Death of teenager called homicide
The death of a 17-year-old girl whose body was found under a Bellingham freeway overpass has been classified as a homicide.
The death certificate for Jessica M. Franklin says she was strangled.
She was last seen outside a restaurant the night of Sept. 8, and her body was found by a passer-by the next day in some brush.
Police spokesman Ken Brown said investigators are trying to contact persons of interest in the case.
Seattle
New YMCA honors Rev. Dale Turner
A new YMCA in Shoreline will be dedicated to local minister and former Seattle Times religion columnist, the Rev. Dr. Dale E. Turner, the YMCA announced Friday. Turner died last year.
The Dale Turner Family YMCA, scheduled to be completed in the summer or early fall of next year, is at Aurora Avenue North and North 192nd Street. It will feature a climbing wall, pool and community kitchen.
Turner was the senior minister of the University Congregational Church. He was elected to the Life Board of the YMCA of Greater Seattle, an honor given to only a select group of volunteers with extraordinary service records, according to the YMCA.
Everett
I-5 lanes, ramps to close for paving
Lanes and ramps of Interstate 5 near Everett will be closed today while crews pave most of the ramps between Everett’s 41st Street and Marine View Drive.
Today, beginning at 4:30 a.m., crews will close the Pacific Avenue onramp to southbound Interstate 5 and the right southbound lane of the freeway. The lane should reopen by 9 a.m. and the ramp by 11 a.m.
At 9 a.m. crews will close the northbound right lane and all northbound ramps between 41st Street and the Highway 2 exit.
Drivers will detour around the closures by taking the northbound exit to Marine View Drive.
Once the northbound ramp paving is complete, crews will close the southbound right lane and all southbound ramps between Marine View Drive and Pacific Avenue.
Drivers will be detoured to 41st Street.
All ramps will reopen by 8 p.m.
The work is part of the I-5 Everett and HOV freeway-expansion project.
Olympia
Add some spice to license plates
Tired of your boring license plates? The state now has a new way to make them jazzier.
Beginning this month, the state’s specialty license plates - whether they show a college team, a lighthouse or a military branch - can be combined with a personalized plate.
Before, for example, anyone who bought a University of Washington specialty plate could only put the six random letters and numbers on it.
Now they can personalize it, for instance, with GODAWGS. It’s limited to seven characters.
The extra money for the plates, $30 a year, will go to the sponsor of the plate, like University of Washington scholarships, or a lighthouse-preservation group. The state has 31 specialty license plates available.
If a person already has a personalized license plate, the message can be transferred to a specialty plate for about $50.
Upgrading to a personalized special background plate from a standard plate will cost about $90.
Those interested in a personalized plate can go to the state Department of Licensing Web site, www.dol.wa.gov, to make sure it’s available.
Seattle Times staff and news services