Judge hears King Ranch case

DAVENPORT — A Grant County Superior Court judge is deliberating whether the King family has a constitutional right to a jury trial in its dispute with the state Department of Ecology over stockwater ponds the state classifies as protected wetlands.

During a May 21 hearing, attorneys from the Pacific Legal Foundation argued that forcing Wade and Teresa King into an administrative proceeding before the governor-appointed Pollution Control Hearings Board violates the Washington State Constitution, which states that the right to a civil jury trial must remain “inviolate.”

The couple owns the King...