PENINSULA DAILY NEWS Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
50 cents
March 16-17, 2012
YOUR FRIDAY/SATURDAY WEEKEND PLANNER SNEAK PEEK:
OUTLOOK:
BLARNEY!:
OUTDOORS:
Rain through the weekend
Get a jump on spring gardening
Rains dampen steelhead fishing
Everyone’s Irish on Saturday night
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PENINSULA SPOTLIGHT
Finance $16,953 gone from her bank account director is fired PA city manager acts over $29,673 in vacation cash BY TOM CALLIS PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — Yvonne Ziomkowski, the city’s finance director since 1999, was fired Thursday, a month after a State Patrol investigation concluded she approved vacation cash-outs for herself that exceeded city policy by $29,673. City Manager Kent Myers said he notified Ziomkowski, the Finance Department staff and the City Council. “It’s a tough day. It’s a tough day at City Hall,� Myers said. He called the decision one of the hardest he has made in his Ziomkowski 30-year career in city management. Ziomkowski had been on paid administrative leave since Jan. 3 pending the completion of a State Patrol investigation.
Charges recommended
She’s very much alive Government thinks woman is dead, yanks thousands from her account and return it to the federal government, which mistakenly had believed she was dead while she was PORT ANGELES — Betty Longshore, receiving the benefits. 92, was very much alive Feb. 29 when Longshore expects to have it all her bank telephoned her to find out if she returned by next week, she said this was dead. week, though she admitted to being “They said, ‘Betty, is this you? We have “shocked and stunned� by the events of a report you are deceased,’� the west Port the past several days. Angeles resident recalled last week. “They said, ‘Can you come down to the ‘Date of death’ bank?’ I thought I’d go in and say, ‘Here I Her trials and tribulations began after am, and I’m alive,’ and everyone would the U.S. Department of the Treasury sent laugh, and that would be the end of it.� First Federal a notice at the end of FebIt was anything but that. ruary that said Longshore’s “date of An employee of First Federal in Port death� was July 20, 2011, according to Angeles told Longshore the bank had been required by law to withdraw the notice. $16,953 in federal retirement benefits Within 24 hours, all her checking BY PAUL GOTTLIEB
The State Patrol’s report, completed Feb. 14 and given to the city Feb. 21, recommends eight criminal charges, including first-degree theft, falsely auditing and paying claims, and wire fraud, be brought against her. As of Thursday morning, the Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which is handling the case, had not filed charges. TURN
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Ziomkowski still can collect $62,000 in leave BY TOM CALLIS PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — City Hall is requiring Yvonne Ziomkowski, fired Thursday after 13 years as the city’s finance director, to reimburse the city $29,673 in overpayments that a criminal investigation concluded she made to herself. Yet Ziomkowski, who made the overpayments, the State Patrol said, by cashing out unused leave, will receive a check from the city for double that amount. City policy requires all employees, whether fired or not, to be reimbursed for unused leave when their employment ends. The leave, which does not expire, is paid out as their final salary. Ziomkowski, who received 8.6 weeks of general leave a year — the most allowed by city policy — has one of the highest leave accumulations, at approximately 164 days, on the books. The former finance director, who still accrued general leave while on paid administrative leave, will receive about $62,000 for her unused vacation and sick time. TURN
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Betty Longshore, 92, of Port Angeles holds the statement from her bank notifying her that $16,953 had been taken from her bank account by the government, which mistook her for being dead.
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Struggle continues for family routed by fire in Diamond Point BY JEFF CHEW PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
SEQUIM — Jeffrey Bellis and his wife, Heather Cary, are struggling on several fronts. They lost their 2-year-old son, Evan Daniel Bellis, last Friday in a fast-moving fire that destroyed their mobile home on Blue Ice Terrace in Diamond Point. This week, they are dealing with funeral arrangements through Sequim Valley Funeral Chapel and trying to find temporary housing through Olympic Community Action ProUNUSED/A4 grams, or OlyCAP.
Drive a new
account funds and some of her money market funds were gone, with money returned to the government. Longshore said the amount equaled the retirement benefits she had received from Aug. 1, 2011, through February, which the bank sent back to the federal agencies responsible for monitoring the funds. Longshore, whose annual income is about $25,000, said First Federal called her after seeing that her account had remained active despite her supposed demise. Longshore was very happy with First Federal: “I want to emphasize that the bank did the best they could.�
“We lost everything. We have to pay for the funeral and stuff like that.� JEFFREY BELLIS after returning to Peninsula following hospitalization recover from the loss of my son,� said Bellis, who declined to have his family photographed for this story. “I tried a couple of times to go in and get him, and that’s why I got the burns.� ‘Anything will help’ He and his wife managed to At this point, Bellis said flee the home after the 11 a.m. Thursday, “anything will help.� fire with their 4-year-old son “I don’t think I’m going to Jaden, who was unhurt along
A “Diamond Point fire fund� account has been set up at all branches of First Federal, and donations are being accepted at any branch to benefit the family.
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with his mother. Original reports said five people were in the home, but it is unclear now whether the grandmother, who lives next door, was in the home at the time or came over during the fire. “It’s terrible,� said Bellis, who suffered burns over 20 percent of his body, including on his back, arms and knees. He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he originally was listed in critical condition. After four days of treatment, he returned Tuesday.
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