REGIONAL NEWS BRIEFS

Olympian staff

OLYMPIA

String of bank thefts continues

Sterling Savings Bank on Harrison Avenue was robbed Tuesday, the latest in a string of bank robberies.

The suspect in the 3:36 p.m. robbery is described as a white male in his 30s, 5 feet 9 inches tall and 160 pounds with dark hair. He was wearing blue jeans and a dark-blue sweatshirt. He covered his face with a purple or black scarf during the robbery.

No weapon was seen, and the amount of cash taken was not released.

After leaving the bank, he headed across Limited Lane toward Capital High School.

KeyBank in Tumwater was robbed at gunpoint Jan. 15, and last year, six banks in Lacey and two in Olympia were robbed. Three Olympia men have been arrested in connection with some of those crimes.

MAYTOWN

Wreck jams I-5, injures one driver

An accident involving three semitrailers and a passenger car left traffic on Interstate 5 backed up for several hours Tuesday afternoon.

Both traffic lanes were blocked, and cars had to use the merge lane to get by the 3:15 p.m. accident on southbound I-5. Heather Geer, 34, of Seattle, the car's driver, was injured and taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital.

SOUTH SOUND

Interfaith march, prayer vigil today

The 2002 Hiroshima Flame Interfaith Pilgrimage, a cross-country peace march by Buddhist monks, will pass through South Sound today. St. Michael Catholic Church, at the corner of 11th Avenue and Boundary Street, will host an interfaith prayer vigil at 7 p.m.

Representatives from South Sound's Muslim, Buddhist, Quaker, Christian and Hindu communities are expected to attend. The vigil is in conjunction with a meeting of more than 100 faith leaders with Pope John Paul II in Assisi, Italy, on Thursday.

OLYMPIA

Man sentenced for police assault

A man accused of trying to run down two Olympia police bicycle officers pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree assault and was sentenced Tuesday in Thurston County Superior Court to a drug offender alternative program.

Marq Rollins, 32, of Olympia will spend 25 months in prison and 25 months in drug treatment outside of prison, defense attorney S. Don Phelps said.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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