Latest news with #Swank
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
Pierce County sheriff scoffs at WSP's apology for disrupting Pride flag ceremony
Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank called out the Washington State Patrol on social media Thursday after the statewide law enforcement agency apologized for interrupting the raising of the Pride flag at the state capitol. Swank didn't call out the State Patrol for disrupting the Wednesday ceremony. He said the agency should be 'embarrassed' for apologizing in a post that explained why troopers marched through the ceremony and reiterated its mission to protect, defend and respect the rights of all. 'You should be embarrassed by this post,' Swank wrote on his X account. 'Any WSP who wants to work for a real law enforcement organization should come work at the Pierce County Sheriff's Office.' The post from the State Patrol read: 'The Washington State Patrol offers our heartfelt apologies for disrupting the raising of the Pride Flag on Capitol Campus today. The team leading our cadets to their graduation ceremony did not adequately communicate about the alternate route planned around the crowd.' The post went on: 'It was never our intention to disrupt an important community event. Our motto is 'Service with Humility,' and our mission is to protect, defend and respect the rights of all. We apologize for our misstep on what should be a great day for us all as we celebrate Pride.' Swank did not immediately return a phone call and text message Thursday asking if he would explain why the State Patrol should be embarrassed by the post. Chris Loftis, a spokesperson for the State Patrol, declined to comment on Swank's comment. The event was sponsored by the state's LGBTQ commission and was attended by Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson and Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Dave Upthegrove, the Olympian reported. Citing statistics showing a significant number of LGBTQ youth have considered suicide in the past year, Upthegrove — also a Democrat — told the newspaper that giving visibility to the LGBTQ community by raising the Pride flag shows people they can live full, meaningful lives. At some point during the ceremony, two lines of troopers marched through the event instead of taking an alternate route around the crowd. Videos of the incident on social media caused some to speculate that the troopers had deliberately disrupted the event to intimidate the crowd. In a written statement, Loftis said there was no intent to offend or distract from the event. He said it was a simple mistake, not any sort of statement. 'We had a miscommunication in our planning, and it led to us inadvertently disrupting another public event being held by citizens we are sworn to serve, protect, and respect,' Loftis wrote. 'We quickly and rightfully apologized to the impacted parties,' he added. 'That was the right things to do as public servants, as a law enforcement agency, and as friends and neighbors.' Swank has a track record of being provocative on social media. He once posted on X that a transgender legislator from Montana, Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr, was a man with mental health issues who should be called by her given male name. He's also posted that men and women who pretend to be the opposite sex are 'appropriating gender.' Swank retired from the Seattle Police Department in 2023 as a captain after 33 years on the force. But his conduct on social media — denigrating trans people and defending the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol — led former Seattle Police Department Chief Sue Rahr to declare earlier this year that he would have been fired if he had stayed.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pierce County Sheriff Swank to Prosecutor Robnett: ‘You are my peril'
Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank's conflicts with other elected leaders made its way to court Wednesday after an attorney acting as Swank's lawyer served three county officials a demand for mediation over issues such as his desire to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. That demand, made Friday, led the county's elected prosecutor, Mary Robnett, to seek a judgment in Superior Court prohibiting the attorney, Joan Mell, from providing legal advice to Swank or other officials. According to Robnett, only the Prosecuting Attorney's Office can act as Swank's attorney. 'Joan K. Mell has unlawfully exercised the public office of the prosecuting attorney or deputy prosecuting attorney for the County of Pierce, State of Washington,' a copy of the complaint reads. Robnett argued in part that Mell's legal advice about Swank cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could expose the county to millions of dollars in potential liability. She said it's unlawful for county officials to cooperate with ICE. The state's Keep Washington Working Act, a bipartisan law passed in 2019, limits law enforcement's ability to work with ICE. Adams County was sued by the state Attorney General's Office in March for allegedly helping federal authorities with immigration enforcement. Superior Court Judge Susan Adams on Wednesday morning granted Robnett a temporary restraining order. Adams found that Mell was making legal demands on Swank's behalf and that she wasn't authorized to do so, according to a copy of the order, which expires at the next court hearing June 13. Mell, an attorney with law offices in Fircrest and Montana, was out of state at the time of the hearing. According to an email provided by Mell, she was notified of the hearing Tuesday evening via email. In a Wednesday-morning response, Mell objected to not being heard on the motion, and she said she wanted the opportunity to object to the case being litigated in front of a Pierce County judge, particularly one with ties to the Prosecuting Attorney's Office. In a phone call with The News Tribune, Mell said she believed Robnett had incorrectly advised Swank and that Robnett was duty-bound as counsel to adhere to his requests, for example, challenging the Keep Washington Working Act, which Swank has called 'unconstitutional.' Mell said Robnett had failed to adhere to Swank's requests. 'Nothing she's doing is consistent with lawyering,' Mell said. 'Fundamental to lawyering is taking the direction from your client, figuring out a way to accomplish what your client wants you to accomplish and carrying out his objectives.' Swank did not respond to a phone call Wednesday afternoon. Mell said he was out of the country and unavailable until June 8. The breakdown of Swank's relationship with Robnett appeared to begin with an executive order issued by County Executive Ryan Mello earlier this month declaring that all contracts that accept federal funding would be subject to a thorough review, and that all departments and elected officials would need to designate someone to review the contracts. Swank emailed Robnett on May 13, asking if Mello had the authority to impose an executive order on him and what would happen if he didn't abide by it, according to correspondence between Swank and Robnett filed in the court record. Robnett responded the next morning that Mello had lawful authority because Swank's elected position was created by the Pierce County Charter, which makes his position an executive department subject to executive orders. Swank disagreed and said he would be seeking legal advice elsewhere. Why Swank was upset by the executive order seemed to baffle Robnett, and she cautioned him that he wasn't authorized to seek outside legal advice, saying he would be acting at his own 'peril.' 'The Executive order from yesterday did not really change anything,' Robnett wrote. 'I am a little confused about why this has struck such a nerve with you. I am an independently elected official and I am subject to the same contracting rules.' Swank explained that if Mello could impose this order on him, it meant he would be subject to other orders and that Mello could tell him how to run his office. 'As far as 'my own peril,' you are my peril,' Swank said. He told Robnett that he had asked the artificial-intelligence service ChatGPT the same question about Mello's authority over him, and it had a 'quite different response.' 'I have no faith in your counsel,' Swank wrote in the May 15 email. 'I believe that you are either incompetent or you are trying to sabotage my office.' Swank added that he believed Robnett was trying to cause him undue stress, and that it was planned because Robnett wanted his opponent in the 2024 General Election for sheriff to win over him. 'You didn't want someone to upset the apple cart,' Swank said. 'You wanted a sheriff who would go along with the program and keep everything status quo.' Robnett responded later that day, thanking Swank for spelling out his position and suggesting that they meet with Mello to discuss where each of them fit into county government under the charter. About a week after Swank's email exchange with Robnett, Mell emailed Robnett, Mello and County Council Chair Jani Hitchen a demand for mediation under RCW 36.46.010, a state law that requires elected officials to attempt to work out a dispute before a lawsuit can be brought. Mell signed the demand letter 'lawyer for Sheriff Keith Swank.' It said Swank had reached an impasse with the three officials on six issues: Sheriff's Office independence and personnel, professional recruiting, the Humane Society, independent representation and a County Council resolution affirming compliance with the Keep Washington Working Act. In regard to the independence of the Sheriff's Office and its personnel, the letter claimed Mello could not require Swank to comply with any executive orders that conflict with Swank's authority to carry out the core functions of his office. It said the County Council's power over its personnel was limited to consenting to the number of deputies and other necessary employees. 'Sheriff Swank has the authority to adequately train his deputies,' the letter reads. 'Should he deem it necessary to obtain training outside the state to do so, the Executive may not prevent the Sheriff from achieving this core function.' Of recruiting, the letter said Mello and the County Council had undermined Swank by using funds acquired by putting dollars specified to be used for recruitment by University Place in the general fund. The Sheriff's Office is contracted by University Place to provide them police services. The letter also targeted the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County's relationship with the Sheriff's Office, stating it depleted public safety dollars and was outside the purpose of the office. According to a 2018 report from the county, it contracted with the Humane Society for sheltering and licensing animals.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Contract talks get ugly between Pierce County, deputies. Public safety at risk?
Contract negotiations between Pierce County and the union that represents the rank-and-file of the county's largest law enforcement agency, the Sheriff's Office, are getting ugly. Despite more than a year of bargaining, Shaun Darby, president of the Pierce County Deputy Sheriffs' Independent Guild, says they are nowhere near reaching an agreement that includes fair compensation for deputies' working conditions. The guild wants a contract that puts deputies' pay on par with other policing agencies in Pierce County to better recruit and retain deputies. Staffing levels at the Sheriff's Office haven't kept pace with the growth of the county's population, census and county data shows. Without sufficiently competitive pay to attract more law enforcement officers to work for the Sheriff's Office, Darby argues, deputies and Pierce County residents are less safe. That's not an uncommon conflict in law enforcement contract negotiations, but the tenor of talks between the guild and the county appear to be further chilling the relationship between the Sheriff's Office and the county's top elected leader, Executive Ryan Mello. Darby said the guild has specifically been dealing with Mello in bargaining and said the negotiations have been 'difficult and disrespectful.' On Monday, Sheriff Keith Swank chimed in with his support of the guild while also calling out Mello. 'Mello does not respect the men and women of the Pierce County Sheriff's Office,' Swank wrote on his X account late Monday night. 'He refuses to give them a fair contract. He thinks he can bully these warriors.' Asked to respond to Swank's statements, Mello told The News Tribune on Wednesday that the county's labor-relations team would continue to focus its efforts on the bargaining process with its labor partners at the Deputy Sheriff's Guild. 'I am disappointed that the Sheriff is making false and misleading statements about my position and bringing this collective bargaining out of the appropriate forum established by State law – which is the bargaining table,' Mello wrote in a statement to The News Tribune. 'He could not be more wrong – as I have demonstrated in numerous ways and numerous times, I am relentlessly supportive of our men and women who serve in the Sheriff's Department.' A Pierce County spokesperson, Libby Catalinich, said Tuesday that public safety is one of Mello's top priorities, and the current proposal to the guild includes significant pay increases — 10 percent over three years, according to Darby — and benefits that are competitive and sustainable. Swank recently clashed with Mello over limits to law enforcement's ability to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, a restriction that is enshrined through the Keep Washington Working Act, a bipartisan state law passed in 2019 that determined a person's immigration status isn't a matter for police action. Swank has called the law 'unconstitutional.' In April he traveled to Washington, D.C. — at his own expense, according to the county — with other sheriffs from across Washington to draw attention to what he sees as a conflict between state and federal law. 'I want to apologize in advance if this contract negotiation issue is going on because the executive has a personal or political issue with me,' Swank said in a video he posted Monday. 'I hope that's not the case.' In the video, Swank said he felt Mello was overstepping his authority by telling him what he can and can't do. He roped in the Prosecuting Attorney's Office, saying it, too, was mistaken 'in their interpretation of what authority the executive has.' Staffing levels at the Sheriff's Office haven't significantly increased in more than 20 years. In 2005, the office was budgeted for 228 full-time deputies among other staff, according to county budget documents. In the most recent budget, 229 deputy positions were funded. Meanwhile, the county estimates that the Sheriff's Office will need to respond to more than 200,000 calls for service in 2025, nearly double the amount the agency was getting in 2000. According to census data, the county's population has grown by more than 220,000 people since that year. 'The math is right there,' Darby said. 'We are underpaid, understaffed and overworked.' Catalinich said hiring and compensating law enforcement was very important to Mello, noting that he was in Olympia on Monday to attend Gov. Bob Ferguson signing a bill that increases state funding by $100 million for counties and cities to hire more officers. She said Mello spent a good amount of time in Olympia during the legislative session advocating for the bill. 'I have advocated fiercely for more and dedicated funding for law enforcement and the entire criminal justice system during the last state legislative session and will continue to do so and invite the Sheriff to do the same alongside me,' Mello told The News Tribune. 'I invite him to be a partner in this work and to serve the people of Pierce County together. Not to cause division where it is completely unnecessary. I will always have the back of our law enforcement officers who serve with distinction. ' The next step in contract negotiations is a June 2 vote by the membership of the Deputy Sheriffs' Independent Guild on the current proposal. The guild will have results June 7, and Darby said he's expecting an overwhelming 'no.' Darby said the guild will then file for arbitration, where a third party would look at the facts and decide what will happen. Why should Pierce County residents be concerned? '[Residents] want their money to go toward public safety, and when they call 911, they want a deputy to show up,' Darby said. He was referencing a survey of Pierce County residents conducted ahead of the county's 2024-2025 budget process. It found that 73 percent of people who completed the survey ranked public safety and crime as the top priority for the budget, ahead of transportation and roads, homeless and housing. Residents' desire to prioritize putting public dollars toward public safety is reflected in the county's most recent budget, which allocated more than $226 million to the Sheriff's Office's law enforcement work, a nearly 11 percent increase over the previous biennium and representing about a quarter of the county's $896 million budget. A supplemental budget approved in December included an additional $2.6 million for employment incentives for commissioned law enforcement officers and corrections officers. Darby pointed to the Sheriff's Office's delayed response to a noise complaint earlier this year that preceded a shooting outside a house party in the Spanaway area as one potential consequence of not having enough deputies to respond to calls. A noise complaint about the party was called in about 90 minutes before the shooting, but deputies in the area were responding to higher-priority calls and eventually arrived seconds before gunshots were fired. Two people were killed in the shooting, and four others were injured. The deputies' guild claims Pierce County has the money to approve bigger wage increases but is holding out on them. An analysis of the county's current and future financial outlook commissioned by the guild found that the county's general fund revenues exceeded expenditures in four of the five most recent years, resulting in an annual operating surplus that was $14.8 million in fiscal year 2023. It also found the county had the highest possible credit rating from Moody's, a major credit rating agency. 'The county is, they're flush with money,' Darby said. 'They have a lot of money, and they have a very good financial outlook. If they simply could prove that they didn't have the money then I would listen to them, but we've just proven the argument.' In response to questions from The News Tribune, a Pierce County spokesperson pointed out that the guild has received wage increases during previous rounds of negotiations, totaling a nearly 19 percent wage increase since 2022. The county also said it was important to clarify that compensation comparisons to smaller cities such as Bonney Lake and Gig Harbor don't accurately reflect the operational scale, staffing demands or financial realities of a countywide sheriff's office. Darby said the county is saying deputies are being paid just fine when compared to sheriff's offices in Spokane, Snohomish and Skagit counties, as well as some sheriff's offices in Florida. But he argues that if you disregard the city and county divide and instead look at demographics, crime stats and staffing, the Sheriff's Office is a mirror image of the Tacoma Police Department, with the exception of the much larger area the Sheriff's Office is responsible for. An entry-level deputy starting at the Sheriff's Office in 2024 would receive net hourly pay of $59.45, according to the guild. In Tacoma, the same entry-level candidate would be getting $69.80. The Tacoma police union's collective bargaining agreement with the city, which covers 2024 to 2026, included a 13.5 percent base wage rate increase over the first two years and an additional raise in 2026 based on a market calculation. 'There is no reason to work for the Pierce County Sheriff's Office on the south side of 96th Street when you can make 30 percent more and have twice as many officers there to help you when you're working on the north side of 96th Street, which is the Tacoma Police Department's jurisdiction,' Darby said.
The Onion
15-05-2025
- General
- The Onion
Strategies For Decluttering
Studies have shown that creating a neat and organized living space can reduce stress and improve mental well-being. The Onion provides helpful guidance for decluttering your home. Lure Marie Kondo into your home using an evenly spaced trail of sensible storage solutions. Assess if you really need 8,000 terracotta soldiers in your tomb. Call some friends and family over to shake their heads disapprovingly at what you've become. Take everything out of the closet or drawer, place it on the ground behind you, and resign yourself to never facing that direction again. Mass graves are a simple, affordable way to get rid of a corpse problem. Anything that fits down the toilet goes down the toilet. Immediately buy a more expensive version of whatever you just threw out. Let a herd of goats graze inside your home twice weekly. Running out of room in your junk drawer? It may be time to upgrade to a junk house. Hang a hornet's nest in high-clutter areas of your apartment to discourage yourself from leaving things there. Die and make your decades' worth of junk your kid's problem. Throw out all your bundled issues of Swank except for 1941 to '45, '47 to '49, '50 to '53, '59 to '67, and '70 to '89. No! Not my McDonald's straw wrapper! I need that!
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hilary Swank says she has a 'more fitting' term to describe her twins entering their terrible twos
Parents, forget the terrible twos — Hilary Swank is choosing to think of it as "teachable twos" instead. The actor welcomed her twins, Aya and Ohm, with her husband, Philip Schneider, in April 2023. "My thing is, I think it's really important to regulate yourself and just stay calm and hold space for them," she said. Hilary Swank's twin toddlers are entering their terrible twos — but she's choosing to see it in a positive way instead. "There are moments of it, but I call it the teachable twos," Swank, 50, told People. "Because I feel like they're just in this place where they're recognizing so many new things," the actor said. "And it's gotta be really overwhelming to have everything that you see is new." Since toddlers don't have logical reasoning skills yet, their behavior is often driven by their feelings, Swank said. "So when you want something, you just want it, you don't have logical thinking skills. So to me, teachable twos is, I think, more fitting," she said. The best way to approach her toddlers having a meltdown is to be patient. "My thing is, I think it's really important to regulate yourself and just stay calm and hold space for them," she added. Swank welcomed her twins, Aya and Ohm, with her husband, Philip Schneider, in April 2023, when she was 48 years old. In September, Swank told Business Insider that she was glad to be an older mom. "The person that I was in my 20s and even into my 30s would've been a very different mom than I am now," Swank said. "I'm in a place where I just have a lot more patience and a lot more grace to give, not just my children, but others around me," she added. "I can give them so much more than I could have at that point." Kristin Gallant and Deena Margolin, founders of Big Little Feelings, an online parenting platform, previously told BI they had several tips for dealing with toddler tantrums. One key way to manage a tantrum-throwing child is to avoid negotiating with them and escalating the conflict. Instead, parents should try their best to channel their inner calm. However, it's also crucial that parents avoid invalidating their children's feelings, they said. A representative for Swank did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by BI outside regular hours. Read the original article on Business Insider
