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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS January 21, 2016 | 75¢
Port Townsend-Jefferson County’s Daily Newspaper
Guilty plea in Ludlow murder
Multimedia platform
Man, 34, admits to girl’s death BY CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
CHARLIE BERMANT/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Port Townsend Library Services Director Keith Darrock prepares a newly acquired projector in advance of tonight’s presentation celebrating the national parks centennial.
New technology to star in library presentation tonight 1220 Lawrence St. “This is the first time we’ve had Tim and Pat in here for a program and the first time we are using the equipment,” said Technical Services Director Keith Darrock. “It’s pretty exciting. We are using this space in new ways.” BY CHARLIE BERMANT The two presenters will use the new PENINSULA DAILY NEWS equipment — paid for with part of a PORT TOWNSEND — The first $50,000 grant — in a collaborative preresults of a technology upgrade will be sentation in which O’Hara will project unveiled tonight at the Port Townsend photos on the 10-foot-by-12-foot screen Library during a presentation commem- as McNulty reads accompanying text. orating the national parks centennial. The program, “Interpreting the Poems, essays National Parks” with Tim McNulty and McNulty’s poems, essays, criticism Pat O’Hara, begins at 7 p.m. in the library’s 1913 Carnegie Reading Room, and articles on nature and conservation
Donation of $50K funded PT building, media upgrades
have appeared in numerous publications, and he reads, lectures, teaches and conducts workshops throughout the Northwest, according to a news release. O’Hara’s color images have appeared in 17 exhibit format books, dozens of calendars and magazine articles. Many platforms Darrock said the library has become a technology center that offers information on a variety of platforms, although many patrons prefer old-fashioned books. E-books and audio books are only part of this growth; the library also checks out iPads and will continue to offer multimedia programs. TURN
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PORT TOWNSEND — A 34-year-old Port Ludlow man has pleaded guilty to seconddegree murder in the July killing of his 20-yearold girlfriend. Evan Daniel Thompson, whose trial was initially scheduled for Feb. 15-16, will next appear in court Feb. 17 for sentencing. Thompson remains in the Jefferson County jail in Port Hadlock, where he was taken after the July 23 incident, under a $1 million bond. Thompson pleaded guilty Friday to one count of second-degree murder-domestic violence in the strangulation death of Virginia Guadalupe Castaneda, of La Push. Since the crime, Prosecuting Attorney Michael Haas had been negotiating with defense attorney Scott Charlton about a possible outcome to the case. A mental illness component was being discussed, Haas said, until Thompson said he wanted to plead guilty. “I think he wanted to take responsibility for what he had done,” Haas said. He said he was satisfied by the outcome. “The troubling part is the loss of a beautiful young woman who died way too early,” he said. “But from a legal perspective, this was about as good as we could get.” According to court documents, the standard sentencing range for the charge is 10 to 18 years followed by 36 months of community custody, while the maximum sentence is life in prison and/or a $50,000 fine. On the day of the killing, sheriff’s deputies arrived at Thompson’s house in the early morning and found Castaneda dead inside the house. Thompson was lying in the backyard with cuts on his wrists and a gunshot wound to his head that investigators said was self-inflicted. TURN
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Mammoth fossil emerges near bay bluffs Sequim museum display planned BY ALANA LINDEROTH OLYMPIC PENINSULA NEWS GROUP
SEQUIM — The eroding bluffs surrounding Sequim Bay are providing a peek into times long since past — 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. While walking state Department of Natural Resources-owned tidelands east of Sequim early this month, local residents discovered a partial skull of what’s likely a Columbian mammoth emerging from the sandy wall. Since the discovery of the fossil, officials with the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture have been working to col-
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lect the specimen for conservation and further analysis. “The fossil likely represents a Columbian mammoth — Mammuthus columbi — as that’s the species typically found in this part of Washington,” Christian Sidor, Burke Museum curator of vertebrate paleontology, said. “The Columbian mammoth is the state fossil of Washington.” Sidor and colleagues were able to collect the last of the remains Monday. “The fossil is currently undergoing conservation in our lab,” Sidor said. “Once it is stabilized, documented and preliminarily
studied, the Sequim Museum [& Arts Center] is interested in displaying the specimen. My goal is to work with the local museum to get the fossil on display soon.” The exact age of the mammoth hasn’t been determined, but based on its size, it’s estimated to be an adult. The rocks surrounding the specimen date back between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago and represent a gravelly riverbed — giving hints as to why only the skull became unearthed. “It follows that the animal must have died close to the river, been swept in or scavenged, and DAVID BROWNELL/JAMESTOWN S’KLALLAM TRIBE then its skull was eventually bur- A partial skull of what’s likely a Columbian mammoth ied,” Sidor said. emerges from eroding bluffs surrounding Sequim Bay in TURN TO FOSSIL/A5 early January.
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