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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS March 3, 3, 2016 | 75¢
Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
PA mayor target in ethics filing
Seussian celebration
New complaint focuses on Downie’s behavior BY ARWYN RICE PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Michelle Olsen, principal of Roosevelt Elementary School in Port Angeles, reads Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss to second-grade students Wednesday, the anniversary of the birth of children’s book author Theodor Seuss Geisel. The National Education Association has adopted the date as National Read Across America Day to promote literacy.
Carbon ballot measure goes before Legislature carbon tax of $25 per metric ton of fossil fuel emissions burned in Washington while reducing other taxes. Lawmakers have until the end of the session March 10 to enact Initiative 732, offer an alternative proposal or automatiBY PHUONG LE cally pass the carbon-tax meaTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS sure to voters in November as SEATTLE — Washington written. could become the first state in the nation to impose a direct tax Alternative possible on carbon emissions from fossil It’s not clear whether lawfuels such as coal, gasoline and makers will approve an alternanatural gas. A ballot measure before the tive by the end of the session. The grass-roots group Carbon state Legislature would create a
Proposal would require taxes on emissions
Washington — which gathered more than 350,000 signatures to qualify the initiative — says a carbon tax is the best way to reduce emissions and tackle global warming. It says the tax would encourage people and businesses to switch to cleaner energy by making fossil fuels more expensive. The proposal is designed to be “revenue-neutral,” meaning that though tax revenues would increase for fossil fuels, it would mostly be offset by a decrease in other tax revenues. TURN
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PORT ANGELES — A third ethics complaint against members of the Port Angeles City Council was filed Tuesday night — this time against Mayor Patrick Downie. Marolee Smith, a Port Angeles resident and former City Council candidate, filed the complaint against Downie during the council meeting’s second public comment session at the end of Tuesday’s meeting. Downie, who chaired Tuesday’s meeting, said Wednesday he had not yet read the complaint and so couldn’t comment. In the complaint, Smith said that at the council meetings Jan. 5 and Jan. 19, Downie admonished a group of people who wanted to speak, mostly about water fluoridation. Smith said Downie was “chiding, lecturing and threatening” toward the audience at the meeting. The complaint does not ask for action to be taken against Downie. Smith said that should be left up to the panel that will review the complaint. The complaint alleges in part that: ■ Downie “subjected people at the meeting to inappropriate, long-winded lectures, chided the citizens and actually ‘finger wagged’ at them, as if he were scolding children.” ■ He “admonished the citizens in the audience to NOT criticize individual council members, which was out-of-order.” ■ He “characterized the audience as: bullies, not courteous, threatening, intimidating, angry,
disrespectful.” ■ T h e mayor’s “scolding, chiding, lecturing, and threatening (‘will cut off comment period if…’) and repeated i n s i s t e n c e Downie that people be ‘civil’ was out of line. Calling citizens intimidating, rancorous, angry, bullies, and insinuating that they were ‘a waste of time.’ ” Smith said W e d n e s d a y Smith she had intended to submit the complaint at a meeting two weeks earlier but was low on the list of speakers and did not get to the lectern to speak. She said she knew the complaint could be filed outside of a meeting but waited until Tuesday’s meeting. “I wanted to make a point, and I think I made that point. It wasn’t just for the council; it was for the audience as well,” she said. Council members did not receive a copy of the complaint until Wednesday afternoon.
Fourth complaint Previous complaints have been filed against Deputy Mayor Cherie Kidd, Councilman Dan Gase and City Attorney Bill Bloor. TURN
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Testimony starts in manslaughter trial Man, 29, charged in shooting death Testimony is expected to take about two weeks, Clallam County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin has said. The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office alleged that a “heavily intoxicated” Olson intentionally shot Baker during a social gathering at 1523 Monroe Road. Clallam County Sheriff ’s Detective Brian Knutson on Wednesday displayed to the jury the .45-caliber Sig Sauer pistol that Olson allegedly used to shoot the 25-year-old Baker. An autopsy showed that Baker died of a single gunshot wound to
BY ROB OLLIKAINEN PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — Witness testimony has begun in the trial of Nathaniel Darren Olson, a Sequim man charged in the shooting death of Matthew Baker at a house party east of Port Angeles in 2014. Olson, 29, is charged with firstdegree manslaughter with a firearm enhancement for the early morning shooting at a Monroe Road residence May 22, 2014. He has maintained his innocence. Opening arguments were completed Tuesday.
law enforcement officers, forensic scientists and party-attendees to speak to the events leading up to the shooting. F i r s t r e s p o n d e r s Olson said they found an intoxicated Olson lying on the living room floor near Baker’s body when they arrived. Olson told one witness that Baker “came at me” before the shooting, deputies wrote in the affidavit for probable cause. Olson posted a $75,000 bail bond in June 2014 and has
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the chest. A bullet that was recovered near Baker’s body was entered into evidence and examined by gloved jury members despite an objection from defense attorney Karen Unger. “I don’t think there is any dispute that Mr. Baker was shot,” Unger said. “I don’t expect to cross-examine this particular witness about being mistaken that that is the bullet.” Knutson testified on crossexamination that he had reason to believe that Baker had been in a fight with another man prior to the shooting. The state has secured more than 30 witnesses, including other
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remained out of custody. He was seated next to Unger wearing a suit Wednesday. In other developments, Clallam County Superior Court Judge Erik Rohrer dismissed a jury member after she expressed written and verbal concerns about her privacy and personal safety. The woman said she had not discussed her concerns with other members of the jury. “I’m afraid,” the juror told Rohrer. Her dismissal leaves one alternate juror on a 13-member panel that consists of 12 women and one man. Testimony is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. today.
INSIDE TODAY’S PENINSULA DAILY NEWS 100th year, 53rd issue — 2 sections, 16 pages
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