The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting on Nov. 3 brought a deep roster of lawmakers and enforcers to the North Highline Fire District station for continued talks on creating a safer community and more vibrant business district for White Center in the aftermath of Operation Center of Attention.

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Bates and Lt. Woodrow Perkins along with Capt. Susan Blaker from the Washington State Liquor Control Board all spoke.

Satterberg speaks
“I want to thank you for fighting for your community; this is a place worth fighting for,” Satterberg said of White Center in his opening his remarks. Satterberg said his father, Dick Satterberg, had a law office in White Center for many years and recalls many days of his early years spent in the area.

Providing insight into the charges and eventual trials for the 53 people arrested in the raid, Satterberg said roughly half of the defendants will be prosecuted through the U.S. Attorney’s Office while the other half will stay with King County. Federal cases generally result in stiffer sentences, he said, and most of the defendants headed that direction were involved in large scale sale of firearms and drugs, especially felons.

Providing an example of one the larger sales made, Satterberg said during the latter stages of undercover buys an officer purchased 10 kilos of meth in a single transaction. He said while most of the defendants remain behind bars, some have posted bail and are back on the streets.

“Nobody thinks coming in and doing this one time is going to take care of the problem forever,” Satterberg said, “so it is really fortuitous that you have a storefront deputy on the way in.”

He said White Center is in a “weed and seed” process where 53 bad seeds have been removed and a good seed (the new storefront deputy BJ Myers) has been planted.

Satterberg made it clear that while Operation Center of Attention found White Center to be the “epicenter,” or hub for gun and drug sales, many of the defendants were not White Center residents. They were coming from all over southwest King County and often times the drug and gun deals made with undercover officers were initiated on 16th Ave S.W., but the actual transactions took place elsewhere – from Seattle to Burien to SeaTac.

Asked by the council why DK Bar and Café and Papa’s Pub, two bars identified as fronts for gun and drug sales, are still open, Satterberg said evidence gathered by undercover officers did not directly point to the owners of those establishments.

Discussing continued law enforcement efforts in White Center, Satterberg said there is a “resolve” to keep a close eye on White Center and while Operation Center of Attention is over, the information gathered over its 90-day duration has been shared and additional persons and businesses of interest are law enforcement's radar.

NHUAC President Barbara Dobkin said, “People in the community have been seeing things going on for a long time (and have been reporting it to authorities) … so going forward, what do we need to do?”

Satterberg said he doesn’t have all the answers to that question, but “a sustained commitment from law enforcement to come back and continue to do undercover operations,” families coming to the commercial district to support local businesses and the community keeping their storefront deputy aware of issues – including open-air drug sales – are part of the equation.

BJ Myers, White Center's new storefront deputy can be reached at benjamin.myers@kingcounty.gov, on his cell phone at (206) 391-1651 or office line at (206) 296-3333.

Thomas Bates on the Department of Justice role
U.S. Attorney Thomas Bates encouraged citizens and business owners to continue reporting illegal or suspicious activity, either to the King County Sheriff’s Office or to him directly. “Those reports are not falling on deaf ears,” he said, adding that underreporting leads to under-resourcing.

Bates said through the digestion of comments from the community he has identified four avenues in solving White Center’s woes:

“The number one issue we keep hearing is it is still a matter of law enforcement visibility and increased patrols,” he said. “On that front I think we are doing what we can to make sure that that remains a priority,” with the reintroduction of a storefront deputy and the possibility of continued undercover operations in the area.

Second is legislative priorities, Bates said. He cited Seattle’s nuisance property ordinance “that allows the SPD to go in and document all the nuisance-type activities in a a certain location and make moves to change how things are done there – whether that’s evicting people or taking possession of the property …. But that is not a power that the county has right now.”

Regarding business, Bates said businesses identified by the community as red flags for possible illegal activity will continue to be monitored and, on the brighter side, he is working with federal agencies involved in small business loans and support to aid in the journey towards a “business core (that) represents the value of the community and is a vibrant commercial area.”

And fourth, Bates mentioned the possibility of exploring unique crime diversion tactics and additional mental health and substance abuse programs. He brought up a privately-funded Belltown example where drug dealers were videotaped selling their illegal wares, invited to a movie theater and shown the surveillance footage as a deterrent. Those tactics, along with increased recovery and mental health program availability, are on the table but may be difficult to ascertain in the current budget climate. Bates said it was beyond his role to discuss legislative issues, but laid out the fact that “the governor’s proposed cuts include eliminating all substance abuse counseling that is done by the state.”

“As the U.S. Attorney said, ‘There is not a pot of gold here,’” Bates said. “We have 70 lawyers, we can prosecute cases, (but) we are not the boss of a lot of people that certainly need to be involved in the process,” but they can suggest needs to other organizations for the White Center community.

Bates encouraged everyone to continue contacting him with suggestions on how the U.S. Attorney’s Office or other government agencies can help. “We will be as helpful as guides as we can possibly be in working on this question of, 'What’s next?'”

Bates also reiterated the news that King County’s Executive Dow Constantine, along with Prosecutor Satterberg and Sheriff Sue Rahr sent a letter to the Washington Liquor Control Board objecting to Papa's Pub's liquor license renewal. Additionally, Bates said his office sent letters to the landlords of businesses identified in harboring illegal activity, informing them that continued problems could lead to trouble, including the seizure of property.

Thomas Bates can be reached at thomas.bates@usdoj.gov or (206) 553-2272.

From the Liquor Control Board perspective
Lt. Woodrow Perkins and Capt. Susan Blaker from the Washington State Liquor Control Board addressed questions about liquor license renewals for DKs and Papa’s Pub.

Blaker said Papa’s recently renewed their license so the possibility of revocation may become a lengthy process. She said the board is currently reviewing documentation of King County Sheriff cases involving Papa’s, and they have been cited three times in the past several months for serving minors alcohol. If, at the end of that review, the board decides to revoke, Blaker said Papa’s still has due process rights of appeal. According to Bates, they have requested a hearing on at least two infractions.

NHUAC board members asked how Papa’s obvious involvement uncovered in Operation Center of Attention plays into that process. The answer unfolds in two ways: First, according to Woodrow, it has to be clear that the holder of the liquor license was aware of or took part in the illegal activity. Secondly, actual convictions are required before the board can take those infractions into account. Charges don’t cut it, she said.

Blaker said DK’s Bar doesn’t have the long history of infractions and concerns that Papa’s has, but thier renewal process will be reviewed.

Karen Freeman from King County Executive Dow Constantine’s office was in attendance as well. Freeman said the Executive’s office plays a role in giving renewals an OK or red-flagging them based on community outcry. She said there is a small window before renewal when it needs to happen. That information was met with frustration from the audience. Gil Loring said getting information from the Executive’s office is perpetually difficult, and the White Center Safety Coalition did not hear about the license renewal until it was too late. Freeman said the Executive’s Office is learning more about the process along with the community.

Additional information on White Center’s new storefront deputy BJ Myers and the latest in annexation and Burien from City Manager Mike Martin will be posted shortly as separate stories.

The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meets on the first Thursday of each month at the North Highline Fire District building (1243 S.W. 112th St.)