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J UNE 5, 2013
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V OLUME XXXV, N O . 35
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
Kidney
Health
Fest
CIRCUS
KID
Come down for free
services, family fun
events, good food
O
they will be able to pay for an
academic year of tuition and
mandatory fees at the state’s
most expensive college or uni-
versity with 100 GET units.
Tuition and fees at less expen-
sive schools cost fewer units
and housing is extra.
People who already have GET
accounts for their children or
others will have one more
month to buy GET units at this
year’s price of $172, which
translates into $17,200 for a
year of tuition and state mandat-
n Saturday, June 22, Northwest Kid-
ney Centers holds its 11th annual
Kidney Health Fest for African
American Families, featuring free health
screenings, education, entertainment and
healthy food made by local celebrity chefs.
The free event runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
at Van Asselt Elementary (formerly the
African American Academy), 8311 Beacon
Ave. S., in Seattle, on Metro bus line 106.
About 750 people attended last year.
“Everyone is welcome to attend the Fest,
have fun and learn about kidney disease and
healthy living – and it’s completely free!”
said Dr. Bessie Young, a Seattle kidney spe-
cialist who has chaired the community
organizing committee since the Fest began.
“Bring your friends and family and make a
day of it. People of every age can have fun
while they learn how to keep their families
healthy.”
One in seven American adults has kidney
disease. In the African American communi-
ty, the number increases four-fold. Although
African Americans make up 12 percent of
the U.S. population, 35 percent of individu-
als with kidney failure on dialysis are
African American.
In addition, African American men are 10
to 14 times more likely to develop kidney
failure due to high blood pressure than Cau-
casian men in the same age group.
At the event, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., partic-
ipants can receive a free kidney health
screening and private consultation with a
doctor about the results. The screening
includes a finger stick for a blood sample,
urinalysis, blood pressure and weight check.
Diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity
all contribute to the current epidemic of kid-
ney disease.
Dr. Jonathan Himmelfarb, director of the
Kidney Research Institute in Seattle, will be
among the speakers. Himmelfarb is an inter-
national authority who can explain up-to-
the-minute science in terms lay people can
understand. He will talk about the reasons
why kidney disease is more common in
See TUITION on page 3
See KIDNEY on page 3
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
The Dearborn Elementary
School S.C.A.T.S. (Seattle Cirque &
Acrobat TeamS) perform at the 21st
Annual Beacon Hill Festival Saturday,
June 1, at Jefferson Park and
Community Center. The annual
event included a lot of fun activities
for kids, live music and dance
performances, community
information tables and food.
Prepaid College Tuition Going Up
Parents investing in price stabilization plan save by thinking ahead
By Donna Gordon
Blankinship
The Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) Despite
speculation to the contrary, the
price for Washington’s prepaid
tuition program will be going up
again this fall, according to offi-
cials with the Guaranteed Edu-
cation Tuition program.
The committee that sets the
price for GET units won’t meet
until mid-August, but agency
spokeswoman Susan Martensen
told The Associated Press a
price increase is all but certain.
“We have every indication
from the state actuary that next
year’s unit price will be higher,’’
she said. “It looks like we won’t
see a large tuition jump next
year as we have seen in the past
few years, but tuition both next
year and over the long term is
still projected to rise.’’
State Actuary Matt Smith said
on Thursday that he can’t pre-
dict what the GET committee
will decide in August, but
agreed that all indications are
that an increase in the unit price
INDEX
News .....................3,6,7
Calendar ....................2
Opinion .......................4
A&E .......................2,5,8
Bids/Classifieds............7
is likely this fall.
Since the program started in
1998, unit prices have never
gone down; they’ve always
gone up.
Meanwhile, Smith says a
long-term plan to reform the
GET program and improve its
financial picture seems to be
working.
Washington’s prepaid tuition
program is a state-run 529 col-
lege savings plan with a twist.
Investors are guaranteed that
no matter what happens to the
stock market or state tuition,
Police Retrain Drug-Sniffing Dog Force
Consequences of legalization continue in ‘desensitization’ efforts
By Manuel Valdes
The Associated Press
BREMERTON, WA (AP) When Dusty, a
19-month-old black Labrador, walked past a
pipe full of marijuana during a recent police
search of a house, he was doing exactly
what his handler hoped.
The newest drug-sniffing dog on the
police force in Bremerton, near Seattle, is
one of a few police dogs in Washington state
that are not trained to point out pot during
searches. Other police departments are con-
sidering or in the midst of re-training their
dogs to ignore pot as well, part of the new
reality in a state where voters last fall legal-
ized marijuana use.
“We wanted to train our dog on what was
truly illegal substances, that would be hero-
in, methamphetamine and cocaine,’’ said
Dusty’s handler, Officer Duke Roessel, who
added that Dusty nabbed five pounds of
meth during that recent search.
Police departments in Bremerton, Belle-
vue and Seattle, as well as the Washington
State Patrol, have either put the dogs
through pot desensitization training or plan
not to train them for marijuana detection.
See SNIFF on page 3