25TH YEAR, NO. 41
THE PLATEAU’S ONLY LOCALLY OWNED NEWSPAPER
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016
SAMMAMISH
LIGHTING UP THE NIGHT
REVIEW
Eastlake QB accounts for five touchdowns in 58-34 win over Mount Si Page 10
City Council votes not to support ST3 BY LIZZ GIORDANO lgiordano@sammamishreview.com The Sammamish City Council voted in favor of not supporting Sound Transit 3, a $54 billion mass transit project on the ballot for voters in parts of King, Snohomish and
Pierce Counties to decide in November. During the Tuesday night meeting, Councilmembers Kathleen Huckabay and Bob Keller were the dissenting voices in the 5-2 vote. ST3 proposes to expand light rail and other forms of
public transportation across the Eastside, south to Tacoma and north to Everett. If voters approve the ST3 ballot measure, the closest light rail stations will be Redmond, expected to open in 2024, and in Issaquah, scheduled for 2041. Also part of ST3 is a 200-stall
park-and-ride on the north side of Sammamish scheduled to open in 2024 that would transport commuters to a Redmond light rail station. Claudia Balducci, representing the pro campaign for the bond, and the leader of the No ST3 campaign
Kevin Wallace addressed councilmembers contesting the merits of massive transportation project. Balducci, King County Councilmember and member of the Sound Transit board, urged SEE ST3, PAGE 5
Issaquah reports false clown scare at Eastside Catholic BY CHRISTINA CORRALES-TOY ccorrales-toy@sammamishreview.com
A creepy clown sighting did not send Eastside Catholic School in Sammamish into lockdown, as the Issaquah School District claimed last week. The district said Skyline High School staff members received reports about a lockdown at neighboring Eastside Catholic, though in an email sent to district families Oct. 5, the district admitted it had not verified the information. Still, the district said the school resource officer and campus security were “actively monitoring the Skyline campus closely.” An Eastside Catholic spokeswoman confirmed to the Sammamish Review that there was no lockdown. “The Issaquah School District did not inquire to verify the report they received,” Eastside Catholic wrote on its Facebook page. “There was no intruder on the Eastside Catholic campus. Today was a normal school day.” The Issaquah School District later sent a second email, relaying the correct information. “Given the national attention and numerous reports from surrounding districts, and knowing that it was a topic of conversation amongst students in our district and community this afternoon, we wanted to communicate to families before
students went home so they could discuss this with their children,” the district wrote. In the first email, the Issaquah School District said it’s been contacted by a number of individuals concerned about the recent scary clown phenomenon. A 17-year-old junior at Rogers High School in Puyallup was arrested by Pierce County sheriff’s deputies in connection with a series of clown-related threats that locked down that school. It adds to the nationwide hysteria over a string of reports involving costumed strangers trying to lure children into the woods, prowling backyards or standing menacingly on dark streets. Many of the reports are unsubstantiated. “It’s just a bunch of rumors about clowns,” City of Sammamish Communications Manager Tim Larson said Oct. 5. In the first email, the Issaquah School District said it takes school safety seriously, and encouraged parents and students to report any suspicious behavior or threatening social media messages. “In addition, please talk to your children about the importance of not interrupting the educational mission of the school with threats of any kind,” the district wrote in the email. “We thank you for reminding them, too, that we also do not allow students to cover their faces; all students must be recognizable at all times.”
GREG FARRAR | gfarrar@sammamishreview.com
Matthew Parsons, (left), Lizzy Keizur, Emily Chin, Marian Praza Sanchez and Abby Artman, run from a clown on the forested Beaver Lake Park trail Oct. 15, 2015 during Nightmare at Beaver Lake dress rehearsal night.
Nightmare at Beaver Lake returns with real scares, including clowns BY CHRISTINA CORRALES-TOY ccorrales-toy@ sammamishreview.com
Fair warning. There will be clowns at Beaver Lake Park this October. A circus-themed pavilion is one of the attractions in Nightmare at Beaver Lake’s unique haunted-house experience. And what’s a circus
without a clown? Despite a recent national hysteria over creepy clown sightings, which include mostly unsubstantiated reports of costumed strangers luring children into woods and a series of clown-related threats sending schools into lockdown or closure, the Sammamish show is going on as planned. “We’ve had a lot of back and forth discussion about it and I
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would say at this point, we’re going to instruct our actors not to feed into it,” said Cary Young, a Rotary Club of Sammamish volunteer serving as co-director and volunteer coordinator of this year’s Nightmare. The carnival set design and concept was created eight months ago, Young added. “They’re actors in makeup, SEE NIGHTMARE, PAGE 12
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