Longview Daily News from Longview, Washington • 1

1 i- Sports Scoreboard Index Ann A4 Northwest. Classified Obituaries ....62 Comics 04 Religion A5 Lotteries B2 Viewpoints. Nation A3 World A8 WEATHER Femdale 42 Mark Morris 12 Montesano 24 Toledo 14 Kelso 25 Mountain View 8 Stevenson 20 llwaco 0 Woodland 14 Riiigcfield 35 Whits Salmon 17 Castle Rock 14 Kalama 6 Rainier, Wash 0 Seattle Toutle Lake 42 California Mossyrock 0 Texas ...7 .10 -3 ...8 For details, sea Spcrts, Section SATURDAY TmeDai News 50 CENTS PARTLY SUNNY DETAILS, PAGE A2 i n.i i rin.M i Field of dreams is reality for Kelso boy John Pisapia the daily news she'd almost been hit by a ball before and she was SportsCenter," Rick Stephenson said. "Bud then went Jury convicts man in Winlock killing 'Gratified' prosecutor says he will pursue tough sentence thankful Nick caught it" The Stephensons hoped to get the ball autographed by Diaz, but they couldn't get Don't bother resubmitting stadium measure to the voters, Mariners officials say. PAGEB3 Mariners stage dramatic comeback win overA's.

PAGE D1 back out, found Nick and brought him in too." Diaz signed the ball and although close to him during the post-game interview. "Then a fellow named the Stephensons didn't get to meet him, it was a night Nick SEATTLE Seattle Mariners Alex Diaz had a big night Friday in the Kingdome, but it wasn't a bad night for Kelso's Nick Stephenson either. Nick, an 8-year-old third-grader at Butler Acres Elementary School in Kelso, made the catch of the game when he snared Diaz's pinch-hit three-run homer. The dinger gave Seattle a 10-7 win over the Oakland Athletics and sole possession of first place in the American League West Division. "I think it was the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me," Nick said this morning from his Seattle-area hotel room.

"I knew I had it. I caught it right in the pocket of my glove. It didn't sting." Rick Stephenson, Nick's dad, didn't know his son had the ball. "Nick was at the far end and there was an elderly ladv sitting next to him. She moved out of the way and ducked and Nick caught it," Rick Stephenson said.

"The lady told us later that 1 i Bud came by and he had a 'staff button on his shirt. I told him my son had caught the game-winning homer and he said he'd take it and get it autographed and we could pick it up tonight (Saturday)," Rick Stephenson continued. "I told him I couldn't do that, so he said he try to get me into the clubhouse." In tow, Stephenson walked past the players' families and into the clubhouse. "(Mike) Blowers was sitting on a couch with Randy Johnson eating ice cream and watching Stephenson will never forget. "Nick's been to 10 games this season and he's never caught a game ball," Rick Stephenson said.

"With all the gloves in the air, little guys usually don't have a chance." And tonight, the Stephensons will be sitting in the right-field seats. "We'll go for a Griffey homer this time," Rick Stephenson said. Jonathan Kirkpatrick Patti Curry Jenkins the daily news A jury found Jonathan Michael Kirkpatrick guilty Friday afternoon of first-degree murder in the slaying of Winlock convenience store owner Joyce Robertson. Roberston was killed around 5 a.m. Feb.

26, 1993, after she refused to sell beer to Kirkpatrick and his companions. Kirkpatrick was under age at the time and state law prohibits sale of alcohol between 2 and 6 a.m. Robertson, who died instantly of a single gunshot wound to the face from a 9 mm shell, owned the Winlock Hillcrest Jackpot Food Mart with her husband, Larry. Kirkpatrick's companions, Peter Hawkins and Arthur Jensen, testified against him in Lewis County Superior Court and jurors deliberated for half an hour before returning the verdict against the 21-year-old Port Angeles man. Prosecuting Attorney Nelson Hunt told The Daily News "it's very gratifying to get this case successfully finished." He was not surprised at the "guilty" verdict or that jurors returned it so quickly.

"I knew before the trial started that the confession was going to be introduced into testimony," Hunt said. "From the time we Depot is richly, carefully refurbished and is officially opened ufJitJk Joyce Robertson started, it was not a particularly difficult case." A sentencing date will be scheduled Thursday, Hunt said. He will ask for a sentence beyond the standard range of 31 years, he said. Defense attorney Michael Ferrell, who contended Kirkpatrick was working at a Port Angeles restaurant until 1 a.m. Feb.

26, and relatives of Robertson could not be reached Saturday morning for comment. Kirkpatrick, who was arrested July 15, was in lockdown and not available for comment. a i i ft yi a wi TiSlr -vH' oil J- you're out! Number of convictions ('strikes bringing life without parole ('you're for some repeat offenders Maryland Arkansas Georgia Tennessee Montana South Carolina California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Indiana New Jersey New Mexico North Carolina Texas Virginia Washington Wisconsin Alaska Massachusetts Pennsylvania fk. 2 or 3 strikes Legislation being considered. BILL WAGNER THE DAILY NEWS combined depot dedication activities kicked off the IIlllMMMMMMMMMMWMBWMMMMB'rlnlWlii iMllllI lllll 111 ill IIT ITIiIH Ii II nnil IT A group of 10K walkers turns the corner in front of Kelso's remodeled train depot this morning as and St.

John Medical Center Foundation's daylong fall fund-raiser. '3 Strikes' gets scant use, except in California Early railbirds catch glimpse of buffed station Don Jenkins the daily news the $3.3 million refurbishing of the combination train depot and bus station on South First Street was scheduled for this afternoon. Workers, however, are still finishing the project, and the building won't be open until about the first of November, Kelso Public Works Director Bob Gregory said. Until then, Amtrak passengers will have to wait outside for trains, as they have since remodeling began in 1993. Before that, passengers had a small waiting room that Lloyd Flem, executive director of the Washington Association of Rail The Kelso train depot has been restored to its turn-of-the-century elegance and given an up-to-date name: The Kelso Intermodal Transportation Center.

Shiny oak benches and the woodsy smell of recent construction have replaced orange plastic chairs chained to the floor and an ambience that one avid train rider likened to a bus station men's room. A ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate Passengers, remembers as being "unkept, grimy and very unpleasant." "The whole thing was a little like an old bus station men's room. The aroma!" he recalled. The depot was built in 1911 and, like the rail passenger industry, had seen better days by the late 1980s. The building was structurally sound, but it looked shabby.

Customer service was nil because Amtrak didn't staff the station. Travelers were left not knowing whether the trains were running on time, and there was no one to shoo away transients. "It became a safety issue not only for the building but also for passengers," Mayor Keith LawTence said. "It kind of symbolized the deterioration of the economy in Kelso. As the economy declined, the building did too, and it was a real eyesore." The city declared in 1988 that renovating the depot was a key to improving downtown.

The city assembled the money for the project, which originally was supposed to cost only $1.5 million, from state and federal funds. Lawrence called the depot restoration the first of three steps to put a charge into downtown Kelso. The second job will be to replace the Allen Street Bridge, and the third project would be to move City Hall if the new bridge under their "three strikes" laws, officials reported. Wisconsin had one, Indiana fewer than 10. Georgia's nine-month old "two strikes" netted one lifer.

The federal government invoked its own "three strikes" law and got five convictions. This isn't what many voters envisioned when they demanded action on crime. Since Washington voters gave an enthusiastic nod to a 1993 ballot measure making theirs the first "three strikes" state, 17 other states have enacted such laws; Alaska, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania will consider them soon. The laws differ markedly, state to state. In fact they might be more accurately called "two, three or four strikes" laws.

Some allow parole. Not all are mandatory. And the criminals they aim to snare range widely, from just about any felon in California to the lone category of sex offenders who prey on children in Texas. In North Carolina, said Colon Willoughby, prosecutor for Wake County, the law is so narrowly written it omits such violent crimes as armed muggings, armed assault on Please see STRIKES, Page A2 In Washington state, only 33 cases recorded after two years Arlene Levinson the associated press It's only the early innings. But the rage to lock up the chronically rotten and throw away the key "three strikes and you're out!" is having scant effect in most states.

With the big exception of California where more than 700 people are now in prison under "three strikes" sentences these laws are seldom invoked a year or more after taking effect, The Associated Press has found. Some states do not track their "three strikes" cases. A few are barely dry on the page: Arkansas' took effect in late July while South Carolina's starts Jan. 1. But Washington state cases totaled just 33 nearly two years after passage of a law expected to bring in 40-75 a year.

And by mid-September, in Colorado, North Carolina and Tennessee not a single person had been incarcerated Cleanliness is next to timeliness for train passengers, and the remodeled waiting room promises travelers a comfortable place to wait for their rides. wiped the old one out The renovated Kelso depot will have a ticket office and be able to accommodate Greyhound and Trailways. Ron Kyllo, who contracts with 1 iN- i i. t- -r 1 Please see DEPOT, Page A2 onccavmmt tuc nA ww;.