Mystery Man
D.B. Cooper identity revealed?
A-6
471055448
7pm
In this issue: B-3
Compliments of the Sequim Gazette
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Sequim Gazette www
Sequim’s Hometown Newspaper
com
75 cents
Vol. 41, Number 27
Crabs, aplenty
Holy Smokes! Church members of the Sequim Valley Foursquare and Sequim Vineyard Churches, from left, Misha Urquia, Sean Clift, Wyatt Hull (alien), Christian Preciado, Chris Urquia, D’Erien Cooper, Jeremiah Clift, Karli Furgerson, Ashleigh Weeks (cow), Dylan Weeks (shark) and Olivia Kirsch, stands near one of their two fireworks booths to raise money for a mission trip to Barahona, Dominican Republic, in November. Sequim Gazette photo by Alana Linderoth
Youth group raises funds with fireworks for mission trip by ALANA LINDEROTH Sequim Gazette
Twenty youth from the Sequim Valley Foursquare Church and Sequim Vineyard Christian Fellowship are operating two firework stands everyday until Saturday to raise funds for a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. The airline ticket alone cost $1,800 per individual, thus the goal for the group is to raise about $36,000. This is the third year the youth group, lead by youth pastor Sean Clift, have used firework stands to
help raise funds for their mission trip and so far business has been Fourth of July “pretty good,” Clift said. However, events and tips in past years the last couple days leading to the Fourth of July tend inside on A-10 to be the busiest, Clift said. Although the youth group is constantly involved in the local community throughout the year, this is the eighth year the group has embarked on a “long-range mission trip,” Clift said. This year the group is Barahona bound. Come late November, the youth group, ranging in age from
See Mission, A-10
Lavender’s abundant bloom Lavender Farmers say plants on track for festivities by MATTHEW NASH Sequim Gazette
The familiar pink and purple of Sequim’s lavender fields are coming to fruition this week. After a few off years for the blooming season due to cold and wet conditions, local lavender farmers are expecting a big bounce back. When Vickie Oen, general manager of Purple Haze Lavender Farm, started with
Thanks to a warmer year, farmers in Sequim area harvest early season lavender like this Folgate at Washington Lavender Farm. Photo by Ron Stecker
the farm 14 years ago, she said now, early July, was the time when the plants began blooming. “It’s cycled back around to a more traditional time frame,” she said. “One year, it didn’t bloom until the
Monday leading to Lavender Weekend.” Many farms like Lost Mountain Lavender and Purple Haze have started their U-pick lavender season already while others like The Lavender Connection start
on July 4 or only during Lavender Weekend, running July 18-20, like Blackberry Forest. Farmers don’t seem to anticipate seeing any hiccups with plants blooming on time before and near Sequim
See Bloom, A-3
Jodi Simmons of the Sequim Valley Lions Club holds up three of 400 dungeness crab supplied for the 2014 crab feed on June 28. Read more about the events on A-4. Sequim Gazette photo by Alana Linderoth
Law enforcement addresses cannabis impact in Sequim by ALANA LINDEROTH Sequim Gazette
While the state awaits first licensed retail marijuana retailers tentatively on July 7, local law enforcement officials find they’ll take a wait and see approach since they’ve been handling cannabis cases long before Initiative 502 passed. “We’re not really doing anything differently,” said Trooper Russell Winger for the Washington State Patrol. “We’ve been dealing with it (cannabis) and arresting impaired drivers for years.” What will change for Winger and other local law officials is the new marijuana laws, such as no underage possession/ use and no use in public, similar to the no open container law applied to alcohol. From the State Patrol’s perspective, there hasn’t been a significant impact on enforcement since the legalization of recreational cannabis, Winger said, but it’s really too early to tell or statistically identify the impacts, if any. To “make the highways safer,” Winger said every car a trooper stops, he/she is looking for impairment each time and was procedure before the legalization of recreational cannabis. Despite there not being a breathalyzer test available for cannabis like there is for distinguishing amounts of alcohol in an individual’s system, Winger said all state patrolmen are well-trained in identifying signs of impairment and it is up to the individual trooper whether an individual will be arrested for driving under the influence (DUI). Field sobriety tests are indeed voluntary but Winger strongly encourages all individuals to participate if asked because it gives the individual an opportunity to prove he or she isn’t impaired, despite a trooper’s inkling. In addition, opting out of a field sobriety test does not mean the individual is free of lawful ramifications if the trooper decides. If there’s trouble determining the legitimacy of a DUI or other type of infraction related to possible cannabis impairment, a drug expert may get involved and/or a blood test will be administered, which again is voluntary or achieved through a warrant, Winger said. Blood tested in a toxicology lab can provide a wealth
See Cannabis, A-9
Sports B-7 • Schools B-9 • Arts & Entertainment B-1 • Opinion A-12 • Obituaries A-11 • Classifieds C-1 • Crossword Section C
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