Our Views: Yelm man saves lives in heroic feat

THE OLYMPIAN | • Published October 10, 2009

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Thumbs up - Stepdad

They say that in a moment of crisis, instincts take over and people are able to perform Herculean tasks. That’s certainly the case recently when a Yelm man awoke to find his home on fire and his twin 9-year-old stepdaughters trapped in their bedroom. He broke a window in the bedroom and pulled them to safety. “He saved their lives,” said Fire Chief Rita Hutcheson with Southeast Thurston Fire and EMS. “The stepdad broke out the bedroom window from the outside and got them out. Otherwise, it could have been much worse.” The girls suffered smoke inhalation and were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment. One of the girls also had second-degree burns on one of her arms, Hutcheson said, adding that their injuries were not as bad as first feared. “I talked to their father several hours after they were up there, and he said they were doing much better,” she said, adding that they were expected to be in the hospital for a couple of weeks. Imagine the horror of the parents. They were both home, along with the twins and a 13-year-old sister, when fire swept through their Yelm-area home at 2:15 a.m. The first-arriving firefighters found the single-story wood-frame house at 16200 118th Lane S.E. full of smoke, Hutcheson said. The fire probably smoldered for some time, spreading smoke throughout the house, the chief said. The blaze apparently broke out in the living room and burned a sofa before firefighters put out the flames. The twins were asleep in a back bedroom with the door open, which allowed smoke to enter the room. Doors to the other bedrooms were closed. “The older daughter told a firefighter that she heard crackling and smelled smoke,” Hutcheson said. “She had a window next to her bed. She went out and alerted her parents.” The fire appears to be accidental, most likely caused by an electrical failure, Hutcheson said. A lamp was plugged in behind the sofa where the fire occurred. The home was uninhabitable after smoke and fire damage, but the important thing is the twins are alive and recovering thanks to the heroics of their stepfather.

Thumbs down - Burglar

The burglar that broke into the Jefferson County Courthouse has a lot of nerve. The burglar entered the third-floor chambers of a Superior Court judge and stole a single weight scale from an old Klondike Gold Rush statue. The brass statue has two scales — similar to the blind justice statue, but without the blindfolded Lady Justice. One of those scales remains in place while the second is missing. Nobody knows exactly how long the scales have been in the courthouse, but they could have been put there shortly after the facility was built in 1891, County Clerk Ruth Gordon said. Sometime between 1:30 and 5:30 a.m. Sept. 25, someone threw a rock into County Administrator Philip Morley’s ground-floor window and entered the courthouse, according to Gordon, who lives nearby in Port Townsend. The suspect apparently took nothing from Morley’s office, but went to the third floor and broke the county clerk’s office-door window to enter the room. A small fire was set to one office clerk’s desk, but it left minimal damage. A couple sheets of paper on the cubicle wall were lit, leaving a thin burn trail up the wall. Sheriff deputies suspect the thief may have been intent on stealing his or her criminal case file from the safe in the mistaken belief that charges would be dismissed if the file was missing. That’s one brazen thief.

Thumbs down - Jeff Monson

Olympia mixed martial arts champion Jeff Monson has been sentenced to 90 days of work release while on electronic home monitoring for spray-painting anarchist graffiti on the state Capitol and a Lacey armed services recruitment center last year. Monson, 38, must pay $21,894 in restitution. He pleaded guilty in July to first-degree malicious mischief and second-degree malicious mischief for vandalizing the Capitol and the armed services recruitment center as part of a plea deal in exchange for the sentencing recommendation. Monson’s attorney, Legrand Jones, said in court that he believes Monson’s sentence would not have been as harsh were it not for the fact that his vandalism occurred as an act of political expression, and if not for the fact that Monson is a celebrity in the world of mixed martial arts. Monson, who appeared in court with his wife, has no prior criminal record. Monson said he does not regret what he did and he is not sorry for it. He added that he agreed to the plea because “they have a gun to my head,” speaking metaphorically about the possibility that his freedom could be taken from him if he did not. When Monson was asked if he would ever commit a similar act in the future, he responded, “I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Maybe a stiffer sentence this time — with some time behind bars — would have convinced him that breaking the law has serious consequences.