Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019 - Week 46
Belfair man charged with murder takes stand
By MICHAEL HEINBACH
michael@masoncounty.com There’s no question 62-year-old Bruce Frank Fanning shot and killed an uninvited stranger taking a shower the morning of April 1, 2017, in a residence-style structure Fanning owns on East Trails Road in Belfair. Fanning said he shot three times and killed 31-year-old Nathaniel J. Rosa on an audio recording of a 911 call he placed after the confrontation, in a recorded video of an interview later that day with detectives at the Mason County Sheriff’s Office in Shelton and on an audio recording of a call Fanning made three days later from Mason County Jail to a friend. A 12-person jury and two alternate jurors heard those recordings before Richard Woodrow, Fanning’s defense attorney, called clinical psychologist and forensic expert Dr. David M. Dixon to testify Friday, and Fanning to the stand on Tuesday’s fifth day of testimony in Fanning’s jury trial in Mason County Superior Court in Shelton. Fanning, charged with first-degree premeditated murder, faces up to life in prison and/or a $50,000 fine plus restitution if the jury delivers a guilty verdict. Late Tuesday afternoon, Judge Amber Finlay halted Mason County Prosecutor Michael Dorcy’s questioning of Fanning on the stand and scheduled its resumption Wednesday morning. As of Tuesday afternoon, Fanning’s testimony was scheduled to conclude Wednesday. Thursday’s proceedings would then focus on jury instructions before Dixon returns to the courtroom Friday to be available to refute testimony of state’s witness Dr. Cynthia Mundt, a psychologist with the Washington State Office of Forensic Mental Health Services in Olympia. After closing arguments, which could be heard as early as Tuesday, the jury will be sent to decide Fanning’s fate. For more of the Shelton-Mason County Journal, subscribe to our weekly edition. |
Mason General asked to stop providing abortions
By GORDON WEEKS
gordon@masoncounty.com Saying God guided them, four Mason County residents asked Mason General Hospital & Family of Clinics to stop providing abortion procedures. On Tuesday, the Rev. Joan Parker, Marv Matheny, Philip Wilson and Howard Spear made that request Tuesday at a meeting of Mason County Public Hospital District No. 1’s Board of Commissioners, which oversees Mason General. The right to choose is “an inalienable right, but what is not right is to kill a life under any circumstances,” Parker said. She said God told her if the fetus is “growing inside … if it is, thou shalt not kill because it’s alive.” Parker added, “That’s the Lord’s stand on the matter … It is a life — you can’t kill it. “I know you have a tough decision to make,” she said. Attorney Robert Johnson, representing the hospital, said the hospital’s board of commissioners does not have the authority to disregard the state’s Reproductive Privacy Act. “The hospital has no choice,” the lawyer said. “The law is clear.” The hospital’s board of commissioners “has no choice in this matter,” he said. “The Reproductive Privacy Act is a law that we are required to follow,” he said. Wilson, a Union resident and chair of the Mason County Republicans, has been attending board meetings recently. At Tuesday’s meeting, he said all our rights come from God – so the purpose of the government is to protect those rights. A fetus “is obviously a life,” he said. Wilson also talked about the effort to ban abortion at Mason General while he emceed an election forum sponsored by the Mason County Republicans on Oct. 28 at the Mason PUD 3 headquarters in Shelton For more of the Shelton-Mason County Journal, subscribe to our weekly edition. |
Work recently began on the reconstruction of Shelton High School’s fastpitch and baseball fields. The fastpitch field, left, will be entirely artificial surface with crumb rubber and sand infill. The baseball infield, as marked by the orange fencing, will be replaced with artificial surface, while the outfield will remain grass. Photo courtesy of Jeff Fullington/Shelton High School
NM’s Hasselblad 11th at state meet
By JUSTIN JOHNSON
justin@masoncounty.com
Six competitors from two Mason County high schools competed in the state cross-country championships Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.
North Mason High School junior Noah Hasselblad finished 11th in the 2A boys race, running a Bulldogs’ school record time of 16 minutes, 0.2 seconds on the 5K course.
“I feel like I ran pretty good at state,” Hasselblad said. “I started a bit quick, but I did get a (personal record) in the end.
“My season started out pretty slow but later into the season, I definitely got into my groove. That’s thanks to my coaches and my teammates for constantly trying to push me to be even better.”
Of the 10 runners that finished ahead of Hasselblad at the state meet, seven were seniors, giving the Bulldog junior plenty of motivation heading into cross-country’s offseason.
Hasselblad had set the North Mason’s previous school record of 16:05.3 on Oct. 5 at Cedarcrest Golf Course in Marysville during the Nike Twilight Invitational.
For more of the Shelton-Mason County Journal, subscribe to our weekly edition.
justin@masoncounty.com
Six competitors from two Mason County high schools competed in the state cross-country championships Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.
North Mason High School junior Noah Hasselblad finished 11th in the 2A boys race, running a Bulldogs’ school record time of 16 minutes, 0.2 seconds on the 5K course.
“I feel like I ran pretty good at state,” Hasselblad said. “I started a bit quick, but I did get a (personal record) in the end.
“My season started out pretty slow but later into the season, I definitely got into my groove. That’s thanks to my coaches and my teammates for constantly trying to push me to be even better.”
Of the 10 runners that finished ahead of Hasselblad at the state meet, seven were seniors, giving the Bulldog junior plenty of motivation heading into cross-country’s offseason.
Hasselblad had set the North Mason’s previous school record of 16:05.3 on Oct. 5 at Cedarcrest Golf Course in Marysville during the Nike Twilight Invitational.
For more of the Shelton-Mason County Journal, subscribe to our weekly edition.
