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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 2019)
A11 THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2019 Wounded teacher expected shots Special Olympics funding to be at school, not on drive home restored, not cut Bus driver shot in torso, drove passengers to safety By COLLIN BINKLEY and CATHERINE LUCEY Associated Press By LISA BAUMANN and GENE JOHNSON Associated Press SEATTLE — Longtime school- teacher Deborah Judd has grown accustomed to active-shooter drills in her second-grade classroom. She was less prepared to see a gunman in the street on her way home. She became the fi rst to be shot by a man as he opened fi re on cars in a Seattle neighborhood, apparently at random, leaving two people dead and wounding a bus driver who was praised for getting the passengers to safety. “He walked straight out in the mid- dle of the road and he shot me, then he shot me again,” Judd, 56, told reporters from her hospital bed Thurs- day. “I guess I always thought some- thing like that would happen in school because we talk so much about school shootings. “But I never thought I’d be driving home in my car and someone would step out in the street and shoot me,” she said. Judd was headed home to subur- ban Snohomish on Wednesday after a meeting at Laurelhurst Elementary School, “zipping along, I think I was eating Cheez-Its,” she said. Then she saw the gunman. He fi red into her windshield as she got close and fi red again after the car came to a stop on a road that follows a ridge above Lake Washington in residential northeast Seattle. Bullets lodged in her arm, shoulder and lung. Judd said she slumped over the emergency brake of her car and stayed still — wondering why no one was helping her — until the shooting stopped. The gunman next fi red into a King County Metro bus, striking the driver, and approached a car that had slowed down and shot again, kill- ing the 50-year-old man behind the wheel and fl eeing in his car as offi cers arrived, authorities said. Police say suspect Tad Michael Norman, 33, then crashed head-on into another vehicle, killing the 70-year-old man driving. Norman WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he is backing off his budget request to elimi- nate funding for the Spe- cial Olympics, reversing course on a proposal that was unlikely to be approved by Congress after days of bipartisan criticism. Speaking to reporters Thursday as he left the White House for a rally in Mich- igan, Trump said he had authorized funding for the organization. “I heard about it this morn- ing,” he said. “I have overrid- den my people. We’re fund- ing the Special Olympics.” Trump’s announcement came after Education Sec- retary Betsy DeVos spent days defending the proposal, which drew widespread con- demnation from lawmak- ers as well as advocates and celebrities. The president’s sudden reversal refl ected a political desire to move away from a plan that was not expected to pass Con- gress but also underscored Trump’s comfort with undercutting top offi cials. Said Trump: “I’ve been to the Special Olympics. I think it’s incredible.” DeVos, walking back her defense of the cuts proposal, issued a statement, saying: “I am pleased and grateful the President and I see eye to eye on this issue and that he has decided to fund our Spe- cial Olympics grant. This is funding I have fought for behind the scenes over the last several years.” The remarks were a sharp contrast from her comments to Senate Democrats in a budget hearing earlier in the day. DeVos said her depart- ment had to make “tough AP Photo/Steve Ringman The scene of the shooting in Seattle. AP Photo/Elaine Thompson Deborah Judd in her hospital bed at Harborview Medical Center. was taken into custody after a brief standoff, police said. Investigators offered no informa- tion about a potential motive. Nor- man, who lives near the shooting scene, was jailed on suspicion of homicide, assault and robbery. He was expected to make his fi rst court appearance today, and it was not clear if he had obtained a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. Norman did not appear to have any signifi cant criminal history in Wash- ington state. He was a vendor with Microsoft and his contract ended last year, a company representative said. The bus driver, Eric Stark, 53, was shot in the torso but still managed to drive his passengers to safety, authori- ties said. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said he “saved lives and took action even after being harmed.” Stark, recovering in a hospital Thursday, told ABC’s “Good Morn- ing America” that “it’s what any other driver would be able to do if they were physically able.” “I ducked down really quick for some cover, did like a two-second assessment of my injuries and fi gured, ‘Well, I can breathe, I can think, I can see, and I can talk,’” Stark said. “So for me, that was enough to go, ‘OK, we’re getting out of here. I’ve gotta get these people out of here.’” None of the passengers aboard the bus got hurt, King County Metro said. John Barrett told Seattle news sta- tion KOMO-TV that he was in his garage when he heard what sounded like fi recrackers. Barrett went outside and saw a man pointing a gun at peo- ple as he walked down a street, “fi ring at anything just without any regard.” Judd wept as she recounted hear- ing the shot that killed the 50-year- old and wondered if he had stopped to help her. She said she decided to speak with reporters so her stu- dents could see that she was all right. “I want to make sure the kids know I’m OK and that I’ll be back soon and I love them,” she said. “You’re 7 years old and you have to process your teacher being shot. It’s not OK. It’s not OK. That’ll be something that sticks in their lives forever.” OSU Extension Service | Clatsop County Watch the Hatch! Get choices” on the budget and insisted the Special Olym- pics should be supported through private donations. In a heated exchange with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., DeVos said she “wasn’t per- sonally involved” in pushing for elimination of the fund- ing, but she defended it as her agency seeks to cut $7 billion for the 2020 budget. “Let’s not use disabled children in a twisted way for your political narrative,” she said. The president’s shift Thursday was not the fi rst time he has undermined a top aide. He repeat- edly berated former Attor- ney General Jeff Sessions in public and private and clashed openly with former Secretary of State Rex Til- lerson, ultimately fi ring him in a tweet. The Trump adminis- tration’s education bud- get proposal called for the elimination of $17.6 mil- lion in funding for the Spe- cial Olympics, amount- ing to roughly 10 percent of the group’s overall rev- enue. Most of its funding comes from individual and corporate contribu- tions and other fundraising efforts. The Special Olym- pics is the largest sports orga- nization in the world for people with intellectual dis- abilities, with over 5 million athletes from 174 countries participating in competitions while spreading a global message of inclusion and empowerment. The orga- nization celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. Trump offi cials previ- ously called for the elimi- nation of Special Olympics funding in their budget pro- posal for 2019, but Congress rejected the idea. Lawmak- ers from both parties said they would reject it again for 2020. $2.00 off your 2 nd entree! offer expires 4/7/2019 Refre Marga shing ritas! Follow the OSU Extension Chick-Cam Expected hatch date is April 10 th , but follow the live streaming chick-cam starting April 3 rd to learn about Extension egg hatching Service and the brooding of bantam OSU | Clatsop County chicks. Fun for the entire family! www.extension.oregonstate.edu/Clatsop OSU Extension serves Clatsop County by offer ing 4-H youth development programs, and expertise to assist with agriculture, gardening, forestry & natural resources, coastal natural hazards, marine management & fisheries, and water resources & community development. REASONABLE PRICES, GREAT SERVICE AND LARGE PORTIONS TO LEARN MORE, GIVE US A CALL, OR STOP BY Clatsop County Extension 2001 Marine Drive, Room 210 Astoria OR 97103 (503) 325-8573 Clatsop4HExtension OSU Extension Service educational programs, services, activities, and materials are available to all people. EL COMPADRE 119 S. MAIN ST. · WARRENTON 503-861-2906
