You can't talk about the Hill Ward at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood without mentioning the, um, stuff that went on there after hours and on the weekends.

I spoke with park visitors who braved today’s brisk sunshine to record their memories of the former Western State Hospital building.

Many of them mentioned the weekend partying they and their friends did when the site was still a crumbling set of ruins.

“I used to go there every weekend and party and drink. That was, of course, in my younger days,” said Laura Drittenpreis, 38, a lifetime Lakewood resident.

“We threw parties here and keggers. The police would kick us out. It was cool,” said Charles Candle, 24, another lifetime Lakewood resident.

Joanne Pickles, 73, said she remembers hearing stories about the hospital performing shock treatments and other types of archaic procedures on patients.

“Kids used to go in and out of it all the time,” the Lakewood resident said. “Even my kids used to sneak up there.”

Deidren Norris, 38, admitted she hung out at the Hill Ward, even though she was somewhat spooked by its history. There were rumors of people seeing spirits and other ghostly beings at night.

“We used to hear voices,” she said. “I totally felt it was haunted.”

Pictured to the left is the plaque that will welcome visitors to the new Hill Ward.

I plan to include their comments in my print story on the Hill Ward later this week.

On Saturday, Lakewood will celebrate the reinvention of the Hill Ward site at Fort Steilacoom Park.

Once the dilapidated ruins of a 1932 Western State Hospital building, the site is now a less prominent memorial to its former inhabitants. The city demolished the building’s remains a year ago.

I got a guided tour of the 2009 Hill Ward from Lakewood parks staff this week. Gone are the crumbling and graffiti-filled walls that made this place such a popular hangout for curious youth, party types and the occasional bad elements. (See Juggalos)

In its place is the building’s footprint with curbing that’s a couple feet off the ground for people to sit. The footprint itself resembles an eagle in flight, an idea that residents came up with during meetings about what to do with the site, said Mary Dodsworth, the city’s parks and recreation director.

In the middle of the memorial is a walkway with a chronological timeline of the Hill Ward etched in a few of the stones.
The walkway leads to a “labyrinth” that includes a chunk of the old building. Don’t plan on walking through a maze, though, as there are no walls.

The Hill Ward’s original stairs lead up to the memorial, which was built atop grounded pieces of the old building. The city kept two of the building’s original pieces that, after years of sitting abandoned, are covered with graffiti. Dodsworth said the city didn’t clean them because it wanted to maintain the integrity of the structure and, quite honestly, it would probably get tagged again if clean.

Other differences long-timers might notice include a trail that loops around the Hill Ward and rocks that serve as steps for hikers trying to reach the site. There’s even a piece of the original building's chimney that’s now a marker along the trail around Waughop Lake. There will also be signs, a plaque and other improvements to the memorial.

Dodsworth said the city didn’t want the new Hill Ward to be too prominent. It is, after all, a tribute to the hospital’s patients who once tended to the nearby farm.

“We wanted it to reflect the history of the place,” she said.

The city is inviting the community to celebrate the memorial Saturday. The event starts 4 p.m. at Fort Steilacoom Park, 8200 87th Ave. SW, Lakewood. For more information, visit the city’s Web site.

I’ll have a story in the print paper about it later this week.

Writing about inter-agency cooperation is a great way to cure readers' insomnia.

But a story from the lower East Side demonstrates the real benefit to real people.

Tacoma Police officer Bert Hayes was out with a Department of Corrections officer, checking in on released felons. That, alone, is a healthy collaboration. We want folks who have returned from prison to the community to know that community corrections officers and the police know who and where they are.

Two men on the officers' list were renting a room at 1316 E. 30th St., just west of Portland Avenue at the foot of the McKinley Hill bluff. From the outside, the place is trashed. People have been dumping junk and construction debris in the overgrown yard. It's a blight on a b lock where other residents have cleaned up quite a bit.

Hayes recoiled when the elderly home-owner opened the door.

"I could smell electrical at the back of the house," he said of the wiring.

The only heat in the place is a wood stove with faulty ventilation. Soot from the stove coated the walls.

And then there was the mess: piles of belongings, and litter boxes for three cats. It was beyond anything the 84-year-old owner could sort through.
It was unfit housing, even for the pets.

"It was absolutely appalling," Hayes said. "It's the worst place I've ever seen."

That's saying a lot. Hayes has gone on mission trips. And he's worked rough neighborhoods.

He called in city building inspectors and Tacoma Power inspectors, who cut the electricity. Working with animal control officers, the growing team contacted the Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County. The kitties will stay there until the owner is safely settled in a new place.

Pierce County Human Service case manager Paul Calta worked with Associated Ministries to come up with the money to allowthe owner to stay a week at the HomeTel in Fife.

"It buys me time to work with the family, place the client in a safe environment, salvage the belongings and get him placed safely," Calta said. "I'm going to try to place those cats as well. I'm a little worried about the cats. Bert brought him over there, and we brought several bags of food from a food bank. He also brought some frozen dinners from home."

Meanwhile, social workers are trying to set him up with long term care. They also are working with him to retrieve any salvageable belongings from the blighted house.

DOC, meanwhile, is helping the two renters to find a place.

The property needs to be cleaned up, for the sake of the neighborhood. Count on Hayes to get it on the abatement list.

"Everybody worked together," Hayes said. "This is what we do."

Thanks to inter-agency cooperation, the homeowner will be sleeping safely from now on.

This is the kind of help that's available, now that agencies are working so well together. If you know of a senior or disabled person who needs this kind of assistance, call the Pierce County Aging and Disability Resource Center at (253)798-4600.