Man fatally shot in incident at house

A 38-year-old man was shot to death in a south Marysville home early Saturday morning.

Residents of the home called police shortly after 4 a.m. and said a man who was trying to break into their house was shot. The shooter has not been arrested and is cooperating with investigators, according to Marysville Police Cmdr. Robb Lamoureux.

Lamoureux would not identify the shooter or victim but said the dead man did not have a permanent address but had been living in the Marysville area.

Whale skeleton in Makahs' museum

Six years after the Makah Indians renewed their ancient whaling tradition with the first kill in more than 70 years, that animal's 30-foot skeleton has been cleaned and preserved, wired together and hung in the tribe's museum.

Neah Bay High School students and teacher Bill Monette took on the stinky chore of cleaning the 600 pounds of bones and cataloging them in preparation for their assembly at the Makah Cultural and Research Center.

More than 1,000 hours of student work went into preparing the bones for final assembly.

Business exec gets 30 months for fraud

A computer-game-company executive was sentenced Friday to 30 months in prison for bank fraud, accused of using false claims to obtain big bank loans that she used to try to buy a $3 million dream home on Mercer Island.

Shelley M. Day, 45, defrauded Asia Europe Americas Bank of Seattle of more than $1.5 million over the course of a year, federal prosecutors said.

At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Zilly called her "a sophisticated, educated person setting out to defraud anyone to reach her goals." He ordered five years of supervised release following her prison term.

According to court records, Day told a bank loan officer in March 2002 that Disney Interactive was buying a portion of her company, Kirkland-based Hulabee Entertainment, for $2.5 million. She offered a phony "letter of intent" from Disney and other documents.

The bank made the loan, but Day eventually stopped making payments. She claimed that the sale of her company was being renegotiated.

After a year, a lawyer for the bank contacted Disney and discovered it was all a sham.

Defense lawyers asked that Day be allowed to delay reporting to prison until April 2006, saying she had new children's games in the works that could be quite profitable.

Zilly said the pitch sounded too much like what she told the bank.

Panhandler disguise helps nab offenders

A State Patrol trooper disguised as a panhandler at a state highway offramp helped nail people for seat-belt and other violations.

Sgt. Jason Linn served as a spotter for colleagues hidden around the corner, two in unmarked patrol cars, two on motorcycles and one with a drug-sniffing dog.

Linn's sign did not say he'd "work for food or beer," Trooper Mike Kesler noted Friday. Instead the message was "Happy Holidays and Buckle Up!" A few drivers offered money, which Linn refused.

Wearing a rain jacket and jeans and carrying a flashlight, Linn peered inside cars as drivers took the exit from Highway 500. In 2½ hours, acting on information radioed by Linn, troopers stopped 41 vehicles and issued 47 tickets — 29 for not wearing seat belts.

They also busted a 15-year-old who'd taken his dad's car without permission — and whose passenger threw a partly filled can of pop at Linn. The driver was ticketed for driving without a license, and the can thrower, 18, got a $1,050 ticket for littering.

Times staff and news services