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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS September 9, 2014 | 75¢
Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
Man punched by police at Sequim bar files suit BY JOE SMILLIE PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
TACOMA –– The man who was punched by Sequim police outside a punk rock concert at the Oasis Bar and Grill during the 2013 Irrigation Festival filed an excessive force suit against the city and Police Chief Bill Dickinson in federal court Monday. Attorneys for Morgan Weimer, 47, of Sequim claim officers used excessive force that violated Weimer’s civil
rights when they punched him while he was face down in a planter box outside the Oasis. They are seeking damages and attorney’s fees from the city that will be determined by the judge or jury hearing the case. “Morgan isn’t asking for much — just medical bills, the week’s wages he lost while he was recovering and a little pain and suffering,” his attorney, John Black of Port Angeles, said. TURN
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1 dies, another injured in Sequim-area wild ride PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
SEQUIM –– A Port Angeles man is dead after reportedly crashing his small pickup truck into a tree to end a wild ride through the Dungeness Valley northwest of Sequim. Authorities Monday said alcohol was involved. According to a report by Clallam County Sheriff’s Sgt. Eric Munger, Paulo Blevins, 38, of Port Angeles and a passenger were the subject of several 9-1-1 calls as
they drove an older model GMC pickup through agricultural fields and into the side of a house during a 4½-mile ride Sunday afternoon. Munger’s report said passenger, Justin Schroeder, 23, also of Port Angeles, was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for injuries sustained in the crash. Harborview officials Monday said Schroeder was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released. Peninsula Communications, or
PenCom, dispatchers received the first call about 3:15 p.m., when a caller reported a truck driving erratically through a field in the 100 block of Fitzgerald Road off Old Olympic Highway. A second call came in about three minutes later when dispatchers were told that a pickup with a similar description ran into the side of a house in the 8000 block of Old Olympic Highway. TURN
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ONP hiker OK after taking longer route Hall, who failed to rendezvous with family members Thursday at Slab Camp trailhead south of Sequim, showed up at the Elwha station at about 10 a.m., said Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for Olympic National Park. He was debriefed by park rangers late Monday morning, and declined to be interviewed by the news media, Maynes said. “Hiking in the wilderness, you need to accept it on its own terms. Mr. Hall was able to do that. It just took him a couple of extra days,” she said.
Olympics fog diverts him to Elwha Valley BY ARWYN RICE PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Stymied by fog and clouds high in the Olympic Mountains last week, Kelly Hall lost his trail in the mile-high Grand Valley. But the 64-year-old experienced hiker wasn’t lost for long. Recognizing where he had wandered, he followed the more strenuous Lillian River Trail to the Elwha River. It took days longer than he had planned, and that triggered a huge search that included aircraft, search dogs and numerous volunteers, all concentrated along his original path in the mountains south of Sequim. Instead, Hill emerged in good shape about 20 miles west of that
Kelly Hall Praised for his experience destination Monday morning. Hall reached the Elwha Ranger Station after being given a ride by a fellow hiker for the final 4 miles. “He’s doing extremely well,” said Denison Rauw, one of two park rangers who welcomed Hall to the Elwha Valley station.
Off course Rauw said Hall was given food, a sports drink and a change of clothing while rangers talked to him about how he ended up in the Elwha Valley instead of his intended destination closer to the Dungeness Valley. Hall had planned a 39-mile hike in the northeast corner of the park. TURN
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ARWYN RICE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Olympic National Park Rangers Denison Rauw, left, and Barb Maynes, park spokeswoman, discuss the return of missing hiker Kelly Hall at the Elwha Ranger Station, where Hall appeared unharmed Monday morning.
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Name behind landmark ruling gains limelight The 2012 McCleary, et al. v. State of Washington ruling said lawmakers are not meeting their constitutional responsibility to fully pay for basic education, and they are relying too much on local tax-levy dollars to balance the education budget. BY CHARLIE BERMANT The decision upheld the efforts PENINSULA DAILY NEWS of a coalition that won a lawsuit CHIMACUM — Though the on school funding in King County namesake of the state Supreme Superior Court in February 2010. Court’s McCleary decision often tries to keep a low profile, the Legislature must fully fund local resident is back in the budThe court commended the Leggeting controversy between the islature for passing some reforms court and state Legislature in the K-12 system and for startcaused by the ruling. ing to pay for them, but the deciOn occasion, Stephanie sion orders the Legislature to finMcCleary, an administrative sec- ish paying for the reforms, which retary for Chimacum School Dis- may add more than $4 billion to trict Superintendent Rich Stewart, the state’s biennial budget, accordemerges in support of the ruling ing to some government estimates. that the state is obligated to fully The Legislature was given fund public schooling. until the 2017-18 school year to “It goes in waves,” McCleary fix the problem. said. A decision is expected as to “It’s present in my life for a whether the court will attempt to short while, and then it’s gone and force the Legislature to come up I’m in the background for several with a plan by the end of 2014, years, and then it comes back.” which would require a special sesMcCleary is currently in active sion, or to wait until after the mode, having attended last week’s 2015 session to determine Supreme Court hearing called to whether the requirement has determine whether the Legislabeen met. ture should be held in contempt for not acting in its past session. TURN TO MCCLEARY/A4
McCleary suit forces school funding change
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Stephanie McCleary, the Sequim native whose name is on the decision compelling the state to fully fund education, is shown in her office at the Chimacum School District.
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