February 2015

Local lawmakers last week introduced House Bill 1739, a measure to abolish the death penalty and replace it with a life sentence with no opportunity for parole.

The bill is a bipartisan effort and was introduced by 36th District Democratic Rep. Reuven Carlyle. The bill was co-sponsored by Reps. Chad Magendanz (R-Issaquah), Maureen Walsh (R-Walla Walla) and Tina Orwall (D-Des Moines).

“I’ve introduced this to the legislation each year, and I feel like it is important to our civic dialogue to address societal issues that go to the core of our value system. To me the death penalty is below us as a civilized society,” said Carlyle. “I think on the policy front it’s clear that there’s no preventative impact or effect. On the implementation front it’s clear there is great disparity in how it’s applied across the counties of the nation. On the financial front, it’s dramatically more expensive than life in prison. And on the moral front it is unreflective to what a moral society can be.”

House Bill 1739 would also require those convicted to pay restitution to victims and their families.

By Lucy Cavener

Animal treatment in factory farms is dangerous for humans, disastrous for our future, and unethical to the extreme. The way that factory farms raise their chickens, without light or space, injecting them with antibiotics and letting them live in their own waste, is immoral as well as damaging to the people who eat them. The disrepair that America’s food industry is currently in is an extremely important problem that the USA faces, and influencing the state of the factory farm production system is a good place to start fixing it.

Seattle has a brand new “green” fire station that is ranked the best in the Washington State in environmental efficiency measures.

Fire Station 20 meets the 2015 energy reduction guidelines of the Architecture 2030 challenge, and its materials and features will earn enough points for LEED Platinum certification.

The Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED), is the U.S. Green Building Council’s certification program that recognizing leading building strategies. The new station is not the first in the Washington to have platinum status -- Maple Street Fire Station in Issaquah has that status – but it is now considered the “most sustainable” fire station in the state.

Last Saturday, the Ballard News-Tribune joined the Seattle Fire Department and the Seattle Fire Fighters Union, Local 27, and community members at the viewing of the Fire Station 20 (2800 15th Ave. W.).

Suspect attempts assault with tree branch

According to the Seattle Public Schools, on Tuesday morning, Jan. 27, a man tried to pull a female Whitman Middle School student into his car. SPS issued a widespread email to parents with the details of the incident and information on how to respond to situations such as this.

The message stated that a man in a silver four-door sedan parked less than two blocks from the school tried to pull the student into his car. He whistled to the student and grabbed her arm. The man was not wearing pants. The student managed to get away from the man, and she ran to school to report the incident. School staff called the police and the crime is being investigated by Seattle Police Department. SPS described the man as a “mixed-race” male.

“Our student did everything right, immediately getting away from the stranger and reporting the incident to the school, to the police and to her family,” wrote SPS. SPD has not release the report for the incident as investigators explore leads.

The City of Seattle has taken the initial step toward becoming one of the first cities in the nation to establish its own privacy principles to protect personal information.

“Technology is constantly changing, and protecting the privacy of those who interact with the city is of utmost importance,” said Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. “The City of Seattle collects personal information in many City processes, such as paying a utility bill or in the form of video from our public safety departments. It’s critical that we strike the right balance between protecting individual privacy and the public’s need for a transparent and open local government.”

“We are demonstrating our commitment to the privacy and security of your personal information,” said Councilmember Bruce Harrell, chair of the Council’s Public Safety, Civil Rights, and Technology Committee. “This is tremendous work by DoIT and the interdepartmental work team to bring consistency and accountability in our day-to-day interactions with the public.”

By Marjorie Young

It was a seemingly ordinary moment that entirely changed my life. I was thirteen, newly arrived in San Francisco after my parents’ divorce, when my married older sister phoned to invite my elder brother to the movies. An intriguing double-bill was playing; the popular Western ‘The Magnificent Seven’ was paired with ‘Seven Samurai’…the classic Japanese film which inspired it. Luckily, Lowell had no interest in going, so I asked if I might come along instead. I still remember her skeptical warning that one of the films had subtitles. “I can read!” I had retorted. And so, Barbara relented and off we went.

Early this morning, a man fired a barrage of bullets at Goofy’s Bar (8519 15th Avenue NW) after an argument.

Police Officers responded to the scene at about 1:30 a.m. after reports of a many firing a gun into the building.

Witnesses say the suspect was in an argument inside the bar and then fled. Shortly after, a gunman opened fire. Investigators believe the man who was in the argument was the attacker, though they are still looking for evidence to link the two.

Reports say there was no one injured during the attack.

Bullets holes were found in the building and shell casings were found onsite. Bullets also struck the Pizza Hut next door to Goofy’s Bar.

Anyone with information pertaining to the crime are urged to call police.

By Tim Clinton

Saturday, Jan. 31

Boys basketball
Shorewood Chr. 74, Rainier Chr. 61
Shorewood Christian of White Center outgunned Rainier Christian in a game played at Green River Community College on Saturday.

Girls basketball
Shorewood Chr. 41, Rainier Chr. 30
Shorewood Christian also won on the girls side in Saturday's double-header.

Friday, Jan. 30

Boys basketball
Seattle Luth. 57, Quilcene 20
Seattle Lutheran clobbered Quilcene in a road trip to the Olympic Peninsula on Friday.
Foster 43, Highline 40
Foster edged out the Pirates in Friday's game.
Evergreen 52, Renton 46
The Wolverines were winners in Friday's action against the Indians.
Kennedy 67, Hazen 55
The Lancers cemented the top 3A seed into the postseason over the Highlanders with Friday's victory.
Lindbergh 74, Tyee 58
Tyee was topped by the Eagles on Friday.

Girls basketball
Highline 40, Foster 35
The Pirates kept their playoff hopes alive with Friday's win over the Bulldogs.
Quilcene 59, Seattle Luth. 47

By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

PUYALLUP--Mount Rainier swam well, qualifying swimmers to districts and even state individually plus a relay Saturday en route to second place at the South Puget Sound League 4A sub-district meet in the Rogers pool.

"Good way to finish," said Rams coach Chris Veraya, who referred to the third-place team, Kentridge, just two points behind the Rams. Kentridge lost by half a second to Curtis in the 400 free relay, the 11th and final event of the meet, which allowed the Rams to stay ahead of the Chargers in the end scores.

Team scoring top honor went to the Curtis Vikings with 345 points. The Rams took second with 233 points, followed by Kentridge (231), Kentlake (120) and Rogers (114). The top six teams got trophies, too.
Out of three SPSL teams coming into the league meet with one-loss season records (Curtis was 6-0), finished tops of those three teams. So, nice work there as well for the Des Moines school.