On July 28, Seattle City Council passed a new bill which contains two main components: consumers will no longer get grocery bags for free, and businesses will no longer be permitted to use or sell foam containers. Drafted and presented by Council President Richard Conlin, this bill mimics a similar law passed in Ireland that cut the annual use of plastic bags by 90 percent.
According to the new regulation all King County grocery, drug, and convenience stores will start requiring a fee of $.20 per paper or plastic bag used for customers groceries. The city will provide one or more free reusable tote bags to each household in the hopes that no low-income family will be badly impacted by the new regulation. David Knapp, Assistant Manager at the Mountlake Terrace Roger’s Market, claims, “As long as people invest in a reusable bag they’ll be fine.”
Seattle Public Utilities estimates that 360 million plastic bags are used per year in Seattle and that once in effect the bill will cut that number in half. Annually this fee is expected to raise $3.5 million. Five cents from each bag sold will be paid to the store directly as an administration fee, and the rest will work to offset expected increases in Seattle’s city waste.
Since 70 percent of Seattle’s plastic bags come from grocery, drug, and convenience stores, the $.20 bag fee will not be extended towards any retail locations. David Knapp said, “[The bag fee] is not based on business, it’s based on material. And if the material is bags, [the fee] should be enforced everywhere.”
When asked, local chain grocery stores Albertsons, Safeway and QFC, would give no information about this statute.
Seattle City Council also passed a ban on Styrofoam and other Polystyrene containers by a vote of 7-0.
This embargo encourages grocery stores and restaurants to switch to plastic containers by Jan. 1 2009, but starting July 2010 plastic containers will also be outlawed and only biodegradable alternatives will be accepted.
These changes are postponed in order to give businesses the time to get their alternative containers in order. It’s expected to cost restaurants $.10 more per container, and $.05 more per cup.

Last summer, custodian Jim “Animal” Pecotte was re-assigned to work at the Edmonds School District 15’s office. Students petitioned to return him to his position at Terrace, but were unsuccessful.
Marketing technical education teacher Trinity Merriwood was scheduled to ship off to Iraq as a soldier in early October. She was aware of the possibility of her leaving but wasn’t sure until mid- to late-July.
When last in contact with Principal Greg Schwab she was in combat training. “We all appreciate her service. It’s a big sacrifice,” Schwab said, “regardless of your position on the war I think you have to appreciate this.”
Merriwood is a member of the National Guard. Though it was not her decision to leave, she is going and will be gone for a minimum of a year, if not longer.

In previous years, schools throughout Edmonds School District 15 (ESD), have provided an after-school activities/athletics bus. It was transportation for people with extra-curricular involvement and went through a broad range of stops to comply with everyone’s needs. Due to this year’s budget cuts, however, no school in district has the bus.
The idea to discontinue the activities bus emerged as a proposal in the April 8, 2008 budget committee meeting and was put into effect on Aug. 27, 2008. The idea was proposed by the ex-head of transportation, Reg Clark. The meeting was focused on how to minimize expenditures or increase revenue for the 2008-2009 school year. One suggestion was to charge students to ride the bus but that idea was voted down.
The district also felt that the purpose of the bus was being abused. They felt students were only using the bus as a way home so they could hang out with their friends longer after school.
During the 2007-2008 school year the ESD 15’s annual expenditure cost was $40,177,336. Unfortunately the district only made $10,405,822 revenue to cover the cost. Drastic changes had to be quickly made. The biggest cuts were in special education and transportation. Last year the cost of transportation for the district was $8,023,567. By just cutting the after school bus they saved $450,200. The majority of the cost is from the mandatory transportation of homeless students. By law homeless children must be provided access to education. Their transportation accounts for about $2,500,000 of the cost.
Students and parents throughout the school were struck from behind with the decision. By law, teachers have to be notified of any changes in the upcoming school year by May 18 of the previous school year. The only notification that the students at our school got was an announcement the second day of school after many students had been stranded after school the previous day.
“[It is] kind of lame,” said senior Samantha Westerlund. “Students should be offered a way home if they stay after school.” Junior Jason McMasters said, “It really sucks. The fact that I have to walk home two miles with heavy books and my guitar makes me angry, displeased, and haggard.”
Social studies teacher Dory Pearce also had a strong opinion as well stating, “I know there are budget issues in the school district. I think it is too bad. Students used the after school to for extra-curricular activities, to get help from teachers. It’s a shame.” Art teacher Mark Walker suggested that students look elsewhere for transportation. “Maybe you should contact your local church, they have buses. Maybe local companies would fund things like activities.”
There is little the district can do to get the bus back. One option is that individual schools could buy the bus and pay for it with their own funding. However with budget cuts district wide schools will have little change to spare especially $450,200. The other option is to write to the budget committee to ask them to re-evaluate their decision. Until then, students with extra-curricular activities will have to ride the community transit, drive themselves, ride with friends, or find some other mode of transportation to get home from school.

It was just another fire drill that would be over in a few minutes – or so students thought. At around 1:35 p.m. on Oct. 1, students heard the blaring sirens, which was unusual for an ordinary drill. There’ve been two drills in the past month, which could’ve been deceiving to students that there wasn’t an actual fire in the school.
Soon after filing out of the school, students and teachers heard the fire department rolling down the access road – not one but two trucks followed by the fire marshal’s SUV.
After 20 minutes of waiting for the fire department to clear the school, students were allowed back inside to get their possessions and go home.
According to several witnesses as well as the police officers on the scene, a toilet paper dispenser was lit on fire inside the men’s bathroom across from room 133. One of the witnesses, junior Suzanne Case, said she saw “smoke coming out of the boy’s bathroom as well as the part of the flame.”
Language instructor Robin Cogburn was teaching in room 133 at the time, and just moments before the dismissal, heard students in the hallway arguing over who should pull the alarm. When her class was on their way out the door she, and several of her students saw “smoke rolling down the hall towards the outside.”
The stall itself was completely charred on the left-hand side, reaching all the way up to the ceiling. Burnt pieces of toilet paper were scattered all over the bathroom from wall to wall, possibly due to the pressure of the fire extinguisher the firefighters used.
If any student has information regarding the incident, Campus Resource Officer Heidi Froisland requested that the student contact her in the main office.