Brinnon: School to offer crisis counseling Tuesday to deal with tragedies that have cloaked small town

BRINNON — A team of crisis counselors will be at Brinnon School on Tuesday to help students, staff and community members cope with tragedies that have fallen on the south county town this summer.

“This certainly isn’t what you would anticipate the summer to be,” said Brinnon School Superintendent Robert Garrison on Thursday.

Here is the counseling schedule as provided by Garrison:

* 11 a.m.-noon: Third- and fourth-grade students in a classroom. Teachers and other staff members in the school library.

* Noon-1 p.m.: Fifth- and sixth-grade students in a classroom. Community members in the library.

* 1 p.m.-2 p.m.: Seventh- and eighth-grade students and high school students will meet in a classroom.

The July 30 shooting of a 12-year-old girl, who is a student at the school for children from kindergarten through eighth grade, is the latest in a series of tragedies vexing the town.

The girl, whose identity has not been made public by authorities, was in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Two days earlier, Brinnon resident Michael Hockett died when his motorcycle crashed into a car on U.S. Highway 101 between Brinnon and Quilcene.

Hockett, 48, was described as a devoted father and grandfather. He worked as mechanic.

Donald Allan McNutt, 44, of Quilcene was killed on May 23 when his motorcycle crashed into a guardrail on Highway 101 on the northern outskirts of Brinnon.

March 7 crash victim

A 54-year-old driver, Kenneth David Blosol of Centralia, was killed March 7 in a one-vehicle crash about six miles south of Brinnon on U.S. 101 between Canal View Street and the McDonald Creek Bridge.

Blosol had ties to the Brinnon community.

Garrison said the earlier death of a Brinnon School student’s grandmother who provided child care had added to the emotions being felt in the school and community.

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