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ITEM: A 17-year-old Bremerton man who admitted to slashing 42 government owned tires as a protest of the Iraq war was charged with a class B felony in Kitsap Superior Court. Jason C. Chavez, who told authorities he was a student at a Colorado college, was apprehended after he was seen slashing the tires of 13 vehicles one midnight in front of an Army recruiting center in Silverdale. He said he did it because he hated the military, the government and the war. If sent to Iraq, he said, he would kill everyone fighting on the American side.
COMMENT: If the Army hadn’t needed its vehicles restored immediately, I think an appropriate punishment would have been to have Chavez put on all the new tires personally. Alternately, since tire slashing is not an uncommon crime these days, make him change the next 42 that are reported.
ITEM: Republican state lawmakers have called for an emergency special session in September to beef up the state’s sex offender registration program. Their request was prompted by the slaying of 12-year-old Zina Linnik. The governor is considering it and is awaiting a report from a committee she named to make recommendations.
COMMENT: First, they should consider sweeping changes to the mess they’ve got at the Department of Social and Health Services, where Child Protective Services is as undependable and dysfunctional as some of its clients. It’s my impression that many DSHS employees are former clients with a built-in sympathy for present clients. Another flaw in the justice system is the way Zina’s killer, Terapon Adhahn, was previously allowed to plead down to incest charges after the violent rape of his half sister. That slap on the wrist for a horrendous act set the state for what he was to become.
ITEM: U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Bainbridge Island, has introduced a resolution directing the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should be impeached. At issue, said Inslee, is whether Gonzales lied to Congress in testimony about secret government wiretapping and the firing of nine U.S. attorneys.
COMMENT: Surely, there are issues more important and useful to his constituents than continuing his incessant campaign to bring down the president and his administration, such as exposing sex offenders and replacing decrepit bridges. Why isn’t he demanding the impeachment of his fellow House member, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., the guy who had $90,000 in bridge money in his freezer? Or are Democrats off limits now when it comes to their misdeeds?
ITEM: The State Patrol says some drivers are zipping through HOV lanes with a secret: That person in their passenger seat isn’t breathing. Car pool cheaters use life size mannequins, stuffed clothing with a ball cap pulled low, and plastic dolls in baby car seats to make the transition from illegal solo driver to the required two occupants in the car. The fine for such tricks went on July 1 from $101 to $124.
COMMENT: That’s been going on for years. Not as prevalent but still out there is the trick of adding a passenger to your boat so you can put out an extra pole. My husband and I lived on and often fished Admiralty Inlet and saw many a boat where one person does all the running around, pulling in of poles and re-baiting while a suspiciously lazy companion in oilskin and hat pulled low slouches over the steering wheel in the cabin. We called these ghost passengers Elvis, who many people believe isn’t dead at all. He’s fishing in Admiralty Inlet.
(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville WA 98340.). | 
