www . TheSkANNer . CoM
S epTeMBer 7, 2011
S eATTLe , w AShiNgToN
V oLuMe XXXiii, N o . 45
25
CeNTS
i nSide
Family events
page 2
Black power Mixtape
page 3
Jobs Listings
C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow
page 3
BumBershoot
Bomber’s
guilty
plea
White supremacist
court deal wins
reduced sentence
pHOTO BY SuSan Fried
By nicholas K. Geranios
The associated press
Music Legend Mavis Staples and her band joined hundreds of other musicians, performers, dancers, comedians
and artists over the Labor Day weekend at Bumbershoot, North America’s largest urban arts festival. The beautiful
weather drew thousands of people to the Seattle Center to hear music and see performances by national and local
artists.
Back-to-School Shoppers, higher prices
Retailers say rising cotton prices are largely to blame for cost hikes
By chris levister
Special to the nnpa from
the Blackvoicenews.com
S
chool aged kids have
made their post Labor Day
return to the classroom
and the tell-tale signs of rising
cotton prices and a sluggish
economy are everywhere.
“The prices are sky high, and
the quality stinks,” says Lisbeth
Rose-Scott, a mother of three
school children.
Tis’ the season of the back-to-
school sale, second most impor-
tant time on the retailer’s calen-
dar after Christmas. Early indi-
cations are consumers aren’t
buying this year’s bevy of high-
er priced merchandise from
jeans to pencils.
With costs for consumer
goods and services from apparel
to food and gas on the rise par-
ents like Rose-Scott are back-
to-school shopping at thrift
stores and dusting off hand-me-
downs. “I buy nice clothes for
the kids at the beginning of the
school year and halfway
through they’re already worn
indeX
out. Even their corduroy’s have
holes in the knees. I can’t afford
to keep throwing money down
the drain.”
Retail experts say manufactur-
ers are “quietly” making clothes
that are thinner and made with
cheaper quality.
Parents know this season bet-
ter than anyone. Back to school
shopping occurs from July
through Labor Day, around the
start of fall semester. Adver -
tising for this heavy shopping
time started earlier, with some
stores cranking out ads in mid-
June, when some schools were
still in session for the spring
semester.
In August 2010, prime school
shopping season, consumers
spent a combined $7.4 billion at
family clothing stores, accord-
ing to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Apparel, the season’s top-sell-
ing category for school-aged
children, is bracing for cotton
cost inflation of as much as 20
percent, the first in at least a
decade. The recent weeks’ price
See priceS on page 3
SpOKane, Wash. (AP) — A man with
extensive ties to white supremacists pleaded
guilty Wednesday to charges he planted a
bomb along a Martin Luther King Jr. Day
parade route in Spokane, Wash., targeting
minorities.
Kevin Harpham, 37, reached a deal with
federal prosecutors for a recommended sen-
tencing range of 27 to 32 years in prison just
days before his trial was to begin in U.S.
District Court.
The pipe bomb was loaded with lead fish-
ing weights coated in a chemical, and could
have caused mass casualties, prosecutors
said.
Harpham told U.S. District Court Judge
Justin Quackenbush that it took him about a
month to build the bomb. He acknowledged
placing the device along the parade route in
an attempt to commit a hate crime.
The backpack bomb was discovered by
parade workers and disabled before it could
explode.
“This community was terrorized on Jan.
17 when this occurred,” U.S. Attorney Mike
Ormsby said after the hearing. “Hopefully
the healing that needs to occur as a result of
this happening can begin.”
Harpham acted alone, Ormsby said.
“There is no evidence to suggest anyone
else was involved in this event,” he said.
Ormsby praised the various law enforce-
ment agencies that gathered evidence lead-
ing to Harpham’s arrest on March 9. There
was no particular tip that led officers to
Harpham, Ormsby said. Rather, it was evi-
dence from the bomb itself, he said.
The detonator was a remote car starter
purchased over the Internet. The shrapnel
that would have maimed victims was lead
fishing weights purchased from Walmart.
Harpham’s DNA was on the handle of the
backpack that held the bomb. After the
arrest, officers found deleted photos in a
See BOmBer on page 2
Agreement unanimous on County Jail
City, county find fnal resolution on avoiding new facility construction
News ........................2.3
Calendar ....................2
A&e .............................3
Bids/Classifieds............3
T
he Seattle City Council Tuesday
unanimously approved an Interlocal
Agreement between Seattle Mayor
Mike McGinn and King County Executive
Dow Constantine to use the King County
Jail as the primary provider of bed space for
the City’s misdemeanor inmates over the
next two decades.
“Just over a year ago, the City was con-
sidering spending $200 million on a new
jail. Because we were able to work with
King County Executive Dow Constantine to
negotiate this agreement, we can focus our
scarce public funds on priorities higher than
incarceration – creating jobs, supporting our
kids and maintaining the human services
that people rely on more than ever during
these tough economic times. Thank you to
Councilmember Tim Burgess for his leader-
ship on today’s vote. This is some great
news to head into our next budget cycle
with,” said Mayor Mike McGinn.
In May 2010, the City ended its process of
siting a new regional municipal jail for mis-
demeanor offenders after receiving a com-
mitment from the County to house a certain
number of City inmates from 2017 to 2020.
The new proposed contract would strength-
See jail on page 2