SEQUIM GAZETTE
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Wednesday, September 22, 2010 • A-1
Inside today
SEQUIM GAZETTE Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Sequim’s Hometown Newspaper
Bureau of Justice Statistics discredits inmate sex abuse claim FBI declines invitation to investigate Clallam jail by AMANDA WINTERS Sequim Gazette
Days after a former Clallam County jail inmate came forward claiming three women conspired to make false reports of sexual abuse during a federal survey, the survey administrators discredited her. Elizabeth Stallings was in jail on possession of methamphetamine and theft charges during the “Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, 2008-2009”
survey. After the results ranking Clallam County jail third out of 286 for inmate-reported sexual abuse by jail staff, she e-mailed Clallam County Sheriff Bill BENEDICT Benedict claiming she heard three women joking about giving the “worst possible untruthful answers.” Benedict responded by issuing the following in a public statement: “I can unequivocally state that the survey’s find-
ing of 6.1 percent of survey inmates having experienced sexual misconduct by the jail staff as a complete fabrication by several inmates who intentionally misled the interviewers with false answers.” But BJS statistician Allen Beck said it wouldn’t have been possible for the three women to skew the data because only one woman reported abuse through the anonymous survey and the rest were men. Beck said three men and one woman alleged they were victims of sexual misconduct by jail staff in the anonymous
See JAIL, page A-4
75 CENTS
SCARED BUT SAFE
District 3 firefighters respond to a four-vehicle accident blocking U.S. Highway 101 west of Sequim on Tuesday, Sept. 21. Three persons involved were injured and transported to Olympic Medical Center; none of the injuries were life-threatening. Read more online at www.sequimgazette.com. Sequim Gazette photo by Mark St.J. Couhig
‘The best machine available …’ OMC looks to expand cancer care with new accelerator by MARK ST.J. COUHIG Sequim Gazette
With the help of an expensive new tool, Olympic Medical Center soon will greatly expand its ability to provide “worldclass cancer care” on the peninsula. The OMC board this week approved the purchase of a TrueBeam linear accelerator, manufactured by Varian Medical Systems. Once installed, it will provide patients of the Olympic Medical Cancer Center in Sequim with a number of important new options for cancer treatment. In making her pitch to the board, Rhonda Curry, assistant administrator of the strategic CURRY development department, said, “This new technology will replace our eight-year-old linear accelerator with the newest generation of radiotherapy technology. That will better enable us to treat cancer more precisely, to treat cancers we are currently sending out of the area, and will move us to the level of world-class cancer centers around our country.”
Bret Wirta, owner of Sequim’s Holiday Inn Express and Conference Center, stands next to his hotel’s new 44 solar-panel installation on the roof. The panels produce enough energy to power the hotel’s conference room. Wirta calls the project a long-term investment because conventional energy costs will continue to rise and renewable energy sources will become even more valuable. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
Sequim hotel goes green Holiday Inn Express sees sunnier days with solar by MATTHEW NASH Sequim Gazette
Sequim’s Holiday Inn Express and Conference Center now greets drivers on U.S.
Highway 101 with a sunny glint from its new solar installation. Bret Wirta, owner of the new hotel and Sequim Quality Inn, ordered 44 solar panels
from Port Townsend’s Power Trip Energy Corp. in May. The Sequim hotel is the first in the Washington InterContinental Hotels Group franchise, including Holiday Inns, Crowne Plaza and others, to install solar panels. “We really hope we’re the poster child for the future of hotels,” Wirta said. “I want
to get the message out there to other hotel owners that people are looking for environmentally friendly features like this.” The hotel chain was in full support of Wirta’s solar project, said Heather Pappin, western region area manager
Paying for the improvement The new machine comes with a hefty price tag: $2.7 million, plus tax. Another $500,000 will be spent providing “seamless service” during the installation of the new machine. Extended warranty costs for the first 12 months are included in the purchase price but will then cost $225,000 per year for years two through five. Add it all up, and the tab comes to more than $4.1 million.
See SOLAR, page A-8
See OMC, page A-6
Teen thankful for Sequim High School after China tour Asia adventure teaches student about Communism, crowds by AMANDA WINTERS Sequim Gazette
Andrea Tjemsland, left, and her aunt Mary Norton, right, both of Sequim, stand on the Great Wall of China during their August trip.
On Andrea Tjemsland’s first day as a sophomore at Sequim High School, she noticed things she hadn’t before. The water was drinkable, the windows were not broken, the classrooms were filled with sturdy desks and posters, maps and educational decorations lined the
walls. It was a stark contrast to what she saw a couple weeks earlier while on a trip to China with her aunt Mary Norton. While touring a school in Xian, she was struck by the bare walls, broken windows and how dirty the classrooms were. “You feel very lucky being in school in the U.S.,” she said, adding the school didn’t have a heating or cooling
INDEX Business ......................... A-7 Classifieds ...................... D-1 Crossword ....................... C-5
A&E Calendar ................. C-6 Obituaries ......................A-13 Opinions/Letters ...........A-14
Real Estate ..................... D-1 Schools ........................... B-5 Sports/Recreation ......... B-1
Strait Scenes ................. C-1 Weather .......................... A-2
system. Tjemsland decided she wanted to go to China after watching videos about the country in her freshman history class with teacher Nate Davis, she said. “It just fascinated me so much,” she said. She called her aunt, who was at Disneyland, and told her she wanted to go to China that summer. Two weeks later Norton got an e-mail from a travel company with a special tour package for
See CHINA, page A-8
This Week’s Forecast: See page A-2 for local weather. Check for updated weather reports at www.sequimgazette.com
Sequim teen involved in crash At 5:32 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17, Tyler Shafer, 17, of Sequim, sustained serious injuries from a single-vehicle crash eight miles east of Sequim near Diamond Point. Washington State Patrol reports Shafer lost control of the vehicle he was driving and struck a tree on the driver’s side. He was airlifted from Diamond Point Airport to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, which reports Shafer is in critical condition in intensive care as of Tuesday, Sept. 21.