Decade in Review: Extraordinary times

The Olympian

If one theme unifies the top stories of the past decade, it's an unfortunate one: loss.

Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In one fell swoop, an entire nation lost its once-ironclad sense of security.

For many in South Sound, it would get worse; the region lost an icon and economic engine in the form of the Olympia Brewery; an Olympia woman, who posthumously became a local legend, lost her life while trying to block a bulldozer in the Gaza Strip, and many people lost their jobs or homes as the economy went south toward the end of the decade.

Following are some of the stories, photos and faces that defined a sometimes-painful decade.

No. 1: 9/11 attacks rattle nation, and Fort Lewis is heavily affected (2001)

When terrorists hijacked planes in a coordinated attack, striking the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers and the Pentagon and killing nearly 3,000 people, the entire nation felt the reverberations. Attitudes about the nation’s safety changed dramatically, and the attacks led directly to a war in Afghanistan and indirectly to a war in Iraq. Both those wars continue to rage, sparking continued debate about the U.S. military’s role in those countries.

The wars prompted the creation of three Stryker brigades at Fort Lewis, where the population increased by more than 5,000 after the terrorist attacks. Many of the soldiers involved were stationed at Fort Lewis before deploying overseas.

No. 2: Nisqually earthquake hits; damage lingers for years (2001)

One of the largest earthquakes in the state’s history shook the region for about 45 seconds on the morning of Feb. 28.

The quake’s epicenter was under Anderson Island, about 11 miles northeast of Olympia. No one was killed, but about 400 were injured, and numerous buildings were damaged. The quake cracked the Capitol Dome, prompting a renovation that cost more than $100 million, and heavily damaged the Fourth Street Bridge in Olympia, the air-traffic-control tower at Sea-Tac Airport and the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle. All state agency offices in Olympia were temporarily closed for inspection after the quake, and the Fourth Street Bridge had to be rebuilt.

U.S. Highway 101 buckled in places northwest of Olympia, and a mud slide blocked state Route 3 northeast of Shelton. There were many other reports of road and bridge damage throughout the region.

In the month after the quake, nearly 4,750 homeowners and businesses requested earthquake assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Seventeen homes in Thurston County were found unsafe to occupy.

The closure of the Fourth Street Bridge created extra difficulties for downtown Olympia businesses already suffering the effects of a national recession that was made worse by the Sept. 11 attacks. People who lived on Olympia’s west side had to use alternate routes to reach downtown.

The magnitude 6.8 quake was felt as far away as Salt Lake City.

No. 3: Olympia Brewery closes; more than 400 lose jobs (2003)

On June 20, 2003, the shift whistle at the Olympia brewery in Tumwater blew for the last time, one week before Miller Brewing Co. closed the doors on a South Sound institution.

Miller, a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based SABMiller, had announced Jan. 9 that it would close the historic brewery that it bought in 1999, saying capital expenditures needed to make the plant more efficient were too high to justify continued operation. The move dealt a heavy blow to the South Sound economy, leaving more than 400 people unemployed. Following is a timeline of significant events in the brewery’s history.

1896: Capital Brewing Co. is established by Leopold Schmidt, who is impressed by the quality of artesian well water in the area.

1902: The company is renamed the Olympia Brewing Co. and adopts the enduring slogan “It’s the Water.”

1905-06: The company’s first wood buildings are replaced by the huge brick structure now known as the old Olympia Brewhouse.

1916: Prohibition takes effect in Washington, and the Schmidts turn to producing fruit-juice products.

1933: Prohibition ends, and the Schmidts move their brewery to a then-modern plant on the current site.

1983: Pabst Brewing Co. purchases the brewery and continues to operate it.

1999: Miller Brewing Co. purchases the new and old breweries from Pabst and removes the familiar “Olympia Brewery” sign, putting up its own sign.

January 2002: Miller Brewing Co. chooses Tumwater as one of three cities in which it will produce Skyy Blue, a vodka-malt hybrid that Miller hopes will win over younger drinkers. It’s Miller’s biggest product launch in five years.

May 30, 2002: Phillip Morris Cos. announces the sale of Miller Brewing Co. and its Tumwater plant to South African Breweries PLC.

July 2002: South African Breweries’ $5.4 billion purchase of Miller Brewing Co. closes, forming the world’s second largest brewer, SABMiller.

Jan. 9, 2003: SABMiller announces it will close its Tumwater brewery.

May 27, 2003: The last Olympia “stubby” rolls off the line.

No. 4: Local economy fluctuates, ends decade on sour note

The local and national economies were robust as the decade began, but a precipitous drop in NASDAQ’s value in March 2000 set the tone for the up-and-down decade that would follow. The fallout from the Sept. 11 attacks hit the travel industry especially hard, prompting The Boeing Co. to shed jobs.

The economy improved during the middle of the decade, as the Federal Reserve ushered in an era of low interest rates with repeated cuts. That opened up home-ownership opportunities for many people who took advantage of exotic financing options, creating a bubble that burst in late 2006. The resulting slower housing market created less sales-tax and building-permit revenue than local governments had expected, resulting in budget shortfalls.

No. 5: Razor-thin governor’s race stirs political passions (2004)

Few local events stirred political passions like the hotly contested 2004 governor’s race between Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Chris Gregoire. Rossi initially was ahead, but Gregoire eventually was sworn in after recounts determined that she’d won by 133 votes out of more than 2.8 million cast. The disputed election prompted weeks of lawsuits, allegations of fraud and angry rhetoric from both Democrats and Republicans.

After Rossi went to court in Wenatchee to challenge the election results on grounds that illegal votes were counted, a judge refused to throw out the results.

The race was the closest in the state’s history; had Rossi won, he would have become Washington’s first Republican governor in 20 years.

In 2008, Gregoire scored an easier-than-predicted victory over Rossi in a rematch of the 2004 governor’s race.

No. 6: Attempts to block convoys at port turn violent (2007)

Chaos erupted at numerous areas in downtown Olympia in November 2007 as hundreds of demonstrators tried to block shipments of Strykers used in Iraq from returning through the Port of Olympia to Fort Lewis. A timeline:

Nov. 5, 2007: The 950-foot USNS Brittin docks at the port to unload equipment used by the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team).

Nov. 6, 2007: About 150 protesters march from Pervical Landing through downtown, making their way to the fenced-off area where the ship is docked.

Nov. 7, 2007: One person is arrested as protesters attempt to prevent combat vehicles from leaving the port. Some later chase down moving convoys so they can stand or sit in the road in front of them. Police clear the roads and force the protesters back to the sidewalks using batons.

Nov. 9, 2007: Protesters halt shipments, the result of the Olympia Police Department’s lack of available officers to move the 40 or so people who blocked the path of two trucks. Demonstrators declare victory after two trucks are unable to leave, one carrying a Stryker and the other carrying two cargo containers.

Nov. 10, 2007: Protests move from the port to downtown and an Interstate 5 entrance as at least 12 people are arrested. Protesters try to build a blockade in the road from garbage cans and plastic newspaper boxes; police officers wearing riot gear spray them with pepper spray, push them with batons and drag them away from the road.

Nov. 11, 2007: Three people are arrested and at least two are sprayed with pepper spray. Demonstrators carrying “Support the troops” signs gather across the street from the protesters.

Nov. 13, 2007: Demonstrators gather at the port’s main gate to block shipments, but the Army outflanks them and moves several convoys out from another gate. About 50 people are arrested.

Nov. 15, 2007: Five more people are arrested as the final shipments pass through the port’s gates.

Nov. 16, 2007: The Olympia City Attorney’s Office charges two people with misdemeanors in connection with the protests.

Dec. 11, 2007: Olympia City Manager Steve Hall says the protests cost the city at least $112,168 and suggests the city should consider sending the bill to the port and other entities. Most of the costs are for police overtime and compensation.

Sept. 24, 2008: The Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office files misdemeanor charges against 26 people arrested during the protests. Each is charged with one count of attempted disorderly conduct and one count of obstructing a law enforcement officer.

Oct. 31, 2008: A jury convicts protester Shyam Khanna of misdemeanor obstruction of a police officer and resisting arrest. He is sentenced to 10 days in custody but is allowed to serve the time on electronic home monitoring, in a day jail program or by participating in a work crew.

Sept. 8, 2009: Three women who were arrested during the protests sue the city of Olympia, alleging they were told to strip to their underwear during searches at the city jail, exposing their breasts to men.

Nov. 2, 2009: Eight demonstrators who were arrested during the protests sign stipulated orders of continuance that call for the dismissal of charges against them if they pay a $50 fine and stay out of trouble for four months. They were among a group of 26 women who sat in an intersection on Nov. 13, 2007, to block convoys. Eighteen of them earlier had accepted a similar agreement to resolve their cases.

No. 7: Rachel Corrie killed while trying to block bulldozer (2003)

Rachel Corrie of Olympia is killed March 16, 2003, by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Corrie, 23, was attempting to block the bulldozer from razing a Palestinian physician’s home that had been marked for demolition.

Corrie and at least seven other members of the International Solidarity Movement traveled to occupied territories in early 2003 to protest what they called abuse of Palestinian people under Israeli control. Corrie, who was a senior at The Evergreen State College but wasn’t enrolled in classes when she was killed, reportedly wanted to set up a sister-city relationship between Olympia and Rafah, a city refugee camp.

After Corrie’s death, friends and supporters called for an end to U.S. aid to Israel and a full State Department investigation into her death. U.S. Rep. Brian Baird and others called for the Bush administration to conduct a full investigation into Corrie’s death.

In late March, about 1,800 friends, family members and residents gathered at The Evergreen State College Recreation Center to honor Corrie during an emotional memorial service. The three-hour service included songs, speakers, peace prayers and a moment of silence.

In late June, the Israeli military exonerated soldiers involved in Corrie’s death. The military prosecutor concluded that the bulldozer’s crew could not have seen or heard Corrie.

The local chapter of Veterans for Peace since has named itself after Corrie, and a local group called the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project has continued to push for a sister-city relationship between the two cities.

In 2005, actor Alan Rickman directed and was a co-editor of the play “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” based on Corrie’s diaries and e-mails. The play since has been performed on stages worldwide.

No. 8: Mother Nature packs a punch with windstorms, flooding

December 2006: The “Hanukkah Eve windstorm” blows into the area with sustained winds of 30 mph, as well as gusts reaching 70 mph. About 74,000 Puget Sound Energy customers in Thurston County lost power, many for several days. Across Western Washington, about 700,000 PSE customers lost power. Lacey alone incurred $103,000 in damage to public property and cleanup costs from the storm.

December 2007: A 20-mile stretch of Interstate 5 from Grand Mound to 11 miles south of Chehalis is closed for nearly four days after floodwaters inundated the road. The closure turned a two-hour drive from Olympia to Portland into a seven-hour trek past Ellensburg and Yakima. The road’s closure crippled businesses that weren’t reachable by car and cost the state’s economy $4 million per day, Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond estimated. The damage from the flooding of local rivers was worse in many rural areas of Lewis County, such as Adna and Pe Ell; many residents were cut off and/or displaced. President George W. Bush later declared the flooding a major disaster, clearing the way for federal recovery aid to the state and local governments. The Federal Emergency Management Agency received thousands of aid applications from affected residents in Thurston, Lewis and Grays Harbor counties.

December 2008: Heavy snowfall and icy conditions grind South Sound to a near-halt, forcing some businesses to close in the heavy shopping days leading up to Christmas. Between 1 and 2 feet of snow fell on many parts of Thurston County in less than a week.

January 2009: A section of I-5 closes for the second time in 14 months because of flooding, this time for less than two days. A large rainstorm again swelled rivers, but fears that the damage would exceed that felt in the region in 2007 proved unfounded.

July 29, 2009: Olympia’s high temperature hits 104 degrees, matching a record set Aug. 9, 1981.

No. 9: “Cowboy Mike” convicted of killing Lacey woman (2008)

“Cowboy Mike” Braae was sentenced in July 2008 to nearly 48 years in prison for raping and murdering Lori Jones, a Lacey woman he met in 2001. The conviction was vindication for family members of Jones and other women Braae allegedly killed, including Marchelle Morgan of Yelm, Susan Ault and former Lacey resident Deb VanLuven. A timeline:

July 11, 2001: Police conclude that Jones was killed and announce they’re seeking Braae for questioning.

July 19, 2001: A story in The Olympian chronicles Braae’s criminal history, which stretches back to when he was 19. His arrests included allegations of rape, spousal abuse and vehicular assault. He was known as a smooth talker and womanizer.

July 20, 2001: Braae is captured after a brief chase in which he jumped off a 40-foot bridge into the Snake River on the Idaho-Oregon border, drifted more than 2 miles and wrestled with a police dog.

Jan. 23, 2002: An Idaho jury finds Braae guilty of shooting at a law enforcement officer.

March 15, 2002: Braae is sentenced to 91/2 to 11 years for aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and eluding arrest in Idaho.

May 22, 2002: Thurston County files charges against Braae in connection with Jones’ death.

Jan. 3, 2003: Braae is caught in a prison-escape attempt at a maximum-security facility in Boise, Idaho. Throughout the decade, he was caught in at least five jailbreak attempts.

May 21, 2008: Braae is convicted of raping and killing Jones.

No. 10: Olympia’s Linehan gets 99 years for murder plot (2007)

Mechele Linehan was arrested Oct. 4, 2006, on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the 1996 death in Alaska of her former fiancé, Kent John Leppink.

Linehan, a former exotic dancer in Alaska, was convicted Oct. 22, 2007, for her role in a plot to kill Leppink and collect a $1 million life-insurance policy. She later was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

John T. Carlin III, who also had hoped to marry Linehan, was convicted April 3, 2007, of first-degree murder in Leppink’s death. Carlin, who lived with Linehan in early 1996, lured Leppink to the tiny community of Hope, Alaska, and shot him in the back as they walked on a remote trail. Prosecutors said he was urged on by Linehan, who didn’t know that Leppink had named his parents, rather than Linehan, as his life-insurance beneficiaries shortly before his death.