SEE INSIDE: East Pierce firefighters receive commendation | Page 2 . . . . The limits of free speech | Page 6 . . . Spring is coming, start your garden | Page 9
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Wednesday, January 28, 2015 | 75 cents
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East Pierce deputy chief ready to retire By Ray Still
when I started.” McDonald has worked with several different fire organiEast Pierce zations during his Fire and Rescue career, but considDeputy Chief John ers working with McDonald has seen East Pierce and forthe fire department mer Fire Chief Dan grow from a small Packer the most city fire depart- John McDonald important career ment to the largest decision he ever fire district in the made, both personcounty. ally and professionally. And now, after 18 years “It’s been a great career,” of working with East Pierce, he said. “I wouldn’t trade McDonald will be retiring anything that I have done at the start of March. in my career for the world. I “I set a goal for myself to leave here with no regrets.” do 30 years and retire while McDonald announced I was still young enough,” his retirement to the Board McDonald said. “As I got of Fire Commissioners into my career, I thought that was a good goal I set SEE RETIREMENT, PAGE 4 Staff Writer
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Sports...
Panthers beat Lions 44-39 Page 3
Mallory Bell adjusts a bracelet at her booth during the Windmill Gardens winter market in Sumner Saturday. Photo by Dennis Box
Winter Market
Washington’s smoke signals: convictions reconsidered
Weather The forecast for today, Wednesday, calls for cloudy skies and a 20 percent chance of rain. Thursday through Saturday, the days look mostly sunny with high temperatures in the mid-50s. Nighttime lows will drop to the lower 40s. A chance of rain returns to the picture Sunday.
By Rebecca Gourley The Reporter
W
ith 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 crimi-
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DIRECTORY K
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nal convictions of possession of marijuana. With a whole slew of marijuana-related 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. One of the bills that didn’t make the cut was reintroduced this session by its primary sponsor, Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, a Democrat from the 34th district. If enacted into law, the bill would allow people with a single misdemeanor marijuana conviction to vacate their conviction status. This means they
SEE SMOKE SIGNALS, PAGE 5
AD DEADLINE: Noon, Wednesday Feb. 18, 2015 PUBLISHES: Feb. 25, 2015
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