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KENT
Community | Sun, crowds grace 42nd Kent Cornucopia Days; Chang captures crown [2, 10]
FRIDAY, JULY 19, 2013
Kent won’t allow recreational marijuana businesses BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
The city of Kent won’t allow any recreational marijuana businesses to open in town next year even though a new state law makes them legal. The Washington State Liquor
Control Board is finalizing rules and plans to start issuing licenses in December or January for recreational marijuana producers, processors and retailers. Kent could be considered a prime location for marijuana manufacturing with its large warehouse district and for retail-
ing with its numerous strip malls. But the City Council told city staff at a Tuesday workshop that it wants to treat recreational marijuana businesses the same way the city treats medical marijuana outlets, which are banned under city law. “If we do nothing with our
existing laws on the books, recreational marijuana is most like our medical marijuana code,” Tom Brubaker, city interim chief administrative officer, said to the council. “In our opinion the net result is since medical marijuana is banned so are all forms of recreational marijuana. If they come
to us, they will not be allowed in the city.” The council banned medical marijuana collective gardens with a 4-3 vote in June 2012 because it believes the businesses violate federal law that lists marijuana as an [ more MARIJUANA page 4 ]
Kent School District union negotiations make progress
Residents oppose city’s proposal to sell par 3 course
BY ROSS COYLE
BY STEVE HUNTER
rcoyle@kentreporter.com
shunter@kentreporter.com
Kent School District officials have made progress in negotiations at a Monday meeting with the Kent Association of Educational Office Professionals (KAEOP), school district officials said. They expect to have a final agreement by Friday. The news comes as a windfall after more than a year of negotiations between the union and KSD have left the KAEOP wondering if it will get a new contract. In an open letter to the district two weeks ago, KAEOP leaders expressed disappointment with the district’s handling of the negotiations, saying that on one hand the district calls
Kent city officials should tee up their idea to sell the Riverbend Par 3 golf course and send it into orbit. That pretty much sums up the majority opinion of about two dozen residents who attended an open house Monday at the Riverbend Golf Complex to discuss the city’s proposal to sell the 20-acre, money-losing course. Residents told city staff they want the 9-hole course to stay open, especially so kids can continue to have a place to play and learn the game as many now do through the First Tee of Greater Seattle and the Douglas Youth Development programs. “We have a duty and responsibility to the young people in the community,” said Cathy Wagner,
Tinkering Ryan Deboer makes an adjustment to his team’s robot at the Robot Garage event at the Kent Library on Tuesday. The Robot Garage, one of several Teen Summer Reading events hosted by
the Des Moines, Kent and Woodmont libraries, is designed to provide fun, engaging activities for teenagers over the summer. ROSS COYLE, Kent Reporter
[ more COURSE page 4 ]
[ more TALKS page 8 ]
Local church has a $500,000 sound system Kent Lutheran seeks funds to restore and install historic Mass. instrument BY ROSS COYLE rcoyle@kentreporter.com
Standing in front of the sixto-eight-foot tall organ pipes of the Kent Lutheran Church’s newest acquisition, it’s hard to imagine one person being responsible for so much
acoustic output. More than 3,000 pipes will eventually make up the organ’s acoustic range, varying from enormous metal bass pipes to diminutive wooden whistles, and they’re all controlled by a single console.
Kind of like being at the helm of a Star Destroyer. It was a lucky find for the Kent Lutheran Church, discovered in Salem, Mass., in an old church scheduled for demolition. Church member Fergus Prestbye expects that once the organ is set up in the church, it will cover most of the sanctuary’s rear wall and extend out eight feet.
The church has spent $50,000 so far on acquiring and moving the organ over to Washington, but $450,000 will be needed to complete the instrument. Kent Lutheran Church has been in need of an organ for some time, but the issue was only broached in the last few years. Sean Haley, the church’s organist and music director, sparked the discussion while he was still applying for his job at the church. [ more ORGAN page 3 ]
These same pipes were used in Salem, Mass., for more than a century. ROSS COYLE, Kent Reporter