35TH YEAR, NO. 27
A FREE PUBLICATION OF THE DAILY WORLD
WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2019
After a decade, knowing didn’t bring relief McCleary remembers Lindsey with memorial
Melissa Baum still seeks answers about her daughter’s death By Dan Hammock Grays Harbor News Group
Ericka Corban performs June 26 at the Lindsey Baum remembrance garden dedication at Beerbower Park in McCleary. At left is the butterfly bench purchased by an anonymous donor.
Melissa Baum wears a silver necklace holding a small silver pendant with a ruby. Contained within the pendant are half the remains of her daughter, Lindsey. It’s been 10 years since Lindsey disappeared during a 10-minute walk to her home in McCleary on a hot summer evening June 26, 2009. It’s been a little more than a year since Melissa Baum was told her daughter’s partial remains had been found hundreds of miles away in the middle of the state and she knew for sure her daughter had been murdered. During the decade that followed her daughter’s disappearance, Melissa has seen her daughter’s friends grow up, graduate from high school, go to college, marry, have children of their own. Melissa has only the memories of the talkative, intelligent, strong-willed girl, frozen in time at the age of 10. “I’m finally to a point where I’m able to reminisce about her,” said Baum. “I have lots of memories that I’m grateful for.” For example, “She had so much energy. She talked constantly, a mile a minute.” Lindsey was friendly. “She never met a stranger,” said Melissa. She paused, then added, “I guess that should have scared me more.” Lindsey didn’t like to see another child sad or alone. She loved to talk and acted as though others shouldn’t be burdened with silence. “If she saw a kid on the playground alone, she would befriend them,” said Melissa Baum. “She couldn’t stand to see them being alone.” Lindsey could also be introspective and, while friendly, didn’t feel a need to be the center of attention most of the time. “She wouldn’t go out of her way for attention, except maybe if she was competing with her brother for my attention,” quipped Melissa.
away. “It felt a little odd, he sounded urgent, I didn’t understand,” she said, saying it normally took months to set up a meeting with investigators, and it had been more than eight years without much news to be shared. The next day Scott and an FBI victim’s advocate showed up at her door. “I knew there was more to it,” said Melissa, when she saw the raw emotion on Scott’s face. DNA testing from the FBI confirmed a portion of Lindsey’s remains had been found more than six months earlier in Eastern Washington. “Over the years, when I heard of children’s remains being recovered, I remember feeling twinges of jealousy,” said Melissa. “I felt knowing would bring some relief. It’s been the exact opposite.” Anger, rage and frustration were the result for her. Days later, at a press conference in McCleary, she spoke to the press and the community about the discovery of her daughter’s remains. She admits is still difficult for her to visit the town; she moved some time after Lindsey’s disappearance but returned, not to McCleary, but to the area. She continues to grant interviews like this one and make television appearances. As difficult as they are for her, she knows there’s always a chance the right person will see them. “It’s not over because she’s been found, not even close,” said Baum.
Closure?
June 26, 2009
Melissa got a call in early May 2018 from Grays Harbor County Sheriff Rick Scott. He needed to see her, and right
Lindsey Baum was excited about her upcoming 11th birthday in the early summer of 2009.
By Dan Hammock Grays Harbor News Group
DAN HAMMOCK | GRAYS HARBOR NEWS GROUP
Bear Festival will be packed with fun By Linda Thompson
school children of McCleary to draw a bear for this year’s button. Twelve students submitted drawings. Two were homeschooled students and the others were from McCleary. The winner of the contest is seventh-grader David Hooper. His drawing will live on forever on the button of the 60th Bear Festival Celebration. Thank you, David, and thank you to all the young people who participated. Their work is on display in the Simpson Room at the Timberland Regional Library in McCleary. During the Bear Festival they will be on display in the window of city Hall. The McCleary Museum is happy to display its complete set of buttons from the Bear Festival (or Second Growth Festival, as it was originally called). Stop by the the museum to see it and many other McCleary-area relics at 314 S. Second St. Check the hours at facebook.com/ McClearyMuseum. What is a festival without royalty? This year the contest for queen and/or king was opened to juniors. Our current queen, Emma Peters, is 15. This year’s participants range in age from 10 to 13. Coronation of the new queen will be on Friday evening at 5. There will be two queens this year, a junior and a senior. Here is the timetable of events of the 60th McCleary Bear Festival as I know them, as reported to me by Karen Waddington, the co-chair of the Bear Festival. More than 50 vendors are expected this weekend with 10 food trucks (yes,
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The 60th McCleary Bear Festival is July 12-14. Many events are planned. The theme of this year’s festival is Blast from The Past. The festival is 60 years old and is paying tribute to the longevity the fun weekend. The Bear Festival Committee asked the
“She was going on and on about it,” said her mother, Melissa. That’s something Lindsey could always do – go on and on. She was a talker. She had her opinions and let you know it. She was really into the Harry Potter series of books. Lindsey and Melissa were binging on the series as they prepared to see the sixth movie installment, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” Lindsey’s birthday was July 7. The new Harry Potter movie was to hit the big screen a week later. Lindsey would see neither. Friday, June 26, 2009, wasn’t all that different from most other days faced by single mother Melissa Baum. School had been out for a week, and Melissa had her hands full with a full-time job, a maturefor-her-age, energetic 10-year-old daughter and a son, Josh, who had a variety of special needs. What was unusual that day was the heat. But that Friday, Lindsey and a group of eight or so friends were doing their best to stay cool at a friend’s pool party. As the pool party wound down later in the day, Melissa said Lindsey, a friend and Josh came back to the Baum home in the 400 block of East Mommsen Street. The kids played for a bit in the yard, and Lindsey asked if her friend could spend the night, as she had the night before. An exhausted Melissa said no, but said Lindsey, the friend and Josh could head to the friend’s home to see about a sleepover there. “I remember the time was 9:15 p.m. It was one of the longest days of the year See BAUM, Page A4
elephant ears, crepes, mini-donuts, hot dogs). The vendors and food carts will be open all weekend. T-shirts and sweatshirts to commemorate the Blast from the Past will be available, as will the McCleary T-shirts. Not just T-shirts, but you can get sweatshirts and tank tops with the McCleary logo on them. And as an added bonus, the McCleary Clinic will be having a health fair in their parking lot on Saturday after the parade. For more information, go to mcclearybearfestival.org.
FRIDAY 1 p.m.: Kids Zone — Bracelets will be on sale for all day use, or all weekend use. 1:30: Pacific Science Center Planetarium will be here at the VFW Hall. Seating is limited. 5: Coronation and recognition of past royalty. If you are past royalty and haven’t been contacted by the Bear Festival Committee — contact them. They want to hear from you. There will be a special reception for past royalty following the coronation. Bearfestival@gmail.com 6:30: Fast pitch softball in the park (12 teams competing) 8: Street dance by the park
SATURDAY 8 a.m.: Registration for Fun Run 9: Fun Run starts. There’s a 2-mile run/walk, and a 10k run. 11:45: Kiddie parade Noon: Grand Parade — The parade route is the same. It starts in the Simpson Mill parking lot, runs east down Simpson Avenue, turns right at Third Street, right at Maple, and down to Sixth to return to the parking lot. 1 p.m.: Hot delicious Bear Festival Stew at the park kitchen 1 p.m.: Elma Youth Cheer 1 p.m.: Silent Auction at the VFW, benefit McCleary Museum 1:30: The Fabulous Murphtones (90 minutes) Beerbower Park Stage 3:15: Elma Basketball Cheer 3:30: High Impact Dance School 5: The Olson Band at Beerbower Park Stage (originally from Olympia via Nashville) 5: The VFW will have a beer garden and a petting zoo. Kid Zone will be busy, as well with a bounce house and an obstacle course, hamster balls and more.
SUNDAY 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Big car show in the Simpson parking lot (100 or more cars) Noon: Monica Drake and Duane Brady Noon: Kynan Shane Noon: McCleary Museum open with complimentary refreshments while they last 2: Humor and Heart
As lighting flashed and thunder roared Wednesday evening in the skies over McCleary, Melissa Baum spoke to dozens of candle-holding community members. “It’s been a long 10 years,” she said, since her daughter, Lindsey, was abducted and murdered on that day a decade before. The community had gathered to dedicate a remembrance garden for Lindsey at Beerbower Park. While Lindsey’s killer has not been caught, Baum said, the dedication was not about the investigation. She said the garden was a place where Lindsey’s “spirit could be felt, her laughter be heard.” Local singer/songwriter Ericka Corban opened the dedication with a rendition of “Over the Rainbow,” then turned the microphone over to Michelle Ames, who spearheaded the effort to make the garden a reality. Ames thanked the dozens of volunteers and many local businesses that helped with the garden, then introduced Grays Harbor County Sheriff Rick Scott, who has been with the investigation into Lindsey’s abduction and murder since she first disappeared June 26, 2009, on a 10-minute walk home from a friend’s house to her own, not far from where her garden now stands. Scott recognized the agencies working with the Sheriff’s Office on the case, including the FBI, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and, since Lindsey’s remains were found in remote country in Central Washington in fall 2017, the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office. “We’ve worked seamlessly together,” Scott said. “We’ve put tens of thousands of hours (into the investigation) and will keep at it until we bring this case to a close. “And we will bring it to close,” Scott said. Corban returned and performed “See You Again,” a song that Melissa Baum told Corban “has gotten her through some dark times over the last decade.”
Inmate escapes jail in trash can An inmate at the Grays Harbor County jail in Montesano crawled into a trash can Wednesday, was taken outside by another inmate and walked away, the Sheriff’s Office said Thursday. James Bartholomew, who is from Hoquiam, was about to enter a plea to drug and weapon offenses and faced a lengthy prison sentence, a release states. An arrest warrant has been issued for Bartholomew for second degree escape. Bartholomew, 40, is 5 feet, 10 inches tall, 147 pounds with hazel eyes and brown hair. People who see him should not approach or contact him, but they should call 911 to report his location. “If anyone has information on his possible whereabouts you can call the dispatch non-emergency number 360-533-8765 or you can contact Detective Jeremy Holmes at 360-249-3711,” the release states. “Anyone who harbors or helps Bartholomew could face criminal charges.” Bartholomew was a kitchen trustee. With the help of another trustee, he was taken from the jail in a garbage can and set outside the jail, where walked away.
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