INSIDE | Museum’s exhibit pays tribute to ‘62 Seattle World’s Fair [9]
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Offseason shuffle: Tahoma, Kentwood adjust to hiring of new boys basketball coaches [14]
FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2012
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Group starts petition drive
Jerry Peterson, left, signs a petition at Kent Station for making marijuana offenses a low-priority enforcement in the city as he chats with signature gatherer Cydney Moore.
Sensible Washington looks to make marijuana offenses a low-enforcement priority BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
Jerry Peterson believes that marijuana offenses should be a low-priority enforcement for the Kent Police. That’s why Peterson took a
STEVE HUNTER, Kent Reporter
few minutes while visiting the Kent Station shopping mall on Tuesday evening to sign a petition that would let Kent voters decide in November if police should make enforcement of marijuana laws a low
priority and not cooperate with any federal enforcements of marijuana laws. “We got way more important things for cops to do,” said Peterson, a 37-year Kent resident. [ more PETITION page 4 ]
City Council approves controversial ShoWare economic impact study
To the rescue
BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
Kent firefighters rescued 13 ducklings that had fallen into a storm drain on the East Hill. A passerby stopped by the East Hill fire station April 10 along 116th Avenue Southeast to report ducklings had fallen into a storm drain and couldn’t get out. The Station 74 crew of Capt. Jim Merritt and firefighters Steve Smith, right, and Brent Flatness responded to the call. Smith and Flatness were able to reach into the drain and rescue the ducklings. They placed the ducklings in a bucket and released them in a pond across the street. The mother duck, which had been flying around watching the rescue, returned to the pond to care for her ducklings.
A $36,400 consultant contract to study the city-owned ShoWare Center’s economic impact caused quite a stir among the Kent City Council. The council voted 5-2 Tuesday night to approve the contract with Community Attributes International of Seattle. The study results are expected to be back in about four Ralph months, said Ben Wolters, city economic and community development director. Wolters described the purpose of the study as finding out after three years of operation the “real data that we can look to, to give us a very good and accurate answer as to how is ShoWare Center contributing to the economy of Kent?” But council members Dana
COURTESY PHOTO
Ralph and Bill Boyce, each in their first year on the council, let it be known they were clearly against the arena study. “I don’t think there’s any argument that the ShoWare is a benefit to this community,” Ralph said. “I’m just struggling with spending $36,400 at this point when we just don’t have a lot of money around. I’m concerned that we’re saying we’re spending this kind of money just so that we can say ShoWare is a benefit. “I’m struggling with the fact that the outcomes of the study are not going to be things like a new operating model or a change to how we’re doing business or those kind of things. (It’s) a lot of money to be spending to justify what we already know.” [ more SHOWARE page 2 ]
FAIRIES, MAGICAL FOLK SPRING T0 LIFE Ivy Francis, 5, grabs treasure from Fairy Princess Loly after winning a fairy costume contest. RACHEL CIAMPI, Reporter
GRCC stages imaginative festival for make believers BY SHAWN SKAGER sskager@auburn-reporter.com
Fairies are shy folk. Typically, the mythical, mischievous, mystical denizens of the forest – fairies, dryads, nymphs, brownies and pixies – like to stay deep within the confines of
their woodland homes and are rarely seen en masse. However, the fifth annual Spring Fairy Festival at the Lindbloom Center at Green River Community College in Auburn last Saturday provided a rare opportunity for the fantastical fairy folk to gather and celebrate the coming of spring. For the past five years, Auburn resident Angela Wehnert – owner of
Crescent Moon Gifts in Tacoma – has sponsored the event, encouraging fantasy enthusiasts to dress up in their finest fairy finery and enjoy a day with their peers. “This started as an event for my customers,” she said. “I thought it’d be fun to throw a little fairy party for them.” Wehnert admits her expectations were modest at first. She hosted the first [ more FESTIVAL page 5 ]