Date:         Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:45:34 -0230
Reply-To:     Joy Hecht <hecht.joy@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joy Hecht <hecht.joy@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Fwd: [VWVANFULLTIMERS] OT- Death of Forest Service Officer
In-Reply-To:  <BBAED34D862A45B796AD1054A7DA1F19@LAPMJ>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

This was posted on the vwfulltimers list - thought folks on the vanagon list
who stay in national forests might also like to see it.



Joy



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: WoodyB <waterk9@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 1:13 PM
Subject: [VWVANFULLTIMERS] OT- Death of Forest Service Officer
To: Undisclosed-Recipient


If you live in the Northwest you may have seen on your local TV or NW News
Cable TV that a Forest Service Officer was killed Saturday. For me it was a
local event as the Forest Service campground she was killed is back in the
woods somewhat near my home. Have been to the campground tho' never stayed.

Kristine (Kris) Fairbanks, 51, was a 15 year veteran of Forest Service law
enforcement. She was married to a Wildlife Officer and they have a 15 year
old daughter.

Kris was shot and killed by a man with an armed domestic violence past. She
was investigating that his van did not have plates. She called the State
Patrol to run a name/vehicle check and did not respond when they called her
back 8 minutes later. Her body was found 40 minutes later by County
Sheriff's Officers sent to investigate. The area is quite remote. The gunman
was killed about 7 hours later by two County Sheriff's officers in a
shootout at a gas station/deli on US 101 in Blyn, WA, just miles from where
the first killing occurred. Later it was discovered the gunman also killed
another citizen working in his yard and stole his pickup after hiding the
van in the woods.

I never met the woman but recognized her photo in the paper, they'd done
articles about her and her K-9 partners over the years. Paper said Kris was
the only Forest Service K-9 officer in the state of Washington. Her K9
partner, Radar, was found safe in the patrol car. She was the leader of the
4-H group Happy Tails in her hometown of Forks, WA. Seattle TV said this was
the first Line of Duty death of a Forest Service Officer since... they
weren't sure, but before, around WWII.

The public memorial service will be held in Port Angeles, WA, Civic Field,
Monday at 1 PM.

To date I have not seen where contributions can be made for the family,
normally something is setup at a local bank, perhaps the Forest Service is
setting something up.

Many of us visit or stay in Forest Service areas, National Parks, State,
local parks and forests, I would ask that you keep Kris Fairbanks, her
husband and daughter in your thoughts. Perhaps the next time we see a Forest
Service Officer or other park officer we thank them in some way for their
service.

You can learn more about this in the Seattle Times or Seattle PI, the
Peninsula Daily News, or the local Seattle TV stations - King5, Komo4,
KIRO7.