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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 2013)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM O CTOBER 16, 2013 S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON V OLUME XXXVI, N O . S 2 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 SIGNING UP Child Found Guilty PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Boy, 11, will be sentenced in ‘murder conspiracy’ case Carol Allen with King County Public Health helps a man sign up for health insurance through the new insurance website, called Washington Healthplanfinder, at an enrollment event Saturday, Oct. 12, at Third Place Commons. A team of “ In-Person Assisters ” from Public Health-Seattle & King County set up shop to help navigate the new website. Two similar large enrollment events are scheduled over the next few weeks: Eastside -- Saturday, Oct. 19, 10 am-3 pm, at Crossroads Bellevue Shopping Center 15600 NE 8th St.; and South King County -- Saturday, Nov. 9, 1-5 p.m., at Kent Memorial Park Building 850 N. Central Ave. Voters to Decide ‘Initiative on Initiatives’ Eyman seeks the right to petition without property owners’ approval By Rachel La Corte The Associated Press OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington state residents have plenty of experience voting on new law proposals, but next month they’ll decide on an “ini- tiative on initiatives’’ that would make it easier to get such meas- ures on the ballot. The proposal, Initiative 517, was sparked in part by a series of legal battles over local meas- ures seeking to block red light cameras, including one case last year that went to the state Supreme Court. By requiring that voters be allowed to have their say on any proposal that qualifies for the ballot, even if a lawsuit has been filed against it, the initiative pushes back at cities that have sued — some successfully — to block local challenges to the cameras. “Initiative power is not sub- ject to pre-election challenges,’’ said Mark Baerwaldt, a spokesman for the campaign. “It’s the way the will of the peo- INDEX News .....................2,3,6 Calendar ....................2 Opinion .......................4 A&E ..........................2,8 Bids/Classifieds............7 ple is expressed.’’ The initiative also would give supporters a year, instead of the current six months, to collect signatures, and it would make it a misdemeanor to interfere with the signature-gathering process. Business groups and others have lined up in opposition, say- ing the proposal will affect their ability to deal with nuisances outside of their stores. Jan Gee, a spokeswoman for the No on I-517 campaign, said her group has a problem with language that creates a 25-foot protected area around initiative supporters and details where they can gather signatures. The initiative gives signature gatherers the right to work on any sidewalk or walkway that has pedestrian traffic, “includ- ing those in front of the entrances and exits of any store, and inside or outside public buildings such as public sports stadiums, convention/exhibition centers, and public fairs.’’ “The bottom line is, if a peti- tioner comes onto the property See INITIATIVE page 3 COLVILLE, Wash. (AP) — An 11-year- old boy was convicted Friday of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in a fifth- grade plot that targeted a female classmate. Stevens County Superior Court Judge Allen Nielsen said Friday that “simple anger’’ fueled the plot the boy hatched ear- lier this year with a 10-year-old classmate at Fort Colville Elementary school in northeast Washington. School staff seized a handgun and knife the boys brought to school Feb. 7. The judge, who called the trial “the most serious of my career,’’ rejected defense efforts to portray the boy as unable to sepa- rate fact from fiction, The Spokesman- Review reported. The 11-year-old was led from court in tears. He’s due back in court Nov. 8 for a sentencing hearing. A defense lawyer told KHQ-TV an appeal is planned. “There is no joy in a conviction,’’ said Stevens County Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen, who added he was relieved by the verdict. School counselor Debbie Rogers testified Friday about her interview with the 11-year- old the day the gun and knife were discov- ered. The boy said he was planning to stab the girl to death because she was “really annoying’’ and the second boy was to point the gun at anyone who tried to intervene, Rogers said. Rogers said she saw no evidence that the older boy was experiencing delusions that day. The younger boy pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy to commit murder and related charges. He was sentenced to three to five years in a juvenile detention facility. Authorities discovered the plan when a fourth-grader saw one of the boys playing with a knife aboard a school bus and told a school employee what he’d seen. A search of the 10-year-old’s backpack found a knife, a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol and a full ammunition magazine, court records See CHILD on page 3 Fish Consumption Warnings Too Weak Groups sue EPA over failure to improve pollution standards By Gene Johnson The Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — A fight over how much fish people eat in Washington — and thus, how much toxic pollution they con- sume — is now in federal court. Conservation and commercial fishing groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protec- tion Agency on Friday, saying the agency has for too long let state officials underesti- mate fish consumption, resulting in weaker anti-pollution standards than are needed to protect the public. The groups, including Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, Columbia Riverkeeper and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, reason that if the estimates were more realistic, the state would have to more strictly regulate emmissions of mercu- ry, lead, copper and other toxins — a prospect that concerns industry groups and that emerged as a sticking point in budget talks in Olympia last spring. Businesses must obtain permits before they can discharge pollutants into the state’s waters under the federal Clean Water Act, and increasing the estimate of how much See FISH on page 3
