Western Front - 1998 October 9

              WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9,1998
VOLUME 206 ISSUE 4 BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON
Locke stresses education, environment
Front/Tyler Watson
Gov. Gary Locke greets Bellingham Cub Scout Harris Larson, 8, during his visit to Bellingham
Tuesday. As a boy Locke achieved the rank of Eagle in the Boy Scouts of America.
By Arvid Hokanson
The Western Front
As part of his effort to reach out
to the people of Washington, Gov.
Gary Locke brought the center of
state government to Bellingham
Tuesday, declaring it "capital for a
day."
Following his 1996 election, the
governor brought his entire staff
and cabinet together to send the
message that politicians who stay
in Olympia can't effectively serve
the people.
"One of the first things
Governor Locke wanted to do fol­lowing
his election was to elimi­nate
the image of governors who
stay in Olympia," Locke's
Communications Director Mike
Love said.
As part of the "capital for a
day" effort, Locke's entire cabinet
traveled with him, visiting with
constituents, including
Washington State Parks and
Recreation Director Cleve
Pinnix's meeting with Western
recreation students.
In the past 18 months, Locke
has made five "capital for a day"
visits, including stops in Everett,
Spokane, Yakima and Vancouver.
During a morning press briefing
at Bellingham school district
headquarters, Locke said citizens
in Everett were able to meet with
state patrol officials to address
traffic jams resulting from the
Edmonds-Kingston ferry,
which the state patrol and depart­ment
of transporta­t
i o n are now
addressing.
The main event
for the day in
Bellingham was a
town meeting at
W h a t e o m
C o m m u n i t y
C o l l e g e that
included a free
barbecue dinner
attended by about
900 hundred peo­ple.
After a brief
opening statement,
including a call to
action for all citi­zens
to remember
that one of the
"foundations of
America is a quality
public education,"
Locke fielded questions from the
audience regarding issues from
health care for the developmen-tally
disabled to Georgia Pacific's
water-use contract with the city.
"If s time to put away party
labels and roll up our sleeves,"
Locke said. "We together can
solve all the problems facing us."
Boy Scouts, parents, students
and local officials were just some
of the residents in attendance
who listened as Locke answered
questions for about 90 minutes.
In more than one answer, Locke
reminded the audience that edu­cation
ranks as his top priority,
but he fielded repeated questions
about the envi-r
o n m e n t;,
including water
quality.
Western junior
Seth Vidana
was one audi­ence
member
who asked the
governor about
water quality
issues in
Bellingham.
"I t h i nk
G o v e r n o r
Locke is con­cerned
a b o ut
t h e issues,"
Vidana said.
"We want to see
action. We want
a clean bay and
a clean environ-
~ ment and we
don't have them right now."
Following back-to-back ques­tions
about Georgia Pacific's
impact on air and water quality,
Locke offered reassurance about
his stand on the environment.
"I do believe in an absolutely
clean environment," Locke said.
"I do believe in a commitment to
the legacy of preserving-our envi­ronment."
See Locke, page 4
Front/Tyler Watson
David Toyer, Western vice
president for legislative and
community affairs, asks
Locke a question.
Suspect sought
in local murder
By Tyler Watson
The Western Front
The Whatcom • County
Prosecutor's Office has filed
aggravated first-degree murder
charges against James Allen
Kinney, who is still at large for the
murder of 20-year-old Keri
Sherlock.
Whatcom County u'lider-
Sheriff Dean Sandell said
Sherlock, who planned to attend
Western winter quarter, was sex­ually
assaulted and died of
repeated blows to the head with a
large gardening device, later
found in Kinney's truck. Kinney
borrowed the truck from his
employer.
"There were numerous other
potentially fatal injuries as well,
including broken bones in the
neck, damage to the cervical area
and the spine," Sandell said.
"The victim's liver had been
lacerated," Sandell said. "There
was evidence of serious penetrat­ing
damage to the vagina."
Allen Kinney
Two of Sherlock's hairs were
found on the murder weapon,
and tire tracks found at the scene
matched the treads of Kinney's
borrowed vehicle, Sandell said.
Beer cans and cigarette butts
were found near Sherlock's body,
and the same brand of beer and
cigarettes were found in the
truck, Sandell said.
Sandell said Kinney and
Sherlock were last seen together
in a local restaurant. They left the
See Suspect, page 4
Coming Out Day celebrated
By Dave Shepherd
The Western Front
The Lesbian Gay Bisexual
Transgender Alliance office was a
busy place Wednesday.
LGBTA Assistant Coordinator
Jane Hinton aggressively sought
passersby to help loop and skew­er
hundreds of rainbow-striped
ribbons onto stick pins.
. A mid-sized cardboard box in
the center of the cramped office,
half-filled with rainbows and sur­rounded
by a busy volunteers,
were testament to her powers of
persuasion.
The pins are being distributed
today by the LGBTA in obser­vance
of the lOth-annual National
Coming Out Day. The rainbow is
a national symbol for the lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgendered
community. A public chalk-art
program is also being facilitated
between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. today
in Red Square for people to show
their support.
National Coming Out Day
began in 1988 to commemorate
the first anniversary of the 1987
Gay and Lesbian march on
Washington, D.C. Although the
official date for National Coming
Out Day is Oct. 11, the LGBTA is
focusing its efforts today rather
than Sunday to increase student
exposure to its message.
At its weekly meeting Tuesday,
the LGBTA addressed the chal­lenges
of coming out. Also, this
Saturday, Hinton and LGBTA
Coordinator Jess Torcaso will take
a vanload of members to the
Temple De Hirsch Sinai in
Seattle's Capitol Hill district for
Gay Bingo Night. The event will
focus on the theme of coming out
and is a fund-raiser for the
Chicken Soup Brigade, a Seattle-based
organization providing
support to HIV-positive Seattle
residents. Torcaso and Hinton
will be featured as bingo callers
for the event, sharing a post occu­pied
in the past by such
Washington notables as Sen. Patty
Murray and Seattle Police Chief
Norm Stamper.
Hinton says the LGBTA's goal
for today's event is to encourage
not only homosexuals to come out
but allies as well. She said she
can't emphasize enough the
importance of allies on campus.
Hinton said she first acknowl­edged
her homosexuality at age
16, in her sophomore year at a
high school she described as "not
very safe." After two years of fear,
she said she knew she wanted to
come to college and be allowed to
just be herself.
Hinton came out to her room­mate,
Diana Gillette, before she
arrived her freshman year.
"It was a huge help to come to
campus with some kind of sup­port
network in place," Hinton
said.
Gillette said it was her first
direct experience with homosexu­ality.
"I had been thinking about the
issue a lot because it was in the
news and because I am a
Christian," she said.
When Hinton turned to her in
the Port Townsend ferry line and
blurted out with a big, nervous
smile, "I'm gay," Gillette replied,
"That's great! Thanks for telling
me."
"It was just really easy. I decid­ed
at that moment that it wasn't
up to me to decide right or
wrong," Gillette said.
See Coming out, page 4