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Emerald downs Special Section Pages 11-14
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Wednesday, April 2, 2014 | 75 cents
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Spring athletes have a busy week – some play despite rain.
Weather The forecast for today, Wednesday, calls for mostly sunny skies with a high near 55 and lows to 41. Thursday calls for a chance of rain with a high to 55 and low to 40. Rain continues Friday through the weekend with highs to the mid 50s and lows to 40.
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31st District legislators sum up Olympia session Editor’s Note: the 31st Legislative District legislators have been given the opportunity to provide an end-of-session report. Last week, Sen. Pam Roach offered her synopsis of the 60-day session that adjourned March 13. This week Reps. Christopher Hurst and Cathy Dahlquist submit their report.
By Rep. Christopher Hurst I am happy to report that the Legislature got its work done on time this year and passed a bipartisan supplemental budget that increased funding for education without raising taxes. The article by Sen. Roach last week indicating that the House
passed a budget requiring $100 million in new taxes is simply uninformed and inaccurate. In fact, this budget Chris Hurst left $315 million in unrestricted reserves and $583 million in our state’s Rainy Day Fund. The Senate Majority Coalition that Sen. Roach referred to, which is led by Democrat Majority Leader Rodney Tom of Medina and Democrat Speaker Pro-tem Tim Sheldon of Potlatch, worked with Democrats and Republicans in the House from the beginning of session to come up with this agreed upon and col-
laborative supplemental budget. As in all negotiated processes, no one got everything they wanted, but the final prodCathy Dahlquist uct was fair and responsible. Due to the current makeup of the House and the Senate, this was a legislative session that was notable because so many moderate, middle-of-the-road and common sense pieces of legislation passed fairly easily. The more radical views from the extreme right and the extreme left failed to make it through the process. As a fiscally conservative Independent Democrat, I was very pleased with
Precincts supported marijuana
the tone and tenor of most of the legislation that made it to the governor’s desk. As Chairman of the Government Accountability and Oversight Committee in the House, one of my top priorities was to pass legislation that would combat the theft of hard alcohol by juveniles from retail stores after the passage of the liquor privatization initiative in 2012. House Bill 2155 sponsored by my seat mate, Rep. Cathy Dahlquist and I, will now hold retailers accountable if they allow liquor to get into the hands of those who are underage. Retailers who do not keep their spirits properly secured and out of the hands of
See SESSION, Page 3
Irwin is chosen for council seat
By Kevin Hanson
By Dennis Box
Citizens in 10 of Enumclaw’s 13 voting precincts supported the legalization for marijuana during the November 2012 election, doing their part to pass statewide Initiative 502. That news might be 16 months old, but remains relevant because members of the City Council asked for the breakdown during a March meeting – a session that included a public hearing on the possibility of retail weed operations within the city limits. Evergreen State voters favored the legalization of marijuana for private use by adults, but Washington’s attorney general has determined that individual
The Enumclaw City Council finally completed its batting order of members filling the seats. At the March 24 meeting the six council members added a seventh member to their roster, selecting the 31-year-old Morgan Irvin to fill the vacant council Position No. 1, which he had been elected to in the November general election. Confusion between the state and city residency requirement caused Irwin to resign in early December, prior to joining the council. Irwin took 63 percent of the vote over Pamela Harding, who withdrew from the race in August.
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See MARIJUANA, Page 5
He’s off to the races
Hall of Fame Jockey Gallyn Mitchell, who lives near Enumclaw, is back in the irons after going through two heart surgeries during the 2013 season. Photo courtesy Emerald Downs.
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See IRWIN, Page 5
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