WWW . THESKANNER . COM
J UNE 6, 2012
S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON
V OLUME XXXIV, N O . 23
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
Bales:
Steroid
Use?
BEACON
HILL
FEST
Army adds charges
against Afghan
shooting suspect
By Gene Johnson
The Associated Press
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
The Dearborn Elementary SCATS
(Seattle Cirque & Acrobat Teams)
performed Saturday, June 2, at the
annual Beacon Hill Community
Festival. The event featured a variety
of entertainment, vendors, children’s
games and food.
Inslee: Vague on Major Issues
Rob McKenna stealing Democrat’s thunder in Governor’s race
By Mike Baker
The Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) —
Jay Inslee launched his cam-
paign for governor 11 months
ago with some vague and incon-
clusive policy statements. He’s
still leaving a lot to the imagina-
tion.
With just three months before
Washington State’s primary
election and six months before
voters will choose the next gov-
ernor, Inslee demurred on sever-
al issues during an interview
with The Associated Press, leav-
ing uncertainty on how he
would handle taxes, transporta-
tion, immigration and marijuana
policy.
The Democrat’s fuzzy state-
ments on how he would handle
the state’s school system also
contributed recently to an edu-
cation advocacy group endors-
ing Republican rival Rob
McKenna. Shannon Campion,
the executive director of Stand
for Children who says she typi-
cally supports Democrats, said
the group was impressed by
INDEX
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McKenna’s ``clarity and speci-
ficity’’ and found that Inslee
lacked detail in his policy posi-
tions, how he would work to
implement them and what track
record he had of being a change
agent.
``In all three of those areas,
with no disrespect to the con-
gressman, we just didn’t feel
that the level of deep thinking
on these issues or the thought-
fulness on how to execute as
governor was there,’’ Campion
said. Stand for Children backed
Democratic Gov. Chris Gre-
goire in 2008.
Inslee’s unclear policy views
come on other issues in which
McKenna has voiced explicit
positions, even on some that
would be unpopular with his fel-
low Republicans. Here are some
of their opinions, as described in
AP interviews:
— Inslee said the state needs
to find a way to fund major
transportation projects but that
he doesn’t have a proposal on
how to pay for them and wasn’t
ready to support any sort of tax
See INSLEE on page 3
SEATTLE (AP) — The Army dropped a
murder charge, but added others, including
steroid use, against a soldier accused in a
deadly shooting rampage in Afghanistan,
his lawyer said Friday.
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is now accused of
gunning down 16 civilians in a pre-dawn
raid on two Afghan villages in March. Initial
reports pinned the number of dead at 16, but
the Army put the figure at 17 when it first
charged Bales.
Due to discrepancies in the names on lists
of the victims, officials had apparently
counted one of them twice, but are now cer-
tain there were 16 killed, said Lt. Col. Gary
Dangerfield, a spokesman for Joint Base
Lewis-McChord south of Seattle, where
Bales is based.
His attorney, Emma Scanlan, said there
was nothing surprising in the new charges,
which also accuse Bales of assaulting an
unidentified Afghan male with his hands
and knees the month before the shooting.
``We’re looking forward to putting on a
defense and seeing what they can prove,’’
she said. The Army dropped off 5,000 pages
of discovery materials at the defense team’s
office on Friday, she said.
Bales now faces 16 counts of premeditat-
ed murder; six of attempted murder; seven
of assault; one of possessing steroids; one of
using steroids; one of destroying a laptop
computer; one of burning bodies; and one of
using alcohol.
``At some point, steroid use could become
an issue in this case, and where he got it
could become an issue in this case,’’ said
Bales’ other lawyer, John Henry Browne.
He declined to comment further.
The charges said Bales used steroids or
alcohol in the months before rampage.
A 2008 survey by the Department of
Defense showed that 2.5 percent of Army
personnel had illegally used steroids within
See BALES on page 3
Seattle Bike Transportation Plan Up for
New policies aimed at newer, less experienced bicyclists
By Phuong Le
The Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) — For many in Seattle,
the image of a typical cyclist is a Spandex-
clad, yellow-jacketed two-wheeled warrior
who braves the steep streets of this city.
But as the city prepares to overhaul its
five-year-old bike plan, some want to make
the city safer and friendlier to those not so
accustomed to navigating the streets on two
wheels.
There’s a new push to get ``willing but
wary’’ cyclists on their saddles with protect-
ed bike lanes buffered from traffic, desig-
nated bicycling boulevards where traffic is
slowed and walkers and bikers have priori-
ty, and traffic calming features like speed
bumps.
``We want to make sure we’re building
infrastructure for people who are eight or
80,’’ and not just for the more experienced
commuters, said Blake Trask, statewide pol-
icy director for the Washington Bicycle
Alliance who formerly headed Seattle’s
bike advisory board.
The city is planning to build seven miles
of walking and biking boulevards in five
See BIKES on page 3