MEMORIAL DAY - REMEMBER AND HONOR
Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2023
Vol. 144 No. 21
$1.00
Session passes new drug bill LOU MARZELES EDITOR Washington State came close to becoming Oregon. Were it not for a special Legislative session last week, hard drugs of any kind would have become legal in Washington. Like Oregon, where, since November 2020, possession of small amounts of all drugs—including cocaine, heroin, LSD, methamphetamines, and oxycodone—is legal. Why? Because, voters decided, addiction should not be criminalized. A placeholder law in Washington, making hard drug possession a misdemeanor for which first-time offense arrests could not be made, was set to expire at the end of June. During the regular Legislative session this year, lawmakers took a last-minute stab at addressing that impending lapse, and it failed dramatically. So Gov. Jay Inslee corralled the troops back for a special session, held last Tuesday. In that single day, and to the surprise of some, the Legislature passed a new drug bill. State Rep. Gina Mosbrucker (R-Goldendale) was in the thick of the fray. “The new law makes drug possession a gross misdemeanor,” Mosbrucker states. “Possible jail time is up to six months for the first two offenses and up to a year possible for the third offense.”
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
TURMOIL IN THE CAPITOL: Last week’s special Legislative session in Olympia produced high drama and a new drug law. Rep. Gina Mosbrucker tells the story. That’s for possession and use. Public distribution was already illegal and remains so. Mosbrucker says there was a bill proposed this year to take that away. “We killed that bill,” she says. Mosbrucker recounts the history of how the state got here. “In February of 2021,” she says, “the [state] Supreme Court rendered a decision in State versus Blake. It said that if you didn’t know there were drugs in your pants pocket, then you couldn’t be charged a felony for it.” The court decided you can’t face charges for drug possession if you didn’t know you were in possession, and with that it struck down the existing drug law. Suddenly it was the Wild West when it came to drugs. “We tried to get it back to a felony or a gross misdemeanor,” Mosbrucker recalls of Republican efforts at the time. “We didn’t have the votes.
So [possession] was a misdemeanor.” That law limped along and was about to expire. Mosbrucker says having drug possession be a misdemeanor meant that law enforcement officers couldn’t make drugs a high priority. “The amount of Washington state law enforcement officers per capita is the last in this nation, has been for years,” she says. “A lot of law enforcement officers weren’t arresting. It’s a misdemeanor. They’re chasing people who are murderers or chasing people who are doing domestic violence. You didn’t see very many arrests.” And as the law was written, if you were using and you had a heroin needle in your arm, law enforcement could go approach you twice and hand you a card that said, “Okay, you should go to rehab.”
See Bill page A8
GRACE BLAND
DETERMINED HERO: Usually confined to a wheelchair, last week Jarrod Swearingen walked the two miles of the Pregnancy Resource Center’s annual Walk for Life–and raised the most money.
A Walk for Life hero GRACE BLAND FOR THE SENTINEL The annual Walk for Life fundraiser, organized by Goldendale’s Pregnancy Resource Center, took place this past Saturday and was a heartwarming occasion. Citizens from all over town gathered to donate to the cause and walk together, but one individual in particular stood apart from the rest. Jarrod Swearingen was the hero of the day, with his fervent dedication to the Walk and his generous donations. The Walk for Life is an annual fundraising event orchestrated by the Pregnancy Resource Center. The funds donated through this event help support the center and its mission, which offers services in pregnancy education, parenting support, family support, and more. The event promoted the theme of “Everyone is Beautiful,” which was printed onto colorful t-shirts and signs advertising the event. Registration opened at 9:40 a.m. on the Klickitat County Court House lawn, and after a collective song and prayer, the Walk commenced at 10 a.m. on the dot.
ZACHARY VILLAR
SLATERS FIELD DAY: Dan Lee (right) presents Don Slater (left) with a carved cedar sign for being awarded Klickitat County 2023 Cattleman of the Year.
Cattlemen of the Year show their place ZACHARY VILLAR FOR THE SENTINEL The Klickitat County 2023 Cattleman of the Year Field Day & Picnic took place Saturday, April 20, in honor of Don Slater who was voted Cattleman of the Year at the Annual Livestock Growers Banquet in March. The day began at 9:30 a.m. at Slater’s Ranch near Bickleton where coffee and doughnuts were served. A group of local ranchers and other interested parties had gathered for the event that consisted of a tour of Slater’s ranch followed by a picnic. Each year a committee from the Klickitat County Livestock Growers Association selects a local rancher to be Cattleman of the Year. As Klickitat County Livestock Growers Association President Dan Lee explained, the
selected rancher can come from any part of the county. “Last year it was way over on the west side of the county. It’s completely different ranching over here than it is on the west side where it rains all the time.” Of the benefits of the Cattleman of the Year Field Day, Lee said, “You just see how other people do it, and it gives you ideas.” Before the tour began, Dr. Fred Muller of Ag Health Laboratories, Inc., gave a short talk about cattle health and nutrition. A bovine with a faulty diet can mean a loss for the rancher. “Probably the biggest thing is if they lose weight before they’re calving, then they have trouble calving and then rebreeding the next year,” said Muller. “With livestock, we need them to calve every year to get another calf crop. That’s our income stream to keep us in business.”
Muller is the founder and owner of Ag Health Laboratories and a practicing veterinarian specializing in bovine health and milk quality. They offer blood tests for cattle such as the BioPRYN test, a safe and accurate tool for detecting pregnancy in ruminant animals that is an improvement on previous methods. They also offer comprehensive feed nutrient analysis for alfalfa and grass forages. This helps cattlemen find superior ration formulations for their cattle feed, information they can use to engender optimal cow performance. Slater has about eighty head of cattle. He is a reticent man with a bushy, white beard, and that day he was wearing a short-sleeved button-up shirt printed with black cows. His mother and father purchased the land where his ranch
See Field Day page A8
The walk was about two miles of city sidewalk, making it relatively friendly to all who wished to participate. Even still, those two miles held more meaning than met the eye. Jarrod, who has spent the last three years in a wheelchair, was determined to walk the two miles. After months of tireless practice, Jarrod was able to attend the fundraiser with a push walker, rather than a wheelchair, making him a beacon of light to all. Jarrod’s been a faithful supporter of this fundraiser for the past 31 years, and his donations are heartening. Karen Austin, a board member at the Resource Center and planner of the fundraiser, commented on his tremendous generosity. “Jarrod’s always our biggest supporter,” she affirmed. Jarrod’s mother, Cheryl Swearingen, backed this statement proudly and explained that Jarrod spent months pooling together funds to donate. The mission behind the Walk for Life fundraiser has been a lifelong passion for the family, and each year they participate without fail. The week leading up to the
See Walk page A8
False shooter alarms target eight schools in Washington and Oregon GRACE BLAND FOR THE SENTINEL Eight high schools in various parts of Washington—including White Salmon—and Oregon were recently the victims of a cruel hoax that put students and staff in fear for their lives. On the morning of Wednesday, May 10, eight high schools received an active shooter threat and were put into secure lockdown. Every student, staff, and citizen near the schools held their breath, waiting for hours on end to hear gunshots that never came. The calls were fake, but the intent behind them is the true culprit that has yet to be uncovered. The calls were made between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., each call with a different variant of the same message. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office received a call from an unidentified person who claimed to be hiding in the bathroom at Jefferson High School
while an assailant shot at them. The statement released by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office stated, “Law enforcement was not able to locate anyone injured, let alone shot, and [there was] no evidence of an armed person or any shots which had been fired.” After detailed searches led by law enforcement, the school was declared to be unharmed and not in threat of danger. Exactly 31 minutes after the call targeting Jefferson High School was made, Central Valley High School in Spokane Valley, Washington, received a call. The caller stated that they were armed and ready to go in and start shooting. After hours of lockdown and meticulous searching by law enforcement, this too was deemed a false alarm. Six other schools received similar threats the same day, including Stevenson High School, Pullman High School, and El-
See Schools page A8