Scott Fontaine covers Fort Lewis, McChord Air Force Base, the Washington National Guard and the veteran community. Fontaine has worked at The News Tribune since 2006. E-mail along story suggestions and tips to scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com
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Matt Misterek is the communities and military team leader at The News Tribune and has supervised local military coverage since 2003.
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Article by The Olympian’s Adam Wilson. Make sure to check out a video from the event.
The first 25 gold-star license plates, available to the parents of people who died while in the armed services, were unveiled Friday at the Capitol in Olympia.
Gold-star plate No. 24 went to Jeff Norton of Rainier, in memory of his son.
Army Sgt. Justin Norton was killed overseas June 24, 2006. His father, a Thurston County sheriff’s deputy, signed up for the new license plate “just so people know the sacrifices that families make.”
The gold star – like dog tags and the boots, the helmet and the rifle used in memorial services – has a special meaning to military parents, said Myra Rintamacki, president of Washington State Gold Star Mothers.
She and others at the ceremony said they hoped the public would come to recognize the plates as a reminder that a soldier’s death affects more than one person.
Dean and Annette Howard of Yacolt, Clark County, were on hand to pick up a plate on behalf of their son Bryce, who died Aug. 28, 2007, in Afghanistan.
“It’s just really, really important to us that our sons are not forgotten – anything to recognize their sacrifice,” said Annette Howard.

