issaquahpress091411

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Dig up dirt on soil tests

Fabulous Five, plus one, foster lifelong friendships

Skyline falls to Bellevue in battle of the superpowers Sports,

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Artist sketches downtown scenes

Community,

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www.issaquahpress.com

THE ISSAQUAH PRESS

Wednesday, September 14, 2011 • Vol. 112, No. 37

Locally owned since 1900 • 75 Cents

See Page B10

Community pauses, reflects to commemorate 9/11

By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter

INSIDE

If terror remains the most vivid memory from Sept. 11, 2001, then resilience emerged as the most forceful message on the 10th anniversary. In a series of solemn gestures, amid a ceremony steeped in symbolism, community leaders gathered beneath a crystalline sky Sept. 11 to remember the 2,977 people lost in the attacks, and the more than 6,000 military personnel felled in Afghanistan and Iraq since then. “This is a time to remember the victims of Sept. 11, as well as remember those who risk their lives every day to protect ours,” Mayor Ava Frisinger said in a stirring speech to the crowd assembled on the Issaquah Community Center lawn. “My hope — and it’s an ongoing one — is that we as a nation and as communities may live without fear

Learn how the 9/11 attacks changed emergency planning for Issaquah and King County leaders and residents. Meet the Issaquah residents in Manhattan for the attacks’ 10th anniversary.

BY WARREN KAGARISE

Issaquah High School Navy Junior ROTC members participate in the city’s 9/11 remembrance ceremony. and act without fear.” The experience on a sun-

splashed afternoon echoed a vigil from the day of the attacks, when stunned residents gathered on the same spot for a sunset ceremony. The crowd at the 10th anniversary, about 200 people strong, did not match the attendance from then. In the opening prayer, Eastside Fire & Rescue Chaplain Mike Ryan said 9/11 served as the catalyst for “this age of terror and these moments of remembrance” — a

theme repeated throughout the remembrance ceremony. The ceremony, and others in cities from coast to coast, acted as a bookend to calamitous decade stretching from a cloudless September morning. The citizens and leaders gathered outside on the unseasonably warm afternoon focused less on the attacks and more on the unity Americans forged in the restive days afterward. “During such a dark time in our nation’s history, nonetheless we saw signs of hope, resilience and love, both throughout this country and here in Issaquah,” Frisinger said. In the hours after the attacks, as signs pointed to al-Qaida terrorists as the perpetrators and a nation girded for war, local churches hosted services for people to mourn. BY WARREN KAGARISE

See CEREMONY, Page A2

Issaquah police officers, Veterans of Foreign Wars members and city leaders salute the U.S. flag at Issaquah’s 9/11 remembrance ceremony.

EFR firefighters could receive 2 percent raise By Caleb Heeringa Issaquah Press reporter

BY GREG FARRAR

Some of the 10 carbon-neutral townhomes of the zHome community glow in the setting sun along Northeast High Street in the Issaquah Highlands.

City plugs in energy-saving zHome Family spends night at zero-energy townhouse to test innovations By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter The steeply angled roofs and street-side rain garden attract attention to the townhouses along Northeast High Street. The effect is deliberate, because the 10-townhouse complex, called zHome, is designed to encourage people to explore and rethink notions about “green” living. The project is the first carbon-neutral and zero-energy multifamily community in the United States. “The way I think about it is, people don’t go out and buy a 1920s

INSIDE THE PRESS A&E . . . . . . . B10

Opinion . . . . . . A4

Classifieds . . . . B8

Police blotter . A5

Community . . . B1

Schools . . . . . . B7

Obituaries . . . . B3

Sports . . . . . . B4-5

See EFR, Page A5

Union calls for action on school crowding

adding machine if they need a computer, they don’t go out and buy a Model T if they need a car,” zHome Project Manager Brad Liljequist said. “They go out and buy a 1920s bungalow, sure, and, partially that’s because they’re not all that different from a new house.” But zHome, from the pebbly floor surface made from recycled tennis balls to the glinting photovoltaic panels on the rooftops, is meant to upend traditional ideas about homebuilding. The homes’ net carbon footprint is meant to be as minimal as possible. The complex is designed to use 60 percent less water than a traditional counterpart. Builders constructed fortressthick walls, a solar array on each See ENERGY, Page A5

Eastside Fire & Rescue staffers would receive a 2 percent raise every year through 2014 under a labor agreement that will go before the agency’s board Sept. 19. Craig Hooper, president of IAFF 2878, the firefighters union that also represents battalion chiefs and office staffers, said the 2 percent wage increase garnered the support of about 70 percent of union members. The EFR board must approve the agreement before it takes effect. EFR Chief Lee Soptich confirmed that the new labor contract — technically an extension of the old contract — contains automatic wage increases, but declined to comment on the specifics until it came before the board. The contract had called for wage increases to be determined by comparing EFR firefighters’ salaries to those of neighboring departments and averaging the numbers out. In past years that has led to wage hikes as large as 3 or 4 percent. With the recession squeezing the budgets of EFR’s partner cities — Issaquah, Sammamish and North Bend — the union agreed to forgo that comparison process the last two years. Wages were frozen in 2010 and tied to the cost of living in 2011, meaning a one-fifth of 1 per-

cent increase. Fire administration officials warned Sammamish representatives earlier this year that the union may seek to “recapture” some of the Lee Soptich wage increases delayed due to the recession. Hooper said the board came to the union to offer the 2 percent increases for the next three years. Though it’s not as big of a wage increase as the union was getting before the recession and likely isn’t as large as it could be if they had used the normal comparison system, Hooper said 2 percent is a good compromise. “If we had done (the comparison system) we probably would have come out a little bit higher,” he said. “But we’re satisfied with (2 percent) based on what’s going on in the economy.” The union also agreed to extend the existing labor agreement, which expires this year, rather than start from scratch on a new document. Hooper had been hopeful that they could renegotiate firefighters’ work schedules as part of

By Tom Corrigan Issaquah Press reporter

BY GREG FARRAR

Robin and Oscar Kelley (left) learn about the energy-efficient radiant floor heating from Brad Liljequist, zHome project manager, as they arrive for an overnight stay in a carbon-neutral townhouse Sept. 9.

After passing their latest district spending plan, Issaquah school officials quickly stated that despite funding cuts and the overall economic downturn, local class sizes had remained the same. “We were able to retain our class sizes from the prior year’s budget cycle,” said Jake Kuper, Issaquah School District chief of finance and operations. That may be true, according to Phyllis Runyon, president of the

Issaquah Education Association, the local teachers union. But Runyon also said teachers still are struggling with oversized classes throughout the district. She added there are at least a few overloaded classes in every building and also talked about class size problems at specific schools and in specific grade levels. For example, there are about 36 science and language arts-social studies classes overloaded at

YOU SHOULD KNOW

QUOTABLE

Washington Telephone Assistance Program Awareness Week lasts through Sept. 18. The event promotes the telephone rate discounts to help residents maintain access to basic phone service. Washington residents in need of discounted phone service can call 1-888-700-8880 toll free or go to the state’s website, www.dshs.wa.gov, to learn more.

“The dance is very demanding physically. If we don’t practice every day we won’t have the stamina to perform it.”

— Smitha Krishnan Issaquah resident performing in a dance at the Meydenbauer Theater on Sept. 25 (See story, Page B10.)

See CROWDING, Page A3

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