PUBLISHED IN THE APPLE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD AND THE BUCKLE OF THE POWER BELT OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST

FRIDAYJune 13, 2008

50 CENTS103rd year, No. 289

Military dadsReconnecting with children they hardly knowFamily, Faith, Page C1

Play ballWenatchee’s

American Legion team

hopes for turnaround

Sports, Page B1

World photo/Kathryn Stevens

Terry Maranin of Seattle, along with a crew from Crosby Restoration Inc. out of Bellevue, cleans out the joints between bricks Wednesday to replace the mortar on the entire facade of the Chelan County Courthouse.

BY RICK STEIGMEYERWorld staff writer

WENATCHEE — After 84 years, the Chelan County Courthouse is overdue for a facelift.

Work began about two weeks ago to replace the historic building’s eroding mortar and return its brick and marble exterior to its original look and luster. Up next is the replacement of the historic building’s win-dows.

Crews from Crosby Res-toration Inc. of Bellevue are using grinders and chisels to remove loose and cracked mortar from between the bricks and around granite and marble slabs. Fresh mortar can then be slathered in to give the job a like-new look. Once that job is complete, the crews will go back and use a chemical wash on the brick and marble to clean it and restore its shine, said County Commissioner Ron Walter.

“This is a job commis-sioners wanted to do 10 years ago, but we wanted to do it in a way that wouldn’t compromise his-tory,” he said. Walter said earlier plans to clean the brick and marble were rejected and the project postponed when commis-sioners and members of the Wenatchee Historic Preservation Board learned the cleaning processes available at the time could damage the baked coating on the building’s bricks, granite and terra cotta fea-tures. The courthouse was built in 1924.

Walter said commis-sioners took another look at the restoration last year. Consultants were hired to examine the brickwork for structural integrity.

Courthouse gets a face-lift

Taking the busLink Transit rider boardings are up from last year.

2007

Source: Link Transit World graphic/Jared Johnson

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

January February March

2008

April May

BY ALEJANDRO GONZALEZWorld staff writer

WENATCHEE — Link Transit recorded an increase of riders in May, making it the fi fth straight month of bus rid-ership gains.

The number of riders increased by more than 12 per-cent from May of last year, according to statistics released Thursday. May also marked the highest number of riders since 1999. The rising cost of fuel is a main reason more people are riding the bus, said Eric West, marketing coordi-nator for Link.

In May, more than 82,000 people boarded a bus com-

As gas goes up, so does number of Link riders

BY JAY PATRICKWorld staff writer

WENATCHEE — A woman convicted of starving puppies will spend three days in jail and pay about $9,000 in fi nes, fees and restitution.

Chelan County District Court Judge Alicia Nakata sentenced Patricia Schrumpf, 40, of Leav-enworth, Thursday afternoon. A jury in May found that Schrumpf failed to adequately care for her brood of Siberian husky puppies, causing them unjustified suf-fering, at her Leavenworth prop-erty last year.

She was charged with 11 counts and found guilty on six. Schrumpf is scheduled to go on trial again July 9. In that case she is charged with six counts of second-degree animal cruelty stemming from the seizure of 36 more husky puppies at her home in January. Humane Society offi -cials said the puppies found were

“severely malnourished.”Nakata called the imposi-

tion of jail time in such a case “unusual” and “unfortunate.” But she said she felt compelled to send Schrumpf to jail because of her persistence in not acknowl-edging her fault, her ignorance in not properly feeding her dogs enough while she was away on a weeklong cruise last September and for not seeking the advice of veterinarians when she knew some of her dogs were not well.

“It’s necessary to get your attention,” Nakata said of the jail sentence. She said the evidence established Schrumpf’s “delib-erate indiff erence” to the well-being of the animals. Schrumpf was raising the dogs with the intention of selling them.

Schrumpf said in court that she realizes “it was a very unwise decision not to have someone

Judge orders jail in animal cruelty case

BY K.C. MEHAFFEYWorld staff writer

BREWSTER — A compromise was reached Wednesday between Brewster city officials and residents of the city-owned Angle Trailer Park, where a proposal to increase rent and add costs for water, sewer and garbage would have nearly doubled the rent for a lot.

The Brewster City Council decided to raise the monthly cost by about $100 for each of the 38 trailers at the park.

“I still say it’s a little high for this area,” said David Garcia, a resident of the trailer park and spokesman for the trailer owners at Wednesday’s overfl ow meeting. He said most residents are paying a mortgage on the trailers they own. Tacking on another $100 to the $170 previously charged for a single-wide space and $206 for a double-wide space will be too high for some residents to absorb.

“I think some people are going to leave their mortgage. They’re just going to walk away from it,” he said in a telephone inter-view Thursday.

JD Smith, Brewster’s public works director who manages the park, said the city hasn’t charged residents of the trailer park for water, sewer or garbage in the past, and $77.52 of the monthly increase is to cover those costs —

the same fl at fee that other city residents pay, he said.

Garcia said residents apparently were not charged because a former administrator overlooked the fee, but The Wenatchee World could not confi rm that information with the city.

Lots in the trailer park do not have sepa-rate meters, so the city will not charge park residents for using more than a base amount of water each month, which other residents pay, Smith said.

The city will also charge a leaseholder’s tax, required by the state, he said. Those with single-wide trailers will pay $21.83 and double-wide owners will pay $26.45 monthly for the tax, he said.

Smith said the City Council previously passed a budget that included both the approximately $100 increase for taxes, water,

Brewster trailer park residents struggle with rent increases

Sunny

Here comes the sun. Highs 78-82. Lows 53-57.

Weather, Page B7

InsideABBY B6BUSINESS B5CLASSIFIED C4-C6, D1-D6COMICS B6CROSSWORD D6FAMILY, FAITH C1-C3HOROSCOPE D3NATION, WORLD A6NAMES IN THE NEWS B7NCW A2-A4NEWS OF RECORD A4NORTHWEST A3, A4OBITUARIES A4OPINION B8SPORTS B1-B4SUDOKU D46 28 1 3 2 4 1 0 0 0 1

wenatcheeworld.com

Please see COURTHOUSE, Page A7

Please see LINK, Page A7

Please see ANIMAL CRUELTY, Page A7

By The Associated Press

FELTON, Calif. — Strong, erratic winds complicated fi re-fi ghters attempts’ to put down several fast-growing wildfires across Northern California, including a blaze that now envel-oped more than 31 square miles and threatened 4,600 structures, offi cials said.

The winds spread the fi re to the hills of the Butte College campus, where offi cials had set up an incident command center, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Joshpae White.

“The fire is jumping around quite a bit,” White said. “It’s fl ar-ing up in a lot of diff erent areas.”

At least 20 homes in Butte County were destroyed, and thousands of residents were forced to evacuate. The fi re was only 15 percent contained this morning.

Fire leaped up canyons toward Paradise, a heavily wooded town of nearly 30,000 residents 15 miles northeast of Chico. Local authorities said that dozens of homes just outside the town’s southern limits were consumed by the blaze as fi re crews fought a pitched battle house by house.

But with anticipated high tem-peratures rising well into the 90s and a wind shift being fore-cast today, authorities expressed

Thousands evacuatedin California blaze

“I think some people are going to leave their mortgage. They’re just going to walk away from it.”DAVID GARCIAAngle Trailer Park resident

Please see TRAILER PARK, Page A7

World photo/Kelly Gillin

Wenatchee High School seniors, from left, Blake Helm, 19, James Martin, 19, and Anthony DiTommaso, 17, ride lawn mowers to school. It was the last day of school for them as they will receive their diplomas tonight.

BY ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ World staff writer

WENATCHEE — Three high school students decided to bow out of their senior year in style.

Their idea of “in style” was traveling under clear skies to Wenatchee High School on lawn mowers.

For seniors, today is the last day of classes at the high school and graduation day. The seniors, all from Wenatchee, said they had planned the trip since their

freshman year of high school.A few people honked and some

stared as the seniors drove slowly down the street, at about 5 mph.

Anthony DiTommaso, 17, was holding his cap and gown for the graduation ceremony. He was riding a Craftsman lawn mower for the trip, which took about 45 minutes. During the ride, the boys were checking their phones for messages.

“We were saying we were

Just so long as they don’t cut class

Please see SENIORS, Page A7

Please see WILDFIRE, Page A7