ASHLAND, Ore. — A man charged with growing marijuana at his Ashland house faced more serious charges, but got off with probation because the plants were in such bad shape.
William Lavon Atchley, 44, had faced a charge of drug manufacturing — which carries a maximum 20-year sentence — for growing three marijuana plants.
But the plants were in such bad condition, public defender Herbert Putney successfully argued that Atchley should only face a lesser sentence.
"He was almost embarrassed to admit they were his, it was so straggly," Putney said.
Judge Raymond White Monday imposed one year’s probation and a $500 fine for possession of the drug.
Seattle
Better late than never: Six years late and costing nearly twice as much as first estimated, a new passenger-loading ramp opened Tuesday at the Washington State Ferries terminal here. The 130-foot, glass-enclosed ramp at Colman Dock was supposed to open in October 1995. But design flaws, construction change orders and delays prevented that. Originally estimated at $4.1 million, the price has climbed to $7.5 million. Disputes are still being mediated outside of court.
Teen catches a break: A 14-year-old boy charged with killing a disabled man will be prosecuted as a juvenile and thus will face a maximum penalty of incarceration until he turns 21, a judge has ruled. The age of the boy, his lack of previous trouble with the law and his prospects for rehabilitation in custody were considered by Judge James D. Cayce, who issued the ruling Friday in King County Juvenile Court. Two older teen-agers, Coy Nathaniel Graham, 16, and Andrew Lee Harris, 17, both of Auburn, have been charged as adults in the slaying of Lamar Armstrong, 38, at his apartment in Federal Way on Aug. 18.
Sound Transit challenge: Opponents of Sound Transit’s light-rail line contend the scaled-down plan is illegal because it isn’t the project voters approved six years ago. The opposition coalition, called Sane Transit, wants Sound Transit to seek a court ruling on the legality of the revised light-rail plan before selling bonds to pay for it. The Sound Transit package voters approved in 1996 called for a 21-mile light-rail line from Seattle’s University District to SeaTac, to be built by 2006. But last fall, confronted with rising costs and schedule delays, the agency scaled back the project to a 14-mile line from downtown Seattle to Tukwila. It also changed the completion date to 2009.
Toppenish
Dam tug-of-war sputters: The Yakama Nation has decided against trying to compete for the federal license to operate two dams on the Columbia River. The decision comes a month after PacifiCorp, an investor-owned utility in Portland, Ore., dissolved its partnership with the tribe that had been established to pursue the license now held by the Grant County Public Utility District. The announcement last year that PacifiCorp, which does business in Washington state as Pacific Power, and the Yakama Nation had teamed up to compete for the license had the potential to make history. FERC has never approved a competing application over an incumbent license holder, but the situation had only come up once before.
From Herald news services
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