Maleng: Pole-Burning Was Lesson -- Issaquah Students Face Misdemeanors, 170 Hours Of Service

ISSAQUAH

Seven Issaquah High School football players charged with misdemeanors for burning a Native-American story pole will have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

That's what King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng said yesterday in deciding against felony charges, recommending instead that the pole vandals each perform 170 hours of community service.

The work may consist of helping North Seattle sculptor David Horsley finish a replacement pole, working in a tribal food bank in Carnation, collecting Christmas toys for the Snoqualmie Tribe's toy drive or maintaining county parks.

"All of the kids have expressed that they would like to do that," said the mother of a 17-year-old defendant. "They were trying to think of ways to make it right before anybody told them what they ought to do."

Under the terms of the deferred-sentence agreement, the students must also pay for replacing and installing the story pole at Beaver Lake Park.

Six players stole the 10-foot-tall pole Sept. 23 from a picnic shelter in the Sammamish Plateau park and burned it two nights later during an off-campus pep rally for Issaquah's game against the Sammamish High School Totems.

The seventh defendant, 18-year-old Andrew Shute, participated in the rally but not the theft, police reported.

Michael Livingston and Zachariah Johns, both 18, and four juveniles were charged with third-degree theft and third-degree malicious mischief, while Shute was charged with third-degree malicious mischief and third-degree possession of stolen property.

Arraignment for the three adults is set for Nov. 24, and the juveniles are to enter pleas Nov. 26.

All are expected to plead guilty, Maleng said. The three 18-year-olds would avoid a standard sentencing range of zero to 90 days in jail.

Maleng said the case was too serious to be labeled a prank because it was the "calculated theft and destruction of valuable public art." He said there was no evidence of a hate crime, but the vandalism "had the unintended impact of destroying an important cultural symbol of a Native-American tribe."

The pole, titled "Man-Who-Eats-Lots-of-Fish," cost the county $8,000 in 1992. Any theft of more than $250 is technically a felony, yet Maleng extended mercy in the form of lesser charges.

"I am convinced that the mechanical application of the law would not be in the interest of justice," he announced at a news conference yesterday.

Asked if the football players received special treatment because of their middle-class suburban backgrounds, Maleng said, on the contrary, several left themselves vulnerable.

"What generally happens in these cases is everybody goes and gets `lawyered up,' " he said. "But in this case, it's unusual that many of the families in this case didn't go out and get a lawyer."

Maleng said the families were cooperative and eager to atone, all factors that point to leniency.

"I think this case is a dramatic example of the importance in this office to remind ourselves what we're all about, and that is really to serve the cause of justice," he said.

Maleng compared it to the case of 19-year-old au pair Louise Woodward, whose second-degree-murder conviction was reduced to manslaughter Monday by a Massachusetts judge who thought murder charges and life imprisonment were unwarranted.

The mother of one of the 17-year-olds said they decided early on not to try to "beat the system," but to speak "from the heart."

Some of the youths had received recruiting letters from college-football programs and obviously are relieved at the lack of felony charges, the mother said. One is trying to enter the U.S. Naval Academy, she said.

Sculptor Horsley had suggested to prosecutors that the players help him finish a new pole. Last weekend, Snoqualmie tribal leaders proposed a "lifting ceremony" of song and symbolic hand washing to heal spiritual wounds among both the players and Native Americans.

Horsley had no new comment about yesterday's decision.

"Man-Who-Eats-Lots-of-Fish" was one of three poles Horsley carved for the park, sited on traditional Snoqualmie land. It features a figure gorging himself on a salmon, plus representations of a bear, rabbit, mouse and spirit.

The poles are properly called "house posts" because they were traditionally used as beam supports in long houses. The park also contains a pair of 30- to 40-foot totem poles, characteristic of Alaskan Tsimshian people.

Because the charges are merely a proposal, the seven football players still have the right to plead not guilty and go to trial, or a judge could impose a different sentence.

However, a written statement yesterday from five of the teenagers' parents and one youth, said, "We have been advised by the King County Prosecutor's Office of the charges being brought against our sons and have no plan or desire to dispute them."

The parents' statement also said: "We wish for this to become a learning opportunity not only for our sons, but for all the boys that were involved in this action. We would once again like to extend a sincere apology on behalf of our sons, for this insensitive, intrusive action."

One family declined to sign, on a lawyer's advice.

The boys already have spent 15 to 30 hours each pulling weeds and scraping gum from the high-school grounds, as school-mandated community service. They also have offered apologies to the tribe, neighbors and the county parks department. Suspended temporarily from football, the seven have since rejoined the team.

Issaquah School District spokeswoman Mary Waggoner praised Maleng's decision:

"Just not having felony charges makes a huge difference in everybody's life. The more important thing here is that there's a lesson. It looks like the prosecutor's office is trying to do the same thing that we're doing - that there's a lesson attached to discipline."

Mike Lindblom's phone message number is 206-515-5631. His e-mail address is: mlin-new@seatimes.com