Monthly Archive for Washington
Washington Stories Posted in August 2008
Lakewood minicasino ban appears headed to ballot
Category: Gaming · State: Washington · Source: Tacoma News-Tribune
The group trying to rid Lakewood of minicasinos appears to have collected enough signatures to put its initiative on the ballot. City voters would make the final decision as part of the busy general election in November. City Manager Andrew Neiditz told the Lakewood City Council Monday night that he spoke with Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy’s office earlier in the day. The county said that after an initial count of all signatures gathered in the city’s first-ever citizen initiative campaign, 3,904 are valid. The Save Lakewood group needs at least 3,707 valid signatures to force city leaders to ban minicasinos or put it to a public vote. The county will check all 6,138 signatures again for their validity, but the Auditor’s Office doesn’t expect the number that are valid to go down, Neiditz said.
Assisted Suicide Initiative on November Ballot
Category: Right-To-Die · State: Washington · Source: KIMA-TV Yakima
Oregonians legalized assisted suicide a decade ago. Now, Washington may be the second state in the country to allow terminal patients to expedite their death. "I suppose if they made you a zombie, that they could take away all your humanity in order to relieve you of pain, put you in a coma practically," said Ginger Vetrano, who gathered signatures around the Tri-Cities to put the initiative on the ballot. Initiative 1000, better known as "Death With Dignity," boils down to a sick person's right to choose when he or she wants to die. It would allow doctors to prescribe a lethal prescription to patients with six months or less to live. "It's something I would want for myself and my mother and anybody else I loved," said Vetrano. If it passed, two doctors would have to independently verify that the patient is mentally competent to make the decision, and that no one has coerced him or her to choose to die early. Vetrano says it's a question of choice. "I think we're all autonomous people," she said. "I wouldn't want to make the decision for you, and I hope you wouldn't want to make the decision for me."
Other Monthly Archives for Washington
- August 2008 (2)