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Wednesday, February 4, 2015 | 75 cents
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Jersey retired...
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Marijuana myths, facts get review 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 are examining these issues in a series of articles spanning the next few weeks. Part one of this series – published Jan. 28 – addressed the issue of previous criminal convictions for possession of marijuana. Today’s article addresses one of crucial issues surrounding marijuana – is it addictive?
By Ray Still
The Courier-Herald
Think back to high school health class. You may have seen the old propaganda film “Reefer Madness,” originally released in 1938, though it was revived and brought back to schools in the 1970s. Sparing the plot details of the film, it paints marijuana as “the new drug menace which is destroying the youth of America in
Glacier Middle School students walked to the White River Friday, releasing young salmon into a peaceful stretch of water where a small creek spills into the fast-flowing river. Students in Joe Frame’s GMS classroom had raised the salmon as part of a lesson about ecosystems and protecting natural habitat. At the river, students were assisted by volunteers from Citizens for a Healthy Bay, a nonprofit group that works to enhance Tacoma’s Commencement Bay and other regional waters. Students were quizzed about the riverside habitat – Was it a good place to release the salmon? Was it a likely spot for them to return for spawning? – and they tested the water for both temperature and ph level. At left, students release their young fish. Photo by Kevin Hanson
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SEE MARIJUANA, PAGE 3
Young salmon get a helping hand
The 32 jersey will never again be worn by a member of the Enumclaw High boys basketball team. It was retired Friday night during a halftime ceremony honoring EHS legend Brian Scalabrine, who spent 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association, playing for three teams. He now works as a color analyst for Fox Sports New England
Today, Wednesday, brings a 40 percent chance of rain with a high near 51. Thursday calls for an increased chance of rain and a high near 55. Friday through Sunday looks much the same, with rain sticking around and temps in the 50s.
alarmingly increasing numbers.” The film claims marijuana is a violent and soul destroying narcotic which leads to “acts of shocking violence, ending often in incurable insanity.” You’ve probably heard the opposite claims, if you’ve ever been to Seattle’s Hempfest. Stories about marijuana being a “miracle drug” that
Uncle charged in child’s assault By Sarah Wehmann Staff Writer
Darren James Pendergast was charged Jan. 28 by the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office with assault of a child in the second degree for an incident that occurred Jan. 25, near Carbonado. Second degree assault of a child is a class B felony. Pierce County deputies spoke with the victim, who is Pendergast’s 3-year-old niece, and her mother. The niece had a swollen and bruised eye, split lower lip and scratches on her arm. Court documents state the girl was
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transported to a nearby hospital and was later diagnosed with a fractured orbital socket and damage to her liver and kidney. She was then transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Prior to the deputies arriving, Pendergast had left the residence. The victim’s mother told police while she and her sister, Pendergast’s wife, were out, Pendergast took the girl and his 6-year-old son for a walk in the woods. When the mother realized he had taken the children, she and Pendergast’s wife went looking. Two hours later, according to the
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documents, Pendergast returned home with the children. The girl was wet and muddy and he was carrying her wrapped in his sweatshirt. Pendergast said the girl had fallen into a mud puddle and he carried her home. While speaking with Pendergast’s wife, according to the documents, she told deputies “she had a really bad feeling” when she learned he had taken the children. Pendergast’s wife told deputies a few weeks earlier, she noticed a bruise on her 2-year-old’s cheek after Pendergast had been watching him. A day following Pendergast’s arrest, his son was interviewed about
what happened while on the walk in the woods. The son said his dad pushed the girl down in the mud, picked her up and threw her down again. He then said Pendergast pushed her down in a mud puddle and pinned her “like in a wrestling match” with her head face down in the water. When the girl tried to lift her head out of the water, the son said Pendergast kept her head down in the water “for a bit.” The son told investigators, Pendergast eventually picked the girl up and laid her down on the trail but she was too tired to moved. That, the son said, is when Pendergast picked her up and started carrying her home. Pendergast’s bail has been set at $400,000.
AD DEADLINE: Noon, Wednesday Feb. 18, 2015 PUBLISHES: Feb. 25, 2015
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