INSIDE | Mill Creek Middle School students conduct mock hearings [2]
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Kentwood’s Varela leaps to greater heights [20]
FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 2012
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Operator vows to stay open despite ban Medical marijuana collective garden owner plans to ‘fight all the way’
BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
Charles Lambert has no plans to close Evergreen Association of Collective Gardens in Kent even though the city’s new ordinance to ban medical marijuana collective gardens went into effect Wednesday.
“My attorney and I plan to fight all the way,” Lambert said during a phone interview Wednesday. “If they want to charge me, charge me. Then we can get it into court and let the court decide who is right.” The City Council voted 4-3 on June 5 [ more GARDENS page 18 ]
Rosalie Jewett is a happy and active 10-year-old girl who suffers from seizures. Her family hopes to raise enough money to buy a service dog to be by her side. COURTESY PHOTO
FINDING A FURRY FRIEND FOR ROSALIE BY SARAH KEHOE skehoe@kentreporter.com
Youth leagues compete on the new pitch at Petrovitsky Park last Saturday. Officials officially celebrated the reopening of two, full-scale synthetic turf fields at the regional park, open to all, including the Kent Youth Soccer Association. MARK KLAAS, Kent Reporter
‘Petro’ Park’s paradise pitch Local, state officials embrace new turf fields BY MARK KLAAS mklaas@kentreporter.com
As a soccer dad and youth league volunteer, Dennis Higgins vividly recalls a time when Petrovitsky Park’s sand fields would
disintegrate into a quagmire on soggy game days. “We used to sit up here when it was a giant mud pit, and the kids would come home covered head to toe,” said Higgins, the Kent City Council president and a youth soccer supporter. The park is no longer a sloppy mud pit, but a pitch in paradise.
Kent teen star meets Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Elton John, others BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
A Kent teen starring in a London musical doubted his manager who told him Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie wanted to see him after the show. “I didn’t really believe him,” said Adam Vesperman, who plays the
lead role in “Billy Elliot the Musical” at the Victoria Palace Theatre, in an email interview. Vesperman, who turned 14 on June 11, didn’t even know the couple and four of their six children were in the audience for the May 12 matinee. They simply [ more VESPERMAN page 4 ]
“It’s gorgeous,” Higgins said of the park’s transformation from muck yard to synthetic turf fields. “To have this now is great. It’s going to be a community asset for years to come.” Higgins joined officials from the Kent Youth Soccer Association (KYSA), state dignitaries, volunteers, [ more PARK page 5 ]
After years of searching, the Jewett parents finally feel they have diagnosed their daughter. “Rosalie has severe epileptic seizure, is a cancer survivor and is mentally handicapped,” said her mother, Shawna. “But more than anything, she is a content, happy girl who brings joy to our family.” The Jewetts are hoping
Cultural celebration returns to Kent plaza The Kent International Festival unfolds Saturday for the fourth year as part of the Sister Cities Association. The festival – a cel-
to raise $27,000 needed to purchase a service dog for 10-year-old Rosalie. The dog would be trained to alert Rosalie and her parents when a seizure is about to occur, help take care of Rosalie during an episode and interact with her if she is upset. “More than anything, this dog can be her companion and make her feel like she’s never alone,” [ more ROSALIE page 9 ]
ebration of the community’s cultural diversity – runs from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Kent’s Town Square Plaza at the corner of Smith and Second Avenue (across from the [ more FESTIVAL page 16 ]
Adam Vesperman, of Kent, is the second from the right of the five Billy Elliots who joined Elton John on stage in London. COURTESY PHOTO, David Barker