way to support parks,� said Port Townsend Mayor David King. “We don’t have enough funding to do what we want to do.�

Joint session set Monday The details of a proposed district to be presented for voter approval will be discussed in a joint meeting between the Port Townsend City Council and the Jefferson County commissioners in Superior Court chambers at the Jefferson County Court-

house, 1820 Jefferson St., at 6:30 p.m. Monday. The board of a metropolitan parks district, which would be a junior taxing district, would have the authority to levy up to 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, or $187.50 annually for a house valued at $250,000. Voters approved Proposition 1 in November 2010, which raised the sales tax in Jefferson County 0.03 percent, with the additional funds used to finance public safety, youth and senior services. TURN

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