Sunday
Your wedding planner
Morning fog giving way to some sun A3
Annual section tailored to our Peninsula INSIDE
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS February 15, 2015 | $1.50
Port Townsend-Jefferson County’s Daily Newspaper
✃
$
87
LOOK INSIDE!
$
0.9
%
$
IN COUPON SAVINGS!
APR
FOR UP TO 60 MOS.*
Plus tax, license and a negotiable $150 documentation fee.
$
OFFER VALID THROUGH 3/2/2015.
New 2014 Honda
CR-V
521231921
$
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
Special APR
)RU ZHOO TXDOLĹľ HG EX\HUV DQG EX\HUV WKDW TXDOLI\ IRU WKH +RQGD *UDGXDWH 3URJUDP FULWHULD 6SHFLDO $35 RIIHU YDOLG RQ QHZ DQG XQUHJLVWHUHG &5 9 0RGHOV IURP -DQXDU\ WKURXJK 0DUFK WR ZHOO TXDOLĹľ HG EX\HUV RQ DSSURYHG FUHGLW E\ +RQGD )LQDQFLDO 6HUYLFHV WKURXJK SDUWLFLSDWLQJ GHDOHUV 0XVW WDNH QHZ UHWDLO GHOLYHU\ RQ YHKLFOH IURP GHDOHU VWRFN E\ 0DUFK 1RW DOO EX\HUV PD\ TXDOLI\ +LJKHU UDWHV DSSO\ IRU EX\HUV ZLWK ORZHU FUHGLW UDWLQJV ([DPSOH IRU &5 9 IRU PRQWKV Ĺľ QDQFLQJ DW D PRQWK IRU HYHU\ Ĺľ QDQFHG 'HDOHUV VHW DFWXDO SULFHV 6HH :LOGHU +RQGD IRU GHWDLOV
Way, Port Angeles WILDER 133 Jetta 1-800-927-9395
Honda
360-452-9268
Characteristics of measles
’Sno joke: No snow!
The virus is 1 spread by breathing in virus-
A rash, 4 lasting five to six days,
containing droplets or by touching contaminated surfaces.
appears about the face and head, spreading through the torso to the hands and feet.
The virus 2 grows in cells in the back of the
The virus can be 5 transmitted from four days prior to and
throat and lungs. Symptoms appear after 10 to 12 days.
four days after the appearance of the rash.
Infected 3 person has a fever lasting two to four days, followed by a cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; World Health Organization THE NEW YORK TIMES
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Visitors to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park stroll along sidewalks surrounded by bare ground Saturday at a time of year when the ground should be covered by feet of snow.
Little snow in Olympics now omen of water woes later First of two parts BY ARWYN RICE PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Although the Olympic Mountains have had plenty of rain this winter, snow is at a record low. The Olympic Mountain snowpack had melted down by Saturday to 3 percent of average — the lowest in the state — possibly endangering the area’s summer water supply and river flows for salmon runs. The snowpack at Hurricane Ridge was measured Saturday at a mere 7.9 percent of average — 7 inches at the measurement station. That location’s annual average is 88 inches of snow on the
ground on Feb. 15, according to data from the Northwest Avalanche Center in Seattle. The previous record-low snowpack for Feb. 15 was 17 inches in 2005, said Kenny Kramer, director of the avalanche center.
Problems start in August The Dungeness weather station south of Sequim had no snow Thursday. Ordinarily, it would have about 15 inches in mid-February. “There are going to be some water shortages,� said Scott Pattee, water supply specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Mount Vernon. Groundwater wells should be fine, he said, but areas that rely on surface water runoff in
stream flow in rivers and creeks, such as Neah Bay and Dungeness Valley farms, are likely to have difficulty in August and September. There is plenty of rain, Kramer said, but the snow level has remained consistently at about 8,000 feet — just above Mount Olympus’ 7,979 feet, the highest peak in the range. The National Resource Conservation Service tracks snowpack water storage at three North Olympic sites: Waterhole, near Hurricane Ridge at an elevation of 5,110 feet above sea level; Dungeness, south of Sequim at an elevation of 4,110 feet; and Mount Crag in East Jefferson County at 3,960 feet.
More measles cases feared on Peninsula Unvaccinated girl exposes school, clinic BY JAMES CASEY AND LEAH LEACH PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
The North Olympic Peninsula’s public health officer said more cases of measles are possible after a second case was diagnosed in Port Angeles last week. “Every time you get a secondary case like this, it raises the possibility that other people have TURN TO SNOW/A9 been exposed,� said Dr. Tom Locke, public health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties. “You never know until it happens,� he added. “It’s possible but unknowable.� A 5-year-old girl who attended kindergarten at Olympic Christian School at 43 O’Brien Road in Port Angeles was diagnosed with measles after being examined about filing a motion for reconsid- Wednesday at Peninsula Children’s Clinic, also in Port Angeles. eration with the appeals court. Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Haas, who repre- Second case this month sented the Fagers before he was Hers was the second case diagelected to public office in Novemnosed in the county this month. ber, said he had no comment on She had not been vaccinated the appeals court ruling. and had been in contact with a “At this point in time, hope52-year-old man hospitalized on fully it’s time for everyone to Super Bowl Sunday with measles move forward in their lives,� Haas who has since recovered. said. Those who could have been TURN TO RULING/A7 exposed to measles from the girl
Appeals court tosses drug charges based on pot odor BY PAUL GOTTLIEB PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
TACOMA — The state Court of Appeals has upheld dismissal of 2009 drug charges against brothers Steven and Timothy Fager that hinged on how far away law enforcement officers could detect the smell of pot. The charges of manufacturing and intent to deliver marijuana, filed in Jefferson County Superior Court, were based on an investiga-
tion by the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team, or OPNET, which pursues drug cases in Clallam and Jefferson counties. “It was a proper decision,� Steven Fager said Friday. “[The case] should never have been done.� Jesse Espinoza, the Clallam County deputy prosecuting attorney who inherited the case from Lew Schrawyer, said Thursday that no decision had been made
ALSO . . . â– Free measles immunization clinics scheduled/A9
include those at the children’s clinic at 902 Caroline St. on Wednesday or on Feb. 6 at the school. Olympic Christian School students who can’t prove immunity to measles are under quarantine until Feb. 27 — 21 days after their date of possible exposure Feb. 6. Students at the private school must provide proof of measles immunity if they are to re-enter school Tuesday after the Presidents Day holiday. Unimmunized students must stay at home, avoid public places and have no contact with people who are not immune to measles until the last Friday in February.
Watching this week If more cases surface, health authorities would expect to see them in the middle of this week or late in the week, Locke said. “Given how contagious measles is and how we have a relatively high number of people who are susceptible in the population — those two things mixed together say there is a definite possibility,� he said. The two cases of measles are the only ones confirmed in Clallam or Jefferson counties as of Saturday. TURN
TO
MEASLES/A9
INSIDE TODAY’S PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
KOENIG Subaru
Since 1975
www.koenigsubaru.com
3501 HWY 101, E. PORT ANGELES 360.457.4444 • 800.786.8041
OVER SUBARU MODELS IN STOCK!
521231896
FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, THE INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY (IIHS) CONDUCTED TESTS TO EVALUATE COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEMS IN NEW CARS. OVER 70 MODELS WERE TESTED AND THE RESULTS ARE IN. THE SUBARU LEGACY, OUTBACK AND FORESTER EARNED THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE RATINGS. EVEN THE MEDIA TOOK NOTICE, INCLUDING CNBC
99th year, 38th issue — 6 sections, 74 pages
BUSINESS/POLITICS A10 B6 CLASSIFIED COMMENTARY A16, A17 A13 DEAR ABBY A14, A15 DEATHS A17 LETTERS A3 MOVIES A4 NATION A2 PENINSULA POLL TV WEEK
â?˜
SUNDAY FUN
PUZZLES/GAMES SPORTS WEATHER WORLD
B7 B1 A3 A4