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