Tacoma Weekly readers enjoy a host of different pastimes and interests, but one thing might seem clear: They love their city and want to be active in it.
Here is a roster of the top 10 news stories in 2014 read on http://www.TacomaWeekly.com.
TACOMA WINS BIG: EVENING MAGAZINE’S ‘BEST OF WESTERN WASHINGTON’
Tacoma businesses, personalities and locations received more than two dozen awards during KING 5’s The Best of Western Washington annual awards.
Winners included everyone from Mayor Marilyn Strickland and Tacoma Weekly Sports Editor Justin Gimse to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium for best park and Ted Brown Music for best instruments. LeMay – America’s Car Museum took best museum honors and Jazzbones took home best Blues Club. And of course, the Grand Cinema won for best indie movie theater.
LeMay is a technologically advanced, interactive automotive museum and educational center that showcases the cultural impact of cars, motorcycles and trucks on our uniquely American way of life. The museum topped some of the biggest museums in the state to be crowned the best museum on the west side.
SELF-PROCLAIMED ‘KING OF TACOMA’ ARRESTED IN OPERATION DOLLAR BILL
James Young is an aspiring rapper and felon with a tattoo of a crown and the words "King of Tacoma" on his hand. His family hails from the Hilltop neighborhood and he fills his Rebel Mafia YouTube posts with profanity-laden rants and angry threats. In one video, he raps, “Bust your teeth with a bottle of gin,” and, “I sell prostitutes for a living, (N-word) I’m a pimp, (N-word).” The felon talks about life in prison, singing, “Before I turned 21, I copped a brick, praying to the sky, getting high, living negligent.” He makes no secret of how he makes his money, “Cause I’m a real mother-F***|*| pimp (N-word).”
Alongside his music career, he is also a sex predator.
Local cops, FBI and Homeland Security agents spent eight months investigating Young for sex-trafficking, using coercion and drugs to convince more than a dozen women to work for him.
Young, who has 14 convictions, and his cousin, Tony Jackson or “Charm,” who served time for promoting prostitution, were arrested in Portland and charged federally with trafficking women for sex between Portland and Pierce County. The Joint Task Force dubbed it “Operation Dollar Bill” for the cash Young wears in his hair in his driver’s license photo. Both Young and Jackson pleaded not guilty in Federal court in Tacoma and heading to trial.
WELCOME TO THE LUCKY WOMAN’S BLAST CANCER STORIES
Tacoma Weekly reporter Kathleen Merryman announced last spring she had cancer, setting off a flood of well wishes and a series of articles about her treatment journey.
“I'll be cutting back on work for a while, and we decided you deserve an explanation: I'm the luckiest person with breast cancer you know,” she wrote. “This poor, weak cancer of the stage 2 B ductal invasive type is doomed. One wonders why it even bothered, given the scores of smart, skilled, kind people arrayed against it with the best science and equipment anywhere.”
Merryman’s saga was exhausting, inspirational and informative. She is now recovering at home to prepare for the year of writing ahead.
UPDATE: ALLEGED KILLER SPOTTED IN TACOMA
More than two months after police say Raphael Smith killed a man with a shotgun at a motel on South Hosmer Street, police say he was spotted in Tacoma. Kevin Young was robbed and killed on Aug. 21. “It’s very hard coming here. I just want to open this door and see him,” said his cousin Jonathan Young who visited the motel for the first time last week. “Right now I got goose bumps and I’m shaking. It feels like his spirit’s here wanting me to do this to try and catch the guy that did this.”
Tacoma police say Smith and the other accused killer were sent to the hotel to rob Young by a woman who knew Kevin’s girlfriend. Marcus Boykin, 30, and Aron Skaro, 32, have both been arraigned in Pierce County Court for the shooting death and a woman has been arrested. Smith was caught Dec. 9 and had bail set at $1 million.
TACOMA GAY EVANGELICAL MINISTER WORKS TO BUILD BRIDGES
Amid the controversies flying about these days over same-sex marriage, Tacoma author Dave Thompson is working to build some bridges. A gay, evangelical Christian minister, Thompson is actively inviting other Christian evangelical ministers to dialog with him on these sensitive issues in the hopes of fostering better understanding about “each side’s” point of view and, even better, to change some hearts and minds in conservative religious circles about how to welcome gay people in the church.
Thompson planted the seeds for this mission in 2010, when he published his book “Over Coffee: A Conversation For Gay Partnership & Conservative Faith.” Set in the Old Milwaukee Café in Tacoma, the book is a faith-based conversation between himself and a small town pastor concerning a gay church member who wants to be openly coupled in the church. Page by page, the reader is a “fly on the wall” during this conversation, making “Over Coffee” an educational, engaging and easy read for evangelical leadership and church congregants alike.
Thompson describes the book as being about his journey as a gay man wrestling through the conflicts between his faith and his sexual orientation, which included seeking reparative therapy at 15 years old in the hopes that he could change his sexuality. Later in life he would go on to pursue his calling in faith, attending Harvard Divinity School, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Northwest University (Assemblies of God) and Trinity Bible College (Assemblies of God). He was associate pastor at Kings Circle Assemblies of God in Oregon and interim music pastor at Christian Life Center in Montana, among his other ministry experience. Combined with his same-gender attraction, Thompson decided to address the conflicts he was feeling so that others, including his parents and family, could learn from it. He also found a partner along the way and now the two are engaged.
To stay abreast of developments and to learn more about Thompson and his efforts, visit http://www.authordavethompson.com.
TACOMANS HOLD ‘RETURN TO SENDER’ RALLY AGAINST TRIBUNE ADVERTISING BUNDLES
Modern newspapers generally relish when readers interact with them through letters to the editor, calls and, increasingly, shares on social media. A flare-up on Facebook last winter against The News Tribune’s distribution of advertising bundles that seem to land in gutters and on sidewalks more often than not, however, irked Tacoma residents into action.
A group of several dozen people held a “return to sender” rally on Saturday by dumping collections of several hundred advertising circulars to the daily newspaper’s front door as a way to protest what they call littering. The advertising bundles are delivered by contractors who are paid by the number of pieces they deliver. A distribution manager monitors their deliveries.
The bundles have continued as have the protests.
Anyone with complaints or comments can contact customerservice@thenewstribune.com or call (800) 289-8711
WHAT’S RIGHT WITH TACOMA: TEN THINGS WE LOVE ABOUT THE EAST SIDE
There is no better place to begin the 10-stop love tour of Tacoma’s East Side than Antojo’s, and no better guide than Tacoma City Councilman Marty Campbell. Tacoma Weekly reporter Kathleen Merryman found this out the fun way, as she created a list of what makes a neighborhood a community.
PERCEVAL LANDS ‘EVENING MAGAZINE’
KING 5 television’s “Evening Magazine” producer, Anne Erickson, and videographer Tom Bishop paid a visit to Tacoma Weekly to profile the City of Destiny’s most famous swine for a segment about the little pig’s crusade against potholes.
Perceval, the pig named in honor of the first knight of King Arthur’s fabled Round Table to quest for the Holy Grail, powdered his snout and headed out on yet another search for the “perfect pothole.”
The latest media attention comes on the heels of Perceval sightings in Seattle Weekly, KOMO News, The News Tribune, http://www.Exit133.com, Business Week and asphalt patch producer U.S. Cold Patch, as well as a flood of community blogs and shout outs on social media.
He is one tired swine.
PRINCESS PROMENADE KICKS OFF 2014 DAFFODIL FESTIVAL SEASON
Even a slick of snow on the ground couldn’t keep a bumper crop of new Daffodil Princesses from making their first appearance as a court for the 2014 festival year, at the Daffodil Festival Princess Promenade on Friday, Feb. 7. Serving as the official kick-off for the upcoming season of public appearances and community events and service, Promenade also marks the official presentation of each princess with the tiara, sash and golden daffodil necklace that they will wear throughout the year.
The event found itself in a new venue this year at Puyallup’s Pioneer Park pavilion, which was brightly decorated with glowing golden daffodils and cheerful garden gnomes, in keeping with the 2014 theme, “Ready. Set. Grow,” for the 81st festival year.
For one of the Princesses, Ji Larson from Lincoln High School, the fact that the festival already has such a legacy behind it is a great responsibility. “There have been tons of people whose lives have been touched by this festival. Personally it is an honor to be a part of it and carry on the spirit of Daffodil.”
Princess Kayla McElligot, from Fife High School, concurs: “Knowing that there have been princesses representing Pierce County for 81 years is humbling…You know that you have been given this title and you have to honor it with grace and dignity, and represent your high school and community just as others have done before you.”
Each of the young ladies was escorted by a member of the Daffodil Festival and their Educator of the Year, an educator nominated by each princess from their respective high school as outstanding in his or her field.
FIRE DAMAGES GOLGOTHA CHURCH AGAIN
A fire damaged Golgotha Baptist Church in Midland in September of 2013 and then again in February 2014. Both were started by an arsonist.