The News Tribune from Tacoma, Washington • 9

THE NEWSTRIBUNE Joseph Aqui a former inmate of the state Special Commitment Center returns to McNeil Island 2 OBITUARIES 3 OPINION 4-5 TUESDAY MARCH 2 2004 WWWTRIBNETCOMNEWSLOCAL Lahar alert and free music to ITuGoma $5 million: Bates Technical College selling KBTC to Public Radio Capital BY DWID WtCKERT The News Tribune A Seattle public radio station that offers an eclectic mix of music will begin broadcasting in the South Sound this month as part of a plan for Bates Technical College to sell On tn6 dial KBTC-FM Starting next In a deal announced Monday Monday 917 FM Bates will sell the radio station to wW broadcast the the nonprofit Public Radio Capi- eclectic music tal for $5 million The Colorado programming of company in turn will contract Seattle's KEXP to the with Seattle's KEXP to provide South Sound For programming mom information on Beginning next Monday the KEXP programming station will broadcast visit wwwkexpxxg mix of alternative rock hip-hop electronic world jazz and roots music as far south as Olympia Representatives of Bates PRC and KEXP said the deal will benefit the public as well as the parties involved Please see KB1C back page Still work to do in Brame case Tacoma: State Patrol has logged 2600 hours looking at action of police officials By Kris Sherman The News Tribune BRIICI KUUUN THE NEWS TRIBUNE Fire Chief Garry Olson of AshfondEfoe District 23 has given away some 200 weather radios and has another 700 available for residents of the AshfordEfce area The radios give early warning of volcanic mudflows PETER CAHAflHAM Port is stepping out of the way with its spoils in nick of time It was dose but in the end the Port of Thcoma avoided winning a place on an infamous list: the town's biggest foes of historic preservation Former Elks Lodge owner Ronald Zimmerman's well-earned spot atop that list is secure thanks to a deal reached over the weekend that requires the port to take its foot off rehabilitation of the Murray Morgan Bridge It wouldn't have been a good place for the port to be Picking a fight with local preservationists would have used up a lot of political capital and the port had no guarantee of winning Yet for weeks the port staked its prestige on an effort to block a drive to save the bridge from demolition The port linked the Morgan to other projects in the Tidcflats including repairs to the Hylebos Bridge It was effective City staff lime best used to win state and federal help for the project was consumed instead by a civil war with the port While its legal case was thin the port's threat of a lawsuit was potent The city was forced to bargain agreeing to spend more to fix the Hylebos in exchange for getting the port to remove objections to using state money left over from the new Highway 509 project to fix the Morgan Bridge Had the deal not come together now the stated pledge to pay up to $25 million for Morgan restoration could have been delayed by a year And a year in the life of a VO-yeAr- old bridge especially one long neglected by the state Department of TYansportatkm is too long If the Legislature approves the deal as expected the bridge and the first batch of renovation money should be turned over to the city by summer The city gets credit for preservation perseverance The port gets credit for making its point getting what it could and then getting out of the way Americans are getting huger according to a survey released this week by the clothing industry But American League and National League baseball players are getting smaller Maybe its just anecdotal hut a lot of stories out of spring training note how many sluggers are reporting to camp weighing less Jason Giambi of the Yankees was the first to show up looking svelte at least svelter than before One player even said his weight loss came about by eating more broccoli and cottage cheese Could be But the chatter in baseball is that the sudden weight loss coincided with new baseball rules that allow random testing for steroids Sudden weight gains -especially muscle-weight are one effect of steroid use Ouit the Voids and the weight falls away So are players losing weight because they quit steroids? Pitcher Tom Glavine told Knight Bidder Newspapers that fair or not "Anyone who loses 15 pounds is going to be a suspect" There's talk in Olympia that if lawmakers fail to adopt a new primary: the state will be forced to wage a winner-take-all general election All candidates would go onto the same November ballot and the one with the most votes though not necessarily a majority of votes -would win It is called the "Jungle which is a misnomer because there are rules in the jungle Still it's held out as the least attractive result of the inability to decide on a new primary law But such a result is unlikely for one reason: money Under state law contributions to candidates are capped Legislative candidates for example can collect $675 in the primary election and $675 in the general election for a total of $1 350 from each donor But if there is no primary there is only one election cutting the cap on each donation in half That ought to get the attention of the Legislature Peter Callaghan-253-597-9657 petercoUaghan9mail tribnetcom Weather radios take up safety fight near Rainier To receive a weather radio Property ownera In EfceAsMord Rm District 23 should cal the flm station to make sum someone la them before stopping by to pick up weather radios The station is at 29615 Wghvray 706 Ashford and Its phone number is 3605692752 District residents wtio haven't received the notice about the radtos also can receive them If they can prove their dstrict by showing their electricity bids State Patrol sleuths have spent 2600 hours so far on their investigation into possible misconduct by some Tacoma police officers and city officials but it could still be several weeks before their job is complete A piece erf the investigation re- mains stalled by a contract dis- COHS SO IBT pute with the Tacoma Police Man- State Patrol agement Association over condi- Investigators put in tions under which eight of the 2600 hours on the union's members may be inter- Brame investigation viewed between Dec 3 and Representatives of the city and Feb 15 Work done the union met twice last month In late 2003 cost with a mediator from the state $16000 Public Employment Relations bill is estimated at Commission $9000 The next step remains unclear Mice CapL Mark Langford president of Ifccoma Police Management Association Local 26 said Monday his members hope to hear from a mediator this week on what comes next But the process could be further delayed by the sudden absence oflhcoma Human Resources Director Phil Knudsen who was placed on administrative leave pending two investigations into possible misconduct last week Those investigations involve whether Knudsen improperly interfered in hiring and promotion and are not related to the State Police probe City Manager Jim Walton could not be reached for comment Monday A five-member team headed by State Patrol Lt Marc Lamoreaux is following up on information gleaned during a criminal investigation into the city after Police Chief Please see Braaie bath gage Early warning: Fire department gives hundreds away in Elbe-Ashford region BYEUMO Kawada The News Tribune Residents of the Elbe-Ashford Fire District 23 near Mount Rainier are being equipped with their first line of defense against natural disasters especially volcanic mudflows The fire department is distributing 920 free weather radios a gift from an anonymous donor Because of the communities' proximity to the mountain the special radios are the only meaningful warning system for them in case of a sudden volcanic mudflow called a lahar "It grew out of a lahar scare from a few years ago" said district Fire Chief Garry Olson referring to the warning system being put in place "What that incident showed us was that we were not ready for a massive One evening in August 2001 glacial melt sent a mudflow down the Nisqually River causing a panic in the Elbe-Ashford area communities The mudflow however was minor and didn't threaten lives At the time then-Fire Chief James Gregory and volunteer firefighters yelled on bullhorns and knocked on doors to warn residents There are about 2300 residents in the upper Nisqually area including about 300 who live in the path of previous lahars Please see BadtoSi back page State wildlife officials want to call orcas 1 Decline of 18 percent since 1995 By EUZAgcm Subpie The Associated Press The Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife proposed Monday that Puget Sound's orcas be added to the state list of endangered species "because the marine mammals are at critically low levels and are vulnerable to several continuing The department made the recommendation based on a recent status report in- dicating that the population of "southern resident" killer whales in Puget Sound and nearby waters has declined 18 percent since 1995 "The solid scientific work reflected in this report gives us an excellent base on which to assess the health of our resident Do our ocas live North America's most stressful waters? Back page orca population and determine what the next steps should be to protect one erf the most enduring symbols of Puget Sound and the Pacific said Jeff Koenings the department's director The "southern that swim in waters off Washington and British Columbia include 84 orcas down from a historical high of more than 120 in the 1960s before the whales were captured in large numbers for display at marine parks The pod one of three groups of southern residents has seen both higher mortality rates and lower birth rates particularly in the past decade according to the department's status report Scientists point to a decline in salmon Please see tang tack mi IUINK THOMPSON THE ASSOCIATED PftESS FILE Scientists blame a decline in salmon Ihe orcas' main source of food as wefl as accumulations of chemicals in the water for the slipping orca population.