February 8, 2023
ISSUE 6
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Career night for Clevenger fuels Cruiser victory By Skip Smith Contributing writer
On a night when the Eatonville community gathered at Rainier Connect Arena to honor the seniors on the Eatonville High School boys basketball team, it was junior Griffin Clevenger who stole the show. His game-high 33 points helped power the Cruisers to an 87-67 victory over Elma to finish off their regular season schedule. "So I just let them fly, and after the first one that I hit, I knew that I was in the zone and told my team to keep giving me the ball,” Clevenger said after the game. Clevenger hit eight three-pointers on the night on his way to a careerhigh scoring performance. "That's exactly what Griffin is capable of," head coach TJ Cotterill said. "Elma sagged on him, and he made them pay with big-advantage shots."
After both teams kept things close in the first half, which saw Eatonville leading by two at the half, the Cruisers came out in the third quarter and extended that lead. Clevenger scored 10 of his 33 points in the quarter to help put the Cruisers up by nine entering the final quarter, where Clevenger did the most damage. While still in the zone shooting and with an electric crowd behind him, Clevenger hit four consecutive three-pointers. He hit the last one with one minute remaining from beyond NBA three-point range to give the Cruisers a 20-point lead, 85-65. Clevenger said the crowd and the student section in particular were one keys to his stellar shooting performance. "The student section is one of the biggest reasons I kept shooting and wasn't missing,” Clevenger said. “I BASKETBALL Page 3Æ
Photo by Todd Hobert Photography / www.toddhobert.com Eatonville's Griffin Clevenger shoots over Elma's Kyren Hackney in the Cruisers 87-67 victory over the Eagles on Thursday night.
Pierce County officials, tribes continue pushback on potential airport sites By Spencer Pauley The Center Square
The Pierce County Council along with the Nisqually and Puyallup Indian tribes are continuing their push to halt the construction on a future airport in the region. Last year the Washington state Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission recommended three sites for a new commercial airport in the state because the SeattleTacoma International Airport is on track to exceed its capacity by 2050. Two of the three potential locations are in central Pierce
County and in east Pierce County. County officials have already sent a joint letter in October, 2022 objecting to the two greenfield spaces as a potential airport location. In a new resolution, the Pierce County Council recommends the Washington state Legislature extend the final greenfield recommendation deadline for the commission. “The mission of the [Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission] was constrained due to inadequate funding and the pandemic outbreak, which limited
its ability to provide suitable public outreach, and to examine air space constraints and built environments,” the resolution stated. The resolution added that a commercial airport on either of the recommended greenfield sites will adversely affect rural communities and rural character in the areas. The Puyallup Tribe of Indians penned a letter to the Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission saying that either location hinders environmental and natural resources that the tribe consider important to its traditional way of
life. Juvenile salmon are incubated in a tribal fishery operation at Lake Kapowsin, which is within a potential airport construction area. The Puyallup Tribe also uses that site for ceremonial hunting. The Nisqually Indian Tribe also emphasized the impact that airport construction would have on the local environment as well as the local salmon population in its own letter to the Washington state Department of Transportation. The AIRPORT Page 7Æ