Local Explorers part of national conference
Maple Valley Explorers Deshainte Slaughter, Mike Stratton and Kevin Canny, and Sammamish Explorer Mike Ellis represented their respective cities and the King County Sheriff Department at a National Law Enforcement Exploring Conference July 21-25 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo.
They competed in the traffic stop and domestic-crisis intervention scenes, placing fifth in the latter with a score of 100.1, just behind the winning score of 100.5. The local team finished just outside the top five in the traffic stop. Slaughter finished in the “beam hit” laser shooting competition.
Individual competitions included laser pistol shooting, air pistol shooting, 9MM pistol shooting, bicycle policing, emergency vehicle operation, and physical performance testing. Team competitions were in arrest and search, bomb threat response, burglary in progress, crime prevention, crime-scene search, domestic-crisis intervention, field first aid, hostage negotiation, shoot/don’t shoot, traffic accident investigation, traffic stop and white-collar crime. Each team competed in two team events but had to prepare for all of them because they didn’t know which they’d be entered in until they arrived at the competition.
There were approximately 3,500 participants from across the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The conference also included seminars on law enforcement-related topics and a career fair.
The conference is held every two years. The next one will be at Georgia Tech University in 2010.
The Law Enforcement Exploring program is chartered through the Boy Scouts of America. Participants have completed the eighth grade and are 14 to 20 years old.
Goodwill store open after fire cleanup
The Goodwill store in Maple Valley has reopened after a cleanup from a small fire Aug. 6.
The fire occurred in the employee break room, according to store manager Clarissa Breshears. No injuries were reported, and there were no employees in the store at the time of the fire. Cleanup from the water damage closed the store through last Sunday.
The store’s 40 employees helped with the cleanup. Breshears said the store will remain open during repair work that has yet to be scheduled.
“In all the time I’ve spent with the company, this was a first,” said Breshears, who has been with Goodwill for 15 years. “We all pulled together as a team, which was awesome.”
“We’re open for our customers and they’re really happy about that. The community really has embraced the store and is very supportive.”
The store, one of 20 in western Washington operated by Tacoma Goodwill, is at 27077 Maple Valley Hwy. SE. It sells used clothes and household items to support Goodwill’s job-training and placement programs. This year, the programs are expected to help more than 4,200 people.
Motorcycle rider dies in collision
A 20-year-old man was killed Wednesday morning when his motorcycle and a car collided on Southeast 208th Street in front of the Indigo Springs apartment complex, authorities reported.
The man, a resident of Kent’s East Hill are, was pronounced dead at the scene after efforts by Kent Fire Department personnel failed to revive him.
The driver of the car wasn’t injured, according to the Fire Department.
The King County Sheriff Department was investigating the accident. Further details weren’t available.
