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The IssaquahPress
Issaquah’s only locally owned newspaper
www.issaquahpress.com
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Fatal accident brings out emotions at crowded City Council session By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com Tina Conforti said the evening prior to the accident, her next door neighbor, 4-year-old Haochen Xu was playing in the sprinkler in her backyard. After clearing it with his parents, she shared a peanut butter sandwich with him. “A little angel lost his life,” Conforti told the Issaquah City Council at its regular meeting July 6. She was just one of about 50 residents who attended the meeting to talk about the accident site — the crosswalk at Newport Way Northwest and Northwest Oakcrest Drive. Haochen died June 27 at Harborview Medical Center, the day after a car struck him as he and his mother Xiaoli Tao tried to cross Newport Way Northwest. Angry and emotional neighbors and residents jammed the council meeting chambers, demanding something be done to make
Newport Way a safer street. The most common call was for lowering the speed limit, currently 40 mph. Resident Amy Miller handed the council an online petition with more than 1,000 names supporting action be taken regarding the street. Miller said she knows city officials have to balance driver needs with pedestrian safety, but strongly suggested that on Newport, the city had leaned too far in the direction of the driver. Troy Scholzen clearly became emotional as he told the story of how his two dogs were hit and killed while he was using the same crosswalk in 2012. “We all knew it was only a matter of time before a child was hit,” he said. Resident Arkady Cherts got a lot of attention when he showed a
Photos By Greg Farrar
Participants crawl under six 2-by-4s through the final mud pit obstacle of the Mud Factor 5K fun run, a 20-foot-long pit about 18 inches deep in mud at the finish line, July 18 at Lake Sammamish State Park.
MUD MAYHEM
SLIDESHOW Find more photos from Mud Factor 5K fun run at www.issaquahpress.com.
See EMOTIONS, Page 2
Humans take over for bald eagle’s family By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com Just in time for the July 4 holiday, a couple of Issaquah residents played their part in rescuing what was apparently an abandoned juvenile bald eagle, lost from his parents in the area of Pickering Barn. By pure coincidence, the bird was first spotted on the ground near a stand up cutout of a bald eagle. On July 2, the PAWS Wildlife Center in Lynnwood received two calls concerning a grounded bald eagle in Issaquah, said Amy Cooper, deputy director of the animal rescue group. Normally, PAWS doesn’t respond to rescue calls regarding wild animals, noted Jen Mannas, a wildlife naturalist with the organization. The reason is that, often, by the time would-be rescuers have reached the scene, the animal has wandered off. The callers often have left as well. In this case, Mannas said the second caller, a cyclist, agreed to stick with the bird until help arrived. He did, and PAWS staff was able to find the bird in a wooded area near Pickering Barn, Cooper and Mannas said. “He was alert, but very stressed,” Cooper said, adding the recent heat, hunger and being stuck on the ground probably all contributed to the bird’s discomfort. The bird also was described as very emaciated and dehydrated. PAWS rescuers were able to net the bird safely and quickly, Cooper added. Mannas said the eagle appears to be about 9 weeks old. She added it is difficult to tell what gender birds are at such a young age, but from its size, they are assuming the eagle is male, as females tend to be a bit larger. The eagle is between 30 and 34 inches tall and has a wingspan of about 85 inches. Mannas said even though the bird is still young, he is already very nearly fully-grown. At his age, Mannas said the eagle still should be in the care of his parents and is incapable
of hunting its own food. She added there are several possible reasons the young bird and his family became separated. The eagle is about the age where he would have been learning to fly. His parents may have sent him out for a test flight that just didn’t end well or he simply may have fallen out of his nest. In any case, the bird ended up on the ground and the parents probably simply were not able to find him. “He definitely can’t fly,” Mannas said. For now, the eagle is being kept in a small pen. He’ll move to progressively larger enclosures up to a flight pen where he likely will spend at least a couple of months, according to Mannas. He needs to prove to keepers he can take care of himself, especially in terms of feeding himself, before they will release him into the wild. Mannas said there are plenty of eagles in this area and PAWS fairly routinely cares for wayward bald eagles. They had another eagle last year around July 4 and are expecting an adult eagle that needs a little rehab in about a week. “We have eagles in here every year,” Mannas said.
Above, the only thing not covered by mud is her grin, as Taylor Whitt, 11, of Stanwood, gives a thumbs up at the finish line of the Mud Factor 5K fun run July 18 at Lake Sammamish State Park. At right, Matt, who declined to give his last name, gets the brunt of the mud pit as his daughter Dani, 4, rides piggyback.
Joshua Schaer’s open council seat attracts plenty of attention By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com For whatever reason, the Issaquah City Council Position 4 seat to be vacated at year’s end by Joshua Schaer has attracted its fair share of attention. In the Aug. 4 primary, voters will choose from among four candidates hoping to replace Schaer. Ballots for the primary were mailed July 15. Steven Bishop “It just seemed like the right
time for me to run,” Steven Bishop said. “I finally decided I wanted to get involved and not sit on the sidelines.” Probably to no one’s surprise, virtually all the candidates in the coming primary mentioned traffic congestion and the pace of development as the top concerns in Issaquah. Bishop referred to Northeast Park Drive, the biggest route out of the Issaquah Highlands, as “the fatal funnel.” “It’s just the only road leading out of the highlands, with
thousands of people above it,” he said. Solutions? Bishop talked about opening a street to Black Nugget Road or just supplying some sort of secondary exit from the highlands, which he noted is set to receive further growth, including plenty of residential development. “You’re pooling a lot of people into one spot,” Bishop said. While, candidate Tim Flood See POSITION
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Council President Winterstein draws two challengers in primary By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com
Contributed
This young bald eagle, abandoned by his parents and then rescued near Pickering Barn in Issaquah, now resides in the PAWS facility in Lynnwood.
For City Council Position 6, voters will have a choice of retaining incumbent Council President Paul Winterstein or choosing between two political newcomers. A third resident filed for the race, but later withdrew. Gregg Leinweber Gregg Leinweber was the first candidate to formally announce his intention to run for council. Like most of the others, traffic
is a key concern. Leinweber is calling for extending the bypass heading out of the Issaquah Highlands, among other things. “I’m frustrated so little has been done,” he said. Leinweber said a major city concern has to be Newport Way, where a June 26 traffic accident resulted in the death of 4-year-old Haochen Xu. He said lowering the speed limit is probably a first step. He also would add traffic lights. “We’re going to have to do some stuff some people probably won’t like,” Leinweber said.
While he is worried about traffic issues, Leinweber is promoting some unique ideas, such as a $15 minimum wage for the city. It was the first issue Leinweber mentioned after filing for council. He still believes it is a worthy idea and one that could work, but he added after talking with small business owners, enterprises with only so many employees would have to be exempt. Leinweber said he See POSITION
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