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FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2015
People
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Inside | Petpalooza, Dog Trot return to Game Farm Park [13-16]
City Council overturns mayor’s veto on B&O tax BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
Mayor Suzette Cooke accused the City Council of treating the Kent Chamber of Commerce as another council member after it overturned
her veto about how to spend business and occupation (B&O) tax revenue. The council voted 5-2 on Tuesday night in favor of an amended ordinance for the city to spend all B&O revenue (after staff costs) on street
repairs rather than a $4.7 million cap with excess funds used to pay down internal city debt in the capital improvement fund, which helps pay for streets, parks, information [ more B&O page 5 ]
New school leader
Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas at a press conference on Monday at City Hall with Lisa Lynch and Martrice Grant, the parents of the 1-yearold baby Malijah Grant, shot and killed in their car on April 16 in Kent. STEVE HUNTER, Kent Reporter
Parents of baby shot to death plea for help to solve murder
Watts prepares for top job in Kent
BY STEVE HUNTER BY HEIDI SANDERS
shunter@kentreporter.com
hsanders@kentreporter.com
When Calvin Watts takes over as superintendent of the Kent School District in July, it will be a homecoming of sorts for the Seattlearea native. “I feel like an organically grown product,” he said. Watts grew up in BelCalvin Watts, new Kent schools superintendent, left, talks with Marcie Maxwell, right, and levue and lived in Tukwila district spokesman Chris Loftis at the Technology Expo on April 30. RACHEL CIAMPI, Reporter in the early 1990s after taking his first teaching job at who lives in Maple Valley. ward to returning to the area with South Shore Middle School, “He actually lives in the attenwhich is now Aki Kurose Middle his wife, Robbye, and 12-year-old dance zone of the district where I School in Seattle. son, Devin, after spending the last (will) serve,” he said. He has friends and family in [ more WATTS page 11 ] the Kent area including his father, Watts said he is looking for-
Green River College spares parent-child education BY HEIDI SANDERS hsanders@kentreporter.com
One of four Green River College programs on the chopping block for potential elimination has been spared. The parent-child education program faced being cut because of the cost to run the program, but faculty have come up with a solution that will
INSIDE: Green River College leaders explain reasons for looming cuts, page 6
reduce costs and allow the program to continue to operate, said Derek Brandes, the college’s vice president of instruction. College officials informed fac-
ulty on April 20 that in addition to parent-child education, the auto body technology, carpentry and geographic information systems programs could be eliminated to reduce a budget shortfall of $1.8 million to $5.2 million the college faces next year. [ more COLLEGE page 12 ]
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Martrice Grant held up photos of his 1-year-old baby daughter at a Kent Police press conference on Monday and told people to come forward to help solve the murder of Malijah Grant on April 16 in Kent. “This is what this is about,” Grant said as he displayed photos of his baby daughter in front of television news cameras and newspaper photographers at Kent City Hall. “It’s not about me or her (Lisa Lynch, the baby’s mother who stood next to
him), it’s about her. Period. Point blank. The news has taken me to be some hardened gangster. I’m not. What gangster gets respect out of this? My family has been targeted for gang violence that has nothing to do with us.” Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas told the media the shooting death of Grant is gang related and that the investigation has determined anywhere from 12 to 15 shootings between mid-March and the shooting of the baby have taken place between rival gangs [ more PLEA page 4 ]
Sara Beth Radical, a student in Green River College’s auto body technology program, addresses the Auburn City Council on Monday. ROBERT WHALE, Reporter
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