Rep. Mark Ericks, D-Bothell, who is vice chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has been nominated to become U.S. Marshal in Western Washington.

Ericks was Bothell police chief.

When the Republicans were in charge of the White House, then-state Rep. Eric Robertson, R-Buckley, got that same job. Robertson was a Washington State Patrol captain at the time.

UPDATE: (12:20 p.m.) Just got a "correction" on Eric's current job from a certain City Council candidate who is in the same line of work so he ought to know.

Joe,
Eric is the Administrator for Valley Regional Fire Authority. The fire department is the combination of Auburn, Pacific and Algona into a regional fire authority.

Keven Rojecki
Legislative Liaison
Washington State Council of Fire Fighters
1069 Adams Street Southeast
Olympia, WA 98501

Caroline Robertson, an Olympia lobbyist and wife of Eric, probably will call me to fill me in.

Here is Jerry Cornfield's story in The (Everett) Herald. Jerry reported it first in Sunday's paper.

Got this from the State Patrol. I deleted the name of the suspect because we generally don't name them when they are arrested. We wait until they are charged by prosecutors.

Olympia Man Arrested for Vehicular Assault and Hit and Run

A 4-year-old boy was airlifted to Harborview Hospital yesterday with serious injuries to his face after an Olympia man lost control of his wagon striking the SUV the young boy was a passenger in. The man fled the scene.

At approximately 7:30 p.m. last night 34 year-old (name deleted) of Olympia was driving his 1999 Subaru Legacy Wagon eastbound on Yelm Highway in Thurston County at Normandy Road when he lost control of his vehicle.

He was driving in the center turn lane when he lost control and went into the eastbound lane of traffic hitting a 1992 Isuzu Amigo driven by 30 year-old Jeffrey M. Carroll of Olympia. Carroll’s vehicle left the road hitting a metal fence and rolled coming to rest on its roof. (The suspect's) vehicle crossed into westbound lanes, left the road and struck a fence coming to rest in a parking lot.

(The suspect) left the scene, running up the Chehalis Western Trail and was found minutes later at the Mountain View Vet Clinic. Carroll had two young passengers in his Isuzu, a 10-year-old male of Olympia and a 4 year-old male, also from Olympia.

The 4 year-old male was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center with serious injuries. Carroll and the 10-year-old male were transported to St. Peter Hospital with minor injuries. All were wearing proper safety restraints. (The suspect) was treated for injuries at the scene and booked into the Thurston County Jail on suspicion of Vehicular Assault and Felony Hit and Run.

The roadway was closed for 4 ½ hours during investigation of the scene. Drugs and/or alcohol may have been a factor in this preventable collision.

The State Patrol will continue to focus on keeping our roadways safe from aggressive drivers and drunk or drugged drivers by getting them off the road and arresting them. You can also help keep our roadways safe; if you observe someone driving erratically or think they may be under the influence, call 9-1-1 right away.

This quick and very important phone could allow us to get that driver off the road and prevent roads from being closed for hours and ultimately could save a life.

The fatal accident happened early this morning in Parkland. The Washington State Patrol sent out this news release.

One man dead in roll-over collision on State Route 7

Pierce Co-On 5-24-09 at 3:35 AM, State Troopers responded to a one vehicle roll-over collision on State Route 7 near State Route 512. Upon arrival Troopers observed a heavily damaged 2003 Jeep Cherokee still running on top of some cars parked in a car lot.

The Jeep was driven by 33 year-old Anthony T. McDonald of Renton. McDonald was driving northbound on SR 7 approaching SR 512 at a high rate of speed. The Jeep left the roadway, rolled over, and came to rest on top of some cars parked at the Parkland Chevrolet dealership.

Tragically McDonald was ejected form the vehicle and was pronounced deceased by medical personnel at the collision scene.

Troopers are currently investigating the circumstances around this collision and it is unknown at this time if alcohol and/or drugs were involved. There’s a large amount of property damage involved with this collision and State Troopers will be on scene investigating for several hours.

And the state Department of Transportation says northbound lanes of Pacific Avenue are blocked, so traffic is being rerouted onto 112th Street.

WSDOT Alert - Update

DATE/TIME: May 24, 2009, 6:35 a.m.
DESCRIPTION: A serious-injury rollover collision blocks the northbound lanes of SR 7. Northbound traffic is being diverted off SR 7 at 112th Street East.
LOCATION: Northbound SR 7, at milepost 52, Tacoma, Pierce County
START: May 24, 2009, 3:45 a.m.
Est. END: Unknown
OTHER: Please contact Washington State Patrol for further details. WSP is on scene conducting an investigation. Updates will be provided as the situation changes.
CONTACT: Emily Pace, WSDOT Communications, 360-507-1854

DISCLAIMER: The Washington State Department of Transportation provides this information as a public service. It is based on currently available information. Motorists are reminded that weather and road conditions can change rapidly and should plan accordingly. For current traveler information, please visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic or call 5-1-1

Said constitutent then pays a visit to your office.

At least, that's what happened to state Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia. Hunt said he and seatmate Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, had a restraining order against a woman who kept harrassing them, their families and their respective staffs.

It prevented her from coming any closer to them than 50 feet or so.

Three days after the no-contact order expired, the woman paid a visit to Hunt's office. His staff called security. Security got her to leave. But then, she later showed up in the wings of the state Senate. Security was called. She was escorted out in handcuffs.

She made her way back to Hunt's office in a different building. Security was called again. Then, they called the Washington State Patrol. Woman kicked trooper in the ....(where a man least wants to be kicked).

She reportedly later assaulted the booking officer at the jail.

All of this happened last Tuesday, but the story was just making the rounds among the lobbyists.

Hunt said his stalker is a fired state worker.

Check out story from our sister paper and You Tube video footage of a state trooper nosing around the bikes.

By Jeremy Pawloski
The Olympian

A lawyer representing several Washington motorcycle groups wrote an angry letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire protesting Washington State Patrol’s recent surveillance activity at the Capitol, photographing license plates of motorcyclists who were there to advocate for issues important to them.

"I may be old school, but I always thought that the Capitol was supposed to be a sanctuary for free speech and assembly, and not an opportunity for clandestine intelligence gathering on citizens trying to be involved in the political process," Seattle attorney Martin Fox wrote.

Fox distributed his letter to numerous Washington media outlets, along with a DVD with images of a trooper "crawling around the bushes of the Capitol to record license plate numbers of motorcycles into his tape machine," the letter reads.

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