INSIDE | Walker resigns from Pacific City Council [4]
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Inside | School district honors tandem for volunteer work in computer science [10]
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016
Police make arrests tied to arson spree BY ROBERT WHALE rwhale@auburn-reporter.com
Police and prosecutors say they’re confident they’ve got the people behind most of the 25 fires attributed to the arsonist who set the Auburn community on edge between September and early January. And on Tuesday, the King County Prosecutor formally charged 22-year-
old Michael Austin McGrath of Auburn with one count of first-degree arson and four counts of second-degree arson. McGrath’s arraignment is Feb. 1 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. He is in jail on $350,000 bail. Police arrested McGrath in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the FBI, the Valley Regional Fire Authority
and other agencies and brought him into custody shortly before 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14, hours after the reporting of two more north-end fires that had broken out within 15 minutes of each other. No one was injured in the most recent fires, which damaged a boat and an occupied home. [ more ARRESTS page 8 ]
Auburn’s Molly Venzke’s latest book, ‘Caged No More’, which tells the complex world of sex trafficking, has emerged as a movie. It hits 200 theaters nationwide Friday. COURTESY PHOTO
Local author’s novel on sex trafficking makes it to big screen BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@fedwaymirror.com
DRIVE Auburn Mountainview’s Ki’Jan Weisinger attempts a shot against the tight defense of Auburn Riverside’s Julian Gulchuk during South Puget Sound League 3A play Tuesday night. The Lions prevailed, 48-41. Story, page 25.
Molly Venzke has personally helped Federal Way girls break the hold of sex trafficking. “I (recently) got a text from a friend of mine,” said Venzke, an Auburn resident who works at the Federal Way Christian Faith School. “A friend of hers was approached by a gentleman at work.” The woman’s low-paying job and lack of a work visa didn’t qualify her for the job this “gentleman” was saying she could get. “He started talking to her, saying he has a great opportunity for her,” Venzke said. “If she just comes with him, meets and goes to this location, there will be work for her. It was completely bogus.” Venzke said that if the woman had gone, she wouldn’t have been seen again.
RACHEL CIAMPI, Auburn Reporter
[ more VENZKE page 20 ]
TIME
Rolling oil trains raise local safety concerns BY ROBERT WHALE rwhale@auburn-reporter.com
Mile-long behemoths pulling tank cars freighted with millions of gallons of volatile shale oil from the fields of North Dakota, Colorado and Wyoming.
Every day, trains hauling the black, cigar-shaped cars clatter along the tracks through Auburn and other cities of King County, bearing cargo as flammable as gasoline, on their way to refineries up north.
While the odds of a derailment or explosion in Auburn, emergency personnel familiar with the issue say, are about equal to those of a person winning a Powerball, as
Miss Auburn crown up for grabs REPORTER STAFF
A field of nine contestants competes for the crown of Miss Auburn and 10 vie for the Miss Auburn Outstanding Teen title at the remodeled Auburn Performing Arts Center this weekend. [ more PAGEANT page 10 ]
[ more TRAINS page 7 ]
AveKids: The Commedia Pinocchio | Jan. 23, 2 pm | $8 | Auburn Ave. Theater Randy Hansen’s Jimi Hendrix Tribute | Jan. 30, 7:30 pm | $20/$18 | Auburn Ave. Theater Riders in the Sky | Feb. 6, 3 pm | $20/$18 | Auburn Perf. Arts Ctr. Tickets: www.auburnwa.gov/arts | 253-931-3043 1494698