Source: The Herald, Everett, WA Contact: April 16, 1997 New public housing law permits drugfree zones By Jason Oppie, Herald Olympia Bureau OLYMPIA People convicted of selling and using drugs in public housing areas will soon see double at their sentencing hearings. Gov. Gary Locke signed a bill Tuesday proposed by Sen. Gary Strannigan, REverett, at the request of residents of Everett's 148unit Grandview Homes. The new law will let local governments designate public housing complexes as drugfree zones. It passed the House 980 last week after clearing the Senate 460 in March. Jail sentences and fines are often doubled for those convicted of drugrelated crimes in drugfree zones. Peter Low, a Grandview resident and head of the community's security patrol, said he was proud of the bill's success. "It's something we initiated." Low, who testified in Senate and House hearings on the bill, said SB5672 would make it safer for Grandview tenants to go out at night by discouraging people outside of the complex from preying on their children. Almost all drugrelated problems at Grandview Homes, he added, are created by people from outside the complex. The drugfree designation and the signs that go with it would "help break the stereotype that these are complexes where that kind of activity is going on and is tolerated," said Bob Davis, executive director of the Snohomish County Housing Authority, when the bill cleared the house.