Briefly
County’s smoking ban gets snuffed out again
Tacoma The state Court of Appeals on Thursday decided smokers can once again light up in Pierce County bars, restaurants and bowling alleys – at least as long as a legal battle rages over the county’s indoor smoking ban.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health imposed the ban Jan. 2, but three weeks later it was overturned by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Ronald E. Culpepper, who said the agency lacked authority to enact it.
A Court of Appeals commissioner initially reinstated the ban while Culpepper’s decision was appealed, but the court itself reversed that decision.
“While it’s a huge win for the people in Pierce County, it’s really just the fuel that we needed for the fire to make sure that what’s happening in Pierce County won’t happen statewide,” said Linda Matson, executive director of the Entertainment Industry Coalition, an organization representing establishments where indoor smoking is currently allowed.
The county’s smoking ban was the most sweeping in the state, applying to bars, taverns, restaurants, bowling alleys, minicasinos, hotels, private clubs and most other nontribal businesses.
The state’s less restrictive Clean Indoor Air Act bars smoking in most public places but exempts restaurants, bars, bowling alleys and casinos.
Petitioners are collecting signatures for dueling initiatives on the issue. One pushed by anti-smoking interests would impose a ban like Pierce County’s statewide. The other, pushed by the Entertainment Industry Coalition, would ban smoking in public places open to minors but block more restrictive local bans.
Raw alfalfa sprouts recalled
Kent, Wash. A Kent company is recalling trays of raw alfalfa sprouts, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.
Sprouters Northwest Inc. is recalling 2-, 3- and 5-pound institutional trays of sprouts sent to various food institutions because they may be linked to a recent increase in salmonellosis in Oregon and Washington, the FDA said in a statement.
A phone call to Sprouters Northwest rang unanswered after business hours Thursday. It was not immediately clear which institutions were among its customers and might have received the sprouts.
Twelve cases of Salmonella Bovismorbificans, possibly linked to the consumption of raw alfalfa sprouts, have been reported, the FDA said.
FDA officials said they are working with state officials and the company to determine the cause of the problem and steps to combat it.
The organism can cause serious infections in young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. Healthy people infected with salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.
Men allegedly stole slacks
Olympia Two men have been arrested for investigation of shoplifting 30 pairs of women’s slacks from The Gap at an Olympia-area mall.
Oscar Vasquez, 36, and Miguel Barros, 40, both of Anaheim, Calif. were booked into the Thurston County Jail for investigation of second-degree theft and conspiracy to commit a crime.
According to police reports, the two men were arrested last weekend after a loss-prevention officer at the store noticed the two men throwing slacks into a brown shopping bag.
The bag was lined with foil in an attempt to thwart the store”s electronic security system, police reports said. The merchandise was valued at $1,655.
A 41-year-old woman arrested with them posted bond and was released, jail records showed.
Man charged in hit-and-run
Seattle A 22-year-old Auburn man has been charged with vehicular homicide and hit-and-run in the death of a woman who was well-known among West Coast sailboat enthusiasts for her dramatic racing photography.
King County prosecutors said Ricardo Diaz Ramirez’s blood-alcohol level was .20 percent, more than twice the legal intoxication threshold, when he ran a stop sign on Feb. 22 in Auburn and hit a pickup truck. Charging papers say the truck flipped over and landed on a vehicle driven by Catherine “Kelly” O’Neil Henson, 46, also of Auburn, who was heading to a nearby market to pick up dinner.
Henson, a native of Everett, died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle on March 2. Police said Ramirez, who suffered a severe cut on his hand, ran away from the accident scene. Officers followed a blood trail to his parents’ nearby apartment and found him there sleeping, according to court documents.