In the bureaucratic lexicon of the Lake Stevens School District, the systematic grooming of a 15-year-old girl was rebranded as a “boundary invasion”—a sanitized, bloodless term that suggests a mere procedural oversight.

However, in the criminal affidavits of the Lake Stevens Police Department, those same actions were documented as a predatory sequence of sex crimes.

This is the “logical dissonance” J425 examined in our series on the Mark Hein matter: a staggering chasm between institutional risk management and the harrowing reality of a minor student’s life being dismantled. (Commentary continues beneath insert.)

Mark Hein, a 55-year-old veteran math teacher and coach, was the subject of parallel investigations that yielded radically different conclusions despite examining the exact same evidence.

While the district viewed Hein through a low-stakes “administrative prism,” issuing a toothless letter of direction, Detective Kristin Parnell saw a predator whose behavior mandated handcuffs.

To J425, this was less of a difference of opinion…and more of a failure of the social contract. For months, the district permitted a vacuum of accountability, allowing Kalynn Taber’s health to fail while the adult charged with her safety remained a protected fixture of the faculty.

And today, we learned that the district agreed to pay millions to Taber in order to settle a civil suit.

The Haunting Rhetoric of Grooming

Dr. Charole Shakeshaft describes grooming as the calculated erosion of boundaries through the weaponization of intimacy. One of the most jarring pieces of evidence unsealed in the criminal affidavit is a comment Hein made to Kalynn, then a sophomore. It is a textbook marker of grooming behavior—a “casual marital betrayal” designed to isolate a child from her peers and draw her into a distorted, adult-centric confidante role. According to the affidavit, Hein looked at the 15-year-old and stated:”You look like my wife. She’s infertile... What are your plans after high school?”

By disparaging his wife’s medical history to a minor, Hein wasn’t just oversharing; he was attempting to build a secret emotional bond. This rhetoric creates a false sense of “specialness” that predators use to bypass a child’s natural defenses. To the district, this might have been a “boundary slip,” but to a trained investigator, it was the opening movement in a series of predation.

The “Help Desk” and the Ripped Jeans

Hein’s predatory tactics were not confined to whispers; they were performed in plain sight. He utilized a specific “Help Desk” setup—a smaller desk positioned next to his own oversized workstation, facing the class. This arrangement allowed him to perform the role of a “helpful teacher” while facilitating unwanted physical contact beneath the sightline of other students.

The investigation revealed a specific, disturbing focus on the bare skin revealed by the “ripped jeans” Kalynn frequently wore. Hein would scan the room to ensure his other students were distracted before he would jam his fingers deep into the seams of the rips to rub her bare leg.

The predatory nature of this contact was laid bare when Kalynn attempted to reclaim her autonomy. According to the investigation:”When Mark touched the thigh, she would pull her leg away from him.

The victim only told him not to touch her one time. When she did, Mark responded,

‘Why? I’m not doing anything wrong.’”

This is the essence of institutional gaslighting. By questioning her discomfort, Hein attempted to make the victim feel “crazy” for reacting to a violation.

That he felt comfortable enough to do this daily—touching her thigh at least once per class—speaks to the absolute sense of entitlement cultivated within the walls of his classroom.

The Bizarre Interview: Grooming the Investigator

The psychological audacity required to maintain this charade was most evident during Hein’s criminal interview with Detective Kristin Parnell. Even while being interrogated for sexual misconduct, Hein attempted to deploy the same manipulative tactics he used on his students.In a move that stunned the investigator, Hein attempted to “demonstrate” his contact with Kalynn by reaching under the table and rubbing Detective Parnell’s leg. He scooted his chair close to hers, pressing his leg against hers to show how the victim’s shin would supposedly press against his. Detective Parnell noted the proximity made her “very uncomfortable,” reflecting the chilling reality that Hein had lost the ability to differentiate between a vulnerable child and a lead police detective. This wasn’t just “bizarre” behavior; it was the display of a career groomer who believed he could manipulate his way out of a felony charge as easily as he could change a student’s grade.

The 30-Year Predator Legacy at LSHS

The Hein case is not a singular anomaly; it is the inevitable byproduct of a calcified “culture of silence.” The connections here suggest a systemic rot: Hein and Chris Mattingly—another disgraced teacher forced out after decades of misconduct—were hired as basketball coaches on the very same day in 2003. They were former college teammates at PLU, essentially importing a culture of predation that the district failed to vet.The statistics are an indictment of the district’s “institutional inertia”: no Viking graduating class has been free of sexual predation by adult staff since 1994. This failure persists because, as Dr. Carol Shakeshaft noted, colleagues often fear “ruining the life” of a fellow teacher more than they fear failing to protect a student. At LSHS, the status quo was guarded more fiercely than the children.

The Students Knew: The 2021 Walkout

While the adults in administration were busy “monitoring the situation,” the students were sounding the alarm. In December 2021, a massive student walkout occurred at LSHS to protest the “climate of abuse.” This cry for help occurred just three weeks after an alleged on-campus assault involving Hein.The administrative response was a masterclass in dismissal. Adminsrtrators criticized the “lack of organization” of the protest, dismissing the students’ concerns as social media “perception” that wasn’t “always truth.” The subsequent criminal investigation conducted by LSPD proved the students’ perceptions were exactly aligned with reality.

The Severance Reward: Resignation Over Justice

The final act of this tragedy reveals the district’s true priorities. While Kalynn Taber suffered from debilitating, stress-induced seizures and PTSD that drove her off campus, the district ensured Hein’s exit was as comfortable as possible.

The Financial Toll of Institutional Failure:

• Paid Leave: Hein collected $143,000 in annual compensation while on a two-year “paid vacation” following his arrest.

• The Severance Reward: In January 2025, the district paid Hein a “kiss-off” severance of $122,184 to resign—allowing him to quit specifically to avoid an internal investigation that would have led to a “for cause” termination.

• The Settlement: In 2026, the district paid millions to settle the lawsuit filed by Kalynn Taber, a payout necessitated by their refusal to report Hein when the abuse was first disclosed.The district used taxpayer money to defend Hein’s actions in court, pushing back against the victim’s claims until the very end. The message was clear: the institution will protect its own, and if it fails, it will pay the predator to go away.

Conclusion: The Priority of Life

The Mark Hein case serves as a moral ultimatum for public education. In the field of professional emergency response, there is a “Priority of Life” scale—a concept highlighted in the Robb Elementary (Uvalde) Report—which dictates that the safety of the child must always come before the preservation of the institution or the comfort of the staff. The social contract of a school district is simple: parents entrust their children to the state with the expectation of safety.

When a district rebrands a sex crime as a “boundary invasion” and rewards a predator with a six-figure severance check, that contract is not just broken—it is being sold.

Ultimately, the ones who upheld their end of the bargain were the students who refused to be silenced, or as Taber’s attorney said today, “Kalynn Taber and her family have repeatedly proven themselves much braver than the adults charged with keeping her safe.”

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Previously:

Six months ago, a wide-ranging probe into serial recruiting violations at Roosevelt High School culminated with a report finding evidence of improper recruiting occurring against a backdrop of “a broken athletic honor system at many levels” throughout Seattle Public Schools. An independent state investigator’s report concluded that safeguards designed t…

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In electing this method, the student stipulates that if eligibility isn’t granted, they face a one year sit out period.

J42…

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Read the J425 report on the Skyline football staff quitting en masse after head coach Peyton Pelluer was suspended Friday.

The situation out on the Plateau is difficult to understand unless there is significantly more bad news to come.

To be specific, we’re talking about the head coach of 5-2 Skyline getting very-publicly suspended hours before kickoff last Friday, pending the completion of a seemingly nebulous, vague school district inquiry that program insiders say is based on parents complaining about “player participation.”

It’s hard to imagine that a serious school district would publicly take the legs out from its young coach over something so lacking in urgency and gravitas.

There’s gotta be more to it. Right? Right?? The fact that the entire football staff resigned Monday, vowing not to return until Pelluer is reinstated…well that supports the possibility that there really isn’t any credible allegation of anything worthy of this kind of treatment of the young coach.

On one hand, consider an incredibly well-qualified young, local, iconic, qualified and charismatic football coach presiding over a successful program in the midst of a league-winning campaign.

This coach won state titles at Skyline in high school and All Pac 12 awards in college. He is recognized as a legendary fourth generation star over at the state college in Pullman. He prepped for the role not at a middle school or JV squad, but under Mike Leach at Wazzu and Mississippi State, and under Lincoln Riley at USC. Upon taking the Skyline HC role, he swiftly assembled an unprecedented number of similarly talented young, well-qualified program alumnus interested in working for free or cheap. All-in-all? Coach is a rarity and aa valuable resource to any district. Plus, coach has this thing humming.

Then, on the other hand, consider the fact that a large, well-funded, well-established school district like Issaquah decied to take the the seemingly-drastic step of removing their popular young head coach in a manner that would, by definition, draw the maximum amount of attention. Seemingly drastic only because we’re told (by the assistant coaches, who should have some idea what their boss is getting investigated for) that this suspension centers around a few insubordinate parents bitching about “player participation issues”.

From here, it just seems improbable that the district would take such rash steps as a result of parents upset over playing time, which is how most commenters have interpreted the coaches’ description of the suspension as relating to player participation issues. This doesn’t add up. And that is only reason our criticism isn’t yet full-throated.

This is not how districts normally act. Notices are not sent out to parents regarding every unsubstantiated allegation. If there’s a week left in the season, the district will wait to act. If it’s an hour until the coach’s team

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Editor’s Note: The Lake Stevens School District faces the imminent prospect of back-to-back bond failures unless Lake Stevens voters make an immediate community-wide effort to return their ballots. As of 5pm tonight, the LSSD bond measure is 4,668 votes short of VALIDATION. If the measure fails to validate, it won’t pass even if the 60% threshold is achieved. This matter is too important not to receive an up or down vote. So this isn’t a plea to vote yes or vote no. This is a plea to vote. At least participate and allow the measure to receive an up or down vote. As of tonight, the gap between the current 6,757 ballots received and the 11,425 figure required for the measure to validate appears almost too large to bridge without significant work. So get after it. MAIL YOUR BALLOT. - KTH

LAKE STEVENS - After falling less than 500 votes short of passage in November LSSD doubled down & went to the ballots again, despite a coin-flip chance that the measure wouldn’t validate. Tuesday’s result awaits.

Despite earning over 15,000 yes votes comprising 58.3% of the vote, Lake Stevens School District’s November 2024 construction bond measure (Prop. 1) was voted down as a result of the state’s super-majority 60% passage requirement for bond measures.

It was the first time in over 40 years that the district failed to pass a bond measure.

By comparison, the 2016 bond earned 62% support… following the historic 2005 bond, which earned a landmark 72.4% yes vote.

When the Lake Stevens School District Board of Directors gathered for an election post-mortem last November 13, the numbers revealed the measure had come 438 votes short of passage, out of a total 25,966 votes cast. That part was clear. The murky part lay ahead.

With a large faction of citizens and administrators urging the board to run the measure again in February 2025, directors had very little time to consider why the measure fell short, and whether the district would be able to both win over the voters comprising the gap between 58.3 and 60%...while also satisfying qualification numbers required to validate a February election.

Strategically, it wasn’t the best spot for the district.

If they chose to run the bond again in February, they faced the prospect of two chances at failure: they’d have to overcome an artificially high validation number tied to the decision to run the bond against an historic presidential election just to qualify for an up or down result…and they faced the prospect of changing enough minds to bridge the gap between November’s 58.3% and the required 60% …all in a matter of weeks, with very few variables to shuffle in re-presenting the measure.

Revisiting the decision to run the initial measure against an historic Presidential election is a strategic decision that can be re-litigated at a later date, but it certainly created a tougher political environment for the board as they considered whether to re-run the bond in February.

Sidebar: Presidential elections are typically viewed as the most challenging time to run an education funding measure, because of the wide swath of the populace brought out by the major election. Conventional wisdom says the large turnout makes it tougher to pass tax increases. Further, should the bond fail, any ensuing attempts to pass the bond measures are complicated by the validation requirement, a legal provision requiring a bond measure to reach at least 40% of the turnout achieved in the last general election.

That’s why the validation number for Tuesday’s LSSD 2025 bond measure looms as just as much as a threat as the potential no vote. In order to pass, the bond must receive 40% turnout with respect to last November’s vote… AND 60% approval.

As the board worked through the November 13 election post-mortem , they knew an immediate decision loomed – ballot measure submissions were due to the County Auditor by December 13 for the February 2025 election.

Further, from a campaign point-of-view, with just one more board meeting in the calendar year and a lengthy holiday break ahead, the already short turnaround for a February ballot measure was more-or-less cut in half,

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Editor’s Note: J425’s investigative piece on Imane Khelif is one of our most read stories of the last 12 months. We’ve added n…

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LAKE STEVENS HIGH SCHOOL — I was the first LSHS student to confront the Lake Stevens’ super pdf file Chris Mattingly.

And…

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Note: This is the first edition of a personal column/commentary series by J425’s Kevin Thomas Hulten.

LAKE STEVENS — Very few people are more aware of the time and commitment required to support, manage and ultimately pass a super majority bond measure in this community than I am. I watched my mom, Arlene Hulten, the longtime Director of Communications …

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A J425 Notebook Summarizing Latest Reporting on LSSD Gender Policy and Shifting Landscape of Pediatric Gender Theory

LAKE STEVENS — Given the mountain of evidence calling into question the foundations of pediatric gender theory and a series of studies that have invalidated core claims previously advanced as fact in gender policies adopted by local school districts, Lake Stevens School District must follow the lead of the 2023 Cass Report, a four year study commissioned by the U.K. government to review the practice of pediatric gender transition, and immediately strike the existing gender policy. While adopted in good faith in 2020, the policy — written by a group of gender activists openly working to advance an ideological viewpoint (the fact that activists who work in service of any point of view are allowed to author medical policy governing the entire district population is a conversation for different day) - has since been revealed to promote practices that are at best unproven and at worst result in the sterilization, injury and death of otherwise healthy children.

Further, as entire nations turn away from these practices, the local implementation of the controversial theory drives a wedge between the district and the community by insisting that gender theory since banned in the UK and severely curtailed across Western Europe is not only necessary but necessary to the point that district employees may advance the theory and assist in transitioning children even without the permission or knowledge of parents. Given that the safety of students must come first, it is very difficult to picture any justification for the deployment of a controversial theory, the application of which leads to the use of off-label hormones and irreversible surgeries that remove healthy body parts off children.

In this piece, we review the considerable flaws in pediatric gender theory, including the fact that both of the initial gender transition patients committed suicide after botched treatments and abuse at the hands of researchers (but were labeled successes that justified thousands of surgeries that followed); the fact that the foundational theory behind the practice known as “gender affirming care” was invalidated after recent studies revealed that the entire theory was based on an incredibly small sample group (less than 50 people, less than half of which completed the study) — and that one of the kids in the initial population died as a result of the treatment and yet the death was somehow excluded from the final formulation.

Recent studies also revealed that a core principle of the treatment — the idea that “puberty blockers” can be deployed to give kids a multi-year “timeout” to consider their options before the onset of puberty was both unproven and unsafe. Based on the widely accepted fact that the vast majority of non gender conforming kids will either simply outgrow the phase or identify as homosexual, the “Dutch Protocol” theorized that by pausing puberty, kids would have time to arrive at whichever identity suited them before irreversible surgeries were necessary. However, recent studies have shown that the medicating they called puberty blockers was actually a powerful hormone created to sterilize adult male deviants. The off label use of this hormone on kids was at best unproven and nearly all patients were not informed of the true function of the drug. Even rapists are given informed consent before they are subjected to this course of treatment.

As a result it’s not surprising that those placed on this treatment didn’t gain an effective pause. In fact, taking the hormone was shown to be a near 1 for 1 gateway into full gender transition treatment. And because the hormone damages sex organs and stunts growth, even a male child who perhaps decided against transition after a year of hormones would find himself possibly sterilized and with shrunken malformed genitalia, which if anything can only further increases momentum towards surgery.

In fact, a 2023 study showed that researchers behind the Dutch Protocol selected the hormone for the purpose of facilitating future surgery, not for the utility of a safe “pause” — researchers liked the way the hormone stunted growth but left enough of a penis behind for the researchers to use the material to craft a fake vagina in the gender transition surgery that any child taking the hormones is hurtling towards. See below for details and citing.

These and other shocking developments are outlined in the piece below and in the J425 Live discussion above.

We’re urging the community to educate itself on this disturbing field and to prepare for a public conversation should the school district insist on maintaining the current policy at the start of the upcoming school year. J425 believes that given the tidal wave of information that raises safety concerns not present at the time of adoption, the school board is likely already working to pull down the current policy. We’ll keep you posted, please hit subscribe to stay informed.

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Canada Orders Forced Re-Education of Prominent Psychologist Critical of Pediatric Gender Transition

See above video to learn about Canada’s campaign to re-educate a prominent Harvard and University of Toronto clinical psychologist who has sharply criticized the field of pediatric gender transition. The surprising episode illustrates the great personal cost Peterson is paying for his views and the nonsensical lengths the establishment will go to sideline viewpoints that run counter to accepted groupthink. Particularly funny is that fact that Peterson is ordered to be re educated by a “social media expert” until his attitude has been fixed in a subjective manner that satisfies the charges against him. Peterson is subject to an anonymous reporting system in which anyone can submit a complaint about anything he’d said anywhere. His statements were then viewed as representative of his work as a clinical psychologist, despite the fact that none of the complaints came from a patient and none of the statements for which he was cited (which included criticizing Justin Trudeau) occurred in a professional setting. Most were excerpts from a podcast appearance. Nonetheless, Peterson must submit to reeducation or surrender his license. The popular and controversial author and psychologist remains one of the most highly-rated professors in the history of both Harvard and University of Toronto.

Reviewing the Foundational Flaws of Pediatric Gender Transition

1. Both Children Involved in First “Successful” Gender Transition Committed Suicide — After Botched Treatment and Years of Pedophilic Abuse from Researchers

We’ve told you the roots of pediatric gender transition, in which the modern practice was introduced via a 1972 experiment in which Dr. John Money told the world that he’d successfully transitioned a toddler male to female, and that because the patient had an identical twin who served as the control, his work proved the efficacy of gender transition.

In reality Money lied.

Both of the twins killed themselves because of his gender experimentation on them, which included Money both sexually molesting the children and forcing the brothers to have sex with each other.

This occurred for over a decade, ruining the lives of two children and their family.

Again, he wrote this experiment up as a success, it serves as the case that rationalized thousands of gender transitions that followed.

Why didn’t they tell us this when they extolled the virtues of pediatric gender transition?

How could a state and or a school district elect to introduce this theory to its children without mentioning that this is a theory born from the death of patients one and two at the hands of a pedophilic monster?

2. Foundational Treatment Protocol and So-Called “Puberty Blockers” Revealed as Dangerous and Unproven

A standard practice in the pediatric gender transition field known as the “Dutch protocol” — through which the terms “gender affirming care” and the “puberty blocker” were introduced — has been revealed as faulty after contemporary researchers learned that the initial study was based on an extremely limited study of children, one of whom DIED as a result of the treatment (but was omitted from the paper).

Further, the medication they called puberty blockers turned out to be an incredibly potent hormone created for the chemical castration of adult male deviants.

As a result, the entire premises of the foundational “Dutch Protocol” and the associated term “gender affirming care” have been all but invalidated, with the UK halting use of puberty blockers in 2023.

Needless to say, when a child dies in a study, typically that practice is halted. In this world, the death is covered up and the practice is foisted upon the public anyway. Why?

3. UK Review Leads to Ban on “Puberty Blockers” and Closure of World’s Largest Pediatric Gender Clinic

A landmark UK review of this practice arrived at the same conclusion in 2023, with the published final report concluding that the entire field of pediatric gender transition was “on shaky ground” and that rationale calling for irreversible surgeries and the use of powerful off label hormones on kids were “remarkably weak”. As a result, the UK immediately halted the use of “puberty blockers” and CLOSED the world’s largest pediatric gender clinic (Tavistock). The doctor who led the UK review of these practices has spent the last year asking the U.S. why we’re still subjecting children to a barbaric unsupported practice that the UK and leading western nations have since turned away from.

The Cass Report

• A four year study in which the author, a highly respected pediatrician in the U.K., concluded in the British Medical Journal that youth gender medicine is “built on shaky foundations.” 

• She later told the New York Times that U.S. doctors and doctor groups that support hormonal and surgical procedures for kids are “out of date.”

• Her final report, published last month, concluded that the evidence supporting the use of puberty-blocking drugs and other hormonal medications in adolescents was “remarkably weak.” 

• On her recommendation, the N.H.S. will no longer prescribe puberty blockers outside of clinical trials.

• Dr. Cass’s findings are in line with several European countries that have limited the treatments after scientific reviews. Tavistock shuttered as a result 
  But in America, where nearly two dozen states have banned the care outright, medical groups have endorsed the treatments as evidence-based and necessary.

  • In the UK, it is reported that over 1000 civil suits have been filed so far from a pool of 30,000 children transitioned at Tavistock.

4. Transgender Political Appointee Unilaterally Removes Age Guidelines for Surgical Intervention on Children

Finally, we discuss how prominent transgender political appointee Rachel Levine was caught ordering the leading medical authority on pediatric gender transition (WPATH) to REMOVE guidelines that would’ve set a minimum age, protecting the youngest children from irreversible surgical procedures.

This trans activist, Dr. Rachel Levine, more on them in the J425 Live episode at the top, pressured WPATH to remove the protections, and they did.

In a normal world Levine would be fired and charged and the medical organization would lose all credibility.

In actuality, this is the least of WPATH’s scandals. More on that in a later post.

But all in all it seems like shaky ground on which to rationalize the surgical removal of kids’ body parts; it seems like thin support for public school policy that allows for school employees to privately engage kids about their “gender identity” and to assist them in their social transition, a practice that does not require parental permission or even notification.

Conclusion: Safety and Liability Concerns Emerging After Adoption Require District to Immediately Revisit or Strike Existing Policy

As stated before, the UK’s four year medical study of the pediatric gender transition field led to an immediate halt on puberty blockers and the closure of the worlds largest pediatric gender clinic after Dr. Cass published a report stating that the entire field was “on shaky ground”, that rationale behind treatment was “shockingly weak” and that the prevailing United States standard of care is “outdated at best”. We also know that the organization tasked with setting medical policy in this field allowed a transgender political appointee to unilaterally remove safeguards from the published standards of care governing pediatric gender transition.

Given these two developments and the growing mountain of evidence invalidating core tenants of gender theory, many of which are incorrectly presented as fact in adopted policy, combined with the growing stream (See Blair v Appomattox SD)of so-called “detransitioner” lawsuits working their way through federal court it’s incumbent on local school districts including Lake Stevens School District to immediately strike their adopted gender policy and halt the practice of facilitating transitions on school grounds and without the knowledge of parents.

J425: https://www.thejournal425.com/p/j425-the-dark-origin-story-of-gender

LSSD Policy https://www.thejournal425.com/p/transgender-students-lssd-adopts

1. https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1708548258/lkstevenswednetedu/wukmjekdnmu7ea5qdhvo/policy-5590-procedure-gender-inclusive-schools.pdf

2. https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/Schools-In-Transition.pdf

Download this document (Episode Notes)

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With both agencies back in court, as J425 reported today, the timeline for any merger is scuttled, thus extending the timeline for litigation off into the horizon.

And with the city having to shell out resources to pay for the litigation, the matter will become increasingly unappealing to the council, the commissioners, the ratepayers and the city residents — note to the city and the district: the last two are the same thing.

So what, short of further litigation, could the city do in response to actions taken by a district controlled by a three person board, a majority of which just re-gained six year terms (and the parallel ability to litigate the matter for the duration of those terms, if they choose)?

One possible path of action for the city is to institute an excise tax on the sewer district, charging them back for any and all costs incurred by the litigation. The city has the power to tax agencies working inside its boundaries, and this power was affirmed by the state supreme court in a case with very similar matters at play. Since the 2020 ruling1,

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The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed and informing the people's public servants of their views so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created. For these reasons, even when not required by law, public agencies are encouraged to incorporate and accept public comment during their decision-making process.

It’s one hell of a statement of legislative intent, perhaps the most famous and best-written of its kind throughout all the RCWs. It’s famous for a reason: it’s a direct shot across the bows of elected officials who look for loopholes through which they can grab the curtain strings and shroud the windows of legislative transparency from the view of the public. The pre-amble includes further qualification:

The legislature finds and declares that all public commissions, boards, councils, committees, subcommittees, departments, divisions, offices, and all other public agencies of this state and subdivisions thereof exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business. It is the intent of this chapter that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.

The concept of open and transparent governance is at the core of J425’s reporting on the years-long divide between the City of Lake Stevens and the Lake Stevens Sewer District.

Exhibits: City vs Sewer District Battle

1. City vs Sewer District Lawsuit 

2. “Rift between Lake Stevens and LSSD” (Herald, June, 2021) 

3. Ord 1108 Assumption of LS Sewer District (Dec, 2020)

4. Full Record of City to SD Communication

And as we report on the latest machinations in this ongoing feud — an opaque pay raise pushed through in the waning moments of 2023 and the seemingly senseless eviction of a popular Lake Stevens business — it’s easy to lose our place in the wider story — the story of the Lake Stevens Sewer District and the City of Lake Stevens, two local agencies of local government working in tandem since the 1950s and under a mutual operating agreement since 2005.

That’s why I’m going to take a second to try and bring everyone up to speed on the situation and the stakes, in plain language. This is the “don’t quote me” portion, and I’m going to label this story Opinion because I’m not going to cite everything I’m just gonna have a chat with ya like we’re having a club soda with a lime at The Pines or Hawkeyes.

The sewer district’s inception was originally a direct result of the geography of Lake Stevens, a community centered around the biggest lake in Snohomish County.

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As recently as September 2020, Low was an elected district commissione…

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“Although initial reports noted that a community member reported the allegation of inappropriate relations with a student to the school, interviews confirmed that Damon Terry, another assistant coach on the football team, reported the allegations to Bryant Thomas, Dean of Students and head football coach,” Mukilteo Police Detective Eric Ofori stated in investigative documents filed June 28 in Snohomish County Court. “Damon (Terry) had overheard rumors throughout the football season¹ from players of some potentially inappropriate relationship between Julian and a student,” Detective Ofori told the court. 

Initial information provided by Kamiak High School officials to law enforcement and media cited a March 31 tip from an unidentified community member as the source of the investigation that would lead to the firing and criminal investigation of Julian Willis. 

However, this turned out to be untrue. Police say staff knew much earlier, which would’ve triggered state and district mandatory reporting requirements.

And by now serious, unanswered questions should be addressed by administrators regarding who exactly knew what when, and why the public, police and media were initially misled.

Kamiak students and Mukilteo tax payers should be demanding a clear explanation of who exactly knew what when regarding Willis’ crimes.

Why?

Because you were lied to. That’s not me saying that, it’s the police. And this lie covers up a five month gap of inaction during which legally-required action could’ve prevented four sex crimes against a minor from occurring.

So just what kind of internal soul searching and external outreach is occuring at MSD and Kamiak to investigate and address these lapses in responsibility and honesty? And if you don’t know the answer to that question already, it’s an answer in itself.

To be clear, detectives straight up say that the initial timeline offered by a Kamiak official was untrue and off by five months.

Law enforcement documents obtained by J425 state that the initial report naming Willis wasn’t anonymous or external in nature as we were intially told; and didn’t occur in March 2023 but instead came during the football season in 2022, emanating from a named assistant football coach… who’d verified his information with players before passing on a report to then head football coach Bryant Thomas. 

“Although initial reports noted that a community member reported the allegation of inappropriate relations with a student to the school, interviews confirmed that Damon Terry, another assistant coach on the football team, reported the allegations to Bryant Thomas, Dean of Students and head football coach,” Mukilteo Police Detective Eric Ofori stated in investigative documents filed June 28 in Snohomish County Court.

“Damon (Terry) had overheard rumors throughout the football season¹ from players of some potentially inappropriate relationship between Julian and a student,” Detective Ofori told the court. 

Police say that before reporting, Terry confirmed the Willis rumors with a player who’d spoken directly to the victim.

The player “suggested something was likely happening between Julian and a known female student.” 

According to police, Terry then passed on the information to former Head Football Coach and Dean of Student Bryant Thomas, forming the basis for Thomas’ forwarding a report to law enforcement and district administrators, launching the Willis investigation. 

This is a significant departure from previous reports that linked the information to a tip from an unnamed community member.

As a result, school personnel in receipt of this information knew enough by mid-November 2022 to trigger the state’s mandatory abuse reporting law — which requires school personnel to report information about abuse to authorities within 48 hours — or face criminal penalties. So were these reports made? If so when? If not, why not? If not, has a criminal referral occurred?

So with regard to the above? Who knew what when. And why did staff initially provide a materially misleading explanation? Given that both failure to report sex crimes against a student within the mandatory reporting window… and the act of providing misleading information regarding the source of the Willis tip — well these both would qualify as acts of professional misconduct…if students and taxpayers are getting the basic answers to these most important questions, it may be time to get familiar with the steps necessary to get some external help in getting to the bottom of this matter.

With respect to the Willis matter, a staff member’s duty to report is governed by state law (RCW 26.44.030) and MSD policy (Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention, 3421-P).  

Mukilteo School District policy states that all school personnel with “reasonable cause” to believe a student has experienced sexual abuse by an adult or student are required to make a report to Child Protective Services and/or law enforcement within 48 hours.

Reasonable cause is further defined in district policy. At the state level, according to Attorney General interpretations of the law, reasonable cause basically means if there’s a possibility that the information could be true.

MSD policy requires any information about the possible sexual abuse of a student to be greeted with immediate action, requiring “all school staff members and volunteers to promptly notify a supervisor” upon learning of a possible issue. From district policy:

Staff members should not wait before reporting suspicious behavior or try to determine whether there is an innocent explanation. Staff need not verify a report that a child has been abused or neglected. Legal authorities have the responsibility for investigating each case and taking appropriate action under the circumstances.

Staff should not attempt to investigate or discuss the matter with anyone else, instead staff is told to report the information immediately, while documenting for their own records that they notified an administrator, including to whom and what was reported.

Previously:

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“Although initial reports noted that a community member reported the allegation of inappropriate relations with a student to the school, interviews confirmed that Damon Terry, another assistant coach on the football team, reported the allegations to Bryant Thomas, Dean of Students and head football coach,” Mukilteo Police Detective Eric Ofori stated in …

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Editor’s Note: One of the best editorials I’ve written republished in light of school predator stories. Women and girls must assume that help isn’t on the way. Fight like hell for yourself. - Kev May 28, 2023.

LAKE STEVENS - I’ve probably written ten editorials on the topic of violence against women. As a man I’m first to say it: men can seem indecipherable from a plague at times, given the amount of violence and death we unleash on women.

This is not a two way street.

Nor is this a woke lecture.

In point of fact, it’s actually conservative to stand up against the dude who attacks women. (And I say that to all the rape apologists who fill my inbox anytime I bring this topic up. Tell you what. When 1 out of 31 men are raped or murdered by women come talk to me then.)

But that’s not the point of this brief editorial today.

Nope there’s no time for talk about societal change or statistical trends. Not today.

Not today when — like every other day in America — three women will be killed by an intimate partner.2

Today — this morning — three people are dead in Redmond after a bitter scorned dude who’d serially stalked his ex blew through a “protection order” (what a turn of phrase that is huh?), broke into his ex’s home and murdered a female (stalker’s ex), her husband and himself.

The point of this editorial, my request, is a simple one today.

Women: be your own first responder.

So today, because one out of every four women is going to face a violent intimate partner/former partner in their life, we’re going to talk about what to do in that scenario. So that’s my request today. Don’t let the stalker win.

In fact it’s less of a request and more of a rule. Call it:

Rule One - Save yourself.

I’m sorry but in the case of a scorned ex with ill intent, no one else is going to protect you reliably and that should go without saying at this point.

You have to be your own first responder, because you’re the only one who will be there in one hundred percent of the incidents that endanger you.

What are the other options? A protection order? Please.

A piece of paper is less than nothing in the face of a bitter soulless dude who is set on throwing his life away anyway. What are they gonna do? Stack a few months of time onto his corpse? No. Of course not.

And this is not at all an indictment of law enforcement. Far from it.

Lake Stevens has some of the best response times in the West Coast. But even if 12 shows up in 60 seconds — that’s way too late.

Whatever is gonna happen has already happened. So adopt the mindset that you must save yourself. We’ll talk about how below, but mindset is the first key.

Rule Two: Accept Threats at Face Value

So with that in mind, this is just a reminder that women must unfortunately always take a scorned dude at his word.

If he threatens, he means it. To assume anything else is to gamble your safety.

Women, if you have a stalker or bitter ex, yes you should file for a temporary restraining order. If nothing else, having one in place will expedite an already quick local law enforcement response as well as providing the proper context to arriving LEOs.

But more important than the restraining order is taking actions necessary to protect yourself.

Remember, you’re treating the threat as a fact.

What does that mean?

It means if one of your mutual friends said he heard your ex mumble something about not wanting to live without you while he ugly-cried into his chardonnay at book club?

Assume the ex is on his way to follow through.

And here’s the difficult part: making it through that encounter.

Unfortunately, the victims in Redmond this morning did not make it.

But you will.

With that in mind, refer back to rule two: take a threat at face value.

Let’s talk about this practically.

If a crazy dude is coming over to threaten you, then secure your residence like there’s a crazy dude who is going to test your perimeter defenses tonight.

I can’t say it any plainer than that.

Because that’s what taking a threat at face value means.

I’m serious.

Confronting Threats with Practical Safety Upgrades

Good news? You can make huge gains in your safety in about a half hour and for less than $40. This is just sound reasoning anyway: there’s nothing paranoid about making sure someone can’t waltz into your home. Come on, what’s a better use of that half hour in this scenario?

So just take a that 30 min and do the following:

1. Secure your exterior windows and sliders (second story decks too) with locks and lengths of wood or metal as a slider jam. That length of wood or metal makes a slider/window damn near impenetrable aside from straight up breakage — and double pained windows and sliders are not easy to break.

2. Secure your front door. No, it’s not secure right now. Go hit Ace Hardware and buy 3” wood screws to replace the 3/4 inch screws in your strike plate.3 Wouldn’t hurt to have a good dead bolt in place too. It’s not expensive. I’ll link an article below4.

3. Swing by Cabelas (or Amazon same day) and get a POM pepper spray three pack. It’ll cost you $25 but now you’ve got a self defense weapon that will stop an attacker in his tracks without putting you in any legal danger of causing unwarranted death or bodily harm. (I’ve given them to my female cousins, and one who attended Gonzaga has put the defenses to good use against a stalker who broke into her room.)

4. Put one pepper spray on your keychain, one on your nightstand and keep one on you. They’re easy to use and they work as a tool to allow you time to escape. But when the time comes you gotta whip that sucker out and just bless the deserving with a face full of hot sauce. Don’t think twice just do it. If it turns out to be your cousin stopping by to return the Nicholas Sparks book he borrowed? He’ll be fine in ten minutes and he’ll understand.

5. Make a conscious decision to be aware of your surroundings in public. Do not dawdle in transitional spaces. What’s this mean? It’s a term describing the space between your parked car and wherever you’re going (or the inverse). In short, do not sit in your car and mess around. Park, get out, look around, walk with purpose into the store. On the way back out, do the same and have your keys in your hand.

6. Lock your doors. This should be second nature. Lock your doors right away in your car and your home. How dumb are you going to feel if you just installed three inch door screws at home but you don’t lock your car door and now you’ve gotta spray the idiot’s face inside your car cabin? Just hit the lock button. And it’s not time to update the IG Story, it’s time to drive.

7. Put your significant other on the same game. You’re a team, make sure you’ve got the same playbook. If your S/O is worth a damn they’ll be highly motivated. Now, you don’t want any vigilante stuff going on, the goal here is matching energy. Two of you are much stronger than one.

   ---

Long term safety

If this is a longer term issue - if your ex lives in town, if the danger lingers, I’m gonna venture off into non-standard recommendations.

These are steps I took…steps we took: dogs and guns.

Yes, I thought my ex should become a trained and licensed carrier for reasons I’ll explain below.

This isn’t for everyone.

But remember: Take threats at face value. Save yourself.

We really mean these things.

And so under that assumption… there’s a logic in taking every legal step that you are comfortable taking.

And comfort levels will differ, that’s why these aren’t rules. I’m sharing personal experiences here, do with it what you wish.

But before you call me a prepper or Randy Weaver, just hold up a sec.

As far as dogs? I have Golden Retrievers ok? Sweethearts.

But you know what else they are? 75 pound wolves that’ll not only hear and smell anyone trying to get near you waaaaay before you do — they’ll also make one hell of a racket… and they’ll die to protect you from a real threat.

Yes, Goldens are protective.

And yes they’ll know the bad guy coming in through the window — in the example we’re giving here at least. They’ll read your energy and his. Dogs know what’s up.

That’s why I think that if you’re gonna live in proximity to a dangerous ex, strongly consider getting a family dog, the type that is more your dog than the family’s lol. The type that goes with you an awful lot.

Any variety of dog is a great idea in the long term.

It’s a huge comfort, advantage and just an all around bet positive.

Plus scientists say that petting a dog is proven to lower stress levels. 🤷‍♂️5.

That brings me to the second long term suggestion.

Guns.

I’m a believer that women should avail themselves of legal, licensed hand guns and concealed carry permits.

These are your rights, if you’d like to avail yourself of them, it’s a perfectly acceptable and rational choice if you take the responsible steps.

Which you’ll need to do in order to be legal, safe and proficient anyway.

The goal that we’re discussing here is surviving a life or death engagement. And before you cross that off as improbable I’ll remind you that it occurred this morning just 20 miles from here, three died. Further, a disturbed man tried to kidnap a woman he was carjacking in the Frontier Village parking lot Jan. 13. I realize that wasn’t stalker or ex partner violence. But it was a man, threatening great bodily harm to a female. And he was stopped by a female officer.

All I’m saying is that when the stakes are your life, your safety…maybe don’t handicap yourself over some political theory or what other people think.

Do what you think is best in order to win.

That’s the logic here. You don’t have to agree, you don’t have to adopt it. Just sharing one perspective.

Next, I’ll explain the personal reasons why we went this route.

Ok here’s the deal.

For the men reading this editorial, I want you to mentally prepare to fight a 7’5 500 pound attacker. Ok?

How’s your grapple? You got a strong dirty boxing game?

Who cares.

The attacker just picked you up and lawn-darted your ass through the drywall.

What’s my point? I just described the size discrepancy between a small female and a 6’ 200 pound dude.

It’s the same difference as that 6’ dude taking on the giant in the previous example.

There’s an overwhelming size and force discrepancy that needs to be considered.

And again, when you evaluate the scenario at hand — we are taking threats at face value — then what the hell are you realistically going to do? Not take the best option?

I’m (not) sorry, but I wasn’t willing to give up any potential advantage that would favor my wife if she faced a male attacker (again).

See, like many women, both of my exes had been savagely attacked by men in the last. (My ex wife and a girlfriend previous to meeting my ex wife….in other words… two women that I spent 12 years with total).

My ex-wife had repeatedly told me she didn’t want to live if IT happened again.

Now what the hell are you supposed to do with something like that? Obviously move hell and earth to solve for the negative outcome. To remove that possibility.

For me it was simple.

No external political argument means a damn compared to people you love.

If some dude was gonna hurt her… and I wasn’t around to stop him? She needed to be prepared to do it herself.

Because we couldn’t risk her safety or life. This seemed like simple math.

She grew up in Eastern WA and was familiar with ranch and hunting firearms so she wasn’t opposed to the idea and agreed to check it out. We took basic firearm safety, followed by the next two classes of firearm self defense. Together. We got concealed permits. Together.

And she picked out an airweight .38 with a factory laser. It had a pretty teal blue handle and fit in her purse. She never had to use it but she felt better.

And if it had been her in Redmond this morning?

If I couldn’t get there or if I’d been taken out by the stalker?

She’d have been ready to be her own first responder. I’ve seen her shoot.

The weak, bitter man would’ve taken the room temperature challenge without taking his female target with him.

And until the day comes when we can get a handle on this plague of death and violence acted out by emotionally immature, bitter men, the best we can do is make sure we take the logical steps to insure evil doesn’t triumph.

So please take this editorial to heart. If you’re a woman facing domestic violence from an ex — or if you know someone who is — don’t be lackadaisical about protecting life.

Take threats at face value. Act appropriately. And by all means be your own first responder.

A little bit of preparation today will provide you with everything you need to win on your own if — God forbid — the type of evil that surfaced in Redmond this morning ever touches your life.

Note from the Publisher: J425 needs your support to re-establish community supported local journalism. With your support, we will do the investigations, reporting and community-building that generations past expected from a local paper. Jump on the pirate ship if you like what we’re doing. - Kev

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