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Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
August 21, 2011
SPLAT!
Bombardier sea gulls unusually, um, active Peninsula Daily News
Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News
This sea gull enjoys its perch atop a Port Angeles streetlight, perhaps plotting its next plop.
Anyone who has lived on the North Olympic Peninsula knows sea gulls and their splatter come with the territory. “I wish we could put diapers on all of them,” said Port Angeles Downtown Association Executive Director Barb Frederick. Anecdotal evidence on cars and sidewalks suggests the gulls are bombing Peninsula waterfronts, but longtime residents said it’s par for the course. “This time of year, it’s always bad,” said Steve Chamberlain, who owns First Race Car Wash in Port Angeles. Reports from East Jefferson
County depict a burgeoning nuisance. “Sea gulls have taken over Port Townsend,” said Port of Port Townsend Executive Assistant Sue Nelson. “There’s definitely a huge number this year.” Nelson, who could see sea gull feathers outside her office window Friday, said the evidence is painted all over Water Street downtown. “It’s nasty,” said Roger Ramey, who owns Penny Saver Mart on East Sims Way. Ramey said his business has been spared the guano epidemic because it is further inland. But his customers who park downtown said their vehicles are
getting bombed. In downtown Port Angeles, a pickup truck’s paint on its hood has been blistered by gull bombs. Experts can’t confirm there are any more sea gulls this year than normal. The Victoria Times Colonist and The Port Townsend/Jefferson County Leader reported this month that a growing eagle population might be driving sea gulls into cities and towns. Robert Steelquist, education coordinator for the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, said that hypothesis is “entirely plausible.” Turn
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Splat!/A6
Medical pot provider back amid legal haze By Tom Callis
of a difference. Much like before, people authorized to use marijuana for medical purposes can go to the location at 303 Tumwater Truck Route, sign up to become a member of the cooperative and acquire the drug. What’s different now is that growing operations, done by cooperative members like Pharr, come under the label of “collective gardens.” The law that went into effect July 22 made dispensaries illegal,
Peninsula Daily News
A Port Angeles medical marijuana dispensary owner has reopened shop after being told by police a month ago that his business was illegal under a newly enacted state law. Richard Pharr said he reopened Olympian Canna LLC about two weeks ago in compliance with the law, partially vetoed by Gov. Chris Gregoire, though patients shouldn’t notice much
law enforcement agencies, such as people at a time. the Clallam County Sheriff’s Pharr said that section that Office and Port Angeles Police Gregoire left in keeps the cooperaDepartment, have concluded. tive legal. “The only thing that changed 15-day wait in the bill,” he said, “is that instead The main issue is the new of designating caregivers, they requirement that designated designate people to a collective medical marijuana providers wait garden that best suits their needs.” Olympian Canna was one of 15 days before serving another three known dispensaries on the authorized user. But the law does allow for North Olympic Peninsula before communally-run growing opera- the law went into effect. tions that serve no more than 10 The others were Olympic Sin-
semilla and Rain Shadow Cannabis Co-operative, both in the Sequim area. Bethany Rondeau of Olympic Sinsemilla said Friday that dispensary “no longer exists” but declined to comment further. Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict said he told Bethany and her husband, Justin, last month that they could not continue to operate under the new law. Turn
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Pot/A5
Evergreen State Platoon members killed in action Donald Heider, Renton ★ Graig Hemphill, Spokane ★ Michael Duffy, Spokane Daniel Minor, Everett ★ John Smith, Walla Walla ★ David Smith, Silverdale
All-state Marine unit from Viet era reunites Recruit buddies still ‘brothers’ 43 years later
Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News
Guy Iredale of Port Angeles rings a bell for fallen comrades during a memorial at Saturday’s reunion.
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boot camp commander. But the mood turned solemn when the names of each of the six platoon members killed in action in Vietnam were read. “It still hurts,” said Larry Plager, who read the names, and appeared choked up at times. By Tom Callis “We’re all brothers. We’re all a Peninsula Daily News band of brothers.” CARLSBORG — They trained One of those killed in action together, some fought together, was Michael Duffy, with whom and even a few graduated from Plager graduated from high high school together. school in Spokane. On Saturday, 14 members of “I think of him a lot,” said the “Evergreen State Platoon — Plager, 61. 3041” — a group of Vietnam War Gallihugh also found the readMarine Corps recruits made up ing emotional. entirely of Washington state resi“It brings tears to my eyes,” he dents — gathered near the said. Dungeness River to rekindle Gallihugh, who had served in memories and remember those the Marines for 10 years when who gave the ultimate sacrifice. the platoon graduated, said he The reunion, marking 43 had never seen a platoon made years since they graduated from up entirely of residents from one boot camp together, was full of state before. laughter, with a few light-hearted Typically, recruits trained jokes being tossed at the expense with others from around the of Roy Gallihugh, the platoon’s country.
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Eighty of the 85 applicants graduated, and Gallihugh attributed the high graduation rate to the quick bond they were able to form as fellow Washingtonians. “That goes a long way,” he said. Platoon member Walt Scott, 62, agreed. “It’s hard for 80 people to come together without some sort of commonality,” he said. “We all tied together so much better.” Turn
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Brothers/A6
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And the all-Washington platoon was not an accident. Gallihugh, 73, said the Marines, wary of relying on draftees, wanted to encourage recruits. Signing up with others from your home state was seen as a way to accomplish that. But it also made them better enlistees.
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