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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS January 28, 2016 | 75¢

Port Townsend-Jefferson County’s Daily Newspaper

Crash charges under review

Armchair civics

Prosecutors mull wreck report BY CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

CHARLIE BERMANT/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

Brian Kramer, left, and Jeremy Deer, third from left, provide instruction about technology upgrades in the Port Townsend City Council chamber to legal assistant Amber Long, seated, and City Clerk Joanna Sanders.

$25K tech upgrade in PT to come online tonight Better video, audio helps viewers feel they’re at meetings BY CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

PORT TOWNSEND — Nothing will change for those attending tonight’s Port Townsend Planning Commission meeting, but those watching at home will get a clearer picture and improved sound after an upgrade Wednesday. “We are not doing anything differently,” said City Clerk Joanna Sanders

after the installation of the new equipment. “This upgrade lets us continue what we are doing, to allow people access to what goes on with council without having to go to the meetings.” The planning commission meeting will be from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in council chambers, 540 Water St. The panel will discuss the Growth Management Act update. The meeting will stream live on www.cityofpt.us and be available later in the evening for review from any Internet connection. This is nothing new. The city has broadcast council, planning commission and other committee meetings since the

system’s 2009 installation. Meeting coverage is stored in a searchable format. All the meetings throughout the past six years are accessible online. Searches can be made by topic to get a list of meetings where it was discussed. Wednesday’s $25,000 upgrade, conducted by Jefferson Audio Video Systems of Louisville, Ky., installed wired microphones to replace the wireless units that don’t connect well due to frequency issues, Sanders said. Also added is the ability for home viewers to see what is on the screen when a presentation is given to the council. TURN

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UPGRADE/A4

PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Haas will decide in two weeks, at the earliest, whether to file charges against Nordland resident Chuck Russell in regard to a fatal wreck last September. “We haven’t had time to review this,” Haas said Wednesday of the 500-page report his office received. “We will make a decision whether to file charges, if we need more information from the State Patrol or if we need a coroner’s inquest. “We don’t know if this rises to the level of criminal Russell conduct yet.” On Sept. 23, Russell, 73, driving a 2004 Honda Pilot, crossed the centerline of state Highway 104, leading to a crash with a Dodge Ram pickup truck driven by Pamela J. Thresher, 53, of Suquamish, the State Patrol said. Thresher’s 88-year-old father, Bainbridge Island resident Robert Dawson, a passenger, died at the scene. Her brother, Brett F. Dawson, 54, of Silverdale, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He has since been discharged. Pamela Thresher was treated and discharged from Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton. Russell also was airlifted to Harborview and remained there until Oct. 1, when he was transferred to Jefferson Healthcare in Port Townsend for treatment in the physical rehabilitation wing for a broken left arm and several broken ribs. At the time of the wreck, he was seeking a fourth six-year term on the Jefferson Healthcare hospital commission. TURN

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Hearing set for Clallam standoff suspect Firearms, assault charges expected BY ARWYN RICE PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

PORT ANGELES — A judge set a $750,000 bail Wednesday for a man who surrendered to law enforcement after a seven-hour standoff at the Salt Creek RV Park on Tuesday. Ordez Eugene Kompkoff, 21, who also was placed on a state Department of Corrections hold, remained in the Clallam County jail Wednesday. “It’s not likely he will be getting out,” said Superior Court Judge Erik Rohrer. Rohrer also approved a no-contact order to prevent Kompkoff

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from contacting John Hosel, the man deputies said he held hostage. Kompkoff is scheduled for a 1 p.m. Friday hearing at the Clallam County Courthouse on potential charges of unlawful possession of firearms, firstdegree assault, unlawful imprisonment and obstructing a law enforcement officer. According to law enforcement officials, Kompkoff held Hosel hostage in a home at Salt Creek RV Park, located at 53802 state Highway 112 at the junction with Camp Hayden Road east of Joyce. Investigating officers found

two handguns in the home: a loaded .357 revolver and an unloaded .380 automatic pistol, said Chief Criminal Deputy Brian King of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office. Hosel told investigators that at one point, Kompkoff held a pistol to his head, King said. “The .357 was consistent with what [Hosel] described,” King said. King said that during a body search of Kompkoff, deputies found drug paraphernalia and what appeared to be heroin residue, which was sent to the state laboratories for testing. King said Kompkoff was extremely intoxicated when he was taken into custody, and deputies

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believed he had taken a number of pills just before surrendering. He said Kompkoff was taken to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles for treatment for the unknown drug before being booked into jail.

Additional arrests Two people associated with Kompkoff — and who were outside the home where he was holed up — were arrested on unrelated warrants, King said. Miranda Niehaus, 39, mother of Kompkoff, was taken into custody on a $150 pay-or-appear warKEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS rant from Clallam County Dis- Ordez Eugene Kompkoff, 21, trict Court, King said. sits in Clallam County TURN TO ARREST/A4 Superior Court.

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