News Briefs | January 30 edition

The Beachcomber seeks your stories for upcoming articles.

Rule changes for transgender athletes

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), a nonprofit organization and rule-making body governing interscholastic sports in Washington’s public and private high schools and middle schools, will vote in April on two proposed amendments to its rulebook, which, if passed, would affect transgender students in school athletic programs statewide.

Vashon Island School District is a member of the organization, participating in its Nisqually League.

At a school board meeting on Jan. 24, Board Chair Juniper Rogneby voiced strong opposition to the amendments, calling the language of the amendments “very small-minded and hateful.”

She said she had worked with Vashon High School’s Gender Queer Affinity Group to craft an open letter, on behalf of the board, to the public about the proposed amendments (see page 6). The letter will also be emailed to district families this week.

Currently, WIAA rules state that “all students have the opportunity to participate in WIAA athletics or activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity” and student-athletes may “participate in programs consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed.”

The proposed amendments modify this language in the rule book, with one amendment stipulating that participation in girls’ sports would be limited to students assigned female at birth, and another decreeing that athletic programs would be offered separately for boys, girls, and another open division for all students, including transgender students.

If passed in April by 60% in a vote of WIAA’s representative assembly — which consists of 35 high school and 18 middle school administrators representing the WIAA’s six districts — the amendments would go into effect Aug. 1.

On Monday, WIAA’s representative assembly met and voted to move forward with the amendments, by a 67% vote.

The amendment limiting girls’ sports to students assigned female at birth was submitted to WIAA by school districts in Lynden, Blaine, Brewster, Cashmere, Colville, Grand Coulee Dam, Lake Chelan, Mansfield, Mead, Okanogan, Omak, Orovill and Tonasket, as well Lynden Christian School.

The amendment separating programs for boys, girls and and mixed genders including transgender athletes was submitted by districts in Eastmont, Cashmere, Colville, Lynden, Mead, Moses Lake and Thorp.

To find out more about the proposed amendments, visit tinyurl.com/2fv7rnp5.

The Beachcomber will continue to report on this story.

Amanda Knox slander verdict upheld

Vashon Island resident Amanda Knox, exonerated in 2015 after being wrongfully convicted of the murder of her roommate during a 2007 study-abroad trip in Italy, lost an appeal attempt last week to clear her name of a slander charge related to that case.

It’s the latest and perhaps final turn in Knox’s nearly 20-year quest to set the record straight about an incident of police abuse that thrust her into the international media spotlight and years of trials and appeals.

In 2008, authorities convicted and sentenced a known burglar, Rudy Guede, of the murder. But they kept a spotlight on Knox and her then-boyfriend, alleging they were accomplices. Knox was vilified in court and salacious stories about her alleged behavior ran in the press. It took years of trials and appeals before their murder convictions were finally overturned for good in 2015.

“What my case revealed is that public opinion really does influence judicial outcomes,” Knox told The Beachcomber of her case.

But one part of Knox’s conviction remained: The court’s ruling upheld a conviction of slander for wrongfully implicating her then-boss and bar owner Patrick Lumumba of the murder while she was interrogated by police.

Lumumba spent two weeks in jail, released only after a witness provided an alibi for him. He has told the news media that the accusation ruined his reputation, forcing him to leave Italy and rebuild his career.

Knox has repeatedly stated that, far from accusing Lumumba, she was coerced by police into signing statements affirming the police’s theory implicating Lumumba. She was made to doubt her own sanity while subject to duress, without access to legal counsel or an interpreter, Knox said — and she recanted her “accusation” the next day in a handwritten memo.

Essentially, both she and Lumumba were the victims of a botched and abusive police investigation, Knox said.

Knox was sentenced to three years of time served for that slander charge. She appealed the decision, citing a European Court of Human Rights ruling that her rights to a lawyer and interpreter were violated when Italian officials interrogated her.

In 2024, Knox was once again convicted of the slander charge. She appealed that result to Italy’s Court of Cassation, Italy’s highest court of appeal. On Jan. 23, the court delivered its decision: It upheld her slander conviction.

”I was hoping Italy would finally rectify their mistakes, and in the process send a message about the dangers of coercive police tactics and how they can force innocent people into making false confessions and admissions,” Knox said in a statement after the conviction. “While this result is tremendously disappointing, it hasn’t stopped me from fighting for justice.”

In the time since her Kafkaesque encounter with the legal system, Knox has testified in the Washington State Legislature in favor of efforts to prevent police from lying to criminal suspects — including this week, Knox said, which included a visit to testify in support of HB 1138.

That bill, if passed as law, would find that a person’s statement can’t be used in court if the police obtained it by being intentionally deceptive in an interrogation of that person related to a criminal investigation.

Beachcomber seeks your stories

Reporter Mari Kanagy is working on a story about the Jan. 1 raise in minimum wage in unincorporated King County, and how it will affect Vashon businesses and workers. If you or someone you know on the island has gotten a wage increase as a result of the raise in minimum wage — or should have gotten an increase but didn’t — and are willing to share your experience for this article, please contact Kanagy by emailing mkkanagy@gmail.com.

Additionally, reporter Aspen Anderson is working on a story about locals who have been affected by the Los Angeles wildfires. If you or someone you know lost on the island a home, had to flee the area, or was otherwise disrupted by the fires, and are willing to share your experience for this article, please contact Anderson by emailing aspenanderson@icloud.com.

Alvarado takes Senate seat

As expected, the King County Council on Jan. 21 selected 34th LD Rep. Emily Alvarado to fill the seat of outgoing 34th LD Sen. Joe Nguyễn in the state legislature.

Alvarado’s move opened up her own seat, and the county council selected Brianna Thomas, who has worked in the Seattle mayor’s office and served as a chief of staff for a former Seattle City Council member, to fill that position.

Governor Bob Ferguson appointed Nguyễn as the director of the Department of Commerce in his executive cabinet, a role he officially took on Jan. 15.

The 34th District includes Vashon, West Seattle, White Center and parts of Burien.

Public meeting

The following taxing districts, government bodies and citizen groups have civic meetings coming up.

• Water District 19’s next board meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at the district’s board room at 17630 100th Ave SW.