Quartet of Lakes High School Athletes Honored By Lakewood City Council

In a city repeatedly recognized as one of the 100 best communities in the United States for young people, its council took the time Monday night to honor some of them.

Specifically, they were All-American football players Cedric Dozier and offensive tackle Zach Banner, 3A districts cross-country winner Izaic Yorks and state wrestling champion Kiaya Van Scoyc, all of whom attend Lakes High School.

Before reading a proclamation commending the teens for their accomplishments, Mayor Doug Richardson called them “a good example” for the youth in Lakewood. Among the credentials he listed:

• Banner, an offensive tackle, and Dozier, a wide receiver, will both play Division I football next year, at USC and California, respectively.
• Yorks, who will attend either the University of Portland or Wisconsin, is ranked the No. 5 cross-country runner in the nation by ESPN.
• Van Scoyc's win in the 155-pound weight class at the 2012 Mat Classic makes her the first female wrestling champion in Clover Park School District history.

Richardson also presented each student with a Lakewood city coin.
The honor was clearly meaningful to the quartet. Each took a moment to thank the council – despite some reservations about public speaking.

“I’m really glad to have all of your support and to see my peers be recognized,” Yorks said in crediting his coaches and family for his success. “The entire school is like a family – and it’s been a blast.”

Van Scoyc, the only sophomore among the group of seniors, said that wrestling is “the hardest sport a female athlete can put herself through. It means so much to be recognized.”

Choking back tears, she added that she plans to use her remaining time at Lakes to become “a three-time state champion and do my best for Lakes and the city of Lakewood.”

The group also elicited some laughs from their audience.

“I really appreciate the council doing this for us,” Banner said. “I mean, look at you. Suits and dresses … you look so nice.”

In other educational matters, Councilmember Mike Brandstetter read a proclamation declaring March 12-16 as Classified School Employees Week.

Also Monday:

Assistant City Manager Choi Halladay gave a report on the fiscal impacts of liquor privatization under Initiative 1183, which voters approved in November.

“There appears to be a lot of confusion over various pots of money and what happens with each pot,” he said.

Two major funding sources, Liquor Board Profits and Liquor Taxes, are where changes may arise. 

The former is made up of the markup that the Liquor Control Board puts on each bottle of liquor, net of the operating costs of the stores and distribution centers. Because I-1183 calls for the closure of all state liquor stores, this profit would go away once the initiative goes into effect.

“Obviously,” Halladay said, “the way 1183 is written, all of the state-run liquor stores would go away, so there wouldn’t be a profit.”

Richardson’s response to that drew some laughs from those present.

“It would appear that the Legislature is making the courageous choice to keep all of the revenue in Olympia,” he said.

However, there are two new funding mechanisms to offset the lost revenue: the Distributor License Fee, which starts at 10 percent of sales in 2012 and decreases to 5 percent in 2014, and the Retail License Fee, a flat 17 percent of sales.

The Liquor Tax is currently assessed at 20.5 percent of the marked-up cost of a bottle of liquor. Of that percentage, 5.0715 percent – Halladay called it a “very bizarre” percentage – goes into a fund that is distributed to cities and counties on a per-capita basis. The remaining amount goes into the State General Fund. Under the I-1183 system, these taxes would remain unchanged, as well as the rules on how tax rates are set.

Halladay said that the city would face a negative fiscal impact for 2012 and then positive in 2013-14, when there is a guarantee of $150 million into the Liquor Revolving Fund. The outcome beyond 2014 would be neutral, assuming the rules are not changed.

In his report, City Manager Andrew Neiditz said that the effort to bring a farmers’ market to Lakewood is moving along and that there is the potential for an eight-week trial this summer.

“There appears to be sufficient community support,” he said.