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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS April 6, 6, 2016 | 75¢
Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
House fire turns to controlled burn in PA
Exam: Artist died of trauma Autopsy cites injury to head BY PAUL GOTTLIEB PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
KEITH THORPE(2)/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Above, Port Angeles firefighter Tim Davis sprays water on a burning house at 715 E. Caroline St., in Port Angeles on Tuesday. Below, a mixture of mud, rocks, foam and fallen trees and bushes blocks a section of the Waterfront Trail directly beneath the scene of the fire.
Bluff erosion forces firefighters to make tough call on scene BY ARWYN RICE
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ROB OLLIKAINEN
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — Firefighters were faced with a dilemma Tuesday as a house burned on a Port Angeles bluff: continue to douse the blaze or let it burn to prevent further erosion to the failing bluff. They decided to let it burn in a controlled manner, said Port Angeles Fire Department Chief Ken Dubuc. “We’re going to be here a long time,” he said at about 5:15 p.m. TURN
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PORT ANGELES — Acclaimed Native American carver and instructor George Cecil David of Neah Bay died of blunt force trauma to the head, according to the preliminary results of an autopsy that ruled his death a homicide. “That’s the finding of the physician thus far,” Mark Nichols, Clallam County prosecuting attorney and ex officio coroner, said Tuesday. “The certifying physician will add his name to that document.” Employees of the building that contained an apartment where David was staying at 1111 E. Columbia St. David found the Nuu-chah-nulth carver’s body at about 12:45 p.m. March 28, authorities said. “We still have a murder suspect on the loose,” Detective Sgt. Tyler Peninger said Tuesday afternoon. Services for David are at noon Friday at Neah Bay Assembly of God, 220 Third St. Burial will follow at the Neah Bay Cemetery. Police served a search warrant March 29 on the apartment where David, 65, was staying. They removed for further examination a couch, a portion of carpeting, blood swabs, DNA samples and clothing, according to the warrant.
En route to memorial service David, a Port Alberni, B.C., native, arrived in Port Angeles on March 25 while on his way to a memorial service on Vancouver Island, his nephew Wade Greene of Neah Bay said Tuesday.
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County lawsuit against treasurer dismissed Commissioner against legal action BY ROB OLLIKAINEN PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — At Clallam County commissioners’ request, a Superior Court judge has dismissed a county lawsuit against Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis. The complaint for declaratory relief and petition for writ of mandamus, which also names the Peninsula Daily News, was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled in Clallam County Superior Court. “I’m not inclined to ever take legal action against an elected official,” Commissioner Mike
Chapman said in Tuesday’s board meeting. The civil action — Clallam County vs. Selinda Barkhuis and PDN — asked a judge to determine whether the county complied with its statutory obligations under the Public Records Act when it processed a Nov. 25 request from the PDN for certain emails from Barkhuis’ work and personal accounts. Barkhuis had notified the county that she did not intend to provide the county with any records, according to Kristina Nelson-Gross, civil deputy prosecuting attorney, in a document
filed with the court. If a judge found that the county could not comply with the law until Barkhuis provided the requested documents, the county would have asked the court to order the elected treasurer to “show cause as to why a writ of mandamus compelling Ms. Barkhuis to provide all requested documentation to the county should not issue in this matter,” according to a legal memorandum. The action was filed Thursday by the county Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. “This is not a circumstance of either prosecutor vs. treasurer or county vs. treasurer,” Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols told com-
missioners Tuesday. “In reality, this is an action that was filed to seek guidance from an esteemed Superior Court judge regarding what the law requires.” Barkhuis disagreed. “This is very much county vs. treasurer, and there [are] many other alternative avenues for finding this guidance,” Barkhuis said. “This is an extremely aggressive course of action,” she said. Barkhuis complained Tuesday that the original order for voluntary dismissal was made without prejudice, meaning the case could be refiled. “If this cause number is not dismissed with prejudice, I will
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INSIDE TODAY’S PENINSULA DAILY NEWS 100th year, 82nd issue — 3 sections, 38 pages
641567030
Friday, April 8th and Saturday, April 9th • 10am-4pm
renew my request and insist on having appointed to me a lawyer at taxpayer expense, which I find utterly insulting on behalf of the t a x p a y e r s , ” Barkhuis Barkhuis told commissioners. “The message will remain clear, which is ‘do as the prosecutor told me to do or else.’ ” Commissioners Chapman and Mark Ozias voted Tuesday to pass an amended resolution to dismiss the case with prejudice.
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