GUNNERS WIN
OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
Women take regional playoff match — Page 9
Annual race celebrates special needs community — Page 6
The IssaquahPress
Issaquah’s only locally owned newspaper
www.issaquahpress.com
Thursday, July 23, 2015
State OKs Tiger Mountain logging, surprises residents By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com “I’ve lived here 47 years and that’s the first time I’ve seen any logging,” Tiger Mountain resident Lorie Graff said. “It was shocking.” Graff said the clear-cutting of trees in what many thought was Tiger Mountain State Forest was the talk of her neighborhood. It’s not clear when it started, but the logging ended about a week ago. “It now looks disgusting,” resident Mike Shimchick wrote in an email. According to Graff, the best way to describe the affected site is near the “S” curve on Tiger Mountain Road. Graff and others are correct in thinking the area is part of Tiger Mountain State Forest, said Bob Redling, public information officer for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. But he added “state forest” doesn’t equal “state park” and all the preservation and protections that latter title implies. “Tiger Mountain State Forest is managed as what we call a working state forest,” Redling said. That being the case, he added, selling timber rights is not at all unusual. In this instance, Redling said the state sold 1.6 million board feet of timber to be harvested from five separate areas totaling
70 acres on the western edge of the state forest. The sale happened in December 2013. State rules require area cities and other local authorities be notified. The selling price was $771,555. Minus 25 percent that goes to the DNR for management fees, the money will benefit King County, ultimately helping support local services including schools and area fire departments. Redling said the harvested trees consisted mostly of Douglas fir, with hemlock, red alder and a few other species making up the rest. Those trees were replanted between 50 and 75 years ago after a previous harvest. The forest will be replanted again within a year, Redling said, exclusively with native species of trees. “It will be a better forest fairly soon,” he added. The harvest left a total of eight trees per acre standing. Buffer zones were left around streams on the site. Graff said she had no idea the state sold logging rights and didn’t seem sure she likes the idea, even if the proceeds benefit local governmental entities. “It looks like a tornado hit it,” she said of the logged area. Some homeowners had, she said, a nice forest behind their homes, a forest that is now little more than stumps.
Woman struck and killed on I-90 while trying to help with previous accident By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com A woman who witnessed a three-car collision and stopped to help was killed as she attempted to cross westbound Interstate 90 east of West Lake Sammamish Parkway in Issaquah, Washington State Trooper Clark Jones said. The accident took place at about 9:30 a.m. July 15. Duvall resident Katherine Louise Jones was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Washington State Patrol. Jones was struck by a Mercedes driven by an Issaquah woman, 33. The driver was not injured and state patrol reports do not mention her being cited in
Local man dies in motorcycle accident A 65-year-old Issaquah man died July 16 when his motorcycle crashed in the 156th block of Issaquah-Hobart Road. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office identified him as Harold A. Stump. He died of head injuries. Deputies responded at 8:20 p.m. to a report of the accident, according to Sgt. Stan Seo, King County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. Upon arrival, deputies found Stump still alive next to his 2006 Harley-Davidson. However, even though they administered CPR, he died at the scene. The accident is under investigation by accident detectives, Seo said. Although officials couldn’t confirm whether Stump was wearing a helmet, witnesses said he was wearing a skull cap-style half helmet.
the accident. Clark Jones said Katherine Jones was driving a semi-truck, which she had pulled off to the side of the road. She then attempted to cross all lanes of traffic to reach the left shoulder of the roadway where the three-car collision had occurred. Katherine Jones made it as far as the HOV lane when she was struck by the Mercedes, which was moving at nearly highway speeds, Clark Jones said. No was injured in the original three-car pile-up, according to Jones. The accident caused two lanes of westbound I-90, including the HOV lane, to be closed for about two hours. The lanes opened again shortly before noon.
By Greg Farrar
More than 50 friends and relatives of Kevin Velasco hold hands as they ring the skate park bowl near the Issaquah Community Center for a memorial gathering July 14, the one-year anniversary of his death.
VIGIL FOR VELASCO
Family hopes overdose victim’s memory inspires change in others By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com “Learn from this Something has to change” First displayed at a memorial held last year, a white cross bore dozens of Kevin Velasco handwritten messages, including the one above, memorializing 18-yearold Kevin Velasco. The cross sat on the top of one of the hills in the Issaquah Skate Park where about 50 people, mostly friends of Velasco’s, gathered July 14 in a place they previously had spent plenty of time together in order to mark the one year anniversary of his death. Just after leaving a rehab program, Velasco died of a heroin overdose at a friend’s house July 14, 2014. “It was a sad death,” said Velasco’s grandmother, Victoria Tranilla, who organized the memorial service and is no doubt known to some as the manager of the meal program housed next to the local fire station on Sunset Way. Tranilla said the message about learning from her
By Greg Farrar
Above, Kevin Velasco’s friends and former classmates light candles around the top of the skateboard park near the Issaquah Community Center. At right, Victoria Tranilla, Kevin Velasco’s grandmother, sets the urn with his ashes next to flowers, a wooden cross covered with signed memories from his friends and colorful artwork saying ‘Rest in Paradise, Kevin.’
See VIGIL, Page 3
Hometown Hero is education superstar By Christina Corrales-Toy newcastle@isspress.com
By Greg Farrar
Barbara de Michele accepts her 2012 Hall of Fame award.
Barbara de Michele is no stranger to community accolades. The tireless education and youth advocate was first honored with the Issaquah Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year Award in 1989. When Gary Bergan, then president of the Issaquah Lions Club, presented her with the honor, he described her as a “get-it-done type of person, a result-oriented type of person.” Flash forward more than 20 years, and the chamber again showered de Michele with one of the city’s highest honors. In 2012, she was inducted into the Issaquah Hall of Fame. She also won the Issaquah Schools Foundation-sponsored
Golden Apple Award during the 2012 ceremony. A longtime education and youth advocate, de Michele has helped provide a safe place for at-risk youth and create strong families in Issaquah by promoting healthy living as the program director for the Healthy Youth Initiative. She served on the Issaquah School Board from 1995-2003 and also spent 12 years on the Issaquah Arts Commission. For her service in championing youth causes, de Michele was named an Issaquah Press Hometown Hero. As director of the Healthy Youth Initiative, de Michele works to promote healthy youth and families in the Issaquah School District. “We aim to reduce the number of at-risk youth within the
HOMETOWN HERO
An occasional look at regular citizens who inspire us Issaquah School District and to See HERO, Page 3
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