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News Guns Jazz Night School continued from page 1 Shea also called police to report the driv- er of the Lumina, and an officer contacted him several hours later. Shea said the driver of the Lumina at one point made a beeline for the front of his vehicle. in his vehicle without a valid permit and drawing a firearm ``under circumstances and at a time and place that warrants alarm for the safety of other persons,’’ both of which are misdemeanors. The report said he was being charged with having a loaded gun in his vehicle, but Cossey told the Spokesman-Review they ``absolutely’’ would have contest- ed that point at trial. The expired weapons permit has since been renewed. Cossey attributed it to ``just the normal forgetfulness of people.’’ In January, the city agreed to a ``stipulated order of continuance’’ on the permit charge for a year. If Shea has no criminal violations in the meantime, the charge will be dismissed. Shea paid a $75 fee and agreed that the information in the police report is correct, the Spokesman- Review reported. According to the police report, Shea told an officer he thought he was targeted due to his work and acknowledged pulling a hand- gun out of the glove box, which the other driver could have seen. Shea was initially cited by the officer for two firearms citations: Having a loaded gun Poor PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Shea is an attorney who serves on a committee with jurisdiction over most firearms legislation. He is seeking a third term this fall Students from the Jazz Night School played at the Starbucks and five other locations on Rainier Avenue on Saturday, July 21, as part of the Jazzathon, a fundraiser for the school, and music education in the greater Seattle area. More than forty musicians, who are students at the school, obtained pledges on a per-songs-played basis, and attempted to reach personal goals of playing fifty songs or more in the all day marathon. continued from page 1 ed bill. Treatment for the gunshot wound was $200. This prompted a fictional trip to the pawn shop by Mendez, who, in real life, is a customer accounts representative for the Chelan County PUD. She was initially dis- heartened when the pawn shop owner refused to accept any of her items but she was persistent and eventually pawned some jewelry for $100. Other unexpected bills came from the children, who needed $3 and $5 each to pay for field trips. Turned out they didn’t have to pay for the field trips after all because the kids spent so long with CPS that they missed the field trips. ``I’m feeling a little abandoned because it’s taking a while for them to come and get us,’’ said Monica Libbey, who played the part of the 9-year-old granddaughter. Libbey is actually planning manager for the city of Wenatchee. Steve Whitney, pastor at Calvary Bible Church, played the part of the 7-year-old grandson. The kids were picked up by Child Protec- tive Services because grandpa got so busy trying to pay bills that he forgot to pick them up after school. Grandpa was played by Roy Dotson who is, in real life, a Wenatchee Valley College instructor. The family also failed to pay their mort- gage on time and found themselves evicted. ``We can’t go to a homeless shelter,’’ Mendez lamented, ``because we have the kids.’’ She was finally able to cash her paycheck ``It’s very humiliating to know you failed as a parent to your own kids and now, as a grandparent, we’re trying to do this and we’re older and can’t move as fast.’’ Money was running out fast and grandpa still needed insulin for his diabetes. He first went to Community Action, where he was told he needed to go to the table represent- ing the state Department of Social and ‘It was a great learning experience, and it was fun, but the only reason it was fun was because it wasn’t real’ — John Nebel, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church food bank — which she had to do at a quick-cash serv- ice for a 10 percent fee — and get the fam- ily back into their home. Grandpa, meanwhile, was having trouble getting from place to place and was missing appointments. ``Because of his disability, he can’t move very fast,’’ Mendez said. Then her frustration boiled over. Health Services. There, he got a 30-day insulin supply and was set up on a program to help him pay his medications in the future. In the middle of all this, the family was hit with an unexpected bill of $200 to help with funeral expenses for an aunt. Finally, the family had a couple hundred dollars left at the end of the month. Mendez tively clean sources, he said, there are few easy improvements to be made. He also said the state had been working on the rule change long before environmentalists sued. ``The major concern for me is the huge administrative and analytical costs involved,’’ said Stu Clark, head of Ecolo- change, refineries wouldn’t be anywhere near the top priority.’’ The reason: The five Puget Sound refiner- ies combined account for nearly 6 million metric tons of greenhouse gases a year, sec- ond among stationary sources only to TransAlta’s coal-fired power plant in Cen- tralia, which accounts for nearly 10 million metric tons. But that pales in comparison to emissions from motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, trains, planes and boats, which combined account for more than 45 million metric tons. That’s nearly half of the state’s total emissions, which are about 101 million metric tons. ``I get that the environmental community is very frustrated by the lack of action nationally and ... really wants some- thing to happen,’’ Clark said. ``But to me, this is just a complete alteration of the struc- ture of the federal Clean Air Act.’’ Activists from the Washington Environ- mental Council and the Sierra Club remain furious with the state over its approach, said that was because she pawned the jew- elry and because grandpa got his medica- tions for free. ``I feel good about that, but it was frus- trating,’’ Mendez said. ``You really have to be persistent.’’ After the time was up for all families to pay their bills and deal with problems thrown their way, the whole group sat down to debrief. Comments came fast and furious: ``It was intense.’’ ``It was stressful.’’ ``It took my total energy just to stay afloat.’’ ``It was really hard to get ahead.’’ ``I had no money for gas so I was late for work and I got fired.’’ ``It was brutal; everywhere we went there seemed to be an extra fee.’’ ``It made the focus of conversation for the family to be on finances.’’ Participant John Nebel, who has volun- teered with the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church food bank, got a round of applause when he summed up his feelings. ``It was a great learning experience, and it Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com Pollution continued from page 1 they’re not intending to do anything. They don’t want to do this job, and I don’t get it. I think people should be angry. It’s not right.’’ The state maintains the judge made a mis- take, and Washington never intended to reg- ulate greenhouse gases at refineries. Instead it wants the federal government to lead. The federal Environmental Protec- tion Agency is already working on national emissions rules for refiner- ies, but those rules would only be triggered when facilities seek to upgrade. Emissions rules for refinery facilities that want to continue as-is remain several years away — pro- vided there aren’t extended delays. The dispute over which emissions to reduce, and how, highlights the complex factors that help set or dash priorities when attempting to respond to climate change. The state’s top clean-air expert said Ecol- ogy shares environmentalists’ overall emis- sions-reductions goals. But because the state’s refineries get their power from rela- The five Puget Sound refineries combined account for nearly 6 million metric tons of greenhouse gases a year gy’s clean-air program. ``If we’re going to spend our energy doing something about climate change, let’s focus on something that does make a difference — where we know we’ve got significant gains that can be leveraged. ``If the political winds said I could do anything I wanted to address climate especially given the enthusiasm with which Gregoire went about, in 2009, negotiating with TransAlta’s owners and helping find a way to get the power plant to stop burning coal by 2025. More importantly, said Janette Brimmer, an attorney with Earthjustice, much of the federal EPA’s approach to greenhouse gases and other pollutants has come in response to pressure from states that first threaten to tackle issues on their own. Ecology’s posi- tion removes that leverage. ``How many times over how many decades and for how many pollutants have we heard the argument that `the Feds are on it?’ `` said Brimmer, who won the environ- mentalists’ lawsuit in federal court. ``That’s a lame excuse, and it makes no sense at all. These rules have been in play forever, and there have been countless delays. We are years from seeing results on the ground.’’ Brimmer and Kelly met privately last week with EPA officials in Seattle and Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com July 25, 2012 The Seattle Skanner Page 3
