The Top 10 Stories of 2012: Two and One
Published 2:06 pm Tuesday, January 1, 2013
As 2012 comes to a close, the Courier-Herald staff is taking a look back over the previous year at the 10 stories that most affected our coverage area. From a new police chief to a state champsionship, several local council issues to an international incident that included a Lake Tapps resident and the deadliest summer on record on Lake Tapps, 2012 certainly kept all of us on our toes.
Here are numbers 4 and 3 on our list of the top stories of the year:
2. Robert Bales and the Panjwai Massacre
On March 11, 16 civilians were shot and killed, and six more wounded across two villages in the Panjwai District of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Nine victims were children; some of the bodies were partially burned. Within two days, the U.S. Army and Secretary of Defense publicly alleged Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, a family man from Lake Tapps on his fourth deployment, had informally admitted to sole responsibility for the killings upon returning to base on foot. If so, he quickly changed his tune, and has since only communicated to the military and public through his lawyer John Henry Browne.
The killings — allegedly perpetrated by a man with no history of mental illness or military behavioral problems, and a relatively mundane civilian criminal record — sparked a brief national debate whether traumatic brain injury and excessive deployments were partially responsible for the violence.
Bales was transferred to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he remains in custody. A preliminary Article 32 hearing ended Nov. 13, with the prosecution recommending the death penalty. A court martial has been approved, but has not been scheduled. If a military court finds Bales guilty and sentences him to death, it will mark the first time a U.S. service man has been executed in more than 50 years.
1. Three summer drownings on Lake Tapps
It started June 21 with a story no one hopes to hear. Quentin Boggan, a 16-year-old who had just a few hours earlier completed his freshman year at Bonney Lake High School, drowned in the Allan Yorke Park section of Lake Tapps while swimming with friends and family.
The community response to the death of the well-liked boy was immediate; Panther football coaches held an emergency meeting for the team that night, followed by a candlelight vigil around the campus graffiti rock. The initial report of Boggan’s death quickly became — and remains — the most-read story ever on the Courier-Herald website. Less than a week later, friends of the Boggan family created a donation fund to ease after-death expenses. The city of Bonney Lake made plans to remove its floating dock — a park attraction officials feared was enticing swimmers into freezing water — put up warning signs and install a 911 call box, all of which was completed by the end of the season. Some community members called for lifeguards to be posted lakeside, which was discussed in the council’s Public Safety Committee, but did not reach the council level.
If only the story had ended then.
Before summer’s end, two more young men would drown in Lake Tapps — this time in Lake Tapps North County Park in unincorporated Pierce. Marcus Henderson, a 20-year-old musician visiting from Minnesota, drowned July 21. Marques Weekly, a 19-year-old Kentridge High graduate, drowned Aug. 5.
Both men went under within the boundaries of the park’s swimming area; during a popular, swimmer-heavy summer for the lake, their deaths were perplexing freak accidents. Still, East Pierce Fire and Rescue issued safety warnings reminding swimmers of Tapps’ unpredictable temperatures due to glacial water flow.
To date, the summer of 2012 is tied for Lake Tapps’ deadliest, with the summer of 2010.
The city is partnering with local school districts and Cascade Water Alliance in 2013 for a new lake awareness program, expected to debut in April.
