See the Hazen and Liberty high school class officers at www.newcastlenews.com
2014 high school football teams preview Page 8
Newcastle Days celebrates 20 years By Christina Corrales-Toy The city of Newcastle officially turned 20 this year. While the area is home to a century’s worth of coal-mining history, it was only in 1994 that the city became the Newcastle it is today. There were 7,000 residents in the city at the time of incorporation, a number that has grown to more than 10,400. And as with any birthday milestone, it’s time for a celebration, and it comes in the form of the city’s annual Newcastle Days festival Sept. 6. “Really, when you think about it, 20 years isn’t old for even a tree, but there’s been a huge amount of change here in Newcastle in the last 20 years,” said Community Activities Commission Chairwoman Diane Lewis, one of the festival’s organizers. The event will honor Newcastle’s two decades with a parade at Lake Boren Park. It begins at 10:30 a.m., just before the official festival opening at 11 a.m. It will feature mostly youth groups, such as Boy Scouts, dance troops, school bands,
Historical society preps for busy September
If you go
By Christina Corrales-Toy
Newcastle Days q 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 6 q Lake Boren Park q 13058 S.E. 84th Way cheerleading squads and drill teams. The city doesn’t have the resources to do a larger parade, said Newcastle’s Community Activities Liaison Wendy Kirchner, so the route is a simple loop through the park. Following the parade, event emcee Lance Lambert, of “The Vintage Vehicle Show,” will officially begin the day. Lambert, along with the car show, makes a return to Newcastle Days after sitting out a year. A small group of Newcastlebased vehicle enthusiasts have worked on planning the car show for months, including resident Ananda Siverts. “There’s definitely a group of people within the community See FESTIVAL, Page 5
All of that leads to Jordan’s ultimate goal of starting his own company. “So far as we know it, the ocean has a bottom, but look into the sky, and it just keeps going up and up and up,” he said. “The possibilities are endless in aeronautics.” Pilots and aerospace professionals seem to flock toward her
The Newcastle Historical Society is in for a busy September with programming at Newcastle Days, the Newcastle Library and the Renton History Museum. The local organization that works to preserve Newcastle’s vast coal-mining history will kick it off with a large presence at Newcastle Days on Sept. 6. The organization’s booth will feature a display of informational materials and artifacts related to Newcastle’s early history, including tools and machinery from the past. Vickie Baima Olson will lead two tours of the historic Newcastle Cemetery that day. Baima Olson is an active member of the Newcastle Historical Society, with significant familial roots in the city’s history. “The cemetery is significant as the only tangible reminder of the nationalities engaged in early coal mining in Newcastle,” she said. Vandalism has forced the cemetery’s closure for much of the year, though those with family buried there, like Baima Olson, have access to it year round. It’s open to the public on Memorial Day and during the Newcastle Days festival. Visitors interested in learning about the Newcastle pioneers’ final resting place should meet at the cemetery entrance, 7810 129th Ave S.E., at 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. Sept. 6. The society’s busy month continues Sept. 9, when the group unveils an exhibit at the Renton History Museum. “Newcastle, Little Giant of the
See AVIATOR, Page 11
See SOCIETY, Page 5
Night out recruit
By Christina Corrales-Toy
Tim Anderson, of King County Animal Control, (left) helps outfit Padraig Finan with a sheriff’s vest and hat at the Little Rhody Park National Night Out block party Aug. 5. See more photos from the National Night Out event at www.newcastle-news.com.
Newcastle teen hailed as ‘future of flight’ By Christina Corrales-Toy In the June 2014 issue of Alaska Airlines magazine, the company’s vice president of human resources wrote that she has seen the future of flight, and it is indeed very bright. Tammy Young was talking specifically about 14-year-old Jordan Fletcher, a smart, deepthinking Newcastle teenager with his eyes perpetually toward
the skies. Jordan already has his future aviation career planned out, and he hasn’t even entered high school. It begins with a specialized education at the pres-
Jordan Fletcher
tigious Raisbeck Aviation High School, followed by a stint in the Air Force Academy. Graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he will get his master’s in aeronautical engineering, comes next. He’ll do his time in the service before gaining experience with a technology startup, and then a company such as The Boeing Co. or Alaska Airlines.
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