FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2017
YOUR LOCALLY OWNED NEWSPAPER SERVING SNOQUALMIE AND NORTH BEND
SNO★VALLEY
STAR
SEASON SWATTED
Inglemoor closes out Mount Si’s boys basketball campaign with 58-49 win Page 11
Lack of foster care cited in theValley
PRIDE OF THE PRINCESS BALL
BY STUART MILLER
smiller@snovalleystar.com
The Valentine’s Day holiday was once again the perfect occasion for the Snoqualmie Ridge Residential Owners Association to host its annual Father Daughter Princess Ball Feb. 11 at Cascade View Elementary School. The event, which has sold out every time in its 11year history, attracted about 200 dressed-up dads and 220 daughters in gowns for an evening of dance, refreshments and portrait photos. At right, Ray Clavero and his daughter Natalie, 14, attend their third ball and share the joy of each other’s company as they dance on the ballroom floor. For more photos, see Pages 6-7. GREG FARRAR | gfarrar@ snovalleystar.com
Middle Fork tree shapes artist’s sculpture BY STUART MILLER smiller@snovalleystar.com
After Weyerhaeuser granted John Grade free rein to explore all its timberland properties, the sculptor searched Washington’s forested coastal regions and traditional log-
ging areas like Aberdeen and Forks. He ultimately found inspiration just outside North Bend near Snoqualmie River’s Middle Fork. The Smithsonian Museum had tasked Grade with creating a piece for one its galleries — something people needed to
see in person to experience. Grade delivered a life-sized sculpture of a 140-year-old western hemlock tree, made from nearly one million small blocks of western red cedar. It was displayed at The Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C.,
in 2015-2016 and did a stint at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 2017. As of Feb. 10, the sculpture — called “Middle Fork” — is currently suspended from the ceiling of the Seattle Art SEE TREE, PAGE 2
When Mary Corcoran began taking in foster kids six years ago, she committed herself to one of the most challenging and rewarding endeavors of her life. With her two adult sons out of the house — and the passing of her ailing mother, who she was helping care for — Corcoran decided to get licensed as a foster parent. It was something she’d been thinking about since she was a child. “It was like a big void here,” Corcoran said. “I felt called to worked with teenagers.” Corcoran, a single parent, wasn’t just filling a void in her home. There are very few foster homes in the SnoqualmieNorth Bend area. Corcoran is linked to a network of valley foster parents, but she is aware of only two other foster homes in North Bend and Snoqualmie. Department of Social Heath Services officials said there are 13 foster kids among 22 licensed parents in North Bend and Snoqualmie. “We had many more foster homes in the past,” said Terry Pottmeyer, president and CEO of Friends of Youth, an organization that provides lifeimproving services to youths and their families. SEE FOSTER, PAGE 8
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