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LOCAL | Child unharmed during vehicle theft [page 3]
Young and Fast | Scott Funston, a ninth grader at Tahoma, placed first in the FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2015 cyclocross national championship [XX]
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Washington’s smoke signals: Pot convictions reconsidered
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Smith hopes movie theater will ‘anchor’ Town Center
BY REBECCA GOURLEY
BY ERIC MANDEL
rgourley@maplevalleyreporter.com
emandel@covingtonreporter.com
With the passage of I-502 in 2012, development of marijuana legislation and marijuana research has surged to unprecedented levels. In an attempt to clearly translate new laws and research, the Reporter and Courier-Herald will examine these issues in a four-part series. Part one of this series addresses the issue of previous criminal convictions of possession of marijuana.
Sean Smith was disappointed when he was passed over for a council seat in 2008. He felt ready. Looking back, he realizes that might not have been true. “To be totally honest, it was probably the best thing for me because I thought I was qualified and ready and realized over the last half dozen years, being on the planning commission, I learned a lot,” he said. “I have a much better grasp of what the community wants.” The Covington City Council finalized the fluctuating faces of its city Sean Smith government Jan. 13 by appointing Smith to the council. Smith, an environmentalist and Covington resident since 2006, takes over for Wayne Snoey who resigned for health reasons at the end of 2014. He joins Regan Bolli, who started as the new City Manager on Jan. 12. Smith, 49, spent five years as chairman of the Covington Planning Commission and is an environmental specialist in the Hazardous Waste, Toxics Reduction Program for the Washington state Department of Ecology. He and his wife, MaryAnn, have two children — Luke, 11, and Sophia, 9. After an unsuccessful run for Bud [ more SMITH page 2 ]
W
ith a whole slew of marijuanarelated legislation on the docket in Olympia this session, it’s clear legislators are more comfortable with the idea of weeding out the issues surrounding recreational pot legalization. Initiative 502, passed by voters in the 2012 election, was still in its infancy when the 2013-14 biennium began. It appeared legislators wanted to back off from pot until they were armed with more information to better talk about the issues that surrounded it. Only about 10 percent of the filed bills relating to marijuana were passed into law at the end of the last biennium. [ more SMOKE page 6 ]
Dance The Night Away
‘Weoples’ on the way to nationals BY REBECCA GOURLEY rgourley@maplevalleyreporter.com
Tahoma High School’s We the People team of constitutional masterminds have won the state championship for the sixth time in a row, its 19th state win overall. In April, the team of 26 seniors will head to Washington, D.C. for the national competition. But the road to get there will not be an easy one. Gretchen Wulfing, the students’ teacher and eightyear coach for We the People, told the students last week that if they want to get into the top three at
Kelly Fong, an eighth grade student at Cedar Heights Middle School in Covington performed with her team, the Sparks, at the Tahoma Dance Competition Jan. 17. REBECCA GOURLEY, The Reporter
nationals, it’s going to require a lot of work. Sydney Murrey is up for the challenge. She comes from a family that isn’t strangers to the We the People team, or “Weoples” as they like to call themselves. Her two older siblings competed on the team as seniors and both went on to compete at Nationals. Murrey said she’s excited for the chance to go to nation’s capital and is willing to put in the work that is looming over her and her teammates. “We’ve worked this hard since July; I’m ready to push hard through the end,” she said in an interview. Her teammates agree. Megan Simmons, who is in the group that studies philosophical ideas surrounding the Constitution, said the hard work isn’t really work anymore. “It’s a lifestyle at this point,” she said, laughing. Her new “lifestyle” has had its influence on her other studies at Tahoma. It has not only helped her [ more WEOPLES page 6 ]
Tahoma’s We the People team took the championship title at the state competition and will move to the national competition in April in Washington,D.C. Courtesy Photo