Two hikers found safe in Vesper Peak area

Two hikers missing in the Vesper Peak area about 70 miles northeast of Seattle were found by searchers yesterday, two days after leaving on what was supposed to be a day hike.

"They have been found," said Bureau Chief Dave Bales of the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.

Both men are 28 years old. One lives in the Madison Park area of Seattle, and the other is an American living in Germany. They were accompanied by a German woman who was found Wednesday morning.

She had last seen the two men about 4 p.m. Tuesday as they began to climb the peak off the Mountain Loop Highway about 30 miles east of Granite Falls. Shortly afterward, thunderstorms moved into the area.

A friend in Madison Park called police late Tuesday when the climbers hadn't returned home, and a search began shortly afterward.

Olympia

Ex-Murray aide to run state's new D.C. office

The state is reopening an office in Washington, D.C., and has hired one of Sen. Patty Murray's longtime aides to represent the state there.

Doug Clapp, a Tacoma native who has worked at the Capitol since the early 1990s, will be Gov. Christine Gregoire's point person in dealings with Congress, the White House and federal agencies. He is scheduled to start next week.

Former Gov. Gary Locke closed the state's D.C. office three years ago, partly as a cost-cutting measure. Last year, the Locke administration hired Fleishman-Hillard, a national public-relations firm, to help lobby state causes.

But Gregoire, wanting a more prominent presence in the nation's capital, decided to reopen an office there.

Clapp was one of 60 people who submitted résumés for the job, said Laurie Dolan, Gregoire's executive policy director. He will be paid $90,000 a year. The state will pay about $21,000 to sublease space in Michigan's D.C. office.

Clapp, an attorney, has worked for Murray since 1999, focusing mostly on energy, environment and natural-resource issues. Prior to that, he worked for former U.S. Rep. Mike Kreidler, who is now the state insurance commissioner, and as a staff member in the state House.

Salem, Ore.

Missing teen's body found in park pond

The body of a missing Salem teenager was found late Wednesday near the spot where he was last seen at a drinking party, authorities said.

A woman spotted the body of Scott Spansel Jr. lying face down in the largest of three ponds at Wallace Marine Park, the Salem Police Department said.

The 15-year-old had been at the park late Saturday afternoon, drinking whiskey and taking multiple Dramamine pills, according to a friend who was with Spansel.

Michael St. Jacques, 15, told the Statesman-Journal newspaper earlier this week that Spansel sat on a log when the group of friends decided to leave.

St. Jacques said he tried to coax Spansel home, but he wouldn't budge.

Spansel's shoes and broken glasses were found in or near a smaller pond Sunday, leading search crews to check that murky body of water with long poles and underwater cameras.

An autopsy was planned yesterday, but the death appears to be accidental, police said.

Spansel recently finished his freshman year at Roberts High School in Salem and was to start summer school Monday.

Tacoma

Boy's mom took off with child, dad says

The father of a 2-year-old child found clutching a cold cheeseburger and a glass of water in a church stairwell has told Pierce County sheriff's deputies the boy's mother took off with the child last weekend.

The 34-year-old man was arrested yesterday on a probation-violation warrant, sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer said.

The man said he had not known authorities were looking for him because he lives in a tent and had not heard that the boy had been discovered abandoned Tuesday at the First Baptist Church in nearby Parkland.

The boy's grandmother recognized the child as her grandson Bobby after a TV news report Tuesday night. The boy is now in the custody of state Child Protective Services.

The toddler's 42-year-old mother was still missing yesterday, but the child's father provided some possible leads about her whereabouts, Troyer said.

Times staff and news services