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Wednesday, December 31, 2014 | 75 cents
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By Dennis Box
A
Editor
s 2014 comes to a close the Courier-Herald looks back at some of the top stories of the year. A year in a newspaper documents the highs and lows, dreams realized and tragedy found; it is the stories of the many people who make up a community.
10. Travis Martin Lear sentenced to 25 years
Travis Martin Lear was sentenced in September to 25 years in prison for first-degree child molestation. The verdict was announced in King County Superior Court by Judge Chad Allred. The 26-year-old Enumclaw resident molested an 11-yearold girl in the bathroom of the Enumclaw Library the afternoon of Jan. 30, 2013. Lear had twice been convicted of sex crimes prior to the incident at the library. He was also registered as a level 1 sex offender. According to court documents, Lear was sentenced to 300 months (25 years) and maximum of life. The court also sentenced him to community custody for life. Lear was ordered to pay restitution, an amount to be set by the court following a hearing. He was also ordered to pay $1,495.81 in attorney fees and $230 in court costs.
9. KC Moulden repeats KC Moulden took her second gold medal at the Mat Classic wrestling championships Feb. 22 at the Tacoma Dome. Moulden pinned Shanelle Berry from Yelm in 54 seconds,
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and she pinned every opponent she faced during the two-day tournament. “I wanted to go hard, not make any mistakes and get it done fast,” Moulden said of her championship match. “It’s good to know I can defend my title.” “She’s an outstanding kid. She’s a leader on the team and at school,” said her coach, Jerry Scheidt. Moulden was 25-1 on the season and was first in subdistricts, regionals and state.
8. Spring Sports Titles • Track and Field Moulden won the gold in the
shot put with a throw of 44 feet, 0.25 inches. She took sixth in the discus at 125-01. Maria Blad took the state crown in the 100-meters hurdles in 14.83 and sixth in the 300 hurdles in 46.94. • Fastpitch The Enumclaw Hornets fastpitch team finished an incredible season May 31 taking second in the 3A state tournament at the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey. The Hornets ended the season 28-1 overall and 15-0 in 3A South Puget Sound League. The girls were league and district champions. The only loss came in the battle for the title against Kamiakin from Kennewick with the Hornets losing 4-2. It was the third consecutive state title for the Braves.
7. Two friends die in Buckley plane crash
Rod Richardson and Jim Cawley shared many things – friendship, former careers, a love of flying and even a neighborhood. The two retired commercial pilots perished the afternoon of June 4 when the small, vintage airplane they were flying went down in a wooded area not far from their rural Buckley homes.
Each man lived along an airstrip that straddles 112th Street, a neighborhood of small-aircraft enthusiasts. Cawley had recently purchased a vintage military airplane from his friend and the two had gone for a flight that Wednesday morning. When they returned to the sky that afternoon, it was immediately clear something was wrong. Area residents reported hearing the engine sputtering and losing altitude before it clipped treetops and crashed. The plane went down in a wooded area north of state Route 410, in the 9200 block of 258th Avenue East. The wreckage was removed the following day.
6. Buckley toddler dies in tragic accident
It was shortly before 3 p.m. April 14 when a white pickup left state Route 410, banged through a ditch and traveled perhaps 500 feet over grass and along the
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