Baseball team hopes to continue winning ways Page 10
Your locally-owned newspaper, serving North Bend and Snoqualmie, Washington
March 13, 2014 VOL. 5, NO. 11
Opinion Page 4
Funeral arranged Police set date and time for funeral for abandoned baby.
Woman assaulted in North Bend
Photo contest winners
By Sam Kenyon
Page 5
Protect and serve even more Snoqualmie police take over duties in North Bend. Page 7
Police blotter Page 8
A North Bend woman was sexually assaulted while bound with duct tape before being stabbed in the chest by an unknown attacker on Sunday, March 9. Police took her to Overlake hospital after she called 911. “Luckily, the injuries were not life threatening,” said Snoqualmie Police Chief Steve McCulley. The woman, an employee of a restaurant on the 400 block of Mt. Si Boulevard, was the lone employee closing that night. Just after 11 p.m. she exited through the back door when a man confronted her, forcing her back inside. The man then bound her at her feet and wrists, sexually assaulted her, and stabbed her once in the chest before leaving. According to police, the attacker is a Hispanic male who
By Stephanie Seely
The results are in for SnoValley Star’s annual photo contest. ‘Olivia and Allison’ won first place in the Life in the Valley category. ‘My granddaughters Olivia and Allison Alires enjoying ice cream cones in a summer rite of passage at Scott’s Dairy Freeze,’ Stephanie Seely said in her entry. See more winners on Page 6.
See ASSAULT, Page 3
10 vie for hospital board seat
Firefighter climbs to honor her sister’s fight By Sherry Grindeland
Batter up Softball team is ready for new season. Page 10
Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER
Emily Harig stood out in the crowd of firefighters and volunteers at the Big Climb March 9 in Seattle. She was the firefighter wearing the pink helmet that read, “Climbing for Julia.” The Sammamish woman, 28, ran up 1,316 stairs in Seattle’s Columbia Tower during the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. “I do the climb for my twin sister, Julia, who died from leukemia eight and a half months ago,” Harig said. It was the third year the 2004 Eastlake High School graduate, a volunteer firefighter with Eastside Fire & Rescue, did the climb.
Running stairs is part of Harig’s normal routine to stay physically fit for firefighting duty. She also lifts weights and hikes. Her part time job at True Martial Arts in Sammamish helps keep her in shape, too. “I teach tae kwon do mostly to pee wees — little kids — and those long, low stances make your legs strong,” she said. Staying in shape, she said, is as important as her classes at Bellevue College. Her ultimate goal is to become a full-time firefighter. She moved one step closer to that goal in December when she was selected to be the “sleeper” at the recently remodeled EFR Station 88 in Wilderness Rim, near North Bend. Sleepers agree to stay at the all-volunteer stations
By Sherry Grindeland
Contributed
Emily Harig wore a pink firefighter helmet in honor of her sister at last year’s climb. five nights a week. EFR’s other sleeper program, operates out of the station near Tiger Mountain. “We have the sleeper programs to cut down on the response time,” said EFR See CLIMB, Page 3
Ryan Roberts, of Snoqualmie, was the last of seven candidates interviewed by the Snoqualmie Valley Hospital Board of Commissioners March 6 at Snoqualmie City Hall. He offered a compelling argument as to why he should be selected. He’s a frequent flyer at the hospital’s emergency room. “My wife and I have little boys,” he said. “When you have little boys, that’s what you do. You go to the emergency room.” Using his active sons to highlight his experience at the hospital was a lighthearted moment See BOARD, Page 2