Meet ‘Jeopardy!’ champion
Swedish/Issaquah welcomes first baby born at hospital
Liberty, Issaquah finish in top 10 at state cross country meet Sports,
See Page B12
How to prepare your home for winter
Community,
Page B6
Page B1
www.issaquahpress.com
THE ISSAQUAH PRESS
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 • Vol. 112, No. 45
Locally owned since 1900 • 75 Cents
FBI arrests bank heist suspect
COMMEMORATING VETERANS DAY
As good as gold
By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter FBI agents arrested the suspect in the Oct. 28 robbery of a local KeyBank branch, a former Snoqualmie resident connected to other thefts in the area. Investigators arrested Christopher Isaac Titian, 19, Nov. 2 at a motel in Everett, less than a week after the Issaquah robbery. Investigators located the suspect after a Snoqualmie police officer, Nigel Draveling, recognized the man from surveillance images captured at the bank. Police publicized the images in the hours after the incident. Issaquah police responded to a robbery at KeyBank, 405 N.W. Gilman Blvd., just after 2 p.m. Oct. 28. Investigators said a man approached a bank employee, handed the employee a demand note and said, “Just read it and do what it says. Don’t push the alarm.” The employee handed the man cash, and the suspect then fled the bank, carrying the loot. Issaquah officers searched the area near the bank, but did not locate the man. Titian faces a first-degree robbery charge in King County Superior Court and is being held in lieu of $200,000 bond at the King County Jail. Investigators said Titian participated in a January burglary at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie. The incident led to convictions for second-degree burglary and second-degree attempted trafficking. In another incident, Snoqualmie police arrested Titian in 2007 for third-degree theft. Warren Kagarise: 392-6434, ext. 234, or wkagarise@isspress.com. SnoValley Star Editor Dan Catchpole contributed to this report. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.
Bob Brock is not a household name in Issaquah, but projects the former Public Works Engineering director oversaw reshaped the landscape — bridges across Issaquah Creek designed to ease flooding and road projects meant to alleviate traffic congestion. Brock, 64, retired as the top engineering official in the city Nov. 4 after a lifetime spent in public works roles in California, Wyoming and, for the past dozen years, in Issaquah. “I’m more of a behind-thescenes kind of guy. It’s never been my forte to be up there in a suit and tie and everything and being in the foreground,” he said in preretirement interview. “I personally like to let my very capable staff get the exposure, No. 1, and the experience to share. It’s them that makes me successful.” Since joining the city staff in May 1999, Brock supervised road and other infrastructure projects as the city added 19,000 residents
By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter
BY GREG FARRAR
Roy Inui (left) and his wife of 63 years, Bette, hold his Congressional Gold Medal in their Timber Ridge at Talus home.
D
The hillside quarry below the Issaquah Highlands, plus land adjacent to the highlands, could someday transform into businesses and homes, if the city and landowner approve a longterm agreement to redevelop the site. The landowner and quarry operator, Lakeside Industries Inc., proposed a development agreement for the 80-acre site. The site — a quarry, a hillside and land on the plateau adjacent to the highlands — is zoned for mineral resources. The agreement under consideration could change the zoning to urban village — the same zoning for the highlands and Talus. “We envision redevelopment that follows the patterns we are seeing in the highlands,” Lakeside Industries CEO Tim See QUARRY, Page A6
through annexations and a homebuilding boom. Controversy also defined the area, as activists, leaders and residents debated the Southeast Bypass, a proposed road along Tiger Mountain designed to reduce downtown traffic headaches. Brock led 30 or so Public Works Engineering Department employees from a corner office in City Hall Northwest. The space overlooks a recent city project, a pedestrian connector across Interstate 90 at state Route 900. In addition to the landmarks, Mayor Ava Frisinger said the legacy Brock left at Public Works Engineering is “a department that is well-integrated and works well with the other departments, and one that has considerable strengths in being able to explain in a really clear manner what the recommendations are and why they are.” Grace under pressure In 1999, as city leaders searched See RETIRE, Page A6
Crash ‘miracle’ protects local motorist amid fatal collision
By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter
By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter
Longtime city public works director retires
By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter
Veteran receives Congressional Gold Medal, highest civilian honor in nation
Quarry is considered for homes, businesses
See Page B11
ecades after the government sent Japanese-American citizens to internment camps, Japanese-American World War II veterans received the Congressional Gold Medal — the highest civilian honor in the United States.
Congress recognized the World War II veterans Nov. 3, almost 70 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The honorees included Issaquah resident Roy Inui, 89, a soldier in the Military Intelligence Service during the conflict. Inui and wife Bette traveled cross-country to attend the highprofile medal ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. In the months after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, officials declared Japanese-American men as aliens
ineligible for the draft and ordered Japanese-American citizens to internment centers. “As far as I was concerned, I was determined to serve in the Pacific,” Inui said. “Most of us JapaneseAmericans were considered suspect and not loyal to the U.S. — we might spy or help the Japanese military. I thought that the best way to prove my loyalty was to go into service against my ancestors.” In early 1942, officials ordered Inui’s parents and sister to report from home in Seattle to the assem-
bly center at the Puyallup Fairgrounds and then on to Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho. Inui, then a college student, did not get sent to a government-run internment center and joined the Army in 1944, as battles raged in the Pacific and Allied troops marched across Europe. “I felt that I had a job to do and I was going to do it and, hopefully,
Traffic stopped on eastbound Interstate 90 late last month as emergency responders raced to a deadly accident — and a miracle. Longtime Issaquah resident Lily Skelton, sister Priscilla Schenkel, a Renton resident, and friends Kate Cochran and Lisa Malmin, survived the fatal crash Oct. 17, as motorists in another mangled vehicle died at the scene. “It was a miracle,” Skelton said days after escaping from a crumpled car lodged between tractortrailers. Cochran and Malmin traveled to Washington from Arizona for Schenkel’s birthday. Leavenworth made for a perfect trip to glimpse autumn foliage and mountain splendor after days spent sightseeing in Issaquah and Seattle. In the backseat, Cochran and Malmin snapped photos as Skelton’s Buick LeSabre crossed
Snoqualmie Pass. Near Hyak, Skelton deactivated the cruise control and slowed amid the construction zone. “It was a beautiful day and everybody was driving calmly,” Skelton said. Signs about the Snoqualmie Pass East construction project lined the roadside. Soon, traffic stopped and Skelton, a cautious driver, left about a car length between the Buick and a tractortrailer up ahead. Behind the car, another tractor-trailer sat idle. “We’re coming down Hyak and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so beautiful!’ — the lake, the mountains, the colors — and then, kaboom,” Skelton said. Washington State Patrol investigators said a tractor-trailer and a Jeep Cherokee collided behind the Buick. The impact pushed the rig behind the Buick into the car. The sedan surged ahead into the other tractor-trailer. See MIRACLE, Page A7
See MEDAL, Page A3
Veterans Day ceremony honors service By David Hayes Issaquah Press reporter Dave Waggoner is tireless in his efforts to ensure both today’s military members are honored and yesterday’s heroes are not forgotten. His cornerstone event, The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No.
INSIDE THE PRESS A&E . . . . . . . B12
Opinion . . . . . . A4
Classifieds . . . B10
Police blotter . B5
Community . . . B1
Schools . . . . . . B9
Obituaries . . . . B3
Sports . . . . . . B6-8
3436 Veterans Day Service, now enters its fifth year. In a nod to the unpredictable weather, Waggoner, himself a veteran of the Vietnam War, has scheduled the event indoors again, this time at the Issaquah Valley Senior Center. This year’s 45-minute event will feature a 21-gun salute by the Issaquah High School Naval Junior
RAIN GAIN Last Week’s Rainfall: (through Nov. 7) .40 inches Total for November: .40 inches Total for 2011: 50.89 inches
Reserve Officers Training Corps unit and a presentation by its color guard. The guest speaker is City Councilman Fred Butler, who is also a veteran. A cornerstone of each year’s ceremony is the presentation of 10 CONTRIBUTED
See SERVICE, Page A2
SALMON COUNT Chinook: (through Nov. 7) — 1.75 million eggs, 2,800 trapped, 720 spawned and 1,014 allowed upstream Coho: 730,000 eggs, 2,500 trapped, 626 spawned and 342 allowed upstream Sockeye: 7 allowed upstream
Pink: 1 allowed upstream
Tractor-trailers smashed the Buick LeSabre carrying Issaquah resident Lily Skelton, her sister and friends Oct. 17 near Hyak.
QUOTABLE “I had one little boy who was really having trouble in the beginning. All of a sudden he just caught on … It was a pleasure to see him go from fearing reading to really enjoying it.”
— Betty Gering Reading Buddy at Briarwood Elementary School, entering her 15th year of volunteering. (See story page B9.)
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