Sound Bites: Bite-Sized Bits of News From Around Puget Sound

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Reading Washington’s Vital Signs: On an average day in 2001, 218 Washingtonians had a baby, 122 people died, 114 married and 72 divorced, according to a report released Jan. 3 by the state Department of Health. Of the 218 babies born on an average day,

•6 were born to women aged 40 and older (in 1981 it was one per day)

•27 were born to women who smoked during pregnancy (in 1991 it was about 38)

•49 were delivered by Cesarean section (in 1981 it was 26 per day)

•13 had low, less than 5-1/2 pounds, birth weight (in 1981 it was 11 per day)

•Of the 122 people who died on an average day (it was 88 per day in 1981)

•31 died of heart disease

•30 died of cancer

•6 died as a result of accidents

•2 committed suicide

“This increase (in number of deaths) is due in part to the fact that there are more people in Washington and in part because our population is aging,” said Phyllis Reed, research investigator for the Center for Health Statistics. “Death rates, when adjusted for age, actually show a decrease over time.”

The top 10 leading causes of death in 2001 were: (1) heart disease, (2) cancer, (3) stroke, (4) chronic lower respiratory diseases, (5) accident, (6) Alzheimer’s disease, (7) diabetes, (8) influenza and pneumonia, (9) suicide, and (10) chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.

Seafood Racketeering Gets the Squeeze: A Pierce County man, arrested and charged last March on suspicion of leading a geoduck- and crab-poaching ring, was arraigned on additional charges at the end of 2002 in Pierce County Superior Court. The additional counts bring the total charges against 50-year-old Douglas John Martin Tobin to 39 theft counts, including leading organized crime, 120 fish and wildlife violations and one charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The fish and wildlife violations include 38 counts of trafficking in fish and wildlife, two counts of fish dealing without a license, 34 counts of commercial fishing during a closed season, 33 counts of failing to report commercial shellfish harvest and 12 state health violations concerning shellfish certification. All charges stem from an alleged conspiracy, involving more than 20 individuals, to steal and market geoduck and crab.“These offenses have resulted in the loss of state and tribal resources, including nearly 200,000 pounds of geoduck with a value in excess of $1.3 million dollars, and 85,000 pounds of crab,” said Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Chief Bruce Bjork.

High-Tech Leashes for Sex Offenders? Sen. Pam Roach, R-Sumner, announced a proposal last month to guarantee 100 percent monitoring of dangerous sex offenders by using Global Positioning System technology when it is available.“Sex-offender housing is causing an uproar among our communities,” said Roach. “We don’t want to live near a place that will house sex offenders of any kind. In order to protect our families and communities, we not only need sex offenders to register with the sheriff’s department, we need the instantaneous ability to determine the location of a sexual predator.” Recent court decisions require that after sexually violent predators serve their sentence, they must be released into a transitional housing facility. The sex offenders cannot stay in jail and must be released. Roach has submitted an additional bill to limit the location of transitional housing for sex offenders to industrial areas only. “My new proposal would require level 2 and 3 sex offenders to wear a device that would use GPS technology to determine the exact location of the sex offender at any given time,” Roach added. On Jan. 10, Washington had 2,783 registered level 2 and 3 sex offenders. “What we’ve learned is that the system doesn’t work,” Roach said. “In the state of Washington, we can’t find 10 percent of our convicted sex offenders. It is an outrage to learn that Seattle lost more than 260 sex offenders and 10 sexual predators. We need a solution that works.”

Low Brant Numbers Means Closed Hunting Season: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife canceled a scheduled January brant hunting season, after counts of the birds in Skagit County indicated numbers were below the level needed for the hunt to proceed. The hunt was scheduled for late January and would have occurred if at least 6,000 brant were counted during WDFW aerial surveys, said Don Kraege, WDFW waterfowl manager. However, recent aerial surveys of Padilla, Samish, and Fidalgo bays resulted in a count of just 4,880 brant. Similarly low counts were recorded in 2001, the last time the late-season brant hunt was canceled in Skagit County. The 6,000-count threshold is designed to conserve the population of Western High Arctic brant that winter in the area. Kraege said the causes of the Skagit brant population decline are unknown, but may be the result of poor production on the birds’ western Canadian breeding grounds combined with possible changes in areas of the flyway the brant frequent. Northwest Washington’s declining wintering brant geese populations —including a potentially separate genetic stock that may be one of the rarest geese in the world—sent WDFW biologists to the Canadian Arctic this summer on a high-tech research project. Study results are expected to be available later this year.

Lonely Alternative-Energy Plan in the Works: The Washington State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council received an application Monday, Jan. 14, to locate up to 121 wind turbines in Kittitas County, between Cle Elum and Ellensburg. Sagebrush Power Partners L.L.C., a wholly owned subsidiary of Zilkha Renewable Energy of Houston, Texas, is proposing to construct and operate the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project that would produce approximately 182 megawatts of electricity. In 2001 the state legislature changed state law allowing alternative energy resources of any size to submit applications to EFSEC for state review. EFSEC Chair Jim Luce noted, “The Sagebrush proposal is the first alternative energy resource to be submitted under the 2001 law and we look forward to reviewing this type of renewable energy facility.” At the completion of its review, EFSEC submits a recommendation to the governor. The governor makes the final decision to approve or deny a project.

Citizens Lose When Others Don’t Pay Their Dues: Chief Ronald W. Serpas announced that on Jan. 14 Washington State Patrol Criminal Investigation Division Fuel Tax Detectives served two search warrants, one at Chief Ichishkiin gas station in Toppenish and one at Yakima Petroleum.

The Fuel Tax Evasion Unit had information alleging these two business locations were importing fuel into Washington state without proper licensing and without paying tax to the Washington State Department of Licensing, which are violations of Washington fuel tax laws.

It is estimated that over $20 million is lost annually because of unpaid fuel taxes in the state of Washington. This has a direct effect on the citizens of Washington because these taxes partially fund the state highway program, county and city transportation systems, the state ferry system and other roadway improvements. §