A man was accused of selling drugs in Heritage Park today, and when Washington State Patrol officers approached him, he reportedly tried to eat several of the items he was selling. (I'm uncertain what the drugs were, but they looked like a baggie of large pills).

I heard of the incident when I heard the man's girlfriend scream. As I dashed over, I noticed that several uniformed officers were standing around the incident. Several people at the scene told me the man was prone, with his hands outstretched, when the officer told him he would be shot with a TASER - and then he did so. Some witnesses insisted the use of force was not necessary, while police at the scene insisted it was.

The officer who used force is WSP Trooper Gene L Huguenin, who was patrolling today on his bicycle. He is pictured below. The trooper was bitten on his right index finger, but as he explained to fellow officers after the incident, "I don't think he tried to bite me on purpose." The officer was apparently reaching into the man's mouth to try to preserve evidence.

The trooper's supervisor is Sergeant Larry Bradeen, Number 236. It was Sgt Bradeen's car that the man was placed in on the way to Thurston County Jail. The man arrested is being held on unlawful possession, Controlled Substance (unspecified) and resisting arrest, as well as third degree assault and obstruction of an officer.

Police at the scene admitted that the deal was observed on a closed circuit camera in the park, which they monitor live during large events and use to identify people of interest for uniformed troopers to approach. The officers are coordinated by cellular phones to find the people of interest. Despite the camera's obvious position, many tickets were written today for various acts of drinking and smoking in public due to its ability to see around the park.

Trooper Huguenin was a trooper of the year for 2005 and 2006 according to FTE magazine online and the Olympian. He retired from 20 years with the Marine Corps in 1996. He owns a meat packing business and a slaughtering house in Chehalis with his brother Arnold, but they lost a lot of their holdings in the flood last year according to the Capital Press online.

TASER is an acronym, for "Thomas A Swift's Electric Rifle." As such it is always capitalized and is not supposed to be made into a verb. (The man was not 'tased,' he was 'shot with a TASER.')

Hey y'all. I'm kinda new to Oly and yet I feel like I've lived here all my life.

I'm looking forward to meeting some cute babes once I get a real guitar and a few shows under my diaper.

Rock on Oly.

I found a really awesome set of photos from today's people-for-a-public-isthmus petition for an initiative signature gathering and outreach event. Check 'em out! On the isthmus, Saturday, August 23, 2008.

For more information see: 20/20 Vision Olympia and Friends of the Waterfront Olympia, Washington.

[via email]

(Olympia, WA) The Olympia City Council is on summer break the next two weeks, which means no televised Olympia Council meetings on Tuesday.

Instead, the City and Thurston Community Television will telecast a frequently requested video – the 1991 “Ballet of City Vehicles.” The 30-minute Ballet video will air at 7:00 and 7:30 p.m. on TCTV Olympia Cable Channel 3, Tuesdays, August 26 and September 2. By the end of next week, the video will also be launched on the video streaming service accessed via the City of Olympia website, www.olympiawa.gov.

The Ballet of City Vehicles was performed October 12, 1991 at the intersection of Capitol and Legion Ways in downtown Olympia as part of the Arts for Life festival organized that year by the City of Olympia Arts Commission.

The Ballet, set to the score of “On the Blue Danube,” features 65 City employees and volunteers, garbage and dump trucks, bicycles, backhoes, and much more. The prima ballerina is pushing a broom and her dance partner is a street sweeping machine. Professional choreographer Linda Matthews orchestrated the dance steps.