Peninsula Daily News and The Associated Press
Special DUI patrols
Law enforcement agencies on the North Olympic Peninsula and statewide will have extra DUI patrols today through Jan. 1.
The extra patrols are part of Target Zero — an effort to end traffic deaths and serious injuries in Washington state by 2030.
For more information, visit www.targetzero.com.
Additional information on the Washington Traffic Safety Commission can be found on the website, www.wtsc.wa.gov.
Narrow lane widths
PORT ANGELES — Drivers have narrowed lanes while workers install a sewer line on Tumwater Truck Route this week.
Traffic disruption will continue through Friday between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on the truck route and on Lauridsen Boulevard between C Street and the truck route.
Reduced width traffic lanes on the truck route will be open for traffic, but there will be no parking on the portions of the street in the area of construction.
The sewer line on the truck route will extend between Lauridsen Boulevard and U.S. Highway 101.
Rainier closure
ASHFORD — Officials at Mount Rainier National Park have temporarily closed park access at the Nisqually entrance because of flooding.
Acting superintendent Tracy Swartout said in a statement Tuesday that heavy rain falling on snowpack at high elevation has created dangerous conditions throughout the park.
Visitors in the park from the Nisqually entrance to Paradise have been advised to leave.
Swartout said rain falling on snow is similar to conditions present during severe
flooding in November 2006.
That historic flood caused millions in damages to roads, campgrounds and trails and closed the national park for six months.
‘Coffee with the Mayor’ to take break
SEQUIM — Because of holiday schedules, there will be no city of Sequim “Coffee with the Mayor” program in December or January.
Regular meetings are expected to restart in February.
The “Coffee with the Mayor” program gives Sequim residents an opportunity to meet informally with Mayor Candace Pratt on the first and third Thursdays of each month at 8:30 a.m. at a different location.
For more information, contact Pratt at 360-582-0114 or cpratt@sequimwa.gov.
Gift-bag donations
PORT ANGELES — Strait Occupational & Hand Therapy is holding its sixth annual Holiday Gift Bag event through Dec. 12.
It is accepting donations of personal hygiene products to fill holiday gift bags for the Port Angeles Food Bank.
Struggling community members will pick up these bags when they visit the food bank to receive their holiday meal.
The bags are gender-specific for adults, teenagers and children.
Drop off donations to the clinic, located at 708 S. Race St., Suite C, before Dec. 12.
Additional items to add a festive touch are accepted. Examples are hair accessories, brushes, lotions and perfumes.
The public is invited to help stuff the bags Dec. 12 between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. For more information, phone 360-417-0703.
Surveillance meet
PORT ANGELES — “Eye in the Sky: Government Surveillance in the Information Age” will be presented at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St., at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 1.
The program, led by Pat Gallagher of the American Civil Liberties Union Speakers Bureau of Washington, will focus on information gathering and surveillance methods, efforts to rein-in surveillance programs and contemporary privacy concerns related to surveillance issues.
Attendance is free, and preregistration is not required. For more information, visit www.nols.org and click on “Events” and “Port Angeles” or phone 360-417-8500.
End-of-life planning
PORT TOWNSEND — Tailored to meet the needs of seniors, a free 90-minute “legal wellness” workshop is offered free from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Ave.
Retired attorney Anne Counts from the nonprofit organization Legal Voice will give legal and medical information for making key decisions in advance for later years and end-of-life.
She will cover powers of attorney, advance directives and a checklist for when a death occurs.
The workshop is open to the public.
The first 45 minutes of presentation is followed by 45 minutes of questions and answers.
For more information, contact Joan Schrammeck, outreach coordinator, at 206-399-8401 or Joan.LegalVoice@gmail.com.
Guilty plea entered
SPOKANE — Former Spokane County deputy prosecutor Marriya Wright has pleaded guilty to second-degree rendering criminal assistance.
Wright was charged with helping convicted felon Matthew Baumrucker evade police in March.
He was wanted on suspicion of assault at the time.
The Spokesman-Review reported that investigators discovered thousands of text messages between the two, and a photo of Wright in a bikini was found in Baumrucker’s jail cell.
The prosecution of Wright’s case was handled by the state Attorney General’s Office at the request of the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office.
Wright was sentenced to 364 days in jail, with all of it suspended, and ordered to pay a $1,500 fine, with half of the amount suspended.
She has already resigned from the prosecutor’s office.
