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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS March 21, 21, 2016 | 75¢
Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
Lawmakers wrestle with budget deal
How high’s the water?
Divisions in Legislature said to hamper process BY WALKER ORENSTEIN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Lake Sutherland residents Nancy Brant, left, and Marie Marrs examine Brant’s submerged dock. Rising water levels at the lake are being blamed in part on a blockage of Indian Creek, the lake’s outlet to the Elwha River.
Lake Sutherland level is on the rise 16-inch increase blamed on creek blockage, rainfall BY ARWYN RICE AND LEAH LEACH PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
LAKE SUTHERLAND — Lake Sutherland is rising, and no one can stop it without an extensive permitting process, according to homeowners on the lake’s edge. The lake has reached 16
inches above its normal water level, thanks to a combination of blockage of the lake’s outlet to Indian Creek and the high rainfall and snowmelt, said Gene Unger, president of the Maple Grove Home Owners Association. “It’s pretty high, and over some decks,” Unger said. Resident John Mars said his own docks are still above water, but knows others whose docks are now covered by the lake’s rising water. “I don’t know the extent of it. One neighbor’s dock is underwater, another is half-submerged,”
Marrs said. Neither are full-time residents, he said. Lake Sutherland is a 350acre natural lake that was formed when an ancient landslide separated it from Lake Crescent.
Stalemate
Crescent changes While Lake Crescent’s water level rose about 70 feet and found a new outlet at Lyre River after the landslide, Lake Sutherland still drains through the original outlet at Indian Creek, a tributary of the Elwha River. TURN
OLYMPIA — As lawmakers prepared to enter the second full week of supplemental budget negotiations in an overtime special session, the political gridlock of Congress has felt closer to home for some who follow politics in Washington. Though lawmakers don’t have to navigate filibusters to pass legislation like their counterparts in the District of Columbia, they’ve now failed to reach a budget agreement without going into a special session six times in the past seven years. An increasingly polarized and politically divided Legislature is at least partially to blame, according to Cornell Clayton, a political science professor at Washington State University. The two factors combined make it difficult for lawmakers to reach compromises “on even routine matters like the budget,” he said. Democrats control Washington’s House by a one-vote margin. Republicans also have toothpick-thin 26-23 majority when accounting for one Democrat who caucuses with Republicans.
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“It leads to a politics of stalemate and brinkmanship,” Clayton said. “You see it in Washington, D.C., and in the state of Washington.” Lawmakers haven’t shared much about remaining disagreements in budget negotiations since each chamber released proposals in February. Last week, the Senate made a
ALSO . . . ■ State lawmakers debate salaries for teachers/A4
public offer that moved closer to the original House plan. Republicans would alter the two-year budget approved in 2015 by $178 million and would use around $190 million from the state’s emergency fund to pay for costs from last summer’s wildfires. “We’ve worked hard to recognize concerns with our budget, address those concerns, and recognize we’re in a divided state government and we have to work toward compromise,” said Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, after Republicans unveiled the plan last week. “I think this budget shows that.” Democrats have advocated for measures not in the Republican budgets, such as raising minimum salaries for new teachers and spending money from the emergency fund to reduce homelessness. House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, a Democrat from Covington, said lawmakers made “good progress” recently and said he was cautiously optimistic a deal could be reached early this week. “Actually I think we work pretty well together despite the fact we have split control,” Sullivan said. Washington was still ranked the fifth most polarized state in the nation in 2015, according to research by Boris Shor, a professor at Georgetown University. TURN
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Library system to mark bonds’ retirement Thursday event thanks taxpayers PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County public library system will thank taxpayers with a party Thursday. The North Olympic Library System — which oversees public libraries in Port Angeles, Sequim, Forks and Clallam Bay — will celebrate the retirement of the bonds that supported the 1998 construction of the Port Angeles library from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the library at 2210 S. Peabody St. The reception will be in the Living Room of the library and will feature refreshments and a craft/souvenir activity.
Ground was broken in 1997 and the new $5.6 million facility was opened to the public with a dedication ceremony Aug. 16, 1998, after voters approved a city of Port Angeles bond measure in September 1994. “Libraries build community, and it takes a community to build a library,” said Library Director Margaret Jakubcin. During the term of the cityheld bonds, the Port Angeles facility has been owned by the city and leased to the North Olympic Library System. The construction bonds were retired Dec. 31, 2015, and the lease
was concluded by action of the City Council on Jan. 19 this year, followed by the deed transferring ownership being executed Feb. 25. “The city planners, library staff and voters who decided 22 years ago to invest in this community by expanding and improving the Port Angeles Library showed tremendous foresight,” Jakubcin said. “As a result of their actions, NOLS was able to build a modern, spacious and attractive facility that continues to serve the Port Angeles community, support GARRETT FEVINGER/NORTH OLYMPIC LIBRARY SYSTEM countywide library service and Port Angeles Mayor Patrick Downie signs the deed provide a beautiful civic landconveying the Port Angeles Library to the North Olympic mark in which residents can take Library System on Feb. 25. Observing are Library Director real pride.”
Margaret Jakubcin and Port Angeles Main Library
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LIBRARY/A5 Manager Noah Glaude.
INSIDE TODAY’S PENINSULA DAILY NEWS 100th year, 68th issue — 2 sections, 16 pages
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CLASSIFIED COMICS COMMENTARY DEAR ABBY HOROSCOPE NATION PENINSULA POLL PUZZLES/GAMES SPORTS
B3 B7 A7 B7 B7 A3 A2 B4 B1
*PENINSULA SPOTLIGHT
SUDOKU WEATHER WORLD
A2 B8 A3