Wednesday
Hawks’ future bright
Some showers, some clouds for everyone B10
The team looks at its prospects for 2016-17 B1
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS January 20, 2016 | 75¢
Port Townsend-Jefferson County’s Daily Newspaper
Burglary suspect appears in court
Braving the elements
Transient held on bail of $25K BY CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
CHARLIE BERMANT/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
A rowing crew passes close to the docks of Port Townsend’s Northwest Maritime Center on Tuesday. Due to wind, rain and tides, few boats braved the water.
Maritime rescue vet to share stories of boat rescues today Speaker: Boaters in trouble can misread situations, vessels BY CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT TOWNSEND — The failure to recognize unexpected changes in circumstances is the cause of most maritime rescues, according to a Port Townsend man who is a veteran of such situations. “A common mistake is keeping an objective you can’t meet anymore because conditions have changed,” said Northwest Maritime Center facilities director
Erik Wennstrom, a water-rescue veteran. “People are determined to cross the Strait on a certain day. When things go wrong, they don’t back up and question their original assumptions,” he said. Wennstrom will tell stories about remarkable rescues and provide tips on preventing emergencies in a presentation at noon today at the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St. The presentation, part of the monthly Wooden Boat Wednesday program, is free and open to the public. Wennstrom, 51, will review different incidents from the past 15 years of working on a fire boat, a rescue boat and with Vessel Assist. He’ll discuss what went wrong and what could have been done differently in
several scenarios, with the goal of urging people to consider some changes in boat handling and instructing them on how to become more resourceful in the event of an emergency. “People need to be rescued because they hang on to a set of priorities they cannot reasonably meet or aren’t skilled enough to deal with,” he said. “They should drive the boat they have and not the boat they think they have. Once a boat catches fire or takes on water, it is not the same boat anymore.” Mariners who get into trouble because they misjudge the weather or the tide don’t call for help soon enough, he said. “Most mariners will be far into trouble before they call the Coast Guard,” he said. TURN
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PORT TOWNSEND — A 37-year-old transient charged with two counts of residential burglary who police say is a suspect in three others made his first court appearance Tuesday. Rusty Ray Fisher appeared on video monitors inside Jefferson County Superior Court, at which time Judge Keith Harper granted a prosecution request to impose a $25,000 bail. As of Tuesday evening, Fisher remained in custody at the Jefferson County jail Fisher in Port Hadlock. Fisher is currently charged with two counts of residential burglary and one count of malicious mischief. His court-appointed attorney is Richard Davies of Jefferson Associated Counsel. Port Townsend police arrested Fisher following two burglaries. At 8:23 Friday evening, police say a juvenile witness in the Castle Hill neighborhood reported that someone had cut the screen in his house and attempted to gain entry to his room. When the intruder saw the witness, he fled, according to police.
More calls A few minutes later, a similar call came in with a witness stating that someone had put his hand into a window at her house. She confronted the man and he ran away. Both witnesses gave descriptions that fit Fisher, whom police spotted nearby and detained, finding knives and burglary tools on his person, police said. TURN
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Port Gamble suit might offer hope to PA Council votes to join amicus brief BY PAUL GOTTLIEB PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — For city officials, the road to financial help in cleaning up west Port Angeles Harbor might point 55 miles southeast to Port Gamble Bay. The bay is central to a legal challenge by a company that last year unsuccessfully sued the state Department of Natural Resources in Kitsap County Superior Court to help fund cleanup of the inlet there. Pope Resources LLP, the Poulsbo-based enterprise created by Port Gamble Bay mill operator Pope & Talbot, has appealed the June 8, 2015, ruling to the state
Pacific, the Port of Port Angeles, Nippon Paper Industries USA, forest services company Merrill & Ring, DNR and Owens Corning as Court of Appeals. Pope insists that DNR, as the PLPs in the pending west Port manager of state-owned aquatic Angeles Harbor cleanup. lands on which the pollution lies, should help pay cleanup costs as a Not participating “potentially liable party,” or PLP. DNR and Owens Corning are Port Angeles city officials are issuing a similar DNR-bears- not participating in the cleanup. Ecology samples from sediment responsibility refrain. in the westernmost inner harbor area near Nippon showed the presAmicus brief ence of metals, mercury and dioxins. The City Council unanimously Nippon is being held responsidecided Jan. 5 to join in a friend- ble for some of the legacy polluof-the-court, or amicus, brief with tion to the harbor as the owner of Georgia-Pacific LLC supporting the Ediz Hook pulp mill, which Pope’s efforts at no cost to the city. has been in operation for decades. KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS The Department of Ecology designated the city, GeorgiaTURN TO HARBOR/A5 A view of Port Angeles Harbor on Tuesday.
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