SPOKANE, Wash. —
Authorities are searching by air and land for a criminally insane killer who escaped during a mental hospital field trip to a county fair that has infuriated residents and officials around Washington.
Authorities have said they believe Phillip Arnold Paul is heading to the Sunnyside area, where his parents and many siblings live. The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office launched a helicopter on Friday in the search, and the public was urged to call 911 if Paul is spotted.
His brother Tom Paul tells The Associated Press “Why would they load him on a bus and take him to a fair?” Authorities at Eastern State Hospital are being criticized for allowing Paul to visit the fair despite his violent criminal past and history of trying to escape.
WHEW! That’s a relief!
No charges will be filed against two state troopers who clubbed three baby seagulls to death at Colman Ferry Dock in July, the King County Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday.
The troopers, who provide security at the ferry terminal, said they were responding to complaints from ferry employees about aggressive seagulls who were dive-bombing ferry passengers and workers on July 15.
The troopers climbed to the roof of the terminal, where the birds were nesting, and killed three seagull chicks in an effort to drive away the aggressive adult birds that were harassing passengers.
No charges will be filed because the case does not fit the criteria for second-degree animal cruelty, the Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the troopers did not “knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence inflict unnecessary pain or suffering upon an animal.”
The troopers killed the young seagulls quickly by clubbing them over the head with their batons, and they took their actions “under color of state regulatory authority,” the statement said.
SondraK, Lympian Slayer 
