WWW . THESKANNER . COM
A UGUST 22, 2012
S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON
V OLUME XXXIV, N O . 34
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
OTHELLO PARK
Support
for the
Troops
Second ‘Seattle
Stand Down’ focuses
on women veterans
By Andrew Gospe
Special To The Skanner News
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
B
MariAnna Brooks, 7, makes a pot on the pottery wheel with the help of Nima Forghani at the Othello Park International
Music and Arts Festival, Sunday, Aug. 19. The annual event featured musical performances by Jazz guitarist Michael
Powers, Spanish guitarist Angelo Pizarro, hip-hop artist Choklate, martial arts demonstrations, and much more.
Beloved Figure Will Be Missed
Tuskegee airman George Hickman dies; Husky stalwart mourned
By Phuong Le
The Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) — George
Hickman, one of the original
African-American airmen, has
died at age 88.
His wife, Doris, confirmed
Monday that he died early Sun-
day morning in Seattle.
Hickman was one of the first
black military pilots and ground
crew, known as Tuskegee air-
men, who fought in World War
II.
In 2007, he and other
Tuskegee airmen traveled to
Washington, to receive the Con-
gressional Gold Medal, the
highest U.S. civilian honor. In
2009, he attended President
Barack Obama’s inauguration
as a special guest.
Hickman was a fixture at
Seattle sporting events. He per-
sonalized the often anonymous
job of ushering fans to their
seats, and most regulars to UW
basketball and football games
knew him by first name. He was
perhaps the best known person
at Husky Stadium.
INDEX
News ..................2,4,6,8
Calendar ....................2
Opinion .......................4
A&E .............................5
Bids/Classifieds............7
University of Washington
football coach Steve Sarkisian
also tweeted: ``He represented
the UW and the Tuskegee Air-
men with class. I will always
appreciate how he treated my
family.’’
``He was just a wonderful
man,’’ Doris Hickman said
Monday of her husband.
The grandson of slaves, Hick-
man nurtured an interest in avi-
ation as a curious boy gazing up
at the sky above St. Louis.
That passion evolved from
buying cheap model airplanes to
joining the segregated pilot
training program in Tuskegee,
Ala., and later to a nearly three-
decade long career at Boeing in
Seattle.
He served in the Army Air
Corps from 1943-45, which
trained African-Americans to
fly and maintain combat air-
craft, and was part of the gradu-
ating class of 1944, according to
an Army profile. He graduated
from the airman program as a
crewman and served in Europe
as a flight mechanic during
See AIRMAN on page 3
y most measures, last year’s first-
ever Seattle Stand Down was a suc-
cess. The now-annual event, which
aims to provide services and information to
homeless and at-risk veterans, served more
than 300 people at Seattle Central Commu-
nity College (SCCC).
There was, however, something missing
last year.
“It was noticed by pretty much everybody
that was there that there were hardly any
women there as veterans receiving servic-
es,” said Rebecca Murch, Seattle Stand
Down’s associate director.
That’s why Murch has been tasked with
gearing this year’s Stand Down, scheduled
for Sept. 12 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at SCCC,
toward female veterans, especially those
who are homeless. A veteran herself, Murch
said women vets have unique needs.
“We definitely know that they are out
there, but you need to outreach to them in
different ways,” she said. “Women approach
things differently. They have different,
unique problems.”
Among these is Military Sexual Trauma
(MST), a term used to refer to any instance
of rape, sexual assault or sexual harassment
that occurs while a woman is serving in the
armed forces.
Murch said that the sort of behavior that
causes MST, especially sexual harassment,
was “pretty rampant” when she was dis-
charged from the Navy nearly 20 years ago.
Today, it still is. The Veterans Health
Administration says that one in five women
say “yes” when screened for MST. Plus,
more women are serving than ever before:
Since 9/11, more than 200,000 women have
been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to Murch, the condition can
make female veterans reluctant to identify
as such, and as a result, they may avoid
seeking help from the Department of Veter-
See VETERANS on page 3
New Challenge for Marijuana Providers:
50 dispensaries help the state collect $750,000 in taxes from the
By Mike Baker
The Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Tax enforcers
have started auditing medical marijuana dis-
pensaries in Washington, escalating a dis-
pute over whether the outlets should be
collecting money for state government.
The state Department of Revenue has
worked since 2010 to tell marijuana estab-
lishments that they must remit sales taxes on
their transactions. Some 50 dispensaries
have registered with the state, helping the
state collect some $750,000 in taxes from
the industry over the span of one year.
Officials believe that there are many other
outlets that remain unregistered, and that
some registered entities are improperly
reporting that they had no taxable business.
``We’ve been doing the educational part
and now we’re doing the enforcement
part,’’ said Mike Gowrylow, a spokesman
for the Department of Revenue. He empha-
sized that there was no particular focus or
crackdown on medical marijuana entities,
just that the state was continuing its normal
efforts to identify noncompliant businesses.
The agency is currently conducting audits
See POT on page 3