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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS $1.25 Sunday
January 8, 2012
Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
TSE-WHIT-ZEN TOMORROW
Dismissal of charges is urged Accusations too harsh, Coast Guard copter crash investigator says BY BECKY BOHRER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Lower Elwha Klallam Chairwoman Francis Charles stands near a large cross marking the area of the Port Angeles waterfront on which remains of the tribe’s ancestors are buried at the site of the ancient Tse-whit-zen village.
Curation facility, museum held up by 3-word clause BY PAUL GOTTLIEB
ALSO . . .
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — An impasse over three words in the 2006 Tse-whit-zen settlement agreement is holding up progress on building a curation facility and museum on Marine Drive, federal and tribal officials said. The agreement — signed by the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, the city of Port Angeles, the Port of Port Angeles and the state Department of Transportation — brought “positive closure to a difficult and painful experience,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said at the signing ceremony. The agreement came about as a result of the state Department of Transportation’s failed $100 million Marine Drive graving yard project, during which Tsewhit-zen was uncovered beginning in 2003. The pact, under which the tribe agreed to settle its lawsuit against the state of Washington over Transportation’s graving yard project, gave $2.5 million to the tribe and $7.5 million each to the city of Port Angeles and Port of Port Angeles.
■ Thousands of artifacts from Tse-whit-zen wait to come home/A6
The tribe also received 10 acres to rebury human remains that had been unearthed during excavation. The reburials of hundreds of skeletons and other remains have largely been accomplished. But six years later, more than 67,000 Native American artifacts unearthed from 2003 to 2005 at the ancient Klallam village site — estimated to be some 2,700 years old — still need a permanent home.
Curation facility Development of a curation facility is at an impasse because the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs won’t provide trust status for the site as long as a “subject to reversion” clause remains in the 2006 settlement agreement and the deed. Trust status is needed to get grants to build the curation-museum, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairwoman Frances
Spanning Quillayute River
Charles said last week. Of the settlement agreement, the tribe has $400,000 left, Charles said. She doesn’t know how much the design and construction of the facility would cost but knows it will be more than the tribe has, she said. All four signatories to the agreement would have to agree to deleting the clause.
Environmental assessment An environmental assessment of the proposed site for the facility also must be conducted, but state and tribal environmental officials are optimistic the site will pass muster. The environmental assessment won’t be started until the trust status issue is settled, Charles said. So, for the time being, the “subject to reversion” clause is front and center. The problematic three-word penalty clause would — under certain land-use restrictions — return the 10-acre Klallam burial ground at Tse-whit-zen. TURN
TO
JUNEAU, Alaska — Negligent homicide and other charges against the sole survivor of a deadly 2010 Coast Guard helicopter crash near LaPush should be dismissed, an investigating officer has determined. Capt. Andrew Norris, in recommendations obtained by The Associated Press, said he doesn’t conclude that Lt. Lance Leone was faultless during the flight. But Norris said the charges against him — negligent homicide, Leone dereliction of duty and destroying military property — focus on alleged navigational failures by Leone and tie those to the destruction of a helicopter and deaths of two crew members. “It is in this focus, and in making this tie, that I believe the charged offenses fail,” he wrote. Norris’ recommendations will be reviewed by the Coast Guard commander in Alaska, Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo. He is not bound by them.
CURATION/A6
Leone, who has earned a long list of Coast Guard awards and accolades, including commendation medals, was co-pilot of the MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter flying from Astoria, Ore., to the crew’s base in Sitka, Alaska, when it hit an unmarked span of low-hanging wires spanning the mouth of the Quillayute River to James Island and crashed in July 2010, killing three. The negligent homicide charges were related to the deaths of crew members Brett Banks and Adam C. Hoke. Leone did not face a charge related to the death of the pilot, Lt. Sean Krueger. Prosecutors, during Krueger a military hearing last month, argued that Leone did not fulfill his duties, which included acting as a navigator and safety officer, and should face court-martial. Leone’s civilian defense attorney, John Smith, countered that the Coast Guard had “set a trap” by not marking the power lines that the aircraft hit. TURN
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CRASH/A6
PA real estate broker noted for black hat dies PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Jace Schmitz, the black-hatted founder and co-owner of JACE The Real Estate Co. of Port Angeles, died Thursday while vacationing in Oregon with family and friends. Schmitz, a Sequim resident who turned 65 in December, died of natural causes in Cannon Beach, Ore., according to Matthew Randazzo, family spokesman.
Schmitz and his wife, Eileen, owned real estate offices in Port Angeles and Sequim. He was recognized across Clallam County through ad campaigns designed by Eileen that featured a smiling Jace and his iconic black cowboy hat. “Though many people will remember Jace for the black cowboy hat he wore in his ads, everyone who knew him well will remember Jace for his
playful spirit and his gentle heart,” said Melissa Randazzo, a close family friend and former employee whom the Schmitz family asked to make a statement on their behalf. Schmitz and his wife traveled to Oregon on Wednesday after renewing their wedding vows in Seattle, said Jeanine Cardiff, a family friend and managing broker for JACE’s Port Angeles office. “Their love for each other is one of
the great love stories I will ever witness,” Cardiff said. “They were as in love as if they were newlyweds.” In addition to his wife, Schmitz is survived by his children, Sica and Aaron, and his sister, Janelle. The surviving family was returning home this weekend, Eileen Schmitz said. TURN
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JACE/A7
Schmitz
INSIDE TODAY’S PENINSULA DAILY NEWS 96th year, seventh issue — 8 sections, 72 pages
BUSINESS/POLITICS D1 E1 CLASSIFIED COMMENTARY/LETTERS A10 *PW COUPLES C3 DEAR ABBY C6, C7 DEATHS C4 MOVIES A3 NATION A2 PENINSULA POLL * PENINSULA WOMAN
PUZZLES/GAMES SPORTS WEATHER WORLD
E6 B1 C8 A3