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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS February 11, 11, 2016 | 75¢
Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
Wins, defeat for measures Sequim district bond still falls short OLYMPIC PENINSULA NEWS GROUP
SEQUIM — The failure of the Sequim School District’s fourth attempt in two years at passage of a school construction bond is “scary,” the district’s superintendent said. The $54 million proposal didn’t make the 60 percent supermajority mark needed for a bond measure after an initial ballot count in Tuesday’s special election and a second count in Jefferson County on Wednesday. The total from counts in both Clallam and Jefferson counties was 7,441, or 57.02 percent, approving it and 5,609, or 42.98 percent, opposed. “I don’t know what to say,” district Superintendent Gary Neal said Tuesday night. “It doesn’t make any sense.” “I think this is a very scary statement by the community,” he added. “This is bigger than a bond. There’s something else out there.” In Clallam County, 7,344 votes approved the measure while 5,532 opposed it out of the ALANA LINDEROTH/OLYMPIC PENINSULA NEWS GROUP 13,040 ballots in the district tallied by the ClalSequim High School student Emma Eekhoff, right, gets a hug from classmate Emily Webb after hearing lam County Auditor’s Office. In Jefferson County, where about 200 people Sequim’s school construction bond was failing to reach 60 percent approval Tuesday evening. live within the Sequim School District, 97 voted yes and 77 no. “We’re going to let the dust settle and regroup a little bit and catch our breath,” said Colleen Robinson, president of Citizens for Sequim Schools, on Wednesday. The next count of ballots will take The current four-year maintenance BY ARWYN RICE “First, the Sequim School District takes the place Friday, according to Clallam and operation levy, approved by voters in PENINSULA DAILY NEWS lead [on next steps],” she said. County Auditor Shoona Riggs. 2011, expires at the end of this year. The measure would have among other things JOYCE — With the first count of spe“We’re all on cloud nine,” Crescent About 15 percent of the $3.3 million paid for a new elementary school, added general cial election ballots, voters in the Joyce School District Superintendent Clayton Crescent School District operating budeducation classrooms at Greywolf Elementary area have voiced approval for two levies Mork said Wednesday. get is paid for using local tax dollars. School, science classrooms at Sequim High to help fund the Crescent School District. The initial results were a relief to Maintenance and operations levies School, new choir and band rooms at Sequim In the initial count Tuesday night, district officials and volunteers who are used to pay for the school district’s High and a major remodel of the school disvoters appeared to favor a four-year, worked hard to see the levies through, library, counseling services, music protrict’s kitchen that services each of the schools. $520,000 annual maintenance and oper- Mork said. gram, curriculum materials, school “The problems aren’t going to go away, and ations levy by 471 yes votes, or 65.06 The maintenance and operation levy nurse, food services, maintenance and that’s something the opposition doesn’t seem to percent, to 253 votes against the levy, or will collect $520,000 annually for a total equipment, utilities, fuel, data and tech be getting,” Robinson said. 34.94 percent. of $2,080,000 over four years. The support, employee benefits, business “What’s eventually going to happen is Helen Voters also looked to approve a four- renewed levy will cost taxpayers an esti- expenses and to reimburse out-of-pocket Haller will be shut down, and we’ll have to start year, $100,000 annual capital improve- mated $1.69 per $1,000 of assessed prop- expenditures for teachers. doing split shifts at Greywolf.” ments levy by 466 votes in favor, or 64.19 erty value — about $338 per year on a TURN TO SEQUIM/A5 TURN TO CRESCENT/A5 percent, to 260 votes against. $200,000 house.
Two Crescent school levies ahead in polls
Sequim grad to vie for Olympic team spot Dinius to jockey Saturday in Calif. BY MICHAEL DASHIELL OLYMPIC PENINSULA NEWS GROUP
SEQUIM — She already had dropped band and basketball, so by the time she began racing with the Sequim Middle School’s seventh-grade cross-country team, quitting was not an option. “We would run laps to start out the class. Basically, that was the only thing I was good at,” said Stephanie Marcy Dinius, now 26 and a Boston resident. “It was way harder than I thought it would be,” she recalled. “I wanted to quit right away. But I thought, ‘I have to finish out this season.’ I’m so glad I did. I
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loved it. Never went back.” What a long, winding road it’s been for the Sequim native. Dinius, the former Washington state champion-turned-collegiate All-American, aims for a berth in the 31st Summer Olympic Games when she races against the nation’s best in a marathon at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Los Angeles on Saturday. The race will be aired on NBC at 10 a.m. For information, see www.latrials2016.com. The top three male and female finishers will be nominated to represent Team USA and the nation in the marathon at the
2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro six months after the trials. Like other competitors, Dinius’ road to the trials was anything but smooth. Two major post-college injuries nearly derailed her running career. “There were moments I had all but run out of hope,” she said. “But with my running friends and Shane [Dinius, her husband], I said, ‘This is where I’m at. I really need help.’ Your community is really important, as is having grace with yourself and patience, being OK with what happens. “Running is such a gift as long DAVID GONZALES/STANFORD UNIVERSITY as I have it. When it’s over, I’ll find Stephanie Dinius, a Sequim High and Stanford University something else.” graduate, will race for an Olympic Games berth Saturday TURN
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