January 1, 2014 Locally owned 50 cents
Sammamish in Review: A look back at 2013 By Ari Cetron
Sammamish is a quiet town, and most residents like it that way, but some stories from 2013 still reverberate. Possibly the biggest story of the year, and the one which put Sammamish on a national stage, was the incredible run of the Eastlake Little League baseball team. Eastlake Little League shines on national stage Only one team from Washington – the 1982 Kirkland
all-stars – has ever won the Little League World Series, but the youngsters from Eastlake nearly matched the accomplishment over the summer. Eastlake lost its first game at the state tournament in July, but rallied to win eight consecutive elimination games. That qualified the program for the Northwest Regional tourney for the first time. The team was far from done. It walloped Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 13-1 in the regional title game, becoming the 10th team from Washington to advance to the
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Eastlake’s boys and girls Little League teams won state shampionships. The boys team went on to the Little League World Series and finished third in the nation.
Ace Hardware closed after more than a year of different attempts to keep the business in the city.
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World Series in Pennsylvania. Eastlake’s run made it the darling of Washington; residents across the Evergreen State tuned in to watch the middle-school students battle their way through the competition in Pennsylvania. Eastlake nearly reached the
U.S. championship game, but settled for third in the country after a heartbreaking, 14-13 loss to Westport, Conn. Ace is no longer the place
news, Ace Hardware closed in August. The store closed after owner Tom Koch was unable to sign a lease with Regency Centers, the property owner. Koch had been looking to find See REVIEW, Page 2
Topping the city’s business
Pair of Sammamish City Councilmen bid farewell By Ari Cetron
After serving one term each, John James and John Curley said goodbye to the Sammamish City Council Dec. 10. Each opted not to run for re-election. Mayor Tom Odell, who was elected at the same time as the other two men, presented each of them with a plaque recognizing their service to the city. “To me, this has gone by far too quickly,” Odell said. He praised both councilmen,
noting they have sometimes voted on opposite sides of issues, but that disagreements have always been respectful. “We haven’t always been John Curley on the same page, which I think is healthy,” Odell said. Curley spoke of how serving
in government changed his perception of it, at least as far as the city goes. He went in expecting apathy and inefficiency, he said, but instead found a well-managed cadre of skilled professionals. He noted one complaint he has often had about council meetings, which, he said, can chase off some potential candidates: Meetings can run too long and involve too much discussion. Curley said he hopes council meetings can be run more efficiently in the future, so that peo-
ple who are more representative of Sammamish residents – “people in their 40s who work for a living” – can run for election. John James Curley echoed Odell’s theme of learning to work together. When Curley was first
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Sports in review
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elected, he beat Councilman Tom Vance. Two years later, Vance won election to the council for a different seat. Curley said Vance had become one of his best friends on the council, even though they are on opposite ends of the political spectrum. “You can disagree adamantly and still respect the guy, because he works so hard for the city,” Curley said. James, who had entertained
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See COUNCIL, Page 3