WWW . THeskaNNer . COm
N OvemeBr 9, 2011
s eaTTle , W asHiNgTON
v Olume XXXiii, N O . 54
25
CeNTs
i nSiDe
‘Tower Heist’
page 2
Big Business
page 5
Wendy Williams
C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow
page 6
Mayors on CriMe
special
elections
results
Voters approve liquor
privatization, budget
savings plan, more
pHoto By liSa loving
W
seattle mayor mike mcginn traveled to Portland to sign a “statement of support” for regional collaboration on gang
violence, human trafficking, and weapons trafficking along the interstate 5 corridor. mcginn joined vancouver, Wa.,
mayor Tim leavitt, left, and Portland mayor sam adams, right, as well as police chiefs and members of the FBi. He
took the opportunity to call out village voice media’s www.backpage.com commercial website where, he said,
pimps are prostituting under-aged girls via the Seattle Weekly. in Portland, the Willamette Week sponsors
backpage.com – but the issue has not yet reached the public’s radar.
Orchards Desperate for Pickers
Bumper crop is destroyed by anti-immigration measures
By Shannon Dininny
the associated press
yakiMa, wash. — Apple
growers say they could have had
one of their best years ever if a
shortage of workers hadn’t
forced them to leave some fruit
on trees.
Growers in Washington state,
which produces about half of
the nation’s apples, say the labor
shortage was made worse by a
late start to their harvest. The
growing season got off to a slow
start because of a cold, wet
spring, and some migrant work-
ers didn’t stick around to wait
for it.
But farmers say an immigra-
tion crackdown by the federal
government and states such as
Arizona and Alabama scared off
many more workers. They have
tried to replace them with
domestic workers with little
success and inmates at a much
greater cost. Many growers
have resorted to posting “pick-
ers wanted” signs outside their
orchards and asking neighbors
to send prospective workers
inDeX
News ..................2,3,6,7
Calendar ....................2
Opinion ....................4,5
Bids/Classifieds............7
their way.
Jeff Pheasant and his sister
Darla Grubb are the fourth gen-
eration in their family to grow
apples near Soap Lake, about
120 miles east of Seattle. They
said their harvest was a week
behind because the fruit wasn’t
ripe, then another week behind
because they had no workers to
pick it.
Pheasant Orchards usually has
65 workers at the peak of har-
vest. Only 50 pickers arrived
this year, and many were inex-
perienced, Pheasant said.
“You have to have people,”
Grubb said. “They’re the reason
we have fruits and vegetables.
We couldn’t do this without our
workers.”
About 15 billion apples are
picked in Washington each year,
all by hand. Orchards line the
hillsides and valleys east of the
Cascade Range from the
Canadian border in the north to
the Columbia River in the south.
Growers have struggled for
years with labor shortages, but
they say this harvest season is
See workerS on page 3
ashington voters on Tuesday
approved a plan to privatize liquor
sales and dismantle controls that
have been in place since Prohibition, siding
with retailing giant Costco in the costliest
initiative campaign in state history.
Unofficial results Wednesday afternoon
showed the measure with 59.69 percent sup-
port. Costco Wholesale Corp. had commit-
ted $22 million to supporting the measure
— $6 for every registered voter — as exec-
utives portrayed the Issaquah-based compa-
ny as a crusader for consumers and said that
it could take years to make up the invest-
ment in the initiative.
Also passing were Measure 1163 requir-
ing better training and background checks
for care workers; Senate Joint Resolution
8205, removing an inoperative provision
from the state constitution regarding how
long a voter must reside in the state before
becoming eligible to vote; and Senate Joint
Resolution 8206, requiring the state to
maintain a financial stabilization account.
Narrowly defeated in unofficial returns
was Measure 1125 which would have pro-
hibited use of motor vehicle fund revenue
and vehicle toll revenue for non-transporta-
tion purposes.
The company also harnessed support from
restaurants, groceries and other retailers.
“We are very grateful to all of our coali-
tion partners across the state,” said Joel
Benoliel, senior vice president and chief
legal officer at Costco. “The voters over-
whelmingly demonstrated that facts trump
scare tactics.”
Wholesalers provided much of the opposi-
tion funding, as retailers will now be able to
bypass them and buy product directly from
producers. The new rules go into effect in
June, and about 1,000 people who currently
operate the state’s system will lose their
jobs.
Costco had backed another privatization
measure that failed last year with 47 percent
of the vote. Acknowledging that the 2010
See electionS on page 3
Occupy seattle grows Base of support
College professors host night classes at protest encampment
By Manuel valdes
the associated press
Seattle — In the dead of night, as
drunken Halloween revelers streamed into
the street from nearby bars, Karen
Strickland tried to teach Occupy Seattle pro-
testers how to get their message across to
politicians.
Other lessons - including the history of
labor movements, writing a “position state-
ment” and the language of a Martin Luther
King letter - were held as community col-
lege instructors from around the Emerald
City gave free classes earlier this week in an
attempt to bolster a protest that had been
struggling to capture the attention of a city
with a vibrant history of protests.
And as the Occupy movement shows
signs of fracturing after violent outbreaks in
Oakland and elsewhere, instructors here say
they’ll continue efforts to mentor the most-
ly young people who have taken to the
streets over the last several weeks.
“We didn’t talk about their particular
strategies,” said Strickland, who is the pres-
ident of the American Federation of
Teachers Seattle Local 1789. “I guess my
See occupy on page 3