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Local News Bales War Hero, Fans the past year — a jump of a full percentage point from three years earlier. Anecdotal reports have suggested that use is not uncommon among soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Increased irritability and aggression — ”`roid rage’’ — is a side effect of steroid use. According to documents obtained in 2010 under a public records request by The Seat- tle Times, several soldiers in a Lewis- McChord battalion, including a captain, admitted using steroids to bulk up just before a 2009 deployment. They estimated that at least half of the 700 soldiers in their battalion had used steroids. Bales was assigned to a different battal- ion. Dan Conway, a military defense lawyer who has handled several high-profile cases, said he recently had a client who was sen- tenced to five months after being convicted of steroid use. The soldier reported that many in his chain of command — including his first sergeant and his battalion’s execu- tive officer — used the drugs. Witnesses testified that German and Lat- vian soldiers were frequently seen using steroids at the gyms, and steroids were sold at all of the bazaars, both on and off base, in Afghanistan, Conway said. Dr. Richard Adler, a Seattle psychiatrist who is a consultant for Bales’ defense team, said the Army has not publicly provided enough information to judge how signifi- cant a role, if any, steroids may have played in the massacre. ``The presumption that the alleged steroid use is somehow the magic answer to what transpired. I am skeptical,’’ Adler said. ``There are still many, many issues that will need a thorough review’’ — including reports that Bales had suffered a head injury during one of his three prior deployments and whether he was taking any other med- ications. Bales, a father of two, is accused of walk- ing to two local villages, where he killed the villagers and then burned some of their bod- ies. PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED continued from page 1 Tuskegee airman Lt. Col. Edward Drummond 85, has his picture taken with some young fans at the Northwest African American Museum Saturday, June 2, at the opening of the museum’s exhibition, “The Test: The Tuskegee Project.” Inslee continued from page 1 package. McKenna said he supports send- ing voters a tax package to pay for projects in the next couple of years, though he was- n’t sure yet what would be included in it. — Inslee wouldn’t commit to a position on whether the state will use more toll roads, though he said they can’t be taken off the table. McKenna said tolls will be neces- sary to rebuild large transportation facili- ties, specifically mentioning the 520 bridge. — Inslee didn’t have a position on whether Washington should require proof of legal residence to get a driver’s license, say- ing he would seek a bipartisan solution to address that issue, though his spokesman later said that he only supports requiring a person to show that they live in the state. McKenna said he thinks the state should require proof that their residency is legal, noting that Washington is one of only two states that don’t. The former congressman has been forth- coming on other matters. He declared his support for gay marriage, for example, before the issue came up this year in the Legislature. He’s also proposed specific ideas such as a $4,000 tax credit for small business hiring. On education, the group Stand for Chil- dren has touted charter schools along with McKenna, but Inslee thinks the state can pursue innovative teaching within the exist- ing system by using a competitive grant ``Jay Inslee has offered a detailed set of proposals to improve Washington schools,’’ said Inslee spokesman Sterling Clifford. ``He sought consensus in preparing the plan, and Jay’s proposals have been praised by all sides of the education debate.’’ Along with not taking positions on some issues, other statements from Inslee have been inconclusive. Asked whether he would The Democrat’s fuzzy statements on how he would handle the state’s school system also contributed recently to an education advocacy group endorsing Republican rival Rob McKenna program to incentivize new ways of instruc- tion. He also wants to shift more resources to education by growing the economy, find- ing savings in state medical costs and improving state government efficiency. support moving the state from a sales tax to an income tax, Inslee didn’t give a ``yes’’ or ``no’’ answer. ``I am not proposing an income tax for the state of Washington,’’ he said. Seattleites rejected. ``We don’t have a problem with the city investing in bike infrastructure,’’ said Michael Ennis, transportation director for the conservative Washington Policy Center. ``It’s just when it’s at the expense of auto lanes, then we start running into issues of fairness.’’ streets and perceive that as evidence that the city is spending more on bicycles than cars,’’ said Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, who heads the transporta- tion committee. Most of the city’s transportation dollars go to streets, potholes and other street improvements, he said. Seattle spent about When a reporter followed up and asked whether he might propose an income tax in the future, Inslee repeated his answer by focusing on the past and present. ``I’m not proposing an income tax, and I did not support an income tax in the last election cycle,’’ he said. McKenna said he opposed an income tax. Along with the governor’s race, voters this year are likely to decide on a major ini- tiative that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Inslee said last year that he opposed the measure, but walked that back a bit in an AP interview last month by saying he had recently had a conversation with some people about it. ``From what I know right now, it is not my intention to vote for it,’’ he said. McKenna was a firm ``no’’ vote on the measure. Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com Bikes continued from page 1 neighborhoods this year, with more likely on the way. So-called neighborhood green- ways modeled after ones in Portland, Ore., are designed to make it safer for walkers and bikers to get between their home and school, the grocery store and park. The city is taking public comment on the new plan, which would also consider fea- tures that separate cyclists from cars, called cycle tracks. They’re common in bike- friendly European cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam, but more U.S. cities such as Washington, D.C., and New York City are trying them out. Still, any talk of bike improvements in Seattle is sure to stoke resentment from some, who believe the city’s policies favor bike and transit over cars. Local talk-show hosts and columnists have ranted against what they call the city’s anti-car campaign. It hasn’t helped that the city’s most famous biker, Mayor Mike McGinn, some- times known as ``Mayor McSchwinn’’ for his enthusiasm about two-wheeled trans- portation, has irked some by increasing parking rates downtown and backing a measure to tax cars to pay for transit and bike improvements that even tax-friendly On the table: protected bike lanes buffered from traffic, designated bicycling boulevards where traffic is slowed and walkers and bikers have priority, and traffic calming features like speed bumps Seattle is losing unrestricted highway car lanes to transit and carpool lanes in various highway projects, including the Alaskan Way Viaduct and State Route 520, he noted. The city also put some streets on ``road diets,’’ shrinking car lanes to improve safe- ty for cars and pedestrians. ``People see the visible painting of bike lanes and in some cases the narrowing of $9 million annually for the past four years on bicycling improvements, a small fraction of the city’s total transportation budget of $300 million, Rasmussen said. Councilmember and frequent bike com- muter Mike O’Brien dismisses any talk of a ``war on cars.’’ ``No one is trying to force anyone to pick mode of transportation,’’ said O’Brien. ``It’s not about taking away someone’s car keys and demanding they get on a bike. But for people who do want to do it, they have a right to be safe getting back and forth to where they need to go.’’ As the city overhauls a plan currently aimed at tripling the number of cyclists in the city, many say they’d want features that cater to a broad range of riders. The current plan ``is working great for people who are already comfortable biking in the city,’’ said Dylan Ahearn, who helped form Beacon BIKES after feeling the plan did a lot for commuters getting downtown but not as much for those getting around neighborhoods. ``There’s a wider segment of the population that could be served if they (the streets) were safer.’’ Ahearn says he understands the angst that motorists can feel toward cyclists. Neigh- borhood greenways with slower speed lim- its, signs, crosswalks and other features could help resolve some tension between them, he said. Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com June 6, 2012 The Seattle Skanner Page 3
