snovalleystar030311

Children’s soccer program returns to the Valley Page 16

Your locally-owned newspaper, serving North Bend and Snoqualmie, Washington

March 3, 2011 VOL. 3, NO. 9

Hand recount of school bond votes begins

Tale of two cities

Supporters use social media to raise money for recount

Snoqualmie mayor faces challenges, tensions.

Page 6

By Dan Catchpole

Police blotter Page 7

Snow shots Residents send in photos they snapped of the snow.

Page 9

Future of voting Innovator brings online voting to digital age.

Page 10

When supporters of the $56 million bond measure to build a new school in the Snoqualmie Valley heard that it had failed by a single vote, one word came to the lips of many: recount.

Only one vote needed to change from nay to yea for the bond to be approved.

Within hours of the election’s final results being posted online Feb. 23, a Facebook page, SVSD

School Bond Recount, had been set up to raise the $2,650 needed to pay for a recount. Nine hours later, $2,700 had been raised.

King County Elections has scheduled the hand recount for 9 a.m. March 3. The recount results will be certified the next day.

Sean Sundwall, who set up the Facebook page, said he didn’t see any other option after he learned that the bond had failed.

“With the election hanging on literally one vote, it was time to do

something,” he said. “If the margin had been 50 votes, 100 votes, it would be a different story.”

Plenty of Valley voters agreed.

Most of the contributions that came in were in small amounts — $10 or $20 — but they quickly added up. More than 125 people donated, Sundwall said.

“It just blew up in a matter of hours,” he said.

Like other supporters, Sundwall is worried that not passing the bond will have long-

A Washington State Department of Transportation snow blower clears a path on I-90’s westbound lanes near the summit of Snoqualmie Pass only minutes after an avalanche dumped 10 feet of snow across the road Feb. 28. WSDOT closed the highway at about 11:30 a.m. because of heavy snowfall since 6 a.m. that day.

By Dan Catchpole

Snoqualmie Ridge fueled changes Snoqualmie Ridge has fueled the population explosion in the Valley, and its picturesque streets have helped change the complexion of the city and the upper Valley.

“Snoqualmie Ridge has undoubtedly attracted a population that’s much more like the new population coming to King County,” said Chandler Felt, a demographer with King County.

That new population is more diverse in its ethnicity and place of birth. The county’s population growth has been

A late-season snowstorm hit the Snoqualmie Valley and Western Washington on Feb. 22, causing minor frustrations and few serious problems.

The winter squall came with a blast of Arctic air, plunging temperatures into the teens.

Road crews were ready for the weather and took to clearing streets as soon as the first flakes fluttered down.

Snowfall varied across the Valley from a few inches to as much as a foot.

“When we were in the teeth of the storm, we were rushing for 24 hours to keep up with it,” North Bend City Administrator Duncan Wilson said. “We pretty much had the plows running constantly.”

While the plows kept the streets clear, they couldn’t keep ice from building up, especially on side streets.

Road crews combat ice primarily with salt, which breaks it down.

But with low temperatures falling to 12 degrees Fahrenheit overnight, salt becomes less effective at breaking down ice on the road, said Dan Marcinko, Snoqualmie’s public works director.

See CENSUS, Page 3

See SNOWSTORM, Page 3

By Washington State Department of Transportation

Census: Immigrants have changed the Snoqualmie Valley’s complexion Food drive for pets Leadership club heads up collection of animal chow.

Page 14

Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER

It is no surprise that Snoqualmie has changed dramatically in the past 10 years.

Snoqualmie Ridge has expanded at a rapid pace, with forests being replaced by wending streets lined with homes.

But the once sleepy city isn’t the only part of the Valley that has seen dramatic change in the past decade.

All of the Snoqualmie Valley has changed. Its complexion has darkened. While still predominantly white, the Valley has a growing minority population.

An influx of foreign-born immigrants into King County has contributed to that growing

See RECOUNT, Page 8

Late-season Arctic blast hits Valley with snowstorm

Interstate 90 shutdown

By Dan Catchpole

term negative consequences for Snoqualmie Valley schools, specifically its middle schools.

The Snoqualmie Valley School Board has already committed to turning Snoqualmie Middle School into a dedicated freshman satellite campus for Mount Si High School.

“That leaves us with two middle schools that could not be more displaced from the centers of population” in the Valley, the Snoqualmie Ridge resident said.

Twin Falls Middle School is

ON THE WEB

> > www.snovalleystar.com See the U.S. Census Bureau numbers for Snoqualmie Valley online.

population.

The Valley’s immigrants face many challenges in adapting to their new communities.

Language and cultural barriers make finding work and forming local ties to the nonimmigrant population difficult for some.

The Valley’s communities and school district have adapted to meet the needs of the new residents. Services have been created or expanded to

help immigrants.

PAGE 2

SnoValley Star

MARCH 3, 2011

Remember Dental Check Ups during the Back to School Season

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MARCH 3, 2011

Census From Page 1 driven more by immigration than births.

“So, some of those migrants probably came to Snoqualmie,” Felt said.

Snoqualmie’s foreign-born population is about 11 percent, according to data collected by the U.S. Census from 2005 to 2009.

The Ridge’s population is also less white than the rest of Snoqualmie. About 82.9 percent of Ridge residents are white, compared to 86.3 percent in historic Snoqualmie.

North Bend’s white population is 90.7 percent of the city.

The changing demographics haven’t created any tensions for either city, but they did prompt an international incident for Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson.

In 2005, Larson signed a decree in support of a local group of Falun Gong adherents.

It was a backroom affair, one that he does for many local groups each year.

But unlike most community groups in Snoqualmie, Falun Gong is banned by China. Since 1999, the Chinese government has persecuted its adherents.

Shortly after signing the decree, Larson was visited by members of the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco.

They demonized Falun Gong as a criminal organization and asked him to revoke his decree.

“I politely explained to them that we have something here called the Constitution,” Larson said.

Struggling for opportunities Coming to the Snoqualmie Valley was like “a dream” for Hiwot Wondemagegen. In 2003, she and her husband, Ashenafi, moved to the Valley from Ethiopia with their 5-month-old daughter.

A family friend from Ethiopia who moved to Fall City sponsored them for immigration officials. At first, they lived with

him and his wife, who is American. Now, the couple lives in Snoqualmie with their daughter and 4-year-old son.

They have struggled at times to feel at home in their new community, but have developed a network of friends made up of immigrants and nonimmigrants.

Finding work can be hard for immigrants, especially for those who don’t speak English well.

Ashenafi was able to find a job shortly after the couple arrived.

Hiwot is a stay-at-home mother.

Both had careers in Ethiopia.

Ashenafi was an architect, and Hiwot was an accountant.

Today, Ashenafi works as an attendant at a gas station and takes night classes in applied design at Lake Washington Technical College.

Hiwot doesn’t regret giving up her career to come to the U.S. The couple didn’t come to find opportunities for themselves. They came so their children could have opportunities.

“I want my kids to grow up in the land of opportunity,” she said.

Moving here was an easy decision to make, but living here hasn’t always been easy for the couple. Like many immigrants, they have struggled with language and cultural barriers.

“English is my second language, so I just try to say it slower” to avoid misunderstandings, Hiwot said.

American culture has taken getting used to. Neighbors are more private in the Valley, compared to Ethiopia.

“It’s not easy to know people the way you did in Ethiopia,” she said.

But the couple has developed a strong social network, including some fellow Ethiopians.

For the couple’s children, the Valley is the only home they have ever known.

Education, English are important The Wondemagegens’ experience is typical for many of the immigrants that Gresia Bratton meets at Encompass, where she is a family support specialist.

“We get people who come

here from everywhere,” but they share some common threads, she said.

An immigrant’s educational background greatly affects his or her experience. Immigrants with more education and a better grasp of English have an easier time establishing themselves in the Valley.

“Having a stable education background, that gives you something to work with,” Bratton said.

Other immigrants with less education and a weaker grasp of English face far greater challenges in finding work and becoming part of their new communities.

The “hardest part about living in the Valley is finding work,” Gabriela Escobar, a Snoqualmie housewife, said in Spanish. “I think people worry too much about whether you are here legally.”

Escobar, who speaks only broken English, hasn’t found steady work since moving to the U.S. from Mexico six years ago.

Her husband and relatives have also had difficulty finding work due to their limited English, she said.

Not speaking English also limits their social interactions.

“We interact almost totally with Latinos,” she said. “We don’t deal with immigrants from other parts of the world, and we don’t deal much with Americans.”

Fitting in at school Snoqualmie Valley schools have had to adapt to meet the needs of the growing immigrant community, especially those who don’t speak English well.

Karen Schotzko heads up the school district’s program to teach English to non-native speakers.

Without a good grasp of English, students can quickly fall behind and become isolated.

“It’s difficult to understand the content, and they have a hard time communicating with teachers,” Schotzko said.

She works with 116 students spread throughout the district,

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PAGE 3 helping them learn what she calls “academic” English — the language of the classroom.

“If their class is studying the weather next week, we go in and teach them the vocabulary they need — precipitation, cloud,” Schotzko said. “So, when the teacher teaches the weather system in class, you understand what’s being taught.”

Like the rest of Snoqualmie Valley’s immigrant population, Schotzko’s students come from a wide array of backgrounds, speaking more than 25 native languages.

“Certainly having a bilingual program is not an option,” she said.

Still, the largest group is Spanish speakers, who make up a little less than half of her students. More than 5 percent of the Valley is Hispanic or Latino.

Several students are Korean, but the rest are a mix including Chinese, Finnish, Indian and French.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com. Reporter Sebastian Moraga contributed to this story.

Break-ins spike on Snoqualmie Ridge for unlocked vehicles Snoqualmie police officers have recently responded to and investigated 14 vehicle breakins on Snoqualmie Ridge. In each instance, the car had been left unlocked with personal property sitting in plain view.

Police recommend some easy and inexpensive ways to reduce the risk of a break-in: ❑ Remove all valuables from your vehicle, including garage

Snowstorm From Page 1 To provide more traction on the road for drivers, work crews also spread sand.

“Sand doesn’t care what temperature it is,” Marcinko said.

But the bad conditions prompted Allied Waste to cancel garbage and recycling collection for two days for North Bend and one day for Snoqualmie.

King County Metro riders had to endure delays on Route 209, which serves North Bend.

Route 215, serving Snoqualmie and North Bend, was on its snow route, which doesn’t serve Fairway Avenue Southeast, Southeast Ridge Street, Douglas Avenue Southeast and Meadowbrook Way Southeast.

A La Niña winter has meant a wetter and colder winter for the Pacific Northwest. Despite several snowstorms, Snoqualmie and North Bend have not exceeded their snow removal budgets. door openers and GPS units. ❑ Lock the ignition and doors, and roll up all windows. ❑ Park in a garage, well-lit area or in locations frequently used by pedestrians. ❑ Use a car alarm.

Police ask residents to be mindful of suspicious activity in their neighborhoods and to report it by calling 911.

Organize a block watch by contacting Officer Nigel Draveling at ndraveling@ci.snoqualmie.wa. us or 888-3333.

Opinion

PAGE 4

Editorial

From the Web

Every vote counts, for better and worse

Regarding: Financing difficulties stymie plans for North Bend hotel

Think your vote doesn’t count? Guess again.

Snoqualmie Valley School District’s bond measure in the Feb. 8 election puts the importance of every vote in neon lights. The $56 million proposal hangs on a single vote. At stake is a new middle school for the Snoqualmie Valley. If one of the 9,955 valid votes switches from no to yes, the bond passes.

So yes, every vote counts.

Sadly, only 46.6 percent of registered voters in the district voted on an issue that will affect the community for decades.

If the bond measure fails in the hand recount, school performance could suffer from overcrowding and long commutes to the Valley’s two remaining middle schools. The third middle school, Snoqualmie Middle School, is being converted into a ninth-grade annex for the high school in 2013.

If the bond passes in the recount, the community will be paying off the bond for years to come.

Some bond supporters have said the 60 percent threshold required for a bond to pass is unfair. It has stymied the school district three times in recent years, but we believe the 60 percent majority is reasonable. Bonds commit future taxpayers to bear the cost of decisions made today. Unlike taxes and levies, bonds cannot be lowered. Their debt will come due, and tomorrow’s taxpayers have to pay the cost.

Because bonds allow today’s voters to spend the money of tomorrow’s taxpayers, there must be this higher threshold for their approval. Today’s voters can’t raid the wallets of tomorrow’s taxpayers without 60 percent of the vote — and not one vote less.

Kudos to the citizens!

WEEKLY POLL Should a supermajority of 60 percent be required for a bond’s passage?

A. Yes. Because bonds result in long-term expenses, strong consensus is necessary.

B. No. Taxes and levies can pass with a simple majority; bonds should too.

Vote online at www.snovalleystar.com.

Kathleen R. Merrill Jill Green

Publisher Managing editor Advertising manager

Dan Catchpole

Editor

Sebastian Moraga

Published by

David Hayes Michelle Comeau

ISSAQUAH PRESS, INC. P.O. Box 1328 Issaquah, WA 98027 Phone: 392-6434 Fax: 391-1541

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many local businesses much better than sticking it off the corner of exit 31 away from just about everything, unless you want to drive.

If it were up in the Ridge, people could walk to businesses.

Folks coming for The Boeing Classic would be in a good position to get to the fairways easier.

You could even have a shuttle

service to the Factory Stores.

Also, the Ridge would be much better suited for the traffic flow.

I understand this location might be cheaper to build on, but long term it’s not nearly as good of a deal.

417 JLOB, P.O. Box 40600, Olympia WA 98504-0600; 360786-7876; 222-7092; anderson.glenn@leg.wa.gov Rep. Jay Rodne (R), 441 JLOB, P.O. Box 40600, Olympia, WA 98504-0600; 360-786-7852; rodne.jay@leg.wa.gov

Constantine, King County Chinook Building 401 Fifth Ave., Suite 800, Seattle, WA 98104; 206-296-4040; or kcexec@kingcounty.gov King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, District 3. King County Courthouse, 516 Third Ave., Room 1200, Seattle, WA 98104; 206-296-1003; 800-3256165; kathy.lambert@kingcounty.gov

Andrea Toomey North Bend

Share your views Citizens can make a difference by contacting their elected representatives.

State — 5th District Sen. Cheryl Pflug (R), 415 Legislative Building, P.O. Box 40405, Olympia, WA 985040405, 360-786-7608; 413-5333; pflug.cheryl@leg.wa.gov Rep. Glenn Anderson (R),

County King County Executive Dow

Home Country

Former musher recalls the great race

By Slim Randles

We were mightily impressed to see the quick fundraising that school supporters took on themselves to raise the needed $2,700 for a recount of the school bond ballots.

If the recount finds the extra vote needed to approve the bond, it will save the district thousands of dollars from having to put the bond on a future ballot.

If the recount confirms a failed bond, we hope these same citizens will encourage the school board to try again with another vote.

Debbie Berto

I don’t have an issue with a hotel myself, just this location.

Why can’t they put it in the business district of Snoqualmie Ridge? Seems like it would serve both the needs of the guests and

MARCH 3, 2011

This Saturday, I’ll dig around in the closet and pull out an especially large, puffy, gold-colored down parka. It’s stained here and there, and the zipper hasn’t worked since 1985, but the toggles and loops still hold it together.

It was made for me by a special lady back in 1972, when a bunch of half-frozen idiots got together to plan a very long, cold camping trip known as the Iditarod Sled Dog Race across a thousand miles of Alaska.

Hopefully, it’ll be cold enough here for me to wear the parka once again, because my thoughts will be thousands of miles away in Anchorage, with men and women and sleds and dogs and pickup trucks with dog boxes on the back. On the first Saturday in March, since the first one in 1973, the longest race of its kind will begin once again, and part of me will be there, just as it has been for nearly 40 years now.

Oh, I didn’t do too well in that first race, back in ’73. For one thing, I was known as a “recreational musher.” And I was. Our cabin was more than 12 miles from the nearest road, so we used dogs to get back and forth to the village half the year.

We couldn’t afford to feed 75 dogs year round in order to field a race team of 16.

So, I got one dog out of the pound and borrowed someone’s

house pet and added them to my own five and put together a team of seven (the minimum at that time), which Slim Randles gave me the Columnist moniker “Seven Dog Slim” for many years.

I crushed an ankle 300 miles into that first race and the dogs took me another 20 miles to a trapper’s cabin, where I was picked up by an Army helicopter.

Oh, I made it to Nome that first year, but it was by air, and as a pool reporter. In following years, I flew the trail as a minor race official and reporter. My wife Pam ran race headquarters.

On Saturday morning, I’ll be

feeling the slamming cold wind of the Susitna River Valley blowing head-on into my team as they wind sinuously up the frozen Yentna River toward Rainy Pass. On Saturday night, I’ll be looking at the dogs staked out once again in my mind as the fire thaws snow for them to drink.

I’ll see the Northern Lights dance above the Alaska Range, even though I’m in a house with electricity, and I’ll be so thankful I once had the chance to do that.

And the mushers and the dogs and the volunteer pilots will all be in my prayers, because it’s cold on that trail … and it’s a very long way to Nome.

Brought to you by “Sweetgrass Mornings,” a collection of outdoor memories, at www.slimrandles.com.

Write to us Snovalley Star welcomes letters to the editor about any subject, although we reserve the right to edit for space, length, potential libel, clarity or political relevance. Letters addressing local news will receive priority. Please limit letters to 350 words or less and type them, if possible. E-mail is preferred. Letters must be signed and have a daytime phone number to verify authorship. Send them by Friday of each week to:

snovalley star P.O. Box 1328 ❑ Issaquah, WA 98027 Fax: 391-1541 ❑ E-mail: editor@snovalleystar.com

MARCH 3, 2011

SnoValley Star

PAGE 5

SnoValley Star

PAGE 6

MARCH 3, 2011

Fast-growing Snoqualmie: two tales of one city

By Jack Broom Seattle Times staff reporter SNOQUALMIE — It comes as no surprise to Mayor Matt Larson that he presides over the state’s fastest-growing city — or that growth brings not just opportunities, but challenges, even tension.

“You don’t [more than] quadruple the population of a town in 10 years and think everything’s going to be all happy-face,” said Larson, a second-term mayor who works to find common ground between residents in the older and newer parts of this former mill town.

Census data released last week show the population of Snoqualmie grew from 2,150 in 2000 to 10,670 last year — an increase of 396 percent, making it the fastest-growing city in the state.

Pick up a map of Snoqualmie, which lies at the foot of Mount Si between North Bend and Fall City, and notice it resembles an off-kilter bow tie.

One side is the older, lowlying part of town, hugging the flood-prone Snoqualmie River and a small business district.

The other side — location of virtually all of the population growth — is Snoqualmie Ridge, a planned development where curving streets lined with handsome, albeit similar, new homes stretch out for more than two miles. And where toddlers and their parents gather by the dozens for “story time” sessions at a King County library branch that opened in 2007.

Although “The Ridge” didn’t get its first families until 1998, it’s now home to 85 percent of the city’s residents. Most of Washington’s fast-growing cities in the 2010 Census boosted their population either though planned developments, such as Snoqualmie Ridge, or by annexing new territory or accommodating growth from nearby larger cities.

In Snoqualmie, a drive from one part of town to the other goes past a line of rusting rail cars along Railroad Avenue (Highway 202), where a few new signs tell about the cars, a modest attempt to portray the assortment as a historic display, not a junkyard.

So, is this one city or two?

The question colors a variety of public-policy and lifestyle issues.

“Early on, we would hear of confrontations in the schools between the ‘townies’ and the ‘ridgies,’ “ said James Sackey, who greets visitors at the Northwest Railway Museum, in the older part of town. “But that has calmed down, fortunately,

Key dates ❑ Pre-1850s: The upper Snoqualmie Valley is a rendezvous area for American Indians as trade grows between coastal and inland tribes. ❑ 1870s, 1880s: White settlers, drawn by farmland, turn to the area's plentiful timber. Busy logging camps send logs to mills downstream. ❑ 1890s: The Snoqualmie Depot is completed on a railroad line that boosts the timber industry and draws tourists to the scenic Valley. ❑ 1903: Snoqualmie is incorporated.

1917: Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co. (later Weyerhaeuser) opens the nation's second all-electric lumber mill. ❑ 1930s: The Great Depression ends

and people are realizing we are all in this together.”

Feeling the tension Not everyone agrees the tension has abated.

When Cristal Taylor and her family moved to Oklahoma last year after three years on Snoqualmie Ridge, she wrote to the weekly SnoValley Star decrying the “raging war” between the two parts of town.

“It’s a darn shame that simply because a family has chosen to live on the Ridge, they should be segregated as a foreign enemy, rather than being welcomed into the community,” she wrote.

One striking dichotomy between the two areas: A 2006 survey conducted for the city by Calm River Demographics found that more than half of the families in the older part of town had annual incomes of $50,000 or less — many making less than $25,000. On the Ridge, twothirds of households had incomes that exceeded $100,000.

In some respects, the Ridge development is in line with Snoqualmie’s “company town” history. Its lead developer has been the Quadrant, home-building arm of Weyerhaeuser, longtime operators of a mill that closed in the 1980s.

The Ridge’s pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods, with parks and shops within walking distance, are close to Interstate 90, a manageable drive from Microsoft and other Eastside employers.

Larson, who lives on Snoqualmie Ridge, said both parts of town have benefitted from improvements, such as new parks and ball fields; a wastewater-treatment plant; more than 20 miles of trails; new sidewalks; underground utilities downtown; and expanded police, fire and pub-

a Valley building boom, but the mill continues to operate. ❑ 1969: Interstate 90 opens across Snoqualmie Pass, bypassing Snoqualmie, as did its predecessor, U.S. Highway 10. ❑ 1980s: Planning begins on the Snoqualmie Ridge Master Planned Community. Weyerhaeuser closes the Snoqualmie sawmill in 1989, operates a wood-finishing plant until 2003. ❑ 1995: The Snoqualmie Ridge plan is adopted; the first families move in three years later.

Sources: "A Short History of the Upper Snoqualmie Valley" by Dave Battey; Snoqualmie Valley Historical Society; city of Snoqualmie; The Seattle Times archives

lic-works departments to help respond to floods and other emergencies.

Larson also noted that, under Ridge plans, much of the acreage surrounding the town will stay undeveloped, including the slope above Snoqualmie Falls, key to the view at the town’s biggest tourist draw.

Still, it’s not hard to find Snoqualmie residents who feel outnumbered and overpowered by newcomers.

“They got our fire station, they got our library ... and they want to raise our taxes to pay for their schools,” said Spencer Roth, 22, a Snoqualmie native who was shooting pool with friends at the century-old Smokey Joe’s Tavern in lower Snoqualmie.

Yet, even as Roth detailed his grievances, another pool player sheepishly admitted he just moved to the Ridge, adding, “So I guess I’m part of the problem.”

The new $4 million library on the Ridge, financed by a $172 million countywide library bond passed by voters in 2004, is a source of hard feelings for some because it replaced a branch in the older part of town, roughly 3 miles away.

But it’s hard to argue with the numbers: Children’s Librarian Jenifer Loomis said at the old library, “We’d have story time down there, and I might get three to 12 people — 20 would be big. Then we came up here, and it just exploded.” One session drew 100 parents and children; turnouts of 50 to 60 are common.

Among those at a recent “pajama time” story session were Heidi Hendricks, with son Jack, 4, and daughter, Pearl, 2.

Hendricks and her husband, Ryan, moved from North Bend to Snoqualmie Ridge two and a half years ago, to get a bigger house for their growing family.

What cities had the most growth?

Washington's fastest-growing cities from 2000 to 2010 City

County

Snoqualmie Lake Stevens Moxee DuPont Roy Issaquah Marysville East Wenatchee Ridgefield Yelm

King Snohomish Yakima Pierce Pierce King Snohomish Douglas Clark Thurston

2000 Census 2,150* 6,361 821 2,452 260 11,212 25,315 5,757 2,147 3,289

2010 Census 10,670 28,069 3,308 8,199 793 30,434 60,020 13,190 4,763 6,848

Pct. change 396.3% 341.3% 302.9% 234.4% 205.0% 171.4% 137.1% 129.1% 121.8% 108.2%

Source: Census Bureau *Revised figure

Hendricks said “there is sort of a stigma about the Ridge,” but she disagreed with characterizing it as a war. It’s more subtle, she said, such as people snickering at the cookie-cutter neighborhoods, a characterization Hendricks understands. She said she’s glad her home backs up against a green belt, with a more open feel than other parts of the Ridge.

Shared struggles Snoqualmie Ridge was aided by terms of the state’s 1990 Growth Management Act, intended to direct growth into designated urban areas to help protect rural forest, farm and environmentally sensitive areas.

Approval was a sometimescontentious process, with slowgrowth advocates criticizing its magnitude, but Larson said the amenities — starting with a badly needed $20 million wastewater-treatment plant — benefit the entire Snoqualmie Valley.

Larson said it’s often incorrectly assumed that disagreements between the two parts of town boil down to a struggle between old-timers and newcomers. The 2006 survey, he notes, showed that, even among old-town residents, nearly half had been here less than five years.

Both areas have felt the effects of the recession, said Bob Cole, the city’s economic development director.

In the early years of the past decade, houses and condominium units were being completed on the Ridge at a rate of more than 300 a year. With the recession, that dropped to less than 100.

Some early retailers on the Ridge, including a pizza parlor and specialty-food store, closed, pinched between high rents and disappointing rev-

enue. And the Ridge’s business park lost an electronic-toothbrush manufacturer that had employed 300.

Downtown, a few vacant storefronts dot the main streets.

“These are extremely difficult times for small, self-employed business owners,” Cole said.

He acknowledges the library move caused hard feelings, but said putting the new $7 million City Hall in the older section of town is a sign of a continued commitment to that area.

The rapid growth has put a pinch on the Snoqualmie Valley School District, and promoting school-finance measures in a down economy has been difficult. Earlier this month, a $56.2 million bond issue for a new middle school and other school projects missed the required 60 percent vote by a single vote. A recount is being sought.

A generation from now, the agenda for Snoqualmie may be set and shaped by the young citizens now delighting in the library story sessions — a crop raised on the Ridge, including Maximos Wu, who just turned 5, and his sister, Photini, 2.

They’re the children of Philip and Nicole Wu, who moved from St. Louis last summer after Philip Wu was hired as chief medical information officer for Providence Health & Services, about a half-hour commute away in Renton.

With two parks near their home, a fenced backyard and a mountain view from their upstairs master bedroom, Philip Wu said the family’s new house on Snoqualmie Ridge “is exactly what we were looking for.”

Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com. Seattle Times reporter Justin Mayo and news researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report, which also includes information from Times archives.

SnoValley Star

MARCH 3, 2011

Police & Fire Snoqualmie police

beers in his back pocket and another had eight beers in his backpack. They were both arrested for minor in possession.

Real name, please

Nice place for a nap

At 10:20 p.m. Feb. 18, an officer patrolling the 9000 block of Southeast Falls Avenue noticed that the brake light on a car was not working. He stopped the vehicle, and contacted the driver who said he had no identification with him.

The driver gave the police his name and a status check yielded no computer record. The man was arrested for driving without a license. Prior to impounding the vehicle, a search of the car yielded a wallet with a Mexican driver’s license, showing the man’s real name and birth date.

He was cited for providing false information to a public servant and booked into the Issaquah City Jail.

At 7:48 a.m. Feb. 18, the manager of an apartment complex in the 39500 block of Southeast Park Street called to complain there was a man in the lobby sleeping with a flask next to him. Officers contacted the man, who said he had come to visit a friend, forgotten which apartment he lived in and fallen asleep in the lobby.

Party in the woods At 1:33 a.m. Feb. 20, police showed up near the intersection of Snoqualmie Parkway Southeast and Southeast Swenson Drive, after someone reported being startled by two suspicious males coming out of the woods. Once at the scene, police saw the two males, both teenagers, and one of them walking with two bottles of beer. Both subjects had a strong smell of alcohol emanating from their bodies. One had two

Washington Trust for Historic Preservation seeks endangered historic sites Threatened historic sites could receive a boost from the Washington Trust for Historic

Take your purse with you At 2:20 p.m. Feb. 210, police arrived at a dog park in the 39000 block of Southeast Park Street where a woman told an officer that she had been there for an hour and that during that time, someone had smashed a window of her car and stolen her purse. The purse contained three credit cards, two debit cards, her Social Security card, her driver’s license and about $50 in cash. There were no suspects.

Break-in At 2:15 p.m. Feb. 21, staffers at the Northwest Railway Museum said one train showed signs of forced entry. The door was splintered and a deadbolt was broken.

Preservation.

The trust is seeking nominations for the 2011 Most Endangered Historic Properties List. Download the nomination form at www.preservewa.org.

Nominations must be submitted

by March 21.

The trust encourages commu-

North Bend police Vandalism At 2 p.m. Feb. 21, police showed up at a grocery store in the 400 block of Mount Si Boulevard on a report that someone had painted graffiti on the outer walls of the store.

Paintball residue was also found.

Two nights prior, a similar incident had occurred, the manager of the store said.

Bad break-up At 8:50 p.m. Feb. 18, police were dispatched to a gas station in the 400 block of Northeast Fourth Street. There, a man told police he received a protection order after he got into a fight with his girlfriend. The girlfriend had been arrested then and he had subsequently moved out. Days later, he saw his girlfriend drive by his new home. That same day, the exgirlfriend called his new roommate and threatened them both if the roommate didn’t kick the man out. The roommate said he didn’t want to get involved, but after a second phone call, he did kick the man out Feb. 18. Police told the man to stay as far away as possible from the woman, who had violated the no-contact order. He said he would move out of town.

PAGE 7 went to the Coach outlet store in the 600 block of South Fork Avenue Southwest. As police approached the store, they could see a broken window and an empty front table. They later discovered a large brown rock inside. More than 33 bags were missing, valued at more than $14,000. No video of the scene exists and no prints could be found. Police found a rear door opened from the inside. Store personnel said the rear door had been a problem and that they had someone coming to fix it soon.

Lost, but not found At 1:48 p.m. Feb. 20, someone reported to police that her purse had been taken while eating at a McDonald’s restaurant in the 700 block of Southwest Mount Si Boulevard. The woman reported she had arrived at the restaurant at about 11 a.m., and left the purse on a chair, forgetting to take it with her 30 minutes later. She returned to the restaurant, but the purse was gone. The purse contained a credit card, a debit card, a driver’s license court orders and a liquor server identification card. There were no suspects.

Snoqualmie fire

were dispatched to Snoqualmie Casino for a medical call. A patient was evaluated and then transported to a hospital by EMTs. ❑ At 1:09 a.m. Feb. 19, EMTs responded to Snoqualmie Casino for a medical call. A patient was treated and then transported to a hospital by EMTs. ❑ At 6:50 p.m. Feb. 21, Snoqualmie EMTs responded with Bellevue paramedics to Southeast Ridge Street for an 80year-old female with a rapid heart rate. The woman was evaluated and left at the scene with her family. ❑ At 9:00 a.m. Feb. 22, firefighters responded to Fairway Avenue for a woman with stomach pain. ❑ At 12:39 p.m. Feb. 23, EMTs responded to Snowberry Avenue Southeast for a 25-yearold female with a medical problem. The woman was evaluated, and transported to a hospital by private ambulance. ❑ At 8:42 a.m. Feb. 24, firefighters were dispatched to the Snoqualmie Ridge business area for a smell of natural gas. After investigation, it was determined that it was a false alarm. ❑ At 9:38 a.m. Feb. 24, firefighters responded to the Snoqualmie Ridge area for a smell of natural gas in the area.

At midnight Feb. 19, police

❑ At 11:15 a.m. Feb. 18, firefighters responded to the Women’s Clinic on Snoqualmie Ridge for a pregnancy problem. ❑ At 6:43 p.m. Feb. 18, EMTs

The Star publishes names of those arrested for DUI and those charged with felony crimes.

Information comes directly from local police reports. Information regarding North Bend fire calls was unavailable.

nities to take action to preserve the historic fabric of neighborhoods, main streets and rural landscapes.

Inclusion on the list can be a crucial step in advocacy campaigns designed to attract attention to historic resources.

Properties selected for inclu-

sion on the list receive advocacy and technical assistance from the trust. By joining local organizations and concerned citizens, the most endangered list program has resulted in many high-profile success stories since 1992.

In 2010, the list featured the Reard Freed House in neighboring

Sammamish. Now, the city and a heritage society continue to work to move and preserve the historic structure for the community.

The forthcoming list is to be announced at a press conference in May as part of the trust’s Preservation Month programming.

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School bond vote results

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Source: Snoqualmie Valley School District; King County Elections

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Support for the school bond was centered in urban areas, including Snoqualmie Ridge, parts of North Bend and Fall City.

Recount From Page 1

SnoqualmieValley

N

Precincts encompassing North Bend

located east of North Bend, and Chief Kanim Middle School is in Fall City. Much of the district’s population lives in between the two schools.

“Certainly, having my kids on a bus for an hour each way affects how much they like school,” Sundwall said.

His four children are in the third, fifth, seventh and eighth grades.

Snoqualmie Valley School Board President Dan Popp quoted baseball’s most famous maxim to sum up his feelings.

“It’s not over ‘til it’s over,” he said. “I’m optimistic that with the recount and the trends we saw in the late counts, they will find a small handful that will sway the results.”

He declined to speculate on what the district might do if the recount doesn’t turn up the required votes to change the election’s outcome.

The bond, Popp said, has not failed yet.

Nonetheless, “the school board is considering possible next steps,” Carolyn Malcolm, the school district’s spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail to the Star. “An April election is one of the options being considered.”

Snoqualmie Middle School Principal Vernie Newell agreed with Popp, declining to comment until the recount is finalized.

Opponents were demure about the election’s outcome.

David Spring, a bond opponent, said the vote result was “not a victory for anybody.

Anytime you have community members in conflict with others, that is in itself not a good thing.”

Before the Feb. 8 election,

By the numbers ❑ Ballots received: 9,980 ❑ Ballots rejected: 25 ❑ For the bond: 5,972 59.99 percent ❑ Against the bond: 3,983 40.01 percent

Spring had predicted that the district’s Feb. 3 presentation on high school enrollment numbers would tip the scales against the bond. But, the bond gained support in late votes.

“The word never got out” about the enrollment decline, Spring said.

Instead of a new middle school, Spring said he wants the district to keep Snoqualmie Middle School as is and add a building devoted to science, technology and math courses.

Recount rules The recount will be performed by King County Elections employees. All ballots postmarked by Feb. 8 will be split up and scrutinized by twoperson teams made up of elections department staff. The process is open to the public.

A vote could change if it is determined that the ballot was improperly filled out or damaged but the voter’s intention is clear, according to Kim van Ekstrom, a spokeswoman for King County Elections.

With a recount looming, Spring said he hoped that it would confirm the defeat of the bond, thus giving the school board time to come up with a solution “we all can live with,” he said.

“There’s no need for an April vote,” he said. “If they put it back on the ballot as it currently exists, we would have to oppose it again.”

SnoValley Star

MARCH 3, 2011

PAGE 9

By David Gage

Kate Gage enjoys filling some big shoes on Snoqualmie Ridge during the recent snowstorm.

WINTER’S LAST WHITEOUT IN

Snow-qualmie

By Sandy Horvath

The truss bridge spanning the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River caught the eye of local photographer Sandy Horvath while he was out enjoying the winter scenery.

Readers send us their snapshots of the late February snowfall that brightened the landscape Snow angels or snow Frankenstein?

Maurice Goodwin’s children enjoy the snow outside their home on Snoqualmie Ridge.

By Maurice Goodwin

By Danny Raphael

North Bend resident Danny Raphael caught this photo of the moon rising over a snowy landscape from his back yard.

By Glynis Rogers

Above: Glynis Rogers’ border collie, Oliver, inspects the fast falling snow in her North Bend backyard.

By Tera Cummins

Right: An old pickup rests under a blanket of heavy snow.

ON THE WEB

> > snovalleystar.com Go online for a snow photo slideshow.

Community

PAGE 10

MARCH 3, 2011

Innovator helps bring voting to the digital age Overseas soldiers can now vote electronically

Thief shreds African professor’s sabbatical

By Warren Kagarise

By Sebastian Moraga Most voters pick up a pamphlet from the mailbox or steer to a county or state elections website to study candidates and issues before Election Day. The process of researching ballot issues and mailing a ballot is not so easy for residents living abroad and military members deployed overseas.

“You think about the soldier out there in Kandahar, you know, he’s fighting for our right to vote and our democracy and, ironically, he’s the one guy who can’t vote,” Democracy Live founder Bryan Finney said.

The endless chatter from cable TV pundits and countless jokes on late-night TV in the 36 days after the disputed 2000 presidential election inspired Finney, who lives in North Bend, to create a better process to elect leaders. The former U.S. Senate staffer had created a dotcom startup, so he melded the skills to launch Democracy Live.

By Greg Farrar

Bryan Finney, founder and president of Democracy Live, describes a webpage that shows ballot measures and candidates for office, including their pictures, written statements and their video statements with closed captions.

The result is a technology firm dedicated to simplifying elections for military voters overseas and disabled voters in the United States. The technology the Issaquah company

offers is light years distant from infamous butterfly ballots and indecipherable chads.

“Here it is, the late 20th century and we still can’t figure out how to count votes,” Finney

said. “So, I got involved with modernizing the balloting systems and voting technologies that were out there to try to rid See INNOVATOR, Page 11

Mount Si grad stars on Bellevue College stage

By Sebastian Moraga It never gets old for Abbie Grimstad.

An actress since the sixth grade, the 2010 Mount Si grad stars in Bellevue College’s production of “The Three Musketeers,” opening March 9.

Every play, every show, every rehearsal, she said, offers something new.

“Every show has something different about it,” she said.

“It’s awe inspiring. There’s a spark when you’re in rehearsal, bringing this show to life and it’s different each time you do it.”

The play is a loose-goose adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale of Athos, Porthos, Aramis and their leader D’Artagnan.

In the play, Grimstad plays Constance, D’Artagnan’s love interest.

Ken Ludwig, who wrote the adaptation the play is based on, made it more of a comedy “to a point,” Grimstad said.

Constance is one of the damsels “fought for,” as Grimstad put it. As the Queen’s

lady-in-waiting, she has to watch, and watch out for, a lot of swordfighting.

“I have to be aware of swords flying around,” she said. “The fight choreographer has made it

so that they are safe.”

A self-described realist, Grimstad likes playing a mooneyed idealistic who believes in love at first sight, such as Constance.

Contributed

Abbie Grimstad (left) during rehearsals for Bellevue College’s production of ‘The Three Musketeers,’ opening March 9.

“It’s a cool role to play,” she said. “Someone who believes in fairy tales instead of just reading about them.”

This is Grimstad’s second show at the college and the first under the direction of Tammis Doyle.

“She’s great,” Grimstad said.

“This is only my second quarter and she’s been awesome. I really like the questions she asks during rehearsal. She makes us think.”

Thespians from Renton, Seattle, Auburn, Bellevue and Redmond, plus a live score by a Bellevue College student from Kirkland complete the cast.

The play will run until March 12 at the college’s Carlson Theatre, in the E building on the campus, 3000 Landerholm Circle S.E., Bellevue.

All shows start at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $12 for general admission and $10 for students, and are available online at www.brownpapertickets.com Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

A broken window shattered decades of Eva Tagoe-Darko’s work.

During a visit to Snoqualmie Falls, the Ghana-born professor of social sciences on sabbatical at the University of Washington had her purse stolen from the back of a friend’s car.

In the purse was every vital document in Tagoe’s life, about $5,000 and several computer drives containing years of research.

“I feel like crawling into a hole,” she said.

Having arrived in the States in November, Tagoe-Darko was staying at the home of Linda Iltis, a professor at the university’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.

When visitors arrived at the Iltis household, Tagoe-Darko offered her room to the visitors and put all of her valuables in her purse, including part of her life savings and almost all her living expenses for her sixmonth sabbatical.

The Iltises took the visitors and Tagoe-Darko to the falls Feb. 20. They parked the Iltis’ Lexus outside the falls’ gift shop.

Thirty minutes later, they returned to find the car’s rear passenger window broken and the purse gone.

Iltis said Tagoe-Darko threw herself to the ground when she saw what had happened.

“She’s devastated,” Iltis said.

“It’s been really hard on her.

The thing that’s the hardest is the loss of all her research.”

The aftermath has been worsened by the need of an I.D. to get any documents re-issued.

Tagoe-Darko lost everything.

“You need I.D. to get an I.D.,” Iltis said. “It’s a Catch-22.”

Tagoe-Darko’s family in Ghana has been contacted and they are searching for a copy of her birth certificate.

Without an I.D. card, she can’t even travel to the Ghanaian consulate in Washington, D.C., to get a new passport.

She is on a deadline. The U.S. government has allowed her to stay until April.

The Ghanaian-Seattle Association has offered to organize a benefit dinner for TagoeDarko and the Snoqualmie Police Department have been See THEFT, Page 13

SnoValley Star

MARCH 3, 2011

Innovator From Page 10 the world of hanging chads and butterfly ballots.”

The company’s signature product, LiveBallot, is not online voting. The tool allows voters to print, mail and track ballots.

Fundamental freedom Democracy Live was honored in January by the Issaquah Chamber of Commerce in a contest showcasing local innovative businesses.

“Washington is kind of ahead of the curve with mail-in balloting, but to move the entire voting and elections process to digital — especially in their case, where they’re doing stuff with people that are deployed overseas — it’s a niche that’s needed with the pace of technology,” chamber CEO Matt Bott said.

The company has 15 employees in Issaquah, and elsewhere in the United States, to assist local elections agencies.

Democracy Live and Microsoft received a federal Department of Defense grant last year to offer e-ballot services to military members deployed overseas. The product is called LiveBallot.

Congress authorized dollars for the grant in the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act. President Obama signed the MOVE legislation in October 2009.

“We want to help the soldiers fighting for our right to vote and fighting for our democracy to make sure that they can participate in that same democracy.

We want to make sure that no voter is left behind, including those who may have disabilities,” Finney said.

CERT disaster-response training starts soon Issaquah residents can prepare for disasters at Community Emergency Response Team training in March.

CERT training is designed to prepare you to help residents during and after a catastrophe.

In the aftermath of a major earthquake or another disaster, emergency responders cannot help everyone immediately, so citizens rely on CERT-trained citizens to protect and save neighbors.

The program typically includes eight weeks of classes from 6:309:30 p.m. Cost is $35. The session starts March 23. Participants can register at the Issaquah Citizen Corps Council website, www.issaquahcitizencorps.com.

CERT courses include disaster first aid training, disaster preparedness, basic firefighting, light search and rescue and damage assessment, plus lessons in how to turn off utilities and

Voting 2.0 LiveBallot can also be set up to answer questions about the candidates and measures on the ballot — a problem for voters left to cast ballots thousands of miles from home.

“The real common denominator that virtually all of the 200 million eligible voters in this country have is, ‘That’s great.

I’ve got my ballot, but who are these guys?’” Finney said.

The multimedia tools embedded in the electronic ballot allow candidates and others to record video statements about the items.

“We felt that by creating a company that didn’t focus specifically on delivering a ballot — but delivering the candidate information in an intuitive and a 21st century balloting experience, where the ballot literally can come alive and the candidates on your ballot can pop off your ballot and speak directly to you about why they’re running and what they stand for and what they intend to do — was sort of the genesis of this new technology,” he continued.

Democracy Live rolled out LiveBallot in more than 250 elections nationwide in November.

Nearby Kitsap County deployed the technology during the 2010 mid-term elections.

The county has a large military population attached to U.S. Navy facilities.

Kitsap County Elections Manager Dolores Gilmore said the LiveBallot technology received positive feedback after the November election, though some voters had questions about the technology.

“If it works for military voters, it works for voters with disabilities, then you look at what would be the next step, and I think that is just a lot of voters being comfortable with the process,” she said. psychology behind a disaster.

CERT members also educate residents about Map Your Neighborhood, a program to coordinate disaster recovery on a block-by-block basis.

SnoValley Idol Junior finals set for April 1 Fourteen finalists will seek the title of SnoValley Idol Junior at Mount Si High School April 1.

The finalists are Mikaela Ballard, Hannah Booth, Chayla Brewster, Annie Bruckner, Amanda Csendes, Catherine Haney, Kimberly Helwig, Sabrina Hill, Jodie HowsonWatt, Anastasia Killian, BayleeMae McCloskey, Coraly Miller, Tori Rose and Chantika Tibbets.

This is the event’s seventh year. Auditions began Feb. 12.

At the finals, a three-judge panel will pick three out of the 14 contestants. From the trio, the audience will vote on the winner.

The show starts at 6 p.m. and tickets are $2.

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PAGE 12

Finaghty’s events promise busy Saint Patrick’s Day

By Sebastian Moraga Finaghty’s Irish Pub and Restaurant wants you to lift a pint, but also help lift a community.

The hangout has a 5K (3.12 miles) run planned for March 12 in honor of Saint Patrick’s Day, with part of the proceeds from the run going to pay for summer camps for local Scouts.

Then, after the run, the pub is hosting the first Saint Baldrick’s haircut at 2 p.m.

People who register for the Saint Baldrick’s haircut can gather donations to benefit cancer research.

The website www.stbaldricks.org stated that so far $785 has been raised. People can donate online or via phone at 888-899-BALD toll free.

The run, organized by Run Snoqualmie, will gather money for Troop 706; it’s the first race of the calendar year.

“We get between 900 and 1,100 people at all my races,” said Sean Sundwall, founder of the Saint Patrick’s Run at Finaghty’s. “It’s a good race for people training for spring marathons. Training in our weather is not all that motivating sometimes, so having a race early in the season has proven to be really helpful for people.”

Besides, Sundwall said, the race

is a boon for the commerce near Snoqualmie Ridge.

“We close Center Street and it’s great for business,” he said. “You get 2,000 people, between runners and spectators, up and down that street in a morning of March.”

Winner of the run gets a $100 Finaghty’s gift card.

Although it’s a race, people don’t have to run — they may walk, push a stroller or keep pace with a dog.

Children may also participate.

The youngest signee so far is 5 years old.

Little risk exists that a 5-yearold ends up with a gift certificate to a bar, Sundwall said.

“We’re not counting on him winning,” he said.

Besides, the children have a race of their own, a 1K competition for more than 300 “little munchkins,” as Sundwall put it.

The races will happen rain or shine, he predicted.

“We’ve been fortunate. Worst weather we have had was a cold, steady rain,” Sundwall said. “Last year was gorgeous.”

Learn more at www.runsnoqualmie.com, www.stbaldricks.org, or www.finaghtys.com.

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

MARCH 3, 2011

Obituaries Willard Dean Stevens Willard Dean Stevens, a longtime Snoqualmie resident, died Feb. 17, 2011, at home. He was 78.

He will be Willard laid to rest Stevens in a private service with military honors next to his wife at Tahoma National Cemetery, Kent.

He was born Aug. 24, 1932, in Oso, the only child of Albert L. and Gladys F. (Main) Stevens. In 1941, the family moved to Snoqualmie, where he graduated from Mount Si High School, class of 1950. He then worked for about a year for the Milwaukee Railroad as a telegraph operator and in 1951, following family tradition, he went to work for the Weyerhaeuser Co. as a logger.

He entered the United States Air Force in 1952 and became a flight engineer aboard a C119.

He met Neva June Howell on a blind date and they were married Dec. 26, 1952. As a young Air Force couple, they lived in Memphis and Sulfur, Okla., where his squadron was

stationed. In 1956, he was discharged from service and they returned to Snoqualmie, where he went back to his job. He retired in 1994 after a total of 43 years, operating heavy equipment, building and maintaining logging roads.

Following retirement, he enjoyed traveling and spending winters in Arizona. He enjoyed his vegetable garden, painting and artwork, and was an avid reader. He spent several years as a Little League coach, and enjoyed hunting, steelhead and salmon fishing.

He was a life member and past commander of the American Legion Renton-Pickering Post 79 and a past member of the Moose and Elks.

He was preceded in death by his mother in 1995, his father in 2000 and his wife in 2006.

Survivors include three children, Jeff (Teddy) Stevens, of Othello, Teresa Schomber (Wayne), of North Bend, Scott (Lisa) Stevens, of Snoqualmie; four grandchildren; five greatgrandsons; sister-in-law Betty LaPierre, of Spirit Lake, Idaho; aunt Carolyn Main, of Snoqualmie; and numerous cousins.

Memorials are suggested to the Snoqualmie Valley Veterans Memorial, c/o SVHM –VM, PO Box 179, North Bend, WA 98045 Friends are invited to share memories and sign the family’s online guest book at www.flintofts.com.

John C. Stevenson John C. Stevenson died Jan. 12, 2011. He was 67.

A graveside ceremoJohn ny will be held March Stevenson 12 at Good Shepherd Cemetery in Huntington Beach, Calif., where he will be buried next to his son.

John was born Sept. 23, 1943, to William and Ellen Stevenson, in Long Beach, Calif. He moved to Washington in 1981 and lived in Carnation for more than 20 years.

John worked as a sheet metal work for more than 35 years.

John was a gifted artist; he loved using watercolors to paint landscapes. He was talented in wood working, too — beautifying his home, creating bookcases and other furniture for his friends. John looked forward to meeting with his men’s bible study group on Wednesday afternoon.

John loved to help others.

Those who knew him well, can attest to his giving nature.

John is survived by his daughter Natalie; six grandchildren; his mother Ellen; and his siblings Bill, Laurel and Jim. He was preceded in death by his son Tony.

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Theft From Page 10 notified of the items missing.

People wanting to help TagoeDarko may write a check in her name and send it to the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, P.O. Box 353650, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-3650.

Meanwhile, Tagoe-Darko waits at Iltis’ home — day after day, night after sleepless night.

“Sometimes, I feel very foolish,” said Tagoe-Darko, a demographer and Ph.D who has taught in New York and Rhode Island besides her native land. “Because people ask me, ‘How can you leave your bag?’ ‘How can you, a professor, not have copies of documents?’ and I have no answer for them.”

Suddenly, Tagoe-Darko finds herself without an identity.

“People know you, and yet they don’t know you,” she said. “You don’t have that identity to get a piece of paper to identify you. I go to the licensing office and I have photocopies of my passport and they can’t give me an identity because they are papers.

“Without their having my identity, I can’t get an identity,” she added. “I am never wishing such a thing on anybody.”

Despite the setback, she tries to harbor no hate in her heart.

“I would be grateful if every person who will hear of this, to plead on my behalf, to look, to make an extra effort to search for my documents,” she said. “I am pleading, I am not judging.

“This happened, we all make mistakes,” she added. “I made mine by leaving my bag in the car, but I am pleading with that person to see the situation in which I am.”

Becky Munson, spokeswoman for the Snoqualmie Police Department, asked people not to leave valuables in the car and not to leave their vehicles unlocked.

Police have issued several reminders, including signs at Snoqualmie Falls itself, Munson said. Yet, people have kept a carefree attitude.

“People think that since we’re far away from the big cities, it can’t happen to them,” she said.

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

PAGE 13

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Schools

PAGE 14

MARCH 3, 2011

Student’s drive yields a half-ton of dog food

By Sebastian Moraga Note to all parents, the answer to your children proposing something outrageoussounding is rarely “Sure, whatever.”

NatalieRose Bunton, a fifthgrader at North Bend Elementary School, asked her dad if she could get a dog if she raised more than 1,000 pounds of pet food.

For Bob Bunton’s answer, see the first paragraph.

Next thing you know, Bunton had raised 1,092 pounds in about a month. The puppy is not hers yet, but she already chose it.

The pet food drive, NatalieRose’s mom Kim said, “was a way to show us she’s responsible enough to have a dog.” NatalieRose’s hamster died on Christmas and her fish once jumped out of the tank.

The project also helped the Bellevue-based Seattle Humane Society and fulfilled some of her Leadership Club requirements.

“I love the Humane Society,” NatalieRose said.

At first, NatalieRose wanted to make dog jackets for the society, before realizing that a pet food drive would help more people.

“The Humane Society gives the pet food to people who can’t afford it,” she said.

The drive began Jan. 24.

Friends, family and strangers donated either money or pet food.

Some days, NatalieRose stood outside Safeway and QFC, asking people to donate. She raised about $300, which she used to buy more pet food.

“At first I wanted 500 pounds, then 1,000 pounds, and I beat that, too,” she said.

It wasn’t easy to raise the money or food, but it wasn’t easy to say no to NatalieRose, either. Safeway gave her a gift certificate for $25.

“The hardest part was getting people to donate at QFC,” she said. “People would say they would donate and then go out the other end.”

Accidentally, Kim once caught one of those fugitives.

“She was so embarrassed,” Kim said with a smile. “When

Contributed

NatalieRose Bunton and the bags of dog food she collected. More than a half-ton of pet food went to the Seattle Humane Society thanks to the efforts of the fifth-grader. she saw me, she said, ‘Oh, we forgot!”

Certain donations touched NatalieRose, like her bible study teacher’s.

“She’s been going through a hard time right now,” she said.

Students collect donations for food bank

“It felt really good that she actually donated.”

Grandmas and grandpas donated less than dads and husbands, Natalie Rose said, but more than wives and moms.

“Most people I got 20s from

Contributed

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

Parent says daughter is being bullied after speaking against it some bullying in the past with Baker’s child.

Kim Baker, a parent at Twin “There’s no evidence in Twin Falls Middle School, said her Falls of that bullying,” he said. middle school daughter was bulBarber went on to say that if lied in early February, days after the girl is feeling bullied, that is denouncing school violence at a a real feeling. school board meeting.

“I am not saying the child Baker said has not been her daughter, a “My daughter needs to be bullied,” he seventh-grader, said. “Every in school, in class, but the arrived home time we have Feb. 8 with a gone and tried main thing is, she needs to sore jaw, sore to find evibe safe.” stomach, not dence, we wanting to eat haven’t been — Kim Baker able to find and saying she Parent that. I’m not had been bullied by a fellow saying it’s not female student. happening at Baker said cameras at Twin home or walking to Twin Falls.”

Falls Middle School did not capBaker said she understood ture the incident and that her that a lack of video evidence daughter had no marks on her. clouded the accusations.

Marty Barber, vice principal at “I realize it’s my word against Twin Falls, said he and Baker theirs,” she said. had a great rapport and that it See BULLY, Page 15 sounded like there had been

By Sebastian Moraga

Olivia Kleinhaus and Blake Meister, from left, in back row, and Connor Heimbigner, in front, collected food for the North Bend food bank.

were from men my dad’s age,” she said. “Most of the moms would give me a one.”

SnoValley Star

MARCH 3, 2011

Valley schools earn kudos Bully

By Sebastian Moraga The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has recognized four schools in the Valley with the Washington Achievement Award for 2010.

Cascade View Elementary School, Fall City Elementary School, Chief Kanim Middle School and Fall City Elementary School earned a total of six awards, with all but Twin Falls winning awards for the second consecutive year. ❑ Cascade View earned awards for Overall Excellence at the elementary level. ❑ Chief Kanim earned an award for Overall Excellence at the middle and junior high level and a Special Recognition award for science. ❑ Twin Falls won an Overall Excellence award at the middle and junior high level. ❑ Fall City Elementary won an award for Overall Excellence at the elementary level and a special recognition award for science.

The awards place the schools among the top 5 percent in the state based on test scores, graduation rates and the closing of achievement gaps over time, a press release from the school district stated.

“We are extremely proud that 40 percent of Snoqualmie Valley schools earned overall excellence recognition,” Valley Schools Superintendent Joel Aune said in a press release, “when just 5 percent of schools statewide received this prestigious recognition.”

Aune went on to praise students, staff, principals and parents.

The award has been issued since 2009 and recognizes schools in five categories besides overall excellence and science: language arts, math, extended graduation rate, improvement and closing achievement gaps.

The state selects the honorees through the Washington Achievement Index, which the state developed to measure achievement based on data from three previous years.

“We recognize this as a unique opportunity for our schools to share with one another and leverage best practices that are yielding successful results,” Aune said.

Winning schools will be honored April 27 at Tacoma’s Lincoln High School.

“By lifting up our most successful schools,” a statement on the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s website read, “the Washington Achievement Awards shines a light on some of the best practices that are making that success possible.”

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From Page 14 Baker said a “bullying pass” made special for her child had been taken away by Principal Ruth Moen.

The pass is similar to a hall pass and allows a student to go to the office to report on a bullying incident.

Barber said the pass was left at the school’s main office, not taken away from the child.

“Since then, we have made five or six more passes,” for the girl, Barber said.

Barber dismissed the possibility that the child may be harming herself or being harmed by her parents.

He added that this is not the first time Baker’s child complained of being bullied, and that the school had dealt with past situations.

This last time, however, no results of bullying were apparent, he said.

“The police were here for

PAGE 15 that investigation and found no evidence,” Barber said.

Five days before the alleged attack, the child spoke in front of the Snoqualmie Valley School Board, denouncing repeated attacks against her.

School board member Scott Hodgins approached her afterward and thanked her for coming and speaking out.

Baker said speaking at the board meeting was her daughter’s idea.

“She has been bullied since kindergarten,” she said. “I didn’t find out about it for a long period of time, until she was in the third grade.”

Now at the middle school, Baker said her daughter has been called sexually derogatory names as well as things like “stupid” and “retarded.”

At Twin Falls, Baker said, she has found a more sympathetic ear in Barber.

“He’s trying to handle the bullying,” she said of Barber.

The child is attending two classes at Twin Falls: physical education and technology. Meanwhile,

Baker said she is trying to get a no contact order issued against a student whom she said attacked her daughter.

Nevertheless, Baker said she is disappointed that bullying continues to be an issue.

“This has gone on for way too long,” she said. “My daughter needs to be in school, in class, but the main thing is, she needs to be safe.”

Barber declined to rate the safety at Twin Falls when given a 1-10 range, but said the school does not ignore the issue.

“Do I think that middle school kids say things that are mean to other middle school kids? Yes, I do,” he said. “It’s our job to educate kids so that they don’t continue to do them.”

He added, “We hold kids accountable when they do inappropriate things.”

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

Sports

PAGE 16

MARCH 3, 2011

Kidz Love Soccer returns to Valley

By Sebastian Moraga Goals aren’t the goal at Kidz Love Soccer.

The soccer-based child development program arriving in the Valley March 3 focuses on fun and teamwork rather than on what a scoreboard might say.

“It’s not a competitive soccer school,” said Peter Stanley, the Northern Territory manager for Kidz Love Soccer. “That sets us apart from the leagues out there: Leagues are a dime a dozen.”

Soccer is still the engine, and children are exposed to the fundamentals of the game, Stanley said.

What is missing is the pressure from a Little League type of environment.

“We’re trying to be the antidote to that,” he said.

The antidote, Stanley said, includes being all-inclusive.

Children of all shapes, sizes, ages and levels are welcome.

Children in the program are

“We certainly want to keep the theme or the environment that kids are excited about soccer.”

— Peter Stanley Kidz Love Soccer addressed not as “kids,” or as “boys and girls,” but as “soccer players.”

“We certainly want to keep the theme or the environment that kids are excited about soc-

Children play during a Kidz Love Soccer activity.

cer,” Stanley said. “That just adds to it.”

Although most of the games involve skills other than, say, dribbling, passing or tackling, children do learn the fundamentals, Stanley said, just without the drills.

The emphasis is on cognitive and motor skills.

“We’re trying to foster a nurturing environment rather than a competitive one,” he said.

“Lord knows that as kids grow up they will find more than enough chances to be competitive.”

Snoqualmie classes begin at Azalea Park, 6604 Azalea Way, Snoqualmie, March 3.

The program has no deadline to sign up.

“The caveat being, we don’t prorate the sessions,” Stanley said.

Sessions split by age group.

Children ages 2 to 3 1/2 years old have the “Mommy, Daddy and Me” session.

Children 3 1 / 2 through 4 years old have a “Tot Soccer” session. “Pre Soccer is for children ages 4-5, “Soccer One” is for children 56. Sessions “Soccer Two” and “Soccer Contributed Three” are for children ages 7-12.

Contributed

The soccer-based childhood development program Kidz Love Soccer returns to Snoqualmie this month.

An e-mail from the city Of Snoqualmie said the fee for the program is $55 per child. People may register at the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, 38624 S.E. River St., or at www.kidzlovesoccer. com.

The program lasts for six weeks, once a week every Thursday. The program requires shin guards for all sessions except “Mommy, Daddy and Me.” No other soccer gear is

required.

In case of rainout, Kidz Love Soccer will reschedule the session.

A rainout is far less likely in Washington, Stanley said.

“You folks are much hardier than folks here in California,” he said with a chuckle.

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

Little League needs lawnmowing help after mower is stolen

By Dan Catchpole Baseball practices began Feb. 28 for several teams in the Falls Little League, which has not recovered any of the equipment that was stolen from one of its storage sheds earlier this year.

Thieves broke into the shed, which sits alongside state Route 202, and made off with a John Deere riding mower, portable audio system, a pitching machine and gas cans.

It would cost about $7,000 to replace everything, according to Terri Campbell, the league’s vice president.

The league filed a report with the King County Sheriff’s Office, but due to budget cuts, property crimes below $10,000 are a lower priority.

“They gave us a case number and basically said, ‘Good luck’,” Campbell said.

So, she put her experience as a former sheriff’s deputy in Alameda County, Calif., to work.

She gave the mower’s serial number to several local hardware stores where the thieves might try to sell the mower.

“I posted an ad on craigslist for that type of mower, trying to flush them out,” Campbell said.

But no bites.

She doesn’t hold out much hope for police recovering the

Get involved Falls Little League needs to borrow a large riding mower or raise money to pay a mowing service.

To help, call Terri Campbell at 765-1241 or email her at Terri@FallsLL.org.

mower.

The thieves will probably take it to Pierce or Thurston counties

and sell it there, or scrap it for parts, she said.

In the meantime, the league, which includes the area around Snoqualmie Falls north to Duvall, has no way to mow two of its fields.

The league filed an insurance claim, but that will take time to process.

Campbell said she expects the league will either have to use home lawnmowers, rent a lawnmower or pay a mowing service.

The last two options could take a big bite out of the league’s budget, which is already smaller due to a

decline in registrations. The number of players dropped from 750 last year to 650 this year.

“It’s going to take a big hit out of our bottom line,” Campbell said.

The league has already spent $1,500 to replace its pitching machine.

Campbell said she hopes the recent cold weather has bought the league some time before the grass gets too long.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

SnoValley Star

MARCH 3, 2011

Scoreboard Prep girls basketball 3A/2A KingCo Conference League Season W-L W-L Juanita 12-2 18-7 Mount Si 11-3 17-7 Liberty 9-5 15-10 Mercer Island 9-5 16-11 Lake Washington 7-7 12-9 Bellevue 6-8 8-13 Interlake 2-12 6-15 Sammamish 0-14 3-15

3A Sea-King District Tournament Feb. 15 Game At Bellevue College Seattle Prep 52, Mount Si 43 Feb. 18 Game Cleveland 67, Mount Si 51 loser out CLEVELAND 67, MOUNT SI 51 Cleveland 11 25 19 12 - 67 Mount Si 15 11 11 14 - 51 Cleveland - Cheyenne Wilson 18, Makayla Roper 15, Alexa Mefi 10, Calah Scott 10, Myzhanique Ladd 8, Brianna Hart 4, Olivia Smith 2, Asiyah Davis 0.

Mount Si - Kassidy Maddux 13, Shelby Peerboom 11, Jori Braun 9, Hailey Eddings 5, Molly Sellers 5, Stevie Riley 3, Alex Welsh 3, Haley Chase 2, Katy Lindor 0, Katie Swain 0.

SEATTLE PREP 52, MOUNT SI 43 Seattle Prep 16 10 4 22 - 52 Mount Si 9 10 8 16 - 43 Seattle Prep - Kari Luttinen 27, Nicole Hall 11, Quinn Glosniak 6, Purshall Artison 4, Michaela Carew 4, Kate Adler 0, Katie Hinds 0, MaryAnn Santucci 0, Julia Stinebaugh 0.

Mount Si - Shelby Peerboom 11, Kassidy Maddux 10, Hailey Eddings 8, Haley Chase 7, Stevie Riley 5, Jori Braun 2, Katy Lindor 0, Molly Sellers 0, Katie Swain 0, Alex Welsh 0.

(tie), O’Dea 42, Lake Washington 42; 15, Glacier Peak 38; 16, Hudson’s Bay 36; 17, Camas 32; 18, Pasco 27.5; 19 (tie), Juanita 26, Auburn Mountainview 26, Foss 26; 22, Mount Si 25.5; 25, Liberty 24; 26, Bellevue 23.5.

285: Josh Mitchell (Mount Si) d. Jeremiah Laufasa (Juanita), 73.

Mount Si results 160: first round: A.J. Brevick lost to Micah Englehart (O’Dea), pin, 5:52; consolation bracket, Brevick lost to Luke Miller (Shadle Park), 11-7.

285: first round, Mitchell d.

Kyle Gleed (Decatur), tech. fall, 17-2; quarterfinals, Mitchell p. Tyler Rangel (Hudson’s Bay), 3:47; semifinals, Mitchell d. Adam Peters (Sunnyside), 2-1.

Prep gymnastics 3A/2A State Championships At Tacoma Dome Team scores: 1, Kamiakin 174.275; 2, Enumclaw 173.575; 3, Columbia River 165.875; 4, Auburn Mountainview 164.45; 5, Bainbridge 161.325; 6, Mount Si 159.325; 7, Mercer Island 159.175; 8, Kennedy Catholic 144.4.

Your news comments welcome!

All-around: 15, Kennedy Richmond (Mount Si) 35.500; 31, Hannah Richmond (Mount Si) 32.550; 49, Carissa Castagno (Mount Si) 30.775; 50, Elizabeth Holmes (Mount Si) 30.475; 54, Jessica Trotto (Mount Si) 29.725; 87 (tie), Brooke Bonner (Mount Si) 16.650; 103, Lexi Swanson (Mount Si) 12.900.

Uneven parallel bars: 15, K. Richmond (MS) 7.95; session 1, 30 (tie), H. Richmond (MS) 7.35; 75, Trotto (MS) 6.075; 81 (tie), Castagno (MS) 5.95; 84, Swanson (MS) 5.75; 85, Holmes (MS) 5.65.

Balance beam: session 1, 40 (tie), K. Richmond (MS) 8.4; 53 (tie), H. Richmond (MS) 7.85; 65 (tie), Castagno (MS) 7.6, Holmes (MS) 7.6; 77 (tie), Trotto (MS) 7.2; 80, Swanson (MS) 7.15.

Floor exercise: 4, K. Richmond (MS) 9.65; session 1, 30 (tie), H. Richmond (MS) 9.05; 45, Castagno (MS) 8.875; 63 (tie), Bonner (MS) 8.55; 72, Trotto (MS0 8.4.

Vault: session 1, 38, Castagno (MS) 8.35; 43 (tie), H. Richmond (MS) 8.3; 62 (tie), Holmes (MS) 8.175; 70 (tie), Bonner (MS) 8.1; 73, Trotto (MS) 8.05.

King County parks department seeks applications for sports facilities projects

said in a news release.

Money for the program comes from one-fourth of 1 percent of car rental taxes.

The program also receives $25,000 annually from an endowment fund established from the sale of a county building.

Since it was founded in 1993, the program has awarded more than $10 million in grants for more than 250 new or renovated athletic facilities.

The program is administered by the Parks and Recreation Division of the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks.

Applications are due June 17, with letters of intent due May 4. Go to www.kingcounty.gov/parks, and then “Partnerships & Grants” and then click on the “Youth Sports Facilities Grants” link for an application packet.

Learn more by calling Butch Lovelace, program manager, at 206-263-6267 or e-mailing him at butch.lovelace@kingcounty.gov.

King County is accepting applications for grants to renovate or build public sports facilities.

The county’s Youth Sports Facilities Grant Fund provides matching grants from $5,000 to $75,000.

Groups that apply must partner with a public agency, such as a school district or city parks department, to develop or renovate sports facilities.

Past projects have included athletic fields, skate parks, playgrounds, sport courts and rowing facilities.

“Thanks to robust partnerships with community groups, we are using our limited resources to bring new or improved recreational amenities for King County residents that otherwise wouldn’t be possible,” King County Executive Dow Constantine

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Prep wrestling 3A State Tournament At Tacoma Dome Team scores: 1, Enumclaw 145.5; 2, University 129.5; 3, Kelso 100.5; 4, Yelm 95; 5, North Central 82; 6, Sunnyside 81.5; 7, Shadle Park 78; 8, Bonney Lake 62.5; 9, Mercer Island 58; 10, Sedro Woolley 57; 11, Lakes 54; 12, Everett 48; 13

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PAGE 17

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SnoValley Star

Snoqualmie Tribe continues work on Fall City Park The Snoqualmie Tribe is continuing work on restoring the habitat of Fall City Park, on the Snoqualmie River.

The tribe is hosting a work event at the park March 5.

The area is of historical significance to the tribe. Traditionally, American Indians hunted, fished, congregated and lived along the river.

There was an abundance of fish, wildlife, berries and other native plants that the Snoqualmies used for food and medicine.

However, agriculture and development have harmed the area’s ecosystem, and invasive plant species have moved in, according to a news release from the tribe.

The tribe will work to replace invasive species with native

plants, especially with native plants that were traditionally used as food and medicine for the tribe. Several types of native berries will be planted to mimic the harvest ground that once existed there.

The tribe’s Environmental and Natural Resources Department is overseeing the project.

Learn more by calling Kayla Kimball at 206-384-6589 or email her at kkimball121@gmail.com.

Valley legislators to host town hall meeting in Snoqualmie State legislators for the 5th District are hosting town hall meetings March 12 to meet with constituents.

Sen. Cheryl Pflug, and Reps.

Jay Rodne and Glenn Anderson are holding meetings in

Snoqualmie, Issaquah and Maple Valley. They will give attendees an update of the 2011 legislative session and answer questions.

The state Legislature must close another looming budget shortfall this year, which could require a combination of program cuts, tax increases and higher fees.

“Even though the Legislature is struggling with an almost $5 billion deficit, I have hope for this session,” said Pflug, R-Maple Valley, in a news release. “There is more bipartisan work searching for solutions, although it remains a challenge to get legislators to think outside of the historical box.”

Legislators are likely to be wary of increasing taxes after November’s election, which saw gains for anti-tax candidates in Washington. Voters also rejected higher taxes in several ballot proposals.

“So many important decisions will be made this legislative ses-

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210-Public Notices 02-2105 LEGAL NOTICE WASHINGTON STATE PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION REVISED NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING King County, Washington Direct Sale to Resolve Trespass Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission staff will conduct a public hearing on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. at the Snoqualmie Library, 7824 Center Blvd SE, Snoqualmie, WA, 98065. The purpose of this hearing is to take public comment on the proposed direct sale of approximately .75-acre portion of vacant land in Section 35, Township 23N, Range 8E, pursuant to the provisions of RCW 79A.05.178.

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Published in SnoValley Star on 2/24/11& 3/03/11

sion and town hall meetings offer a great opportunity for an exchange of ideas and solutions,” Rodne, R-North Bend, said in a news release.

No R.S.V.P. is necessary.

However, if constituents have specific issues they need assistance with, they are asked to bring pertinent information to the meetings for a one-on-one conversation as time allows.

The meeting is set for 3-4 p.m. March 12 at the Snoqualmie Fire Station.

Avalanche and heavy snowfall close I-90 A plane — not chains — was required to get over Snoqualmie Pass for much of the day on Feb. 28.

Heavy snowfall and an avalanche shut down Interstate 90 between North Bend and Ellensburg.

The Washington State Department of Transportation closed the highway at about 11:30 a.m. after several cars had collided or spun out due to bad conditions. About 8 inches of snow had fallen since 6 a.m.

Just before noon, an avalanche covered all westbound lanes just west of the summit in 10 feet of snow.

“Our avalanche team is assessing the risk for more avalanches to occur and it is likely that they will need to do avalanche control work in several locations before we can open the highway,” Todd Trepanier, a WSDOT South Central Region maintenance engineer, said in a news release.

By evening, I-90’s eastbound lanes had reopened. Westbound lanes opened later that night after avalanche control work had finished.

No injuries have been reported from the avalanche or vehicle accidents.

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Calendar

MARCH 3, 2011

PAGE 19

Public meetings ❑ Public Hospital District No. 4 Board of Commissioners, 6:30 p.m. March 3, 38624 S.E. River St. ❑ Snoqualmie Valley School Board work session, 8 a.m. – noon March 5, 8001 Silva Ave. S.E., Snoqualmie ❑ Snoqualmie Public Works Committee, 5 p.m. March 7, 38624 S.E. River St. ❑ Snoqualmie Planning and Parks Committee, 6 p.m. March 7, 38624 S.E. River St. ❑ Snoqualmie Planning Commission, 7 p.m. March 7, 38624 S.E. River St. ❑ North Bend Public Health and Safety Committee, 4 p.m.

March 8, 211 Main Ave. N. ❑ Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission public hearing on proposed land sale, 5:30 p.m. March 9, Snoqualmie Public Library, 7824 Center Boulevard S.E., Snoqualmie. ❑ North Bend Planning Commission, 7 p.m. March 10, 211 Main Ave. N.

Events ❑ Northwest Railway Museum’s annual dinner and silent auction, 6 p.m. March 4, Salish Lodge & Spa, 6501 Railroad Ave., Snoqualmie. The ticket-only event includes a nohost bar, dinner, silent auction and a progress update on the rail car Messenger of Peace.

Performers from Valley Center Stage will share stories of life on the rails. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased online at www.trainmuseum.org and at the Snoqualmie Depot in downtown Snoqualmie. Go to www.trainmuseum.org or call 888-3030. ❑ Snoqualmie Valley Elk: Research update, 7 p.m. March 4, Meadowbrook Farm, 1711 Boalch Ave., North Bend. Find out about the Snoqualmie valley’s own elk herd and the Upper Snoqualmie Valley Elk Management Group. Biologist and research study leader Harold Erland will give a update on the herd. ❑ Sallal Grange open mic, 7 p.m. March 4, 12912 432nd Ave. S.E., North Bend. Come one, come all to the Grange open mic and show off your lyrical abilities. ❑ Reuel Lubag Trio, 7 p.m.

March 4, Boxley’s, 101 West North Bend Way, North Bend.

With Geoff Harper on bass and Matt Page on drums. ❑ Snoqualmie Tribe’s Environmental Fair, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 5, Fall City Community Park, Neal Road Southeast (west of state Route 202). Join the Snoqualmie Tribe in restoring the historic habitat around the park. Traditionally, American Indians hunted, fished, gathered and lived along the nearby Snoqualmie River.

For information, call Kayla

March

Fun for the adults

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2011 1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 15 16 17 18 19 22 23 24 25 26 29 30 31

Si View Holiday Bazaar.

Volunteer opportunities

File

Valley Center Stage presents Kristin Van Bodegraven’s “And I Can Cook, Too,” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11 and 12, 119 North Bend Way, North Bend. Tickets are $12.50 for adults and $10 for seniors. This show is suited for an audience over 18. Tickets are available online at www.valleycenterstage.org. For more information, call 425-831-5667.

Kimball at 206-384-6589 or email kkimball121@gmail.com. ❑ Katy Bourne Duo, 7 p.m.

March 5, Boxley’s, 101 West North Bend Way, North Bend.

Vocalist Katy Bourne teams up with pianist Randy Halberstadt. ❑ Danny Kolke Trio, 7 p.m.

March 6, Boxley’s, 101 W. North Bend Way, North Bend. Local jazz outfit offers blues, gospel and straight-ahead jazz. ❑ Belly dance workshops, 6 p.m. March 7, 14 and 21, Chief Kanim Middle School, 32627 S.E. Redmond-Fall City Road, Fall City. Register by filling out the form available at www.fallcityarts.org. Call 222-0070. ❑ CPR class, 6:30 p.m. March 7, Snoqualmie Fire Station, 37600 S.E. Snoqualmie Parkway.

Fee is $5.00. To register or for information, call Liz Luizzo at 888-1551 or email her at lluizzo@ci.snoqualmie.wa.us. ❑ Job Searching Using Craigslist, 6:30-8 p.m. March 8, Snoqualmie Public Library, 7824 Center Boulevard S.E. Learn the basics of performing job searches on Craigslist, including how to search and reply to ads, and attaching resumes to e-mail.

Prerequisite: Basic understanding of the Internet, mouse skills and e-mail address preferred. ❑ Mardi Gras Special, 7 p.m.

March 8, Boxley’s, 101 W. North Bend Way, North Bend.

Featuring Jay Thomas, Alexey Nikolaev and other musicians. ❑ Sno-Valley Youth Council, 7 p.m. March 10, 38624 S.E. River St., Snoqualmie.

❑ Family Night: Magic with Bruce Meyers, 6:30 p.m. March 11, Si View Community Center, 400 S.E. Orchard Drive, North Bend. Anything is possible with Bruce Meyers on stage. Dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the show starts at 7 p.m. Suggested donation: $10 per family. ❑ Finaghty’s St. Patty’s Day 5k and Kids 1k, 9 a.m. March 12, Southeast Center Street (south of Snoqualmie Parkway), Snoqualmie. Fun for every age and ability. Register online at www.runsnoqualmie.com. ❑ Child and infant CPR training, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

March 12, Si View Community Center, 410 Orchard Drive, North Bend. Participants will learn how to check an unconscious victim and respond accordingly. Fee includes participant book and American Red Cross certification, valid for two years. Fee: $49. ❑ Healthy Living Fair, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 26, Si View Community Center, 400 Orchard Drive, North Bend.

Meet local service providers, get useful routine testing, and drop in for free health and wellness classes. This event is sponsored

by Snoqualmie Valley Hospital, Sno Valley Star, Mount Si Senior Center and Si View Metro Parks.

Admission is free. ❑ SnoValley Idol Junior Finals are from 6-8 p.m. April 1.

The winner of the contest receives a $50 gift card donated

by North Bend Premium Outlets and invitations to perform at the North Bend Block Party and

❑ Mount Si Senior Center’s Elder and Adult Day Services needs volunteers for its new program on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 206859-5705 for position description and application forms. ❑ Elk Management Group invites the community to participate in elk collaring, telemetry and habitat improvement projects in the Upper Snoqualmie Valley.

Project orientation meetings are at 6 p.m. the third Monday of the month at the North Bend City Hall, 211 Main St. E-mail research@snoqualmievalleyelk.org. ❑ Snoqualmie Valley Hospital is accepting applications for ages 16 or older to volunteer in various departments of the hospital. E-mail volunteer coordinator Carol Waters at carolw@snoqualmiehospital.org to arrange an interview. ❑ Spanish Academy invites volunteers fluent in Spanish to participate in summer camps on its three-acre farm-style school.

Must love children and nature.

Call 888-4999. ❑ Senior Services Transportation Program needs volunteers to drive seniors around North Bend and Snoqualmie.

Choose the times and areas in which you’d like to drive. Car required. Mileage reimbursement and supplemental liability insurance are offered. Call 206-7487588 or 800-282-5815 toll free, or e-mail melissat@seniorservices.org.

Apply online at www.seniorservices.org. Click on “Giving Back” and then on “Volunteer Opportunities.” ❑ Mount Si Senior Center needs volunteers for sorting and sales in the thrift store, reception and class instruction. The center is at 411 Main St., North Bend. Call 888-3434. ❑ Hopelink in Snoqualmie Valley seeks volunteers for a variety of tasks. Volunteers must be at least 16. Go to www.hopelink.org/takeaction/volunteer.com or call 869-6000. ❑ Adopt-A-Park is a program for Snoqualmie residents to improve public parks and trails.

An application and one-year commitment are required. Call 831-5784. ❑ Study Zone tutors are needed for all grade levels to give students the homework help they need. Two-hour week-

ly commitment or substitutes wanted. Study Zone is a free service of the King County Library System. Call 369-3312.

Classes ❑ S.A.I.L. (Stay Active and Independent for Life) exercise class meets Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Mount Si Senior Center, 411 Main Ave. S., North Bend. Led by certified exercise instructor Carla Orellana. Call 888-3434.

Clubs ❑ Mental illness support group, 7-8:30 p.m. Fridays, Snoqualmie Fire Station, 37600 Snoqualmie Parkway, Snoqualmie. The group is sponsored by NAMI and is free of charge for anyone with a mental illness or a family member with a mental illness. For information, call Yolanda at 829-2417. ❑ Mount Si Artist Guild meeting, 9:15-11 a.m. third Saturday of each month, Mount Si Senior Center, 411 Main Ave. S., North Bend, www.mtsiartistguild.org. ❑ Sno-Valley Beekeepers meets the second Tuesday of the month at the Meadowbrook Interpretive Center, Meadowbrook Farm, 1711 Boalch Ave., North Bend.

Go to www.snoqualmievalleybeekeepers.org. ❑ Trellis gardening club meets at 10 a.m. the third Saturday of each month, at Valley Christian Assembly, 32725 S.E. 42nd St., Fall City.

Trellis is an informal support group for the Snoqualmie Valley’s vegetable gardeners, who have special climactic challenges and rewards. New and experienced gardeners are welcome. ❑ Elk Management Group meets at 6:30 p.m. the second Wednesday of the month at the U.S. Forest Service conference room at 130 Thrasher Ave., behind the visitors’ center on North Bend Way. Interagency committee meetings are at 1:30 p.m. the first Monday of the month at the North Bend City Hall annex, 126 Fourth St. Both meetings are open to the public.

Go to snoqualmievalleyelk.org. ❑ Mount Si Fish and Game Club meets at 7:30 p.m. the first Thursday of the month, October through May, at the Snoqualmie Police Department. ❑ Sallal Grange, 12912 432nd Ave. S.E., North Bend, meets the first Friday of each month for a potluck and open mic with local musicians. The potluck starts at 6 p.m. with the music from 7 p.m. to midnight.

Open to all people/ages. Go to www.sallalgrange.org.

Submit an item for the community calendar by e-mailing editor@snovalleystar.com or go to www.snovalleystar.com.

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SnoValley Star

MARCH 3, 2011