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Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
January 24, 2012
School bus driver dies near LaPush ‘Medical event’ investigated by State Patrol BY ARWYN RICE PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
LAPUSH — A Quileute tribal elder died at the wheel of the tribal school bus he drove as he was on his way to pick up students early Monday morning. Lloyd Hatch of LaPush was 63. Trooper Russ Winger, spokesman for the State Patrol, said the investigating officers believe that Hatch experienced a “medical event” while driving the Quileute Tribal School bus.
There were no students in the bus at the time, he said. The cause of death was not immediately known, Winger said. “He was transported to Forks Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead,” Winger said. LONNIE ARCHIBALD/FOR PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Respected elder
State Patrol Trooper Eric Tilton directs traffic on state Highway 110 around a school Hatch was “a respected elder bus in which the driver apparently suffered a “medical event” and later died.
and a dedicated member of our community,” the Quileute Tribal Council said in a statement. “The Quileute Tribal Council sends our deepest condolences to the Hatch family.” The council offered no additional information about Hatch,and added: “Our main focus is surrounding his family
with support and praying for their well-being during this difficult time.” Hatch was found in the yellow Bluebird bus at 6:24 a.m. on state Highway 110 at Milepost 7, Winger said. The vehicle was pulled to the shoulder and had rolled into the
ditch, said Trooper Eric Tilton at the scene. Passing motorists attempted to revive Hatch using cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, and phone emergency dispatchers for help, Tilton said. State Patrol troopers are investigating the death as a
non-traffic fatality, he said. The school bus was not damaged and was removed from the scene by Quileute Tribal School personnel.
________ Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsula dailynews.com.
MV Coho pier lease approved BY ARWYN RICE PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
ARWYN RICE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Four of the new owners of the Black Ball Ferry Line are introduced at Monday’s Port of Port Angeles commissioners’ meeting. From left are Ryan Malane, director of marketing, Rian Anderson, Port Angeles business manager, Capt. John Cox, chief executive officer, and Ryan Burles, president and chief operating officer.
Same-sex marriage bill wins enough lawmakers to pass THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OLYMPIA — As lawmakers held their first public hearing on gay marriage, a Democratic senator on Monday announced her support for the measure, all but ensuring that Washington will become the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage. The announcement by Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen of Camano Island that she would cast the 25th and deciding vote in favor of the issue came as hundreds of people filled the Capitol to advocate for and against gay marriage. “I know this announcement
makes me the so-called 25th vote, the vote that ensures passage,” Haugen said in a statement. She said she took her time making Haugen up her mind “to reconcile my religious beliefs with my beliefs as an American, as a legislator, and as a wife and mother who cannot deny to others the joys and benefits I enjoy. “This is the right vote and it is the vote I will cast when this mea-
sure comes to the floor.” Democrat Jim Hargrove of Hoquiam, the 24th District senator who represents the North Olympic Peninsula, is opposed to the measure, he reiterated Monday. He and Sen. Tim Sheldon of Potlatch are the only Democrats in the Senate opposed to the measure, according to The Associated Press, while two other are uncommitted. Two Senate Republicans are in favor of the measure, while three are uncommitted and the rest are opposed. TURN
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LAPUSH — Heavy surf combined with a high tide breached the south jetty at LaPush on Monday, Quileute tribal officials said. No damage was reported in the village. “There is no imminent danger to the school or the village; however, if the jetty were to break, the ocean waves would be able to push a lot of gravel into the river, undoing the dredging work that was just finished and having an adverse impact of the rivers navigability,” said Larry Burtness, planner and grants writer with the tribe. Sunny skies were seen throughout the North Olympic Peninsula on Monday, with some ice reported early in the day. No major highway wrecks were reported in either Clallam or Jefferson counties. TURN
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PORT ANGELES — Port of Port Angeles commissioners agreed Monday to a 30-year lease with the new owners of Black Ball Ferry Line, which operates the MV Coho, for its current terminal on the Port Angeles waterfront. The lease provides for the possible purchase of the terminal as well as solidifies arrangements for a $4 million dock replacement. Commissioners expressed relief that Black Ball — which operates the 1,000-passenger Coho as it plies the Strait of Juan de Fuca between Port Angeles and Victoria — is again under regional ownership.
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