OLYMPIA — Four military heroes, four medals of honor, 4 miles of U.S. Highway 101.
State Sen. Jim Hargrove’s memorial bill for the North Olympic Peninsula Medal of Honor Highway spanning Clallam and Jefferson counties gets a hearing today in the Capitol.
Hargrove, a Hoquiam Democrat, and state Reps. Steve Tharinger and Kevin Van De Wege, both Democrats of Sequim, represent the 24th District that comprises all of Clallam and Jefferson counties and most of Grays Harbor County.
Hargrove’s memorial was introduced last Monday and arrives today at the Committee on Transportation.
The bill designates U.S. Highway 101 from 2 miles east of the Jefferson-Clallam County line to 2 miles west of it in these equal portions:
■ From two miles east to one mile east of the line to honor Thaddeus S. Smith.
■ From one mile east to the line to honor Marvin G. Shields.
■ From the line one mile west to honor Francis A. Bishop.
■ From one mile west to two miles west of the line to honor Richard B. Anderson.
Two of the honorees served in the Civil War; one in World War II; one in Vietnam. Their acts of heroism:
Cpl. Thaddeus S. Smith of Port Townsend in the 6th Pennsylvania Reserves flushed out a Confederate sharpshooter nest at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Construction Mechanic 3rd Class Martin Glenn Shields of Port Townsend, a Seabee, saved Army Special Forces personnel at Dong Xoài, ultimately being wounded fatally by North Vietnam forces.
Cpl. Francis A. Bishop of Port Angeles in the 57th Volunteer Infantry captured the Confederate flag in the Battle of Spotsylvania.
Marine Pfc. Richard Beatty Anderson saved three men by tucking a Japanese grenade into his midsection before it exploded in the battle for Roi Namur in the Marshall Islands.
Meanwhile in Olympia, Tharinger cosponsored legislation requiring “after-the-bell” breakfasts for needy students.
According to Van De Wege, Helen Haller Elementary in Sequim already provides such meals.
The problem is that many students from low-income families arrive by bus too near the start of school for breakfast “before the bell.”
The law would let the students eat when they arrive at school.
House Bill 1295 and companion legislation, Senate Bill 5437, would kick in when a school’s free-and-reduced lunch population reached 70 percent.
In Clallam County, 50 percent of students qualify; in Jefferson County, 52 percent.
As for individual schools, statistics are sparse, but 28 percent of Port Angeles High School students received free or reduced-cost lunches five years ago, as did 23 percent of Sequim High School students.
In a district like Toppenish, that figure was 84 percent, but on Bainbridge Island it was 4 percent. The figures were drawn from propublica.org statistics for the 2009-2010 school year.
“If kids are hungry, they’re not going to be able to learn,” Tharinger said.
“That’s part of the challenge when you say, ‘Fund education first’ and don’t take care of those support programs.”
Measles vaccinations
On another of Tharinger’s school-related bills, one removing “personal” or “philosophical” exemptions for school immunizations, he said he had heard some constituents say, “‘Don’t take away our freedom,’ but most folks are supportive.”
Clallam County’s measles outbreak, he said, would not have spread to a kindergarten student had more people been fully immunized.
Other highlights last week in the legislature, members of the 24th District delegation said, included:
■ A bill that passed the Finance Committee on which Tharinger sits to double the B&O tax exemption for contributions to the Main Street program that supports cities’ downtown improvements.
It would raise the cap on such exemptions to $3 million.
■ Another measure supported by Tharinger to boost funding for a Washington Tourism Alliance funded by fees on restaurants and other hospitality retailers.
It would compete for tourists with surrounding destinations like British Columbia, Idaho and Oregon.
“It’s really a great solution that includes the whole hospitality industry,” he said.
“There’s no state money in it at all; it’s all the private sector. The other states around us have pretty robust tourism-marketing efforts.”
■ A medical marijuana sales bill supported by Hargrove that passed the state Senate with 36 votes Friday.
“We need to have some regulated system out there because I’m getting very concerned about the number of our youth who are using marijuana,” Hargrove said, adding he thinks pot has “permanent brain consequences” on young people.
“I have these green crosses [designating medical marijuana dispensaries] all over the place [in Grays Harbor County],” he said. “It’s kind of a Wild West out there right now.”
The bill, he said, would cut sales taxes on medical marijuana sales.
Details of an excise tax on the medical and recreational marijuana markets would have to wait for a separate bill.
Hargrove said his bill exempting small local movers from the regulations required for large cartage companies also received a hearing last week.
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
