Thanks for giving
Wednesday Chance of a snow shower; still cold C12
Past donors to Peninsula Home Fund hailed C1
Peninsula Daily News November 24, 2010
Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
50 cents
Sequim’s new police chief isn’t full-time He works fewer days to protect pension benefits By Paul Gottlieb
Peninsula Daily News
SEQUIM — New Police Chief Bill Dickinson, who is paid $93,000 a year and receives full
city benefits, does not work full time, City Manager Steve Burkett confirmed Tuesday. Rather, Dickinson, hired Sept. 7, takes a few extra days off each month to protect law enforcement retirement benefits of almost $70,000 annually, Dickinson said Tuesday. Dickinson works what amounts to 21.5 days fewer
annually than employees who work 40 hours a week and 52 weeks a year and who total 2,080 hours a year, not including vacations and holidays, Burkett said. “I’ve heard lots of people raising concerns about this,” Burkett said, adding that Dickinson is salaried and doesn’t punch a clock. “One rumor said he was working half time.”
Dickinson said he objects to being referred to as part time. “The correct term is less than full time,” Dickinson said. “‘Part time’ suggests a person who works 20 hours a week. “A couple of citizens talked to me about it and said, ‘Gee, you’re part time,’ and I said, ‘I only work four weeks a month.’ They looked at me like that doesn’t sound like part time.
“Four weeks a month is virtually full time, but it’s just short,” Dickinson said. To maintain his state law enforcement pension, Dickinson, 60, does not work more than 159 hours a month — a day less than four full workweeks — and does not work more than 1,908 hours a year, Burkett said. Turn
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Sequim/A5
Tricky driving, but no major wrecks Temperatures warming on Thanksgiving By Rob Ollikainen Peninsula Daily News
Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News
Under sunny skies, Kelli Sweeney, co-owner of Cherry Hill Florist shop in Port Angeles, chips away at an icy sidewalk in front of the Cherry Street store Tuesday.
La Niña right on schedule Peninsula Daily News news sources
The coldest snap in 25 years is expected — thankfully — to end after today as the mercury turns upward on Thanksgiving Day. Above-freezing temperatures and rain, not snow, are forecast for the lowland areas of the North Olympic Peninsula starting Thanksgiving night, according to the National Weather Service. But that will come after a chilly overnight today that could dip as low as 12 degrees in Port Angeles, 14 in Sequim and 19 in Port Townsend, the Weather Service predicted Tuesday. And maybe a hint of snow on the East End. If the temperature dips to 12 degrees in Port Angeles, that will break a record of 13 for the date that was set in the November blast of 1985. Turn
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Cold/A4
Motorists are playing it safe in the wake of Monday’s snowstorm. No major wrecks were reported in the region as of Tuesday evening. But the partially melted surfaces froze solid overnight, causing another day of tricky driving on the North Olympic Peninsula. Through Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service reported total snow accumulations of 13 inches five miles southwest of Sequim, 11 inches near the Lower Elwha Klallam tribal reservation, 9.7 inches just southwest of Port Angeles, 7.6 inches at Mount Pleasant and 1 inch seven miles west of Forks. The Port Townsend, Chimacum and Port Hadlock areas each received about 4 inches of snow
Also . . . ■ Some schools open, some schools call it a week/A4 ■ Warming shelter to stay open in Port Angeles/A5 ■ AccuWeather’s five-day Peninsula forecast/C12
during the storm. The National Weather Service said things will begin to warm up on Thanksgiving Day. The forecast calls for cloudy skies with a balmy high of 44 in the lowlands Thursday. “We have some light precipitation moving into the area on Thanksgiving,” said Dennis D’Amico, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle. “There’s a chance it could start off briefly as snow.”
said about 5,000 West End customers lost power shortly before midnight Monday when a tree fell into a power line. Electricity was restored at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. The PUD reported small, scattered outages on Tuesday afternoon. “Nothing real major,” Howe said. Puget Sound Energy, which provides electricity to most of east Jefferson County, reported 376 outages in Quilcene and 82 in Port Townsend as of 5:55 p.m. Tuesday
No injury wrecks
The State Patrol reported no injury wrecks as of Tuesday evening. Port Angeles Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith reported a dramatic decrease in wrecks Tuesday from Monday. Outages Port Angeles police had to stack calls on Monday, but TuesMany in the Forks area will day, Smith said: “I don’t know of welcome a warming trend after a any accidents we responded to at night without electricity. all.” Clallam County Public Utility District spokesman Mike Howe Turn to Roads/A4
Storm stirs snow-related sales But business chills for other retailers By Tom Callis and Jeff Chew
Peninsula Daily News
The winter wonderland that still envelops Clallam County has provided an early Christmas for some businesses and a snow day or two for others. Many stores that sell anything to combat the snow — whether snow chains, snow shovels, deicer or just thick clothing — reported sales Tuesday that would make even the Grinch smile. “It’s like white dollars falling from the sky,” quipped Mike Mudd, merchant manager for Swain’s General Store in Port Angeles. Forks Outfitters was also enjoying a busy day, said cashier Shawna Burrows, with snow shovels and de-icer topping the list. “We’re pretty packed,” she said. But some business owners, perhaps not seeing it profitable enough to keep their doors open or just unable to get to their businesses, have decided to close early or just not open at all since the storm blew through Sunday and Monday, dropping about a foot of snow on the North Olympic Peninsula. Turn
Retail/A4
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*Plus with every purchase $250 will be donated in your name to one or all of the following charities:
New
Chris Tucker/Peninsula Daily News
Phil Bischof, right, buys woolen socks from cashier Kim Wahto at Swain’s General Store in Port Angeles on Tuesday. In the center is Bischof’s brother, James.
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Inside Today’s Peninsula Daily News 94th year, 275th issue — 5 sections, 44 pages
Business B4 Classified C6 Comics C5 Commentary/Letters A7 Dear Abby C5 Deaths A6 Food D1 Movies C4 Nation/World A3
Puzzles/Games Sports Things To Do Weather
C7 B1 C4 C12