Sequim Gazette, March 18, 2015

Page 1

Green thumbs abound

Breaking ground

Chi’s Farm seeks ‘community connections’

Community gardens open for season

B-1

A-7

Court’s in session SHS repairs and reopens lower tennis courts A-4

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

SEQUIM GAZETTE www

Sequim’s Hometown Newspaper

com

75 CENTS

Vol. 42, Number 11

Drought and deluge Little to no snowpack causes drought; record-low runoff for Dungeness expected by ALANA LINDEROTH

watershed. With no reservoir established, the Dungeness Valley and its water users instead rely on Nearly zero snowpack in the snowpack – thus, despite recent Olympic Mountains is cause rainfall the future looks dry. for drought on the peninsula, See DROUGHT, A-3 including the Elwha-Dungeness Sequim Gazette

ally warm temperatures brought a downpour of 2.39 inches of rain according to www.wunderground. com on March 15. Flooding was reported all around Sequim Gazette staff the Sequim area. Fire Chief Steve Vogel with ClalSunday was a wet one in Sequim. lam County Fire District 3 said his Despite a lack of snowpack in See FLOOD, A-2 the Olympic Mountains, unusu-

Sunday rains flood six Sequim homes

Tribe has no immediate plans to repair trestle

The haunting of the

Dungeness Schoolhouse Paranormal investigation team seeks answers about ghosts in Sequim

by MATTHEW NASH Sequim Gazette

Halloween is long over and it’s not quite time for spooky stories over a summer campfire but Sequim may have a ghost story coming to life at the Dungeness Schoolhouse. A team with Red Ball Paranormal Investiga-

tions out of Jefferson County recently examined the historical building at the prompting of Julie Haney, a former criminal investigator and Sequim transplant. She helped the team of three women: Stephanie Brock-Farrington, lead investigator; Cricket Webster, chief administrator; and Shawna Falero on Feb. 20 examine the school

The trestle at Railroad Bridge Park remains damaged from a late winter storm. Photo by Mary Marsh

for paranormal activity. The women have investigated several other places but this was their first time investigating a Sequim location. Falero said they aren’t there to prove if there is a ghost or not in any place they visit. “We just put the evidence out there,” BrockFarrington said.

See HAUNTED, A-10

Officials awaiting project costs by ALANA LINDEROTH Sequim Gazette

Permenant repair or reconstruction to the trestle at Railroad Bridge Park isn’t likely to occur in the near future. “Best scenario would be construction begins next summer… that would be my CHITWOOD guess,” Scott Chitwood, natural resources director for Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, said. Flood conditions in early February urged the Dungeness River to shift from its main channel into a more western channel and erode six pilings from the river bottom allowing them to break away from the remaining structure and a portion of the deck to collapse. Although the trestle is stabilized and the bridge portion is open to the public, but not to through traffic, the cost of repair remains unknown.

Local lab fosters big biofuel potential

Specialized ponds at PNNL’s Marine Science Laboratory in Sequim exist nowhere else in the world and allow researchers to simulate climate conditions, including the light and water temperature fluctuations experienced in outdoor ponds at any location in the world. Photo courtesy of PNNL’s Marine Sciences Laboratory

PNNL scientists seek to advance production by ALANA LINDEROTH Sequim Gazette

Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim aim to better the

techniques used to transform microalgae into biofuel. A process, trademarked “AlgaeAirFix,” has the potential to remove the limitations surrounding the production of biofuel by maximizing the

See TRESTLE, A-6

transfer of carbon dioxide from air into large-scale algal ponds using a combination of physical, chemical and biological processes.

See BIOFUEL, A-3

Sports B-5 • Schools B-7 • Arts & Entertainment B-1 • Opinion A-8 • Obituaries A-10 • Classifieds C-1 • Crossword Section C

weather outlook: THURSDAY, MARCH 19

▲55 ▼45

FRIDAY, MARCH 20

▲57 ▼43

SATURDAY, MARCH 21

▲54 ▼39

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