$1 Early Week Edition Serving our communities since 1889 — www.chronline.com Running in Tuesday, April 26, 2016 the Family Sisters Shine / Sports 1 Spring Youth Fair Time New Pe Ell School Record Kids, Animals Prepare for Fairgrounds Pe Ell’s Josh Schulz Wins Three Events at Showcase Set for This Weekend / Main 3 Annual Track Meet Held at W.F. West / Sports South Racing Birds Make Haste Thurston County Fire In Rochester, Pigeons on the Move as Racing Season Begins Departments Considering Mergers PLANS: Districts 12 and 16 May Join Forces, Eventually Annex City of Tenino By Jordan Nailon [email protected] Firefighters in South Thur- ston County may soon be run- ning around in helmets and engines affixed with a brand new logo. One proposal currently being put to the petition test would merge Fire District 12 and Fire District 16 together into one unit. The other pro- posal would annex the city of Tenino into the resultant joint district, or old Fire District 12 if that merger fails to pass. Currently, the city of Tenino contracts with Fire District 12 for full fire and EMS services, while Fire District 12 and Fire District 16 provide each other mutual aid and work together for training exercises. please see MERGER, page Main 11 Pete Caster / [email protected] Jack Froschauer, right, releases pigeons from several boxes stacked on the back of a lat-bed truck parked at Glen Steelhammer's property in Rochester on Saturday morning. The pigeons, owned by various racers, were bound for Everett. The distance between Rochester and Everett — as the pigeon lies, of course — is 89 miles. Lyle Hojem, FLIGHT: It Takes the a Prominent, Fastest Birds 89 Minutes to Fly From Formative Vancouver to South Thurston County County By Jordan Nailon Presence, [email protected] The next time you look up Dies at 92 and see a bird cutting a line across the sky ask yourself, “Am ACTIVE TILL THE END: I watching an avian race?” Son Describes Father In case you haven’t noticed, and judging by the attendance as One-Time ‘Rabble you haven’t, we are in the heart Rouser’ Who Gave His of pigeon racing season here in the Pacific Northwest, and the All for His County birds can be seen ranging about By Natalie Johnson the state with motivated zeal. Last Saturday at his home in [email protected] Rochester, Glen Steelhammer Even in the last few weeks of facilitated the release of about his life, Lyle Hojem was mak- 120 “trainer” birds belonging ing plans to split firewood with to young pigeon owners from his son. the Everett area. Steelhammer Ross Hojem said his dad noted that most of the birds be- never really slowed down, even longed to kids in 4-H who were at nearly 93. letting their birds out on some “He was always looking for of their first flights. One of Glen Steelhammer's pigeons lands on top of the roof as he walks alongside the coop of one of the pigeon sheds please see RACING, page Main 16 on his property in Rochester on Saturday morning. please see HOJEM, page Main 11 The Chronicle, Serving The Greater Embodying Good Health Agricultural Museum Deaths Lewis County Area Since 1889 Visionary King Ag Hojem, Lyle, 92, Chehalis Follow Us on Twitter Taylor, Coralie Ellen, 75, @chronline Fitness Prepares Rochester Instructor for Another Mullins, Jean D., 89, Find Us on Facebook Teaches Season of Onalaska www.facebook.com/ Centralia Celebrating thecentraliachronicle Class History / Life 1 / Main 6 Main 2 • The Chronicle, Centralia/Chehalis, Wash., Tuesday, April 26, 2016 PAGE TWO News Outtake: A Blur of Speed of the Weird there wasn’t one,” Johnson said. 12-Year-Old Girl Runs NY Half-Marathon By Mistake ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — A 12-year-old western New York girl wound up running 10 extra miles after she got into the wrong road race. Taylor Balkom / Ketchikan Daily News via AP LeeAdianez Rodriguez had In this Wednesday, April 20, photo, Green dye makes its way through Ket- registered for the 5K race that chikan Creek in Ketchikan, Alaska. Au- was part of last Sunday’s Roches- thorities say the green water lowing in ter Regional Health Flower City the Ketchikan Creek that caused some Challenge. She thought she was panic and drew a response from mul- arriving late at the starting line Pete Caster / [email protected] tiple agencies was the result of a prank. when the race started, so she be- Runners compete at the 2016 Chehalis Activators Classic Track Meet on Saturday in Chehalis. See more photographs Oicials have determined that the dye gan running with the rest of the in today’s Sports section and online at www.lewiscountysports.com. dumped into the water on Wednesday runners. is non-toxic. Ketchikan police talked to It turned out she was actu- the man responsible for the dye, but he ally running with the half-mar- was not arrested or cited. athoners on the 13.1-mile course and not in the 5K, or 3.1 miles. Notable Quote Rodriquez says she realized Man Dumps Non-Toxic about halfway through that she Green Dye Into Alaska was in the wrong race but decid- ed to finish. “When you’re a collector there’s no limit. Some people tell stories. Creek as a Prank She completed the half-mar- KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) athon in 2:43:31. Some people play music. Well, I’ve got this little quirk that tells — Authorities say the green wa- Her mother became worried me I should be holding onto this stuff.” ter flowing in the Ketchikan when her daughter wasn’t among Creek that caused some panic the finishers of the 5K, but they and drew a response from mul- were reunited when Rodriquez David King tiple agencies was the result of a finished the half-marathon. prank. King Agricultural Museum Officials have determined (see page Main 6 for the full story) that the dye dumped into the No Soup for You: Man water on Wednesday is non-tox- Upset After Restaurant ic. Ketchikan police talked to the man responsible for the dye, but Runs Out of Soup Today in History he was not arrested or cited. MANSFIELD, Texas (AP) “It was just a prank,” Officer — A Texas lawyer upset that he by federal troops near Port Roy- ing World War II, was arrested. Charles Johnson told The Ket- Today’s Highlight in History: wasn’t provided a cup of soup al, Virginia, and killed. In 1952, the destroyer-mine- chikan Daily News. “He hap- On April 26, 1986, a major during a recent meal has noti- In 1913, Mary Phagan, a pened to come across some sort accident occurred at the Cher- sweeper USS Hobson sank in fied a restaurant owner that he’ll 13-year-old worker at a Georgia of plumbing dye that they use nobyl nuclear power plant in the central Atlantic after collid- sue if not reimbursed the $2.25 pencil factory, was strangled; for testing — checking for leaks Ukraine (then part of the Soviet ing with the aircraft carrier USS for the soup. Leo Frank, the factory super- and stuff — and thought it’d be Union) as an explosion and fire Wasp with the loss of 176 crew Dwain Downing also is seek- intendent, was convicted of her members. funny to throw it in the creek ing $250 in attorney fees for the caused radioactive fallout to be- and make people wonder why murder and sentenced to death. In 1964, the African nations time spent drafting a letter sent gin spewing into the atmosphere the creek was green.” (Frank’s death sentence was of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to Benji Arslanovski, who oper- over much of Europe, forcing The Ketchikan Fire Depart- commuted, but he was lynched merged to form Tanzania. ates Our Place Restaurant in the hundreds of thousands from ment had also responded to the their homes in the most heavily by an anti-Semitic mob in 1915.) In 1972, the first Lockheed Fort Worth suburb of Mansfield. In 1923, Britain’s Prince Al- creek after reports of the green hit areas. L-1011 TriStar went into com- Downing says the soup was bert, Duke of York (the future water around 4 p.m. While the mercial service with Eastern listed on the menu as part of a On this date: King George VI), married Lady incident may have initially been Airlines. Saturday special. He says the res- In 1777, 16-year-old Sybil Lud- Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at West- a concern for fire crews, police In 1986, TV journalist Ma- taurant offered no discount or ington, sometimes referred to as minster Abbey. and residents who first discov- ria Shriver and actor Arnold ered the green creek, Johnson substitution when it ran out. “the female Paul Revere,” rode In 1937, German and Italian said he did not see the activity as The lawyer argued the menu her horse into the night through warplanes raided the Basque town Schwarzenegger were married at criminal. amounts to a contract with the Putnam and Dutchess counties of Guernica during the Spanish a church in Hyannis, Massachu- “They already confirmed that customer and Arslanovski vio- in New York to alert militiamen Civil War; estimates of the num- setts, with members of the Ken- the substance was non-toxic. ... lated the terms of the contract. that British troops were sacking ber of people killed vary from the nedy family present. (The mar- I think the biggest problem was But the restaurateur says Danbury, Connecticut.