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Practice makes perfect | Emergency crews from the region conducted three days of drills in Renton. [2]

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TAKING CAREOF THOSE WHO SERVE

BY DEAN A. RADFORD

[email protected]

Statistics show that the City of Renton’s e� orts to crack down on illegal behavior downtown, on trails and in parks and in neighborhoods are paying o� , with a noticeable drop in crime.

It’s an evolving e� ort as o� cers will soon go undercover to combat crime around the Renton Transit Center and elsewhere in the down-town core.

Mayor Denis Law launched the zero-tolerance enforcement initiative in early June, with a team of eight of-� cers and one sergeant charged with helping people feel safer downtown and elsewhere.

“Our recent analysis and statistics have been highly encouraging,” said Law. “We will continue to strategical-ly focus police resources in problem areas to reduce crime and help make people feel safe.”

Even the criminals are notic-ing – and commenting about – the heightened patrols, says the sergeant who leads the initiative.

� e City Council was briefed re-cently on the team’s e� orts in the � rst 45 days and on the Police Depart-ment’s other initiatives.

� e team’s sergeant, Todd Frazier, ran the council through the statistics, explaining how the team works and what comes next. He told the council the o� cers are “rigorously” enforc-ing the law, conducting a “close to zero-tolerance policy.”

“We are making contact with al-most everybody we think is violating the law or has violated the law,” he said. � e o� cers, he said, are “very visible.”

� e o� cers are patrolling in cars, on foot and on bikes. � ey’ll ride a bus. � ey will follow a target.

� e Direct Enforcement Team is

Stats show police effort downtownis working

BY DEAN A. RADFORD

dradford@rentonreporter

Veterans of America’s wars tell vivid stories.

It’s those stories through our writing and their voices in

videotaped inteviews that we intend to tell during the next three weeks.

� is Special Report comes as voters countywide will decide whether to extend a levy to bene� t veterans and human

services countywide.� ose tax dollars are critical

to providing housing for the homeless, including veterans, and services to those in need who simply couldn’t cope or even survive without our help.

The need through their eyes

BY TRACEY COMPTON

[email protected]

Sally de Leon is animated as she recalls refueling helicopters in Germany during the Bosnian con� ict of the late 1990s. More than a decade later, she sits in her kitchen at the Compass Veterans Center explaining her responsibilities back then as a specialist in Implementation Force. She got a driver’s safety badge and an Army Achieve-ment Medal for her skills and to hear her tell it, it was exciting.

“At the time it wasn’t all that,” she said. “But now when I tell people it, it’s like ‘Wow, that sounds scary.’ Now to think about it, it kind of was.”

In the Army for three years, the 35-year-old said she endured what she calls a high of height-ened awareness because she was constantly on alert. When she le� the Army in 1999, she eventually plugged back into that high as a hospice-care nurse in 2005.

Her voice becomes more mea-sured as her story progresses and she describes what led to the loss of her job and home in

Burien. Today de Leon, her son Mark Sheran and daughter Ber-nadette Sheran call home one of the Compass Veterans Center’s 58 apartments.

Her story is just one of many homeless veterans who have lost their way and found support and housing at the center on South Second Avenue in down-town Renton.

On Aug. 16 voters countywide

will decide whether to continue to support an existing Veterans and Human Services Levy, the Proposition 1 ballot measure. � e levy funds capital facilities and services that reduce medical costs, homelessness and entry into the criminal-justice system, with half the proceeds support-ing veterans and their families.

In e� ect, voters will decide whether the stories of homeless

veterans like de Leon matter.When she was discharged

from the Army in 1999, de Leon really couldn’t escape the mili-tary. Married to another service member, she was still living by the restrictions and routines of military life.

She went to school at Colum-bus Technical College in

Our wars, our veterans

A Renton Reporter special report

Sally de Leon and her children Mark Sheran and Bernadette Sheran play with their puppy in their Compass Veterans Center apartment in Renton, where Sally, a veteran, is receiving services through the center’s programs. CHARLES CORTES, Renton Reporter

County dollars to helpveterans like Sally de

Leon living at the Compass Veterans Center in Renton

[ more VETERANS page 19 ]

Veterans Benefits Seminar Thursday, August 11 at 1:30 pm

Veterans and surviving spouses are invited to learn about little-known VA Aid & Attendance benefits. Thousands are eligible to receive these tax-free benefits, as much as $1,949 per month*.

Hawaiian Luau Saturday, August 13 at 11:00 am

Evergreen Place is also hosting a Hawaiian Luau with singer Ron Herring and Hawaiian dancers. RSVP by August 12. Welcome to Holiday. Welcome home.

Your service to our country could be worth thousands.

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Veterans Benefits Seminar Thursday, August 11 at 1:30 pm

Veterans and surviving spouses are invited to learn about little-known VA Aid & Attendance benefits. Thousands are eligible to receive these tax-free benefits, as much as $1,949 per month*.

Hawaiian Luau Saturday, August 13 at 11:00 am

Evergreen Place is also hosting a Hawaiian Luau with singer Ron Herring and Hawaiian dancers. RSVP by August 12. Welcome to Holiday. Welcome home.

Your service to our country could be worth thousands.

©2011 HARVEST mAnAgEmEnT Sub, LLc 14795

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Veterans Benefits SeminarThursday, August 11 at 1:30 pmHawaiian LuauSaturday, August 13 at 11:00 am

For moreinformation, see our ad on page 5

[ more CRIME page 12 ]

www.rentonreporter.com [19]July 29, 2011

Georgia to become a registered nurse. However, that schooling was interrupted by a move to Maryland in 2001 due to her husband’s enlistment and her second pregnancy.

She enrolled in the two-year nursing program at Howard Community College in Maryland. During this time, de Leon was in an abusive relationship, she said, and she could not complete the course. Instead, she took an eight-week course in the summer and pleaded her case to the school board to become a licensed practical nurse.

In 2005 she started work as a hospice nurse. She excelled; although she describes herself as a talkative person, she said she was a good active listener.

“I was able to appeal to people who were about to lose someone and I kept it real with them,” de Leon said.

Performing well on the job, but troubled at home, she got a divorce from her hus-band in 2007.

Stress takes holdBut by 2010 the stress of her work and

on-going court battle with her husband caught up with her.

It happened a� er de Leon was caring for a baby who died daily for two weeks while in hospice care on life support.

She had had enough, su� ering a mental breakdown in 2010.

It was compounded by the fact she con-tinued to have problems with her ex-hus-band, she said. She also su� ered from post-traumatic stress disorder related to military sexual trauma she said she endured during her service.

According to the Department of Veter-ans A� airs, about 1 in 5 women and 1 in 100 men seen at Veterans Health Admin-istration facilities say “yes” when screened for military sexual trauma. Lasting e� ects include ailments like feelings of numbness, physical health problems and problems with relationships.

Unable to work a� er her breakdown, she and her two children existed on child support and her military bene� ts. De Leon watched as � rst her car and then her house were taken from her. At the time of her divorce, she had an adjustable rate mort-gage that increased a� er three years. She went from paying $1,600 a month to $2,600 a month in three years.

In 2010 she couldn’t keep up with her monthly payments because she had to pay more than $3,000 in housing and food for her family.

“Dealing with hospice, dealing with los-ing my house and the bankruptcy and the foreclosure and then my ex-husband – so I was losing my health,” de Leon said.

Survival mode kicked in and she reached out to the King County Veterans Assistance Program in Seattle. � ey guided her to the Compass Veterans Center in Renton, which was in the � nal stages of being developed.

� e King County Veterans Assistance Program paid for her deposit and � rst month’s rent. She would be responsible for giving a third of her income as payment for rent.

De Leon and her family narrowly es-caped sleeping on the street or in a hotel. � ey squatted in their now-foreclosed house for a week and in that same time-frame were given keys to their new apart-ment at the center.

She and her family have lived at the Compass Center since October. Fully furnished, her apartment was like “coming into a Residence Inn,” she said.

A case managerAt the Compass Veterans Center she

has a case manager who helps her with her budget and to hold her � nancially account-able. Even more important, she said, she has weekly mental-health therapy sessions. � is is something she can’t get at the VA Hospital on a weekly basis because they don’t have enough sta� , she said.

De Leon is able to work on her symp-toms and goals weekly at the Compass Center.

She was given a computer and has access to career planning through the center’s Career Connection. De Leon also likes that

she can go to the Renton Salvation Army Food Bank, which is nearby.

“Being here is actually a huge change, because I never expected to get all the help that I was able to get here,” she said.

Now de Leon is in school full-time on military vocational rehabilitation. She is studying to be a paralegal and plans to graduate from Highline Community Col-lege in December.

It usually takes veterans about two years to � nd permanent housing. De Leon is staying in one of the 36 units at the center reserved for certain grant recipients through the VA. � e other 22 units are per-manent housing o� ered through the VA, Renton Housing and King County Housing Authority called Project Based VASH (Vet-erans Administration Supportive Housing).

� e Compass Center has stable funding now, but future programming could be a� ected by whether or not Proposition No. 1 is approved, said Denise Missak, program manager for the center.

Supportive services that veterans receive while they also stay at the center are funded through King County.

De Leon is not sure how long she’ll need to stay at the Compass Veterans Center; she hopes to get a county or federal govern-ment job a� er she graduates.

And, if that option doesn’t work out, she might even consider going to law school.

Tracey Compton can be reached at 425-255-3484, ext. 5050.



Sally de Leon overcomes stressof war, relationship to build a life

Sally de Leon studies at home to become a paralegal through Highline Community College. CHARLES CORTES, Renton Reporter

COMPASS VETERANS CENTER SUPPORTIVE SERVICES

419 S. Second St. in Renton, Denise Missak, program manager, www.compasshousingalliance.org, 206-357-3100

There are a number of services available to veterans who live at the center:

• Veterans Administration staff located within the building

• Case management• Counseling• Mental health and chemical dependency-care

coordinator• Educational and support groups• Employment readiness by King County Career

Connections• Mental health services and substance abuse

assessments for Medicaid eligible veterans and non veterans by Valley Cities Counseling and Consultation

• Children’s programming (fi eld trips, creative groups, outside activities)

CompassCenter FYI

[ VETERANS from page 1]

BUDGET CUTS | Day care center to close at Renton Technical College; tuition to increase [4]

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Salvation Army | New captains Lisa and Christopher Aird are ready to serve the Renton community [3]

Football is back | The VMAC is a busy place as Training Camp gets underway [15]

BY DEAN A. RADFORD

[email protected]

For six years, millions of dollars in taxes have helped save the lives of veterans and � ll a gap in federal funding for critical services for them.

� ose taxes have helped the neediest of King County residents and put a roof over their heads.

Now, voters are being asked to extend a levy on property taxes that in six years has raised about $90 million to support those vulnerable populations. � e levy on the Aug. 16 primary

election ballot is Proposition 1, the Veterans and Human Services Levy.

� e need for services for veterans will con-tinue to grow as the United States speeds up the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. � at will put additional pressure on the local, state and federal agencies that provide services to them, including the U.S. Department of Veterans A� airs.

Like other government agencies, the federal agency is stretched.

Levy helps vets, homeless

INSIDEEDITORIAL: Support the levy/page 6

ONLINEThree veterans talk about their service, treatment accorded vets/rentonreporter.com

BY TRACEY COMPTON

[email protected]

Don McKee was just a teen-ager when he joined the Army in 1984. � e 17-year-old needed his parents’ permission to enlist. A wayward youth, he said the Army straightened him up for a time. But, his dreams of having the military shape his life for the better came to an end about eight weeks into basic training.

For a quarter century, the 43-year-old has had his life riddled with pain from an injury he su� ered in that training.

In 2003 the U.S. Army Medi-cal Department reported that injuries were the leading health problem in the Army. � ey cause more than nine million limited-duty days per year due to injury.

McKee’s injury derailed his chances to deploy, later hin-dered his civilian career and contributed to a methamphet-amine addiction, which led

ultimately to homelessness.If it wasn’t for the Compass

Veterans Center where he now lives, he said he would probably still be out on the streets doing drugs.

� e center in Renton, which serves as housing for many in McKee’s shoes, opened about a year ago.

� e veterans who live at the center stand to bene� t from the approval of an existing levy on the upcoming Aug. 16 primary and special election ballot. � e Veterans and Human Services Levy – Proposition 1 – would replace an existing levy and fund capital facilities and ser-vices that reduce medical costs, homelessness and involvement in the criminal-justice system. Half of the proceeds would sup-port veterans and their families.

� e Department of Veterans A� airs estimates there are about 107,000 homeless veterans nationwide on any given night. � ere are about 200,000 home-less veterans during the course of a year nationwide.

In King County there are 1,150 homeless veterans, ac-cording to the King County Department of Community and Human Services. � at number is based on a combination of

An injured life, an injured career

Veteran Don McKee exercises his injured back at his apartment in the Compass Veterans Center in Renton. CHARLES CORTES, Renton Reporter

[ more LEVY page 12 ]

Don McKee wanted to serve his country; but an injury during basic training altered his future forever

[ more VETERAN page 12 ]

BY DEAN A. RADFORD

[email protected]

Boeing’s CEO cast a shred of doubt about future 737 production in Renton when he said last week there’s no guarantee the company’s Renton assembly plant will build a revamped 737 with a new engine.

American Airlines recently ordered 200 Next Generation 737s, including 100 equipped with a new fuel-e� cient engine that Boeing’s corporate board has yet to approve.

� e new engine was good news for the busy Renton plant because it meant Boeing wouldn’t build an

entirely new replacement for the 737. � e Renton plant would have to compete with other sites to build that new plane.

Re-engining the 737, it was assumed, would happen in Renton.

Now, according to CEO Jim McNerney, Boeing is looking at its options where it could build a new version of the 737 with a modi� ed airframe for the new engine. No deci-sion has been made, he said.

If Boeing chooses a new site to build this new 737, one question is whether all production of 737s even-tually could move to a new produc-tion plant, where 737s are � tted with the new engine.

Marc Birtel, a Boeing spokesman, said in an e-mail the company will continue to evaluate demand and production rates, as the market for 737s “has continued to show robust growth, and we anticipate Next-Gen-eration 737 production will continue

Boeing looksat where tobuild new737 version

“Listen. Renton is one of the great aerospace factories in the world, OK, so obviously the idea of putting a lot of work – a lot of narrow-bodies there is very attractive.” Boeing CEO Jim McNerney

[ more 737 page 14 ]

514453

206.949.1696www.marciemaxwell.com

Lisa LamRealtor, CRS,ABR & ASP

Marcie MaxwellAssociate Broker, Realtor & CRS



www.rentonreporter.com[12] August 5, 2011

sources that include a 2010 One Night Count and regional systems that track homelessness.

McKee was one of those home-less veterans in 2009. � is is how he describes his life at the Com-pass Center:

“I went from being homeless to this,” he said. “� is has been a God sent; I mean it changed my life drastically.”

His life once was rife with drug use. Having done drugs in high school, he was no stranger to them and picked up the habit again a� er he got out of the Army.

“I got into cocaine about two years a� er I got out of the service and did cocaine for years but always kept a job,” he said.

Cocaine was his gateway to meth and made him

so unstable that he lost jobs. He was an electrician, worked

for private contractors and said the drugs were easy to come by in that environment.

During this whole time, McKee was plagued by the back injury he su� ered in basic training.

He entered the Army in 1984 and was trained to repair tank turrets. During a simulation exercise, he was hit by an artillery simulator. When he turned to avoid the blast, he herniated a disc in his back and in the process hurt

his hip. � e simulator went o� and � ipped him.

Eventually he could not com-plete the Army’s required physi-cals for deployment abroad and he was honorably discharged with a medical disability in 1985.

Fast forward years later and McKee’s back is only getting worse as he taxes it as an electri-cian. � is coupled with his drug use would have him in and out of “homelessness spells” and out of work.

“I got clean, but the last � ve

years being that my back was hurting so bad, the meth was ac-tually helping the pain and that’s what I was using as a pain med.”

McKee’s breakthrough came a� er things got so bad he could barely walk, his legs hurt and he threatened suicide. He went to the VA Hospital one night and just broke down. � is was mid-2009.

“I was going o� on them, I said I had enough,” he recalls. “I said my back’s killing me, we need to do something. I’m addicted to meth, I need to get clean.”

He would relapse into drugs a� er a brief incarceration but got clean and sober in October 2009 and hasn’t relapsed since.

He heard about the Compass Veterans Center when he was at the Addiction Treatment Center at the VA Hospital.

Under a special grant program, his counselor got him into the Compass Center. He was origi-nally supposed to go to a Seattle center, but he didn’t like the shelter-like dormitory setting with mattresses on the � oor, he said.

He also was concerned about exposure to other drug users.

So, they told him about the Renton Compass Veterans Center, and he agreed to go.

Now he has a furnished studio apartment in a clean secured building.

McKee has a case manager he meets with biweekly. He is con-nected to the King County Vet-erans Program. He has access to credit counselors and he uses the Salvation Army Renton Rotary Food Bank that’s nearby.

If he’s hurting really badly, he gets depressed. But, his biweekly check-ins help him to not be reclusive and stuck contemplating his life in his head.

McKee calls the program excel-lent for a veteran “trying to get back on his feet again, trying to get back into society and start do-ing what he needs to do.”

Today he has di� culty getting around, so he uses a motorized wheelchair for almost everywhere he goes. But, despite his physical limitations he still has hope for the future.

Now McKee wants to be an electrical inspector. He is studying business administration with an emphasis in project management at DeVry University in Bellevue.

He has a 4.0 grade point aver-age and on Mother’s Day this past year he presented his mother with his report card.

Once a bad high school stu-dent, he wrote “Look Mom I don’t have to hide this one” on the card.

She has it hanging on her refrigerator.Tracey Compton can be reached at 425-255-3484, ext. 5052.

Hanging from mother’s refrigerator is Don McKee’s perfect report card

“� e VA cannot do it alone,” Donald Lachman, a program manager for the Washington state Department of Veterans A� airs in Seattle, told the City Council Monday night.

� e veterans and human ser-vices levy has made a di� erence in � lling gaps in federal funding gaps, he said.

� e Renton City Council Monday night joined a number of other city councils in King County to support passage of the levy’s renewal. First, it took com-ment from the public on the levy.

In 2010 the levy funded ser-

vices for 1,336 clients from the Renton area. � e King County Veterans Program is located in Renton.

� ere is no organized opposi-tion to the levy’s renewal; no one wrote an opposition statement in the Voters Pamphlet.

Proceeds from the levy are divided equally between veterans programs and programs for oth-ers in need, including those who are homeless.

Veterans and their families are served by counseling supported by the levy, including career development and a road to self-su� ciency. Money goes toward treatment of post-traumatic stress

disorder or PTSD in veterans. According to levy supporters,

95 percent of veterans in King County receiving treatment for PTSD have seen their symptoms improve because of the treatment they receive.

Hundreds of veterans in South King County receive counsel-ing every year from Valley Cities Counseling and Consultation. It’s based in Kent but has o� ces in Renton (923 Powell Ave. S.W.), Federal Way, Auburn and Kent.

� e counselors are nearly all veterans or someone who has grown up in a military family, said Scott Swaim, the agency’s director of veterans services.

� e agency provides some of the services and refers veterans

or their family members to other agencies for care. � e levy, Swaim said, pays for about 60 percent of the services for veterans; the rest comes from the state veterans a� airs agency and private dona-tions.

� e family support provided by the levy is important, Swaim said, because “what happens to the veterans happens to the family.”

� e levy also keeps the needs of veterans and their families in the public eye, he said, and helps the public understand what veterans have experienced.

“� e levy helps the public un-derstand us better,” he said. And “it’s saving lives.”

Levy proceeds divided equally between veterans, others in need[ LEVY from page 1] FYI

The King County Veterans and Human Services levy was initially approved in 2005. The six-year levy is now up for renewal; it’s estimated that about $17 million will be collected in 2012. The levy will cost 5 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, or about $17 a year for a home valued at $350,000. Some small increases in the levy amount area allowed during its last � ve years. Read the details of the levy at kingcounty.gov; click on the Elections tab.

Levy details

[ VETERANS from page 1]

“I went from being homeless to this. This has been a God sent; I mean it changed by life drastically.” Don McKee on moving into the Compass Veterans Center in Renton

Don McKee has found the services he needs at Compass Veterans Center to get his life back on track. CHARLES CORTES, Renton Reporter




Ed Prince works hard for cityI’d like to commend the Renton Reporter

on its recommendation of Ed Prince for City Council. I like to believe the voters in Renton are quite savvy, and they usually look for a candidate who actually has the community’s best interests at heart and has shown a proven commitment to the issues we all care about. Ed Prince is clearly that candidate. Since I come from a background of working for our schools, I always make sure my support goes to a candidate who cares about our children and our schools. But Ed’s work as the chair of “Citizens for Renton Schools,” the bond and levy committee to support Renton’s school funding, and his service as a board mem-ber on the Puget Sound Educational Service District, are not the only reasons he’s earned my support. Ed has worked hard for Renton in a variety of ways for several years. He has served as a City of Renton Community Budget Adviser —and boy, do we need someone who under-stands budgeting in this economy! — and the chair of the City of Renton Planning Commis-sion.

Ed knows Renton and bringing his experience and commitment to service to the City Council would be a welcome addition to our community. Voters are receiving their ballots this week — please join me in supporting Ed Prince.Dr. Dolores GibbonsFormer superintendent,Renton School District

Prince will listen to publicAlthough I’ve lived in Renton for more than

four years, I’ve o� en felt like I’m disconnected from the community. So when Ed Prince, one of the candidates for City Council, invited me to meet with him to discuss the issues, I was surprised. It was refreshing for a candidate to want to hear from the public! I’ve spoken with Ed more about his views, and he certainly has earned my vote. He knows the issues facing Renton inside and out — he’s been serving this

community for years already, and he has an excellent grasp on the need to support local business to grow our economy in Renton. He not only understands the need, he has realistic, well-informed plans for the short term and the long term. He also clearly cares about making our community a better place. I was impressed with his candor, his knowledge and his passion to serve Renton. In my opinion, Ed is more quali� ed, more experienced, and more involved in the Renton community than any other person running for this seat. I look forward to seeing him serve us on the council, and I have con� -dence that he will be a council member who will listen to his public.Cherish HartRenton

Prince a community leader� e ballots have been sent to the voters for

the Aug. 16 primary and I urge you to join me in voting Ed Prince for Renton City Council. He is an outstanding candidate with strong local community involvement. He has been involved with helping to improve many communities in his personal and professional career, work-ing creatively to solve problems as well as bring disparate interests together to bring solutions to tough challenges of safety, access to education and quality of life.

He is not merely a member of organizations, but a leader as well. He is the current chair of the City of Renton Planning Commission and founder and president of the non-pro� t organi-zation, � e Next Curve.

� e Next Curve is a philanthropic organiza-tion formed with the purpose of involving young people in opportunities to help move our com-munity forward.

Issues important to Ed Prince are also the issues important to me and to my neighbors: public safety, � re and police protection in our downtown and neighborhoods. He will

Vote yes on veterans, human services levy

The Renton Reporter strongly encourages a yes vote on King County Proposition 1, the renewal of a property tax levy that supports our veterans and the county’s most vulnerable citizens.

It’s not surprising there’s little vocal opposition to the renewal of the levy. We can’t turn our backs on our veterans nor ignore those who for whatever reason need a helping hand.

Helping is what we should do as a collective society, through our votes and the actions of the governments we run. There should be no ideology at work here.

We’ve learned much about the needs of our veterans through the reporting for our Special Report: Taking Care of Those Who Serve. We hope that’s the case for our readers, too.

Even the headline on our � rst story was intended to make a point, “Our wars, our veterans.” We are responsible for the care of those men and women we send to � ght for our causes.

It’s clear that some of the millions of dollars raised by the levy – and not just for veterans – is going to work right here in Renton. In 2010 those dollars provided counseling, medical care and even housing for about 1,300 people in the Renton area.

The cost to do so is minimal, just $17 a year for a home valued at $350,000.

Make your voice heard on ballot, send letter to editor

You no doubt have received your primary election ballot in the mail by now. If not, contact the elec-tions o� ce. Every election is an important one.

There’s been a spirited debate on rentonreporter.com about the candidates running in a Renton City Council primary and in a Public Hospital District Commission primary. And, as you can see, we’re running a boatload of letters today, too. We’ll run letters next Friday, but only if they don’t make a strong charge against a candidate that would require a rebuttal. The deadline to submit letters for the Aug. 12 print edition is Monday, Aug. 8.

Just a little fact-checking from those conversations.• Mary Alice Heuschel isn’t giving up her job as Renton

schools superintendent to run for the hospital district commission.

• Lakeridge Elementary School hasn’t been taken over by the federal government because of low test scores. In fact, the school district is working with the state to improve scores in math and reading at an accelerated pace.

Unfortunately, we had an error in our editorial on the hospital district commission race last Friday, despite our ef-forts to get the information correct, including an e-mail to the elections o� ce. Everyone in the hospital district gets to vote in the primary election, and, of course, in the general election. We had indicated that only those residents in this commission subdistrict, centered around Renton, could vote in the primary.

OUR VIEWO

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● Q U O T E O F N O T E : “It was just an amazing experience. I was honored.“ Mary Alice Heuschel, Renton schools superintendent, after she � ew with the Blue Angels

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Last week’s poll results:“Are you going to vote to extend the veterans/human services levy?”

Yes: 66% No: 33%

You said it!

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R E N T O N

RentonLETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[ more LETTERS page 8 ]

BY DEAN A. RADFORD

[email protected]

When they come home from active duty, o� en on a battle� eld, American veterans will � nd services available to them to help re-enter civilian life and help meet their medical needs.

Part of providing those services is making sure that veterans know they are

available. Veterans services are provided by

county, state and federal agencies, most notably the U.S. Department of Veterans A� airs, the VA. It’s opening a new o� ce in the Compass Veterans Center soon in downtown Renton.

� ere’s a Washington state Depart-ment of Veterans A� airs and a King County Veterans Program.

And veterans organizations, such as the VFW, also provide services – and perhaps, just as critically, a chance to talk with someone who has shared the experiences of war and its a� ermath.

Sgt. First Class Chad Hassebroek

will retire in the next few months, a� er serving his country for 25 years. He’s a member of VFW Post 9430 in Skyway.

As an Army careerist, he understands what’s available to fellow soldiers and others once they leave service.

“� ey don’t have to worry about what I am going to do, because there are programs out there to help you,” he said in an online interview with the Renton Reporter.

� e extension of the Veterans and Human Services levy is critical to help maintain those services, say veterans

RTC GRADS | See photos from the graduation at the ShoWare Center [2]

REPORTER .com

R E N T O N


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Plenty to see | Find out what Renton has to o� er Saturday with the Arts and Antique Walk downtown [3]

Swimmers break records | Kentridge swimmers break pair of records at Fairwood CC [12]

Local, state, federal programs help vets

Sgt. First Class Chad Hassebroek served in Iraq, helping to rebuild the nation and train Iraqi solders. Some of his favorite photos are those of the children he met in that Middle Eastern nation. DEAN A. RADFORD, Renton Reporter

BY TRACEY COMPTON

[email protected]

An internal investigation by the Renton Police Department has determined that a sergeant earlier this year created and posted a cartoon parody critical of the department.

Sgt. Bill Judd, who was hired in 1998 and pro-moted to sergeant in 2008, was demoted last week to o� cer for creating and then posting the video to the Internet. In July Deputy Chief Charles Marsalisi was demoted to sergeant for not disclos-ing during an internal investigation who created and posted the video.

Police sergeant demoted for creating parody

Dr. Paul Joos and Mary Alice Heuschel appear headed for the November general election in their race for a seat on the Public Hospital District No. 1 Board of Commissioners.

And Ed Prince and Robin Jones got o� to strong starts in their primary election race for a seat on the Renton City Council.

� e top two vote-getters in the two primary election races will advance to the general election in November. King County Elections Division will post results at 4:30 weekdays, with � nal results posted online at noon Aug. 31.

King County Proposition 1, the renewal of the Veterans and Human Services property tax levy, was approved overwhelmingly.

King County Elections released these results in the all-mail election Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.:

Public Hospital District CommissionerDr. Paul Joos, 42 percentMary Alice Heuschel, 34 percentJim Grossnickle, 22 percentRenton City Council Position 5Ed Prince, 40 percentRobin Jones, 31 percentMark Martinez, 27 percent

General election slate almost set

Extension of county levy critical to continue those services, say advocates

[ more VETERANS page 4]

[ more VIDEO page 5 ]

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advocates and service providers. The prop-erty tax levy is on Tuesday’s primary all-mail ballot as King County Proposition 1.

One of the key offices of the King County Veterans Program is in Renton, on Lind Avenue Southwest. It’s there that a veterans claim representative, such as Cindy Kartes, helps a veteran understand the benefits available or helps make referrals to other agencies.

“One of the common needs is under-standing the complexity of the VA system and what are the benefits they need,” Kartes said. She actually works for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which receives financial sup-port from the levy for the services she and others provide.

Her outreach area is much of South King County, where demands for veterans services is great.

The Renton office provides a monthly orientation for veterans.

Fred Steele is program manager for the King County Veterans Program, started

in the 1950s as a state-mandated program to help homeless veterans. Until 2005, when the initial veterans and human services levy was approved, it was considered an

entitlement program, Steele said.But now its focus has changed to expand

services and provide greater access to vet-erans and their families in King County, he said. Help is available to military reservists and members of the National Guard.

The program has nine satellite offices, where once there was just one office in Seattle.

In 2010, the county program served 2,661 clients – veterans and family mem-bers; 498 of them were served through the Renton office.

Now the goal is to manage the needs of each veteran, Steele said, and provide them with an assessment, help them understand the barriers to self-sufficiency and provide

services and referrals.The program provides interim financial

assistance, but such financial assistance is not the key to overcoming those barriers, said Steele.

“The key is the referral to services and getting them reconnected to the VA,” he said. Counseling is often provided by private agencies, such as Valley Cities

Counseling, based in Kent, which provides services throughout South King County.

The county levy makes it possible to partner with the state veterans affairs department to provide services the state couldn’t, he said. Those programs include counseling and therapy for PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and one to help veterans who are jailed leave as soon as possible, with the services they need.

Two key reasons for jailing are domestic violence or an “addiction issue” that many times stems from PTSD or an traumatic brain injury, he said.

The county veterans program and other programs will continue to evolve as veterans return home from Afghanistan in increasing numbers.

“Today’s veterans are much different in terms of the way they relate to the world,” said Steele, a Vietnam veteran. “They relate through social media.”

Someday, services could become more available through social media, he said. Part of the challenge is to provide those services in a confidential way, he said.


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U.s. Department of Veterans affairs, 1-800-827-1000Washington state Department of Veterans af-fairs, Mon.-Thurs. 7 a.m. - 6 p.m., 1-800-562-23081102 Quince St. S.E., Olympia, WA 98504 King County Veterans Programs, 206-296-7656/1-800-325-6165 ext. 6-7656123 Third Avenue South, Suite #300, Seattle, WA 98104renton Frank r. Vaise Post 1263, 425-255-9010416 Burnett Avenue South, Renton, WA 98057skyway VFW Post 9430, 206-772-99827421 South 126th Street, Seattle, WA 98178

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BY TRACEY COMPTON

[email protected]

� e North Renton neighbor-hood, like many communities, has its own set of challenges.

In previous articles, this series examined development con-cerns, government planning and a local bar’s run-in with the state liquor control board.

But, what are residents and the City of Renton doing to rem-edy the community’s “trouble spots,” as resident Kizzie Funk-houser puts it?

She’s lived in North Renton for four years and recently helped organize a neighborhood clean up project.

� e city recently implemented a citywide program that allows funds to be used to assist clean up e� orts of public and private

properties. City funds are eligible for

properties deemed a nuisance

597059

[email protected]

“Your Residential Specialists”

LIBRARY INITIATIVE | City attorney questions legality of initiative to keep library over Cedar [5]

REPORTER .com

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Rainier improvements | The � nal phase of improvements to major corridor will begin in April [3]

Track previews | Can Renton’s track teams improve on a standout 2011 season? [22]

BY DEAN A. RADFORD

[email protected]

� e word “jobs” sums up the posi-tive tone of Mayor Denis Law’s State of the City address on Wednesday.

“While the last four years have been di� cult, the city has weathered them well,” Law said. “We’ve had challenges, but despite those chal-lenges, our community continues to grow and thrive.”

A packed crowd at the Holiday Inn listened to Law’s annual speech, presented by the Renton Chamber of Commerce.

He cautioned, however, that the e� ects of the reces-sion will continue for at least the next two or three years, especially a� ecting the city’s ability to provide services and maintain its infrastructure.

To meet those demands, he said, “will require additional resources.

“We will need to explore some tax-ing options with our citizens, as most other cities and counties have had to do,” he said.

� e city has begun developing its two-year budget for 2013 and 2014. As it has done in the past, the city will ask citizens and business leaders to help with the process, he said.

As it typically is, Boeing has been the catalyst for some of that job optimism.

In looking back over the past year, Law pointed to what he described as the “landmark decision” to build

Mayor touts job growth but raises tax possibility

MAKING A STAND IN NORTH RENTON

Mayor Denis Law

Neighbors pitch in to clean up

Volunteers who pitched in to help a neighbor in North Renton as part of the Clean Community Initiative are, from left to right, Steven Ehrlich, Kizzie Funkhouser, George and Sally Daniels, Rich Zwicker, John Thompson, Mike Eastberg, Peggie Howard, John Hisey. Submitted

NEXT

The Renton Reporter today continues its special report on e� orts by the City of Renton and the residents themselves to improve the quality of life in this vener-able neighborhood between downtown and Kennydale. Today, we look at what the city and neighborhood are doing to clean up some of the neighborhood’s unkempt properties .

North Renton

BY TRACEY COMPTON

[email protected]

Almost seven months a� er explaining her story to the Renton Reporter, Sally de Leon and her family � nally have a place to call home.

De Leon shared her experiences as a veteran for a series of articles on the county-wide Veterans and Human Services Levy that passed in August 2011.

At the time de Leon and her daughter Bernadette Sheran and son Mark Sheran had

recently found hous-ing at the Compass Veterans Center in downtown Renton.

De Leon had su� ered from post traumatic stress syndrome, went through a divorce,

lost her home and had a mental breakdown before she got enrolled in the supportive housing program through the Compass

Veterans Center.Now she and her family have “graduated”

from the Compass Center to a rental house in Bellevue.

“It feels good, I like it,” said Bernadette, 13. “It’s more space.”

She still misses their apartment at the Compass Center, but likes her nice room, which she calls “pretty big.”

Sally de Leon got the call in November that she quali� ed for the Housing and Urban

Compass vet takes a big step into home

City of Renton gets ready to take worst o� enders to court

[ more NORTH RENTON page 19 ]

[ more VETERAN page 24 ] [ more MAYOR page 18 ]

March 23, 2012[24] www.rentonreporter.com[24] Mar 23, 2012 www.nw-ads.comwww.rentonreporter.com

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Department Veteran Af-fairs Supportive Housing Voucher, or HUD VASH Voucher.

For de Leon, the call meant she would soon have greater freedom to live on her own with her family but still get case-management support from Veterans A� airs.

She called her reaction to � nally � nding a home with rent she could a� ord “sad-happy.”

She was sad to be leaving her home at the Compass Center but happy to be

moving on. A� er looking at multiple

homes that didn’t � t her voucher allotment, she found a landlord sympa-thetic to her situation.

De Leon shared her story with Kane Mordaunt, her landlord, and he lowered her rent by $250.

Mordaunt wasn’t the only one helping to pave a way to a new home for de Leon and her family.

Social justice group, Solid Ground, provided de Leon with a grant for her down-payment a� er she took their

� nancial boot-camp class for money management.

Since Compass Veterans Center opened in October 2010, it has had 13 house-holds move into permanent housing, according to Denise Missak, Compass program manager.

Of the 13 households, four households moved from non-permanent apart-ments to permanent apart-ments at Compass Center.

� e King County Veter-ans and Human Services Levy supports services at Compass Veterans Center.

Funds from the levy also go to support the direct ser-vice costs for programs like the King County Education and Employment Resourc-es’ Career Connections.

Brigid Cabellon is de Leon’s Career Connections education and employ-ment coordinator with

the program at Renton’s WorkSource.

She has been helping de Leon with services for the past year and a half.

With counseling, de Leon completed her para-legal associate’s degree in December and has plans to continue her education to perhaps be a consulting nurse with a legal back-ground as a back-up plan.

In the past 16 months,

Career Connections has re-ceived referrals for services for 76 veterans, according to Cabellon. Sixty-nine veterans have received com-prehensive services from the program’s coordinators.

“Career Connections is working with a large number formerly homeless veterans who are residing in transitional housing,” Cabellon said via e-mail.

� e program gets refer-rals from Compass Housing Alliance.

Kim Brown is de Leon’s social worker; she knew de Leon was eager to move to permanent housing.

Brown works for Veter-ans A� airs Puget Sound Health Care System and is a member of the Community Housing Outreach Services HUD VASH team.

“In my experience here (there) are no typical journeys,” Brown said in an email. “Each veteran I have worked with has their own unique history, set of chal-lenges and reasons that they were homeless.”

She thinks it’s great that the Compass Center is there for veterans.

“It’s exactly the kind of place veterans need to stabilize as they move from homelessness to be ready for permanent housing.”

It was a ‘sad-happy’ day when family moved into new home[ VETERAN from page 1]

Sally de Leon and her children Mark and Bernadette Sheran have some fun outside their new home in Bellevue. TRACEY COMPTON, Renton Reporter

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Renton Reporter WNPA Community Service