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Proposed $20 car tab fee all but kicked to the curb BY ROBERT WHALE rwhale@auburn-reporter.com
It’s not dead yet. But-at-a-soon-to-be-and-asyet-unscheduled meeting of the
same Transportation Benefit District that approved the measure late last year, the proposed $20 car tab fee will almost certainly be dropped.
“We’re ready to bring this to closure,” car tab fee opponent and Deputy Mayor Largo Wales announced at Monday’s regular council meeting, of eight months
of meetings and discussions. … “We do not feel it’s necessary at this time for a $20 car tab fee.” “I am not in favor of moving forward on that,” added Council
Volunteer firefighter resigns during inquiry
BY ROBERT WHALE rwhale@auburn-reporter.com
One of the two defendants charged with the murder of 19-year-old Jerry “Mike” Clayton on July 6, 2016 and setting the mobile home he shared with his father ablaze pleaded guilty Aug. 18 to first-degree murder, firstdegree burglary and first-degree arson. Judge Cheryl Carey will set a sentencing date later this month for Sebastian Gregg in courtroom 3F of the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. Gregg was charged as an adult under Washington state’s automatic adult jurisdiction law, which allows for prosecution in adult court for 16- and 17-year-olds who are accused of serious, violent offenses. The murder and burglary charges
BY RAY STILL
[ more CHARGED page 7 ]
INSIDE Special section
SWOOP
[ more FIREFIGHTER page 7 ]
Auburn Int’l Farmers Market
[ more FEE page 7 ]
Teen pleads guilty to arson, murder
rstill@courierherald.com
A Mountain View Fire and Rescue volunteer firefighter has resigned from the department following allegations of racist comments on social media. The department received an email from an anonymous source on Sunday, Aug. 13. “I’ve come across a Mountain View firefighter… who has been flagrantly using the ‘n-word’ on social media and threatens ‘lynching,’ ” the person wrote. “I’ve provided a screenshot of his inappropriate public behavior on social media and included some pictures of the firefighter so you can identify this man.” The email was also sent to the Enumclaw Courier-Herald. Upon receiving the email, Mountain View opened an investigation into the comments, which the emailer said the firefighter had made sometime shortly after the 2016 presidential election. “Upon further investigation by the department, it appeared that there could be some association with the posting and the person contained in the photo,” Fire Chief Greg Smith said in a press release on Aug. 17, adding that while the photos identified a volunteer firefighter, the name of the Facebook
member Claude DaCorsi, like Wale, Bob Baggett and Bill Peloza, members of the City Council’s
AUGUST 27
Ciscoe Morris
at the Market
Patreon Lee, a senior-to-be at Auburn High School, drives to the rim during the Jim Marsh Classic 3-on-3 basketball tournament at Emerald Downs last Saturday. About 240 teams competed in 27 divisions – from second-graders to adult categories – during the two-day event. Story, more photos, pages 18, 19. MARK KLAAS, Auburn Reporter
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