New accusations against priest
The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported yesterday that diocese officials believe the allegations against O'Donnell, who owns a home in Yarrow Point.
O'Donnell did not return repeated messages left by the newspaper or by The Associated Press.
Few details have been released about the new allegations, but church officials say they match a pattern O'Donnell followed: taking boys out on a boat on Lake Coeur d'Alene and making sexual advances.
O'Donnell, who served as the diocese's Boy Scout liaison and at various other parishes, took two 13-year-old boys for an overnight trip to his boat in 1980. He repeatedly tried to undress and touch the boys' genitals and suggested they swim nude, according to records of a state psychology licensing-board investigation that began in 1983.
The licensing board investigated the trip and suspended O'Donnell's license for a year in 1984.
Allegations of misconduct arose at various parishes that O'Donnell served in. Records show that he went through therapy several times.
Lawrence Welsh, then bishop of Spokane diocese, banned O'Donnell from ministry in the mid-1980s. He began working full time in his private psychology practice — first on the east side of the state, then at Cascade Behavioral Medicine Clinic in Bellevue.
One diocese official said O'Donnell is in the process of retiring.
Man who died after driving off Ballard Bridge is identified
SEATTLE — Mark Yozamp, a former bartender who would have turned 31 today, died early yesterday after driving his truck off the Ballard Bridge, which was closed for repairs.
Seattle Police Department spokesman Duane Fish said witnesses on a work crew doing maintenance said the man was driving at a normal speed. A flagger reportedly ran alongside him and yelled at him to stop.
But Yozamp drove off the bridge, which was raised about 30 degrees, according to a work crew that witnessed the crash.
His truck plunged 100 feet, landed upside down and sank immediately. Rescue attempts failed; a crane from the construction site lifted the truck and the body yesterday morning.
Fish said Yozamp was alone. He said investigators are looking into whether drugs and alcohol were involved.
Fish said the bridge was clearly closed and that Yozamp drove around several construction barriers and through a flashing red-and-white gate.
"There were barrels, signs, flashing arm and all kind of deterrents," Fish said. "He drove through the retractable arm."
Tim Bies, a former roommate who had lived with Yozamp for six months, said he was a sociable, outgoing man who tended bar at the Adriatica restaurant, which closed last year.
Seattle Public Schools' chief financial officer resigns
SEATTLE — Geri Lim, chief financial officer of Seattle Public Schools for the past five years, has resigned.
Lim, 59, said she was leaving for personal reasons, particularly to help her ill parents. Superintendent Joseph Olchefske and Chief Operating Officer Raj Man have launched a search for a replacement, whom they hope to hire by December.
Previously employed by the city Department of Community Development and Office of Management and Budget, Lim was the first manager hired in 1995 by Olchefske, then the district's chief financial officer.
Lim initially served as budget manager. In 1997 she replaced Olchefske as CFO when he was promoted by then-Superintendent John Stanford to chief operating officer.
Olchefske said Lim played a key role in "improved financial management, improved fiscal stability, improved public credibility, as a steward of funds."
Lim said her future career plans are uncertain.
Moses Lake shooting victims receive insurance settlement
MOSES LAKE — The insurance company for the Moses Lake School District paid a total of $1 million to two victims of a 1996 school shooting that killed three people.
The money, which was paid to both parties after they settled with the district in June, was revealed Friday by the attorneys representing Moses Lake School District following a public-records request filed by The Spokesman-Review.
Natalie Hintz, a student who was seriously injured when student Barry Loukaitis opened fire in a Frontier Junior High classroom, received $700,000.
The family of Arnold "Arnie" Fritz, who was killed, was given $300,000.
The School District still is being sued by the family of Manuel Vela, who also died after Loukaitis gunned him down.
No lawsuit was filed by the family of slain teacher Leona Caires.
Loukaitis was 14 when he entered an eighth-grade classroom at Frontier Junior High with a hunting rifle.
He was convicted in 1997 of two counts of aggravated first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, second-degree assault and 16 counts of kidnapping.
He is serving a life sentence at Clallam Bay Correction Center near Port Angeles.
Landlord is sentenced for camera in bathroom
TACOMA — A 57-year-old landlord who installed a surveillance camera to peep at four young renters in their bathroom will spend at least six months in jail.
Timothy James Sinclair, who said he never watched three eight-hour tapes of the women, was sentenced Friday to nine months for voyeurism. He could earn three months off for good behavior.
After one of the women found the camera, police seized the videotapes.
Firefighters making progress in Oregon's biggest blaze
PORTLAND — Firefighters yesterday were within a mile of linking fire lines around the western and southern sections of the nearly 495,000-acre Biscuit fire in southwest Oregon.
Once connected, the two lines will form a minimal perimeter stripped of fuel, to keep the blaze from communities to the west and north. Crews should have the line connected within the next few days, said Betsy Coffee, a fire spokeswoman.
The Biscuit fire in Southern Oregon had burned 494,813 acres by yesterday, surpassing the number of acres burned by a fire in Arizona to become the largest wildfire in the nation this year.
Officials said the Biscuit fire was 70 percent contained with fully reinforced 206 miles of fire line and were confident it would not jump its northern, eastern or southern boundaries.
The Forest Service on Friday closed much of the western region of the Siskiyou National Forest and portions of the Umpqua National Forest to the public, citing safety concerns.
The Biscuit fire started with a lightning strike July 13. Since then, the fire has roared through vast portions of the Siskiyou National Forest and almost all of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area in southwestern Oregon.
Seattle Times staff and news services