State Senator Darcy Jech, right, was the guest speaker of the Kingfi sher Lions Club last Thursday. Pictured with Lions Club member Bill Reitz, who arranged for the presentation, Jech touched on a number of subjects including proposed tax reform and rebates as well as marijuana grow farms in the state. He said the grow farms are heavily taxed and are revenue producers for the state, but they come with a cost to our state population through crime, as Kingfi sher County experienced with the quadruple homicide in the Lacey area farm in 2022. He said the number of grow sites has dropped from a high of approximately 9,200 to about 4,300 today. Regarding the possibility of the state no longer taxing grocery sales, he said “talk at the state House will probably come up this session again,” but added that state residents would still have to pay municipal taxes on groceries and the state would have to make up the difference of that revenue through other sources if it ever came to pass. Jech has been Kingfi sher’s state senator for nine years now and he will retire from the Senate after this four-year term is complete in three years’ time.