A helicopter of the U.S. Customs and
Border Protection agency, searching for Barnes in the park after ranger Margaret Anderson was killed, encountered four campers who had not received the message to evacuate the park. The pilot, former Marine pilot Chris Rosen, was afraid Barnes would attack the campers to steal their gear. But he could not land the chopper in the deep snow, nor could he convey a complex message over its loudspeaker. He and copilot David Simeur searched for something to write on that would not flutter away like a piece of paper or sink in the snow. Simeur found an empty paper cup
from Crusin' Coffee and scrawled on it: "A ranger has been shot, shooter at large. Call on cell if able to Pierce Co sheriffs." The campers recovered the dropped cup and quickly packed their gear and left the park, escorted by the helicopter. The crew dropped a second cup directing them to avoid the gunman: "Take road to falls and sheriff deputies. We will keep an eye
on you. Do not drive from Paradise w/o armed escort." Barnes was found soon afterward,
dead of exposure and half-submerged in Paradise Creek.
Hawaiian farmers want tighter Kona rules They want label to specify total blend origin Hawaiian coffee farmers are pushing for more stringent regulations on how Kona, an expensive local specialty coffee, is labeled. The farmers want to build on current
in-state regulations that require a Kona blend to have at least 10 percent Kona, and to state that percentage on its label. They want blends to state the origin of the non- Kona component, so that a label might read, "10 percent Kona coffee, 90 percent Colombian coffee." The Hawaiian state senator representing the Kona region said in early January that he plans to introduce legislation to that effect. Kona labeling has been a sore point in Hawaii, and elsewhere, since a scandal
in the early 1990s in which inexpensive Latin American coffee beans were passed off as Kona. Genuine Kona beans can sell for upwards of $25 a pound. The 10 percent regulation was passed shortly afterward. At that time, there was a drive to require disclosure of the origin of the non-Kona components in blends, but roasters successfully lobbied to keep that disclosure voluntary. No major roaster has since volunteered the information.
BRIEFS • Green Mountain Coffee Roasters was the biggest purchaser of Fair Trade coffee in 2010, at 26 million pounds.
• Kelly Spiker, a barista at The Woods Coffee, Bellingham, Wash., recently won first place in a Seattle-based original-drink competition sponsored by Ghirardelli. The winning flavor that Kelly created, Chocolate Dreamsicle, will be featured at all 12 Woods Coffee locations starting this winter. SCR
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