Teens describe pot use
See Page B4
Rejoice for Village Theatre’s ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ reboot
Big day for local athletes at KingCo track championships Sports,
A&E,
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Page B12
THE ISSAQUAH PRESS
Take a volunteer vacation See Page B1
www.issaquahpress.com
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 • Vol. 112, No. 20
Locally owned since 1900 • 75 Cents
Bears awaken
Council sets goals Leaders pick downtown parking, economic development as 2012 focus
Wildlife experts advise caution as local sightings increase
By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter
By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter Solving parking headaches in downtown Issaquah is a top priority for city leaders next year. The ongoing problem emerged as the No. 1 goal May 14 as City Council members set goals for 2012. The city intends to examine possible solutions, because parking is often difficult in the historic downtown corridor during ArtWalk and other summertime events. The council opted to revisit the longtime headache for downtown merchants and consumers. The city conducted other downtown parking studies in the past. Other priorities included a continued focus on economic development, offering additional city information online, and discussing possible arrangements for the aging Julius Boehm Pool and cashstrapped Lake Sammamish State Park. In a rare Saturday meeting, council members slimmed a long list to 13 priorities for 2012, and then ranked 11 as goals. The council intends to discuss the remaining
ON THE WEB
State Department of Fish and Wildlife agents responded to a bear in a home last week, after a surprised Issaquah woman discovered the animal pawing around inside a locked garage. The incident underscored the need for education about black bears as the close encounters between humans and bears start for the year. State wildlife officials and organizations remind residents in Issaquah and other communities near bear habitat to take precautions as soon as possible to limit the potential for dangerous encounters. Bear Awareness Week is observed in Washington through May 21. The incident relating to the bear in the garage is the latest sighting in recent weeks as bears started to emerge from hibernation early last month. Issaquah School District administrators spotted bears near several campuses in April
Learn more bear safety tips from the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project at www.bearinfo.org.
and May, including Cascade Ridge, Clark and Newcastle elementary schools. Police received a call about a bear at the downtown Issaquah Salmon Hatchery in late April. Residents have reported frequent sightings in neighborhoods throughout the city. In the latest example, Issaquah police officers received a call at 11:43 a.m. May 10 about a bear inside a garage in a tree-lined neighborhood near the Sammamish Family YMCA, not far from Providence Point. State wildlife agents reached the home at about noon and, as the team used Krispy Kreme doughnuts to bait a bear trap in See BEARS, Page A3
The investigation into a November bear shooting is complete and the King County Prosecutor’s Office is reviewing the case and should decide whether to file charges soon, spokesman Dan Donohoe said. State wildlife agents tranquilized and captured the bear Nov. 11 after a homeowner reported a trapped black bear in a creek near Highlands Drive Northeast and Southeast Black Nugget Road. PAWS veterinarians later euthanized the bear cub, because a bullet left the animal paralyzed. State Department of Fish and Wildlife investigators identified
the person believed to be responsible for shooting the black bear by late November, but did not release additional details. Investigators said community members in the neighborhood offered tips during the search for a suspect. The state classifies unlawful hunting of big game as a felony. Upon conviction, the state revokes all hunting licenses or tags, and suspends the violator’s hunting privileges for 10 years. The penalty also includes a $2,000 fine. The state classifies the black bear as a game animal, but killing a bear in self-defense, or to defend someone else, should be reasonable and justified. The bear must pose a serious threat.
By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter
BY BENT WIENCKE
Bears take refuge in a Sammamish Plateau tree during a May sighting.
Girl, 12, pleads not guilty in cyberbullying case By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter On the same day Issaquah Middle School students received a lesson in online security, a 12year-old Issaquah girl pleaded not guilty to cyberstalking and firstdegree computer trespassing charges. Prosecutors said she and a friend posted lewd messages and photographs on a classmate’s Facebook page. The incident generated national attention and raised questions about bullying in the social media age. The other girl charged in the case is 11. Because of her age, she is scheduled for a hearing May 24 to determine whether she understands the impact of the case. State law presumes children ages 8 to 11 lack the capacity to commit a crime. A case-setting hearing for the 12-year-old girl is June 1. Investigators said the girls
accessed a classmate’s Facebook page, scrawled the phrase “I’m a slut” across a photo of the fellow sixth-grader and used the site’s instant messaging service to proposition boys for sexual acts. The girl targeted in the case, Leslie Cote, is 12. The defendants and Leslie attend Issaquah Middle School together. Leslie sat in the courtroom during the arraignment May 10. Under state law, the defendants face up to 30 days in juvenile detention, but community service is a more likely sentence. The Issaquah Press usually does not name defendants age 12 or younger. Issaquah Middle School students gathered May 10 for a seminar about online security hosted by Stefanie Thomas, a Seattle Police Department specialist in Internet crimes against children. The event had been scheduled before the King County
INSIDE THE PRESS A&E . . . . . . . B12
Opinion . . . . . . A4
Classifieds . . . B10
Police Blotter B11
Community . . . B1
Schools . . . . . . B9
Obituaries . . . . B3
Sports . . . . . . . B6
items before the annual budget session in the fall. The goal-setting retreat, alongside the budget proposal each fall and the State of the City address each winter, helps form the municipal budget for the year ahead. Though the focus remained on economic development, parks and other perennial topics, council members outlined efforts to focus on mountain biking, waste reduction, additional social services and more accessible budget discussions. Improving city economy is focus Councilman Fred Butler called for the city to focus on attracting tenants to empty storefronts. “Every time I turn around, I see new ‘for lease’ signs for a business that’s no longer here, or businesses that have been vacant for a long time,” he said. Butler said a vacant storefront is easier and faster to prepare for occupants than constructing a building. The council could also consider See GOALS, Page A2
Major renovation for aging Julius Boehm Pool is also a priority
Prosecutors consider charges in bear shooting By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter
BEAVER LAKE MIDDLE SCHOOL HOSTS ONLINE SAFETY WORKSHOP Parents can learn how to keep children safe on the Internet at a workshop hosted by the Issaquah School District and Beaver Lake Middle School PTSA. The free workshop is from 7-9 p.m. May 24 in the commons area at the school, 25025 S.E. 32nd St. Stefanie Thomas, a Seattle Police Department victim advocate and expert on online crime, is due to address attendees about social networking, sexually charged text messaging known as sexting, cyberbullying, gaming and
Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against the girls last month. The school closed the event to television news crews.
virtual worlds. The workshop follows a similar workshop for students at Issaquah Middle School. Prosecutors said a pair of sixth-graders at the school used a classmate’s Facebook account to post lewd photos and messages in March. Participants at the Beaver Lake workshop can learn characteristics of bullies and victims, signs of addictive behavior, and methods for prevention and detection. The workshop also offers safety tips and information about parental controls. Call Sarah Jakle, Beaver Lake PTSA parent education representative, at 391-6470 to learn more.
Warren Kagarise: 392-6434, ext. 234, or wkagarise@isspress.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.
The long-discussed plan to redo the outdated Julius Boehm Pool inched ahead May 14, as City Council members listed priorities for 2012 — a key step in determining how leaders decide to spend next year. In addition to confronting increased maintenance costs as the pool ages, a 2009 city-commissioned study declared the facility as inadequate for the community. “We’ve gone to tactical mode,” Council President John Traeger said. “We’ve got to fix the pool.” The pool emerged as a major focus early in the session, as council members and department chiefs gathered in a map-lined Public Works Operations Building conference room. Other priorities included downtown parking, economic development and Lake Sammamish State Park. The price tag to expand and upgrade the downtown Boehm Pool in a major renovation is estimated at $21 million. Other options could cost less. The popular pool no longer meets demand for high school and club swim teams, recreational swimmers and children’s swimming lessons due to its age and other factors. Still, passing a
See POOL, Page A2
State Route 900 ramp closes for construction
The westbound Interstate 90 onramp — for traffic headed south on state Route 900 — is due to close nightly from 9 p.m. May 18 until 5 a.m. May 20. During the closure, crews plan to remove formwork from the pedestrian connector under construction at the site. Plans call for the completed connector to feature a 12-foot-wide pedestrian bridge across the westbound interstate on-ramps, plus a 10-foot-wide pedestrian crossing
on the existing state Route 900 overpass. The city awarded the $4.4 million construction contract to C. A. Carey Corp. last June. The total project price tag is about $6 million. The project relies on grants — including $400,000 from Sound Transit — to offset most of the project cost. The city contributed about $341,000 for the connector. The project is at least $200,000 over budget and not expected to open until June.
QUOTABLE
YOU SHOULD KNOW Live from Issaquah City Hall, Channel 21 broadcasts public meetings and “Issaquah Update,” a news-and-information program. In addition to airing City Council and other municipal meetings live, viewers can catch replays later. Channel 21 also posts meeting videos and special presentations, such as the annual State of the City address, to the municipal website, www.ci.issaquah.wa.us. Follow the “Video Archive” link.
municipal bond to salvage the facility might be a tough sell. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to — in the current economic situation — go to our voters and say, ‘We’d like to build a new $21 million pool, please,’” Councilwoman Eileen Barber said. In the city budget adopted in December, council members directed the Parks & Recreation Department to outline the steps needed to form a special-use district to fund pool improvements. If created, such a district could levy a property tax. Such a proposal is difficult to pull off, because cities intersecting school district boundaries also need to put the measure to voters. The district encompasses neighborhoods in Bellevue, Newcastle, Renton and Sammamish. Issaquah leaders approached Sammamish officials about such a district, but council members from the neighboring city dismissed the suggestion at a joint meeting in March. “We’ve heard very clearly from Sammamish that they have no interest in partnering with us,” Issaquah City Administrator Bob Harrison said. King County built the pool in
“Mom taught them bad habits before she kicked them out. Now, they’re on their own and they’re still continuing these bad habits.”
— Sgt. Kim Chandler State Department of Fish and Wildlife agent about nuisance bear calls in the area