OPINION | Editor’s note: City, Chamber need to compromise [8] Roegner: State representatives playing politics [8] DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
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BUSINESS | The Bread Box Outlet has grand opening [12]
VOL. 17, NO. 5
MIRR R
F E D E R A L WAY
POLICE | Police arrest Federal Way panhandlers [26] COMMUNITY | Community gathers to count homeless [16]
SPORTS | Federal Way wrestlers FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015 | 75¢ get ready for state [10]
SEAHAWKS | Seahawks player borrows policeman’s bike at parade [18-21]
School district settles lawsuit with employee District agrees to $50,000 settlement for racially offensive poem BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@fedwaymirror.com
T
he Federal Way School District recently agreed to pay $50,000 in settlement funds to an African-American woman and former teacher at TAF (Technology Access Foundation) Academy, who filed a civil lawsuit against the district after she was asked to read a poem entitled “Niggerlips” in 2013. Tenesha Fremstad filed the lawsuit in May 2014, claiming the school district discriminated against her when the school’s theninstructional coach Pam Wise handed out poems to staff during a meeting on the school’s professional development day, known as Data Day on May 3, 2013. Fremstad, the only African American teacher at TAF Academy, was asked to read the poem by Martín Espada. But she refused, as she found the N-word offensive. Although Wise was let go by the TAF Foundation, Fremstad alleged TAF Academy Principal
Paul Tytler and other staff retaliated against her for her subsequent complaints filed throughout the rest of 2013. Some of these allegations include Tytler calling her names such as “brat” and “diva,” Tytler refusing to be her mentor for a leadership internship with the University of Washington, Tytler giving her an unfavorable evaluation and withholding an open dean of students position at TAF while hiring someone else after he had written her letters of recommendation for dean positions at other schools. Fremstad, who was a sixth grade humanities teacher at TAF, has since started as the dean of students at Illahee Middle School for the 20142015 school year.
MEDIATION
While apologetic of the circumstances surrounding Data Day, the school district’s attorney Tyna Ek, a former employee of Soha & Lang, wrote a letter on Oct. 28, 2014 to mediator Carolyn Cairns with Stokes Lawrence law firm. In the
Community rallies for police About 50 Federal Way residents stood together Jan. 24 at South 320th Street and Pacific Highway South to show police they’re appreciated. Federal Way resident Maureen Bernardy organized the rally because she said she is grateful for all police do for the community. “What has sustained us during difficult times has been knowing that we have the support from our citizens,” Andy Hwang, chief of police, wrote in an email to Bernardy. Photos courtesy of Bruce Honda
[ more POEM, page 7 ]
Federal Way Council to consider amendment to begging ordinance BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@fedwaymirror.com
The Federal Way City Council is expected to take action on an amendment to the city’s begging ordinance on Feb. 3, after an increase of complaints on the matter. The amendment to FWRC 6.35.030 will redefine, strike and add legal and illegal forms of begging, or panhandling, in Federal Way, if adopted. “I know we don’t have
numbers on this but from my own experience, almost all of the neighborhood connection meetings, this was an issue that came up,” said city spokesman Chris Carrel. “Folks were reflecting on seeing an increase on a number of people begging.” Carrel said citizens have complained through 911, the non-emergency police line, emails to the city, phone calls to the police chief and other avenues. Federal Way police Deputy Chief Kyle Sumpter estimated the department gets about one complaint a day, on average, and even more in the summer, Carrel
A homeless man in Federal Way sits near a building. File photo said. But the city cannot ban panhandling because, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, it is considered a First Amendment right —
free speech. “We do get the question of banning panhandling outright, but this is an area where the courts have spoken very clearly,” Carrel
said. “There are pretty clear ‘shalls and shall nots’ on how local governments can enforce statutes on panhandling.” Having looked at how other cities have regulated the matter, city staff developed a list of violations that can be enforced. Many of the codes already existed but were redefined, such as it is illegal to intentionally block traffic on a sidewalk or street by laying, sitting or placing an obstacle in the right of way; a person may not persist in begging after a refusal; they cannot follow a person that has already refused to give money; they cannot use violent gestures
or threats while begging; nor touch a person or use language that is likely to intimidate or provoke a reaction from a reasonable person. Also, a panhandler must be 15 feet away from an ATM. The title of the ordinance “aggressive begging” would also be changed to “pedestrian interference.” But the amendment calls for a new violation: standing on a median in the road to beg. City staff said this violation is included because it becomes a public safety issue if people are jaywalking to street medians without crosswalks. [ more BEGGING, page 11 ]