powellhouse

After a six minute 911 call from the social worker that dropped off Josh Powell's two sons was released, many people were frustrated with the dispatcher, but 97.3 KIRO FM host Dori Monson asked his listeners if it is fair for us to expect the dispatcher to understand the gravity of the situation without knowing all we know now about what was to occur.

"We all have the benefit of hindsight. We know now that Josh Powell took a hatchet to his little boys before setting the house on fire, but nobody knew that at the time this call was made. Is it fair to assume that this worker should have been able to grasp the gravity of the situation when this call was made Sunday afternoon?" asked Monson.

The 911 call began with Elizabeth, the social worker, giving the 911 operator a description of what had occurred when she dropped off 5-year-old Braden and 7-year-old Charles at the Powell residence.

Listen to 911 call from social worker at Josh Powell's home

Elizabeth: I'm on a supervised visitation for a court ordered visit, and something really weird has happened. The kids went into the house and the biological parent, his name is Josh Powell, will not let me in the door. What should I do?"

The operator began by asking Elizabeth for the address. She didn't have it handy, but as she searched she continued telling the operator more about the situation.

Elizabeth: I could hear one of the kids crying but he still wouldn't let me in.
(Elizabeth continues looking for address)
Elizabeth: I think I need help right away. He's on a very short leash with DSHS and CPS has been involved.

After locating the address, the two become confused speaking about who the supervisor was on this visit.

Operator: Who is there to exercise their visitation?
Elizabeth: I am, the visit is with Josh Powell? Operator: Who is supervising?
Elizabeth: I supervise.
Operator: So you supervise and you're doing the visit? You supervise yourself.
Elizabeth: I supervise myself. I'm the supervisor here.

Producer Jake notes the social worker has identified Josh Powell by name multiple times a few minutes into the conversation.

"He doesn't know who Josh Powell is. That's a problem. I'm surprised by that, that someone doesn't know who Josh Powell is down in Pierce County. It certainly has been a high profile case, that's a problem," says Monson.

At one point, the social worker tried to explain who Josh Powell was.

Elizabeth: He's the husband of missing Susan Powell. This is a high-profile case."

"Here's what he knows right now, three minutes and thirty-five seconds into the call, that she's a contracted worker with the state. She's walking the kids up to the house, the guy who's supposed to be supervised visiting the kids grabbed the kids, locked the door. She smelled gasoline from inside the house. That DSHS has him on a short leash. That Josh Powell is a person of interest in his wife's disappearance and that it's a high-profile case. With all of that information, don't you react with the greatest of urgency?" asked Monson.

"This is so frustrating to listen to for us because we know how this turns out," says Jake.

"I'm trying to be fair here, I really am, because there is a huge chasm between the information we have now and the information they had at the time," said Monson. "Again, we did not know, he did not know, the social worker didn't know, nobody knew that Josh Powell, while they're talking here, is probably raising that hatchet around his sons and getting ready to burn the house down."

"But the fact that it took three minutes and thirty-five seconds for them to reach an understanding of what the situation is," said Monson. "The communication is not great on either end, is my interpretation."

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor

Dori is thrilled to hear the NBA might be coming back to Seattle, but as long as it's not at the expense of the taxpayer.

Home Assignment 1The hole keeps getting deeper...Since 2006, the state of Washington has paid more than 1,000 state employees to stay at home at taxpayer expense. That has cost taxpayers $13.5 million for the employees’ salaries and $3.7 million more in benefits, for a total of $17.2 million, according to KING 5's Susannah Frame.

Frame is the lead investigator in the ongoing investigation "Paid for Nothing" by KING 5 News that has uncovered millions of taxpayer dollars wasted to pay state workers to sit at home and do nothing for the state.

"To be fair of course, there's a reason. The reason is each of these employees have been accused of some kind of misconduct on the job it could have been threatening to kill a co-worker stealing from the state misusing a state resource like a state vehicle," says Frame.

Frame tells an incredulous Dori she was particularly amused and disgusted by the notifications ordering workers to remain at home during their regular shift.

And she says it is ridiculous some cases drag out for years, the longest taking 4 years to resolve.

"A murder charge doesn't take that long to bring someone to trial," Frame tells Dori in a live interview.

She says she's heartened the state is taking steps to address the problems raised in the ongoing investigation. But another story on Wednesday shows it shouldn't be that tough to fix the problem.

"It's not brain surgery sometimes. It's a simple fix and we could have saved millions long ago."

Listen to Paid to stay home: KING 5's Susannah Frame

-Josh Kerns/My Northwest.com

A motorcycle rider was 'clotheslined' while trying to perform a jump at a circus in Saginaw, Michigan on Sunday.

Josh Headford, 20, fell 25 feet and survived with a broken leg, wrist, elbow, and shoulder. He says he'll get back on a motorcycle when he can shove on his boots.

Ioana Spangenberg, 30, boasts a 20-inch waist. Ew.

model2

housefire

"Clearly, the pressure was mounting on Josh Powell," said Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist the day after Powell killed himself and his two sons in a home explosion.

"He felt like he was losing custody or control of his children."

Not only was Powell rejected custody of his kids a second time last week, a judge said she would require him to undergo a very intrusive psycho-sexual evaluation if he ever wanted them back.

Listen to Prosecutor Mark Lindquist's interview

"The interviewer goes into the person's life history, sexual history, personality aspects, they undergo an entire MMPI (personality test) and this is done with a polygraph test. So the subject is under pressure to not only answer, but to answer truthfully."

Powell probably saw himself in between a rock and a hard place, according to Lindquist. If he refused the test, he'd lose custody of his children and if he answered truthfully, he'd probably implicate himself and again, lose custody of his children.

Lindquist said Powell was trapped in a classic domestic violence scenario and thought 'If I can't have my kids, nobody else is going to either.'

Meanwhile, 97.3 KIRO FM Reporter Chris Sullivan spent the morning at the Powell home in Graham where teams are sifting through charred remains to find any clues about what led to the explosion.

Chris said neighbors reported hearing sounds like gunshots as the fire started, but Sgt. Ed Troyer said it was probably more like air bubbles and small explosions. But again, we'll learn more when the Medical Examiner releases a full report on the cause of death.

Listen to Chris' report

WP 000005
Photo sent from one of our listeners, who was a few miles away

By Stephanie Klein, MyNorthwest.com Editor

LOCAL:

1000: We told you this week about a woman named Balylonia Aivez, who made headlines for her wedding last Sunday. What did she marry?

2000: We told you about the worlds most expensive outhouse, built in Elbe, Washington. The cost to us all of us was about 4 million dollars. How many days of the week is the outhouse open right now?

3000: Bike morons and some lawmakers in this state are pushing to change all city road speeds to what?

SUPER BOWL:

1000: Who is playing in the Super Bowl?

2000: Rock and Roll Part II has been banned from the Superbowl. What is the name of the UK singer, also pedophile?

3000: I went 1 on 1 against the Nuns, Sister Kath and Sister Cele, picking games all season long. We've finally arrived at the Super Bowl, but out of the three of us, who finished in last place during the regular season?

POLITICS:

1000: Mitt Romney put his foot in his mouth earlier this week when he said that he wasn't concerned with what what type of citizen?

2000: Romney has been singing at many of his campaign stops this week. What song does he always sing?

3000: We told you this week about a clip from MSNBC and their coverage of the Presidential race in Florida. They referred to a specific belt of Florida's counties as what type of counties?

WILD CARD:

1000: What famous TV personality died this week from a self inflicted gun shot wound?

2000: We told you earlier this week about a music executive who passed away and left how much money to his Driver and Doorman, combined? Answer must be within 100K.

3000: A college student was surprised when she opened the book she ordered from Amazon and found what in between the pages?

Listen for the answers here.

Nick McKaig, 23, of Tallahassee, Florida is a genius in front of the microphone.

Check out what he did to the Simpson's and Office them songs.

According to the MailOnline, McKaig started singing when he was 10-years-old.

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