Nun was strangled with rosary beads

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — The man accused of attacking two nuns on a bike path used the rosary beads they wore around their necks to control them while he raped them both and left one dead, the district attorney said yesterday.

An autopsy done Monday showed that Sister Helen Lynn Chaska, 53, an orthodox Catholic nun from Bellevue, died from ligature strangulation with her rosary beads, Klamath County District Attorney Ed Caleb said.

Barring any unforeseen developments, Caleb said he would seek the death penalty for Maximiliano Selario Esparza, 32, a transient who rode into town by train from Portland on Friday and checked in at the Klamath Falls Gospel Mission, where he landed a job helping to refurbish the bleachers at Lost River High School in Merrill.

Esparza's arraignment is scheduled for today.

Green Line monorail gets place on Nov. 5 ballot

SEATTLE — About 4,000 petition signatures to put the Green Line monorail plan to a public vote have been certified by King County elections personnel, assuring the measure a spot on the Nov. 5 ballot.

The monorail would connect Ballard, downtown and West Seattle at a cost of $1.7 billion, requiring $140 of new vehicle-excise taxes per $10,000 of value, for an expected 25 years.

The City Council had planned to complete a monorail ordinance for the ballot, but citizen activists last month conducted their own petition campaign at parks and public markets.

Meanwhile, a council proposal to spend $150,000 on a model of the proposed monorail system would violate city ethics laws, the city's elections office said yesterday.

Such a model would violate the ban on the "use of public facilities of a public agency to either support or oppose a ballot measure," wrote Steve Gross, executive director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission in a letter to City Council President Peter Steinbrueck.

Steinbrueck had proposed that the city pay for the mockup to show how the monorail tracks and stations would affect neighboring buildings and streets.

Steinbrueck said he had proposed the model at the urging of the city planning commission, which had expressed dismay over the monorail's possible aesthetic impacts.

Gross noted the council had never asked for a model to be built before other transportation ballot measures.

Council requires johns to pay $500 for solicitation

SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council yesterday approved a requirement that people caught soliciting prostitutes pay $500, with the money to be spent on programs that help prostitutes to get off the streets.

The money would be paid by most people arrested for soliciting prostitutes, who usually enter a pre-trial diversion program to avoid prosecution. No such fee has been charged in the past.

The new money, up to $125,000 a year, would be dedicated to counseling, treatment and other services.

The ordinance, proposed by City Attorney Tom Carr, would also funnel money seized by police in prostitution busts for use in more anti-prostitution enforcement.

Woman, 74, dies in Tacoma when struck crossing street

TACOMA — A 74-year-old woman was struck by a truck and killed while crossing the street yesterday.

The woman was walking south along South Tacoma Avenue when she tried to cross South 38th Street at about 1:30 p.m., said Tacoma Police Department spokesman Jim Mattheis.

A woman driving the pickup most likely didn't see the pedestrian, said Mattheis.

The woman had started crossing the intersection when the pedestrian prompt said "walk" but didn't make it across before the light changed. The driver was not cited.

Information is from the Seattle Times staff and news services.