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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS September 2, 2012 | $1.50

Port Angeles-Sequim-West End

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Special pullout section in Section B

Highway death plea challenged

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The sheer joy of floating Sequim event gives balloon audiences a lift

Alleged drunken driver can’t pick and choose, prosecutor contends

BY PAUL GOTTLIEB PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

BY ROB OLLIKAINEN PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly has filed a formal objection to Amber Steim’s partial guilty plea for the death of a Crescent Bay nurse. Steim, 25, is charged with vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment and witness tampering in the March 2011 death of 44-year-old Ellen DeBondt. The State Patrol said the Port Angeles woman had a 0.23 percent blood-alcohol level — nearly three times over the 0.08 percent legal limit in Washington state — when she crossed a centerline and rumble strip and struck DeBondt’s vehicle on state Highway 112 east of Joyce. A trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 17. TURN

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More deadly motor vehicle crashes involve people over age 80 than any other age group. Vehicle crash deaths per 100,000 people, 2010: < 16 16-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 ≼ 80

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FLOATING/A7

PLEA/A6

Boomer boom raises licensing debate again

RATE

2.2 14.9 16.9

BY JOHN ROGERS

11.6 11.2

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

11.2 10.6 12.8 18.0

SOURCE: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

TURN

What age is too old to drive?

Older drivers

AGE

KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

Teagan Rubida, 12, shows delight as she looks down from a tethered balloon while her sister, Annalise Rubida, 16, takes a photo looking up into the bag. The girls, both of Port Townsend, went a short distance off the ground with pilot Darren Kling of Redmond, Ore., in a RE/MAX-branded balloon on Saturday.

SEQUIM — Their ages differ by 55 years, but Jovelle Dewey and Emily Westcott gushed with the same degree of enthusiasm Saturday after alighting from a hot-air balloon ride 50 feet in the air. “It was fun,� ALSO . . . they exclaimed ■Today’s in unison after events for floating for sevthe balloon eral minutes in fest’s middle the tethered day/C1 RE/MAX hot-air balloon at the inaugural three-day Sequim Balloon Festival. The festival at 792 West Sequim Bay Road — near the Holiday Inn Express and Black Bear Diner at 1441 E. Washington St. — continues today and Monday.

AP

LOS ANGELES — Jack Wyard is 92 and sees no reason to surrender his car keys, not to mention the freedom they give him to get up and go anywhere he wants, whenever he wants. After all, he said, two years ago, he got a perfect score on his written test to renew his license.

ONLINE TODAY . . . ■How old is too old to drive? Take today’s Peninsula Poll: www.peninsuladailynews.com

“I don’t know what to suggest for anyone else, but I’m still comfortable on the highway, and I enjoy driving,� the retired sales manager from Los Angeles said Thursday. A day earlier, a 100-year-old man who was attempting to back his Cadillac out of a grocery store parking lot struck and injured 14 people, 11 of them children. Three children were hospitalized but were expected to recover, police said.

The wreck in front of a south Los Angeles elementary school where children had lined up to buy after-school treats brought to the forefront again a debate over how old is too old to keep driving. Is it 80? Or 90? Should anyone past 100 be allowed behind the wheel?

10,000 turn 65 daily With the American Automobile Association reporting that 10,000 Americans are turning 65 every day, it’s a debate that will only intensify in coming years. “I don’t think there should be a set age because people age differ-

ently,� said Ruth Nadel, 98, who was in her mid-80s when she decided it was time to hand over the keys to someone else. After her vehicle was in a head-on collision, her children convinced her that while she wasn’t to blame, her inability to get out of the way of an oncoming car indicated her reflexes might have slowed. They told her it wasn’t worth risking another wreck and hurting herself or someone else. She said she has no regrets, though she believes she could have driven for a few more years. TURN

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DRIVING/A6

Laughs mix with tears as 250 mourn PA businessman BY DIANE URBANI DE LA PAZ PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

DIANE URBANI

DE LA

PAZ/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

David Rivers, a friend of the Paul Cronauer family, plays at the late Port Angeles businessman’s memorial Saturday.

PORT ANGELES — Until not long ago, Paul and Sarah Cronauer would wake up together, talk a bit and share a deep belly laugh before even getting out of bed. They had met 11½ years ago when Paul, as he was always doing, struck up a conversation with a stranger in the airport. And Paul “swept our Sarah off her feet,â€? her cousin John Henderson remembered. Three years after their meeting, “I threw caution to the winds and married him,â€? Sarah said.

“He was my captain and I his navigator.� Her husband taught her to navigate a sailboat around the world and how to hold the line S. Cronauer and love the ride. There were many belly laughs commingled with tears Saturday in a celebration of Paul’s life, which was ended by cancer Aug. 16.

Paul, a Port Angeles native, was 63 and the developer of numerous commercial real estate projects that included The Landing mall, The Landing Art Gallery, Wine on the Waterfront and the Fish on the Fence art installation encircling them. Saturday’s memorial gathering at The Landing brought together some 250 mourners: artists, business people and members of the Port Angeles City Council, alongside his and Sarah’s extended family. TURN

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CRONAUER/A6

INSIDE TODAY’S PENINSULA DAILY NEWS 96th year, 211th issue — 7 sections, 76 pages

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