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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2013)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM J ANUARY 23, 2013 S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON V OLUME XXXV, N O .16 25 CENTS For The Skanner news alerts Text "NEWS" to 503-715-0890 or scan this QR code C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW MARCH FOR JUSTICE Gun Bill Killed by Threats Lawmaker withdraws legislation after wave of violent messages PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED By Jonathan Kaminsky The Associated Press King County Councilman and the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee Chair Larry Gossett, and committee member Tony Orange lead thousands of people on the 31st Annual March to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King. The march is part of a daylong event which begins with social justice workshops followed by a rally and culminating in the march to the Federal Building from Garfield High School. It is the longest running and one of the largest celebrations of the life of King in the country. Report Digs into Minority Youth, Courts Kids of color 85 percent more likely to be arrested than white youth By Manuel Valdes The Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — Minority youth are arrested and in the Washington state’s court system more often than their white counterparts, a recent study commissioned by the state Supreme Court shows. But researchers said counties aren’t keeping complete data on eth- nicity and the gap between minority and while youth is larger. Between 2007 and 2011, African-American youth were nearly 250 percent more likely to be referred to juvenile court for prosecution than their white counterparts. Their ratio is fol- lowed by Native American youth, which are 80 percent more likely more likely to be deferred. Overall, minority youth are 22 percent more like- ly to be deferred. To determine the ratio, researchers calculated the num- ber of minority youth in a par- ticular aspect of juvenile law and the overall population of INDEX News ........................2,4 Calendar ....................2 Opinion .......................3 Bids/Classifieds............3 each county. In arrests, minority youth were nearly 85 percent more likely to be arrested than white youth statewide, the study found. But researchers said that number is likely much higher because counties count Latinos as white in their record keeping. Latino is an ethnicity, not a race. Sarah Veele, one of the researchers from the Washing- ton State Center for Court Research, said there isn’t a fed- eral or state requirement for local agencies to track ethnicity in their juvenile arrest data, so Latinos are put in the ``white’’ category. Researchers looked at eight categories, ranging from arrests to diversion program enroll- ments. Still, about 40 percent of all cases were missing data on whether the youth was Latino and 5 percent of cases had no indicator of race or ethnicity. ``Increasing the quality of data collected by courts is key to fully understanding how and where racial and ethnic inequal- See COURT on page 3 OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A Washing- ton state lawmaker last week withdrew a bill to limit self-defense rights after saying she received threats by telephone and email that have made her fear for her life. Rep. Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo, said House Bill 1012, filed last month, was spurred by the Trayvon Martin shooting last February, in which a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida shot dead the unarmed Martin, 17, after confronting him on the street. The shooter, George Zimmerman, was not immediately arrested after the incident, with local law enforcement citing Florida’s ``stand your ground’’ law as justification for his actions. Zimmerman was subsequently arrested and charged with second-degree murder last April. His case is pending. Appleton’s bill would have required a per- son to retreat from a dangerous confronta- tion if he or she ``knows or should know’’ that doing so would afford him ``complete safety.’’ ``I was so appalled by the Trayvon Martin shooting,’’ Appleton said. ``I did the bill because we have no verbiage on `duty to retreat’ in Washington.’’ Washington is one of at least 29 states with no explicit duty to retreat. Some other states employ a ``castle doctrine,’’ exempt- ing a person in his home from the duty to retreat. Appleton said her bill was written last September and she lamented that it was caught up in the reignited national debate over guns in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre in Newtown, Conn., in which 26 people, including 20 children, were killed. ``It’s unfortunate, because Newtown hap- pened, and that riled up so many people,’’ Appleton said. ``I think it would have gone unnoticed if it hadn’t been for Newtown.’’ See THREAT on page 3 ‘Legalized’ Pot Farming Still Uncertain Will Justice Department block states from new marijuana laws? By Shannon Dininny Associated Press YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — Irrigation canals line Washington’s Yakima Valley east of the Cascade Range, transforming a desert landscape into one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world — includ- ing crops for some of America’s biggest vices. Thousands of acres of wine grapes dot the landscape, contributing to Washington’s No. 2 rank for premium wine production behind California. Farmers grow more than two- thirds of U.S. hops for big beer companies and craft brewers alike, and a large tobacco field is flourishing on a valley Indian reser- vation. Now that Washington voters have legal- ized marijuana, will a region long recog- nized as one of the country’s leading fruit bowls, best celebrated for Washington apples, become known as the vice belt? Not necessarily. Too many unanswered questions remain about the new law, from how the state will regulate it to whether entrepreneurs or large corporations should lead the way. And the See FARM on page 3
