Your locally-owned newspaper, serving North Bend and Snoqualmie, Washington
March 15, 2012 VOL. 4, NO. 11
100 years of scouting Page 8
Dialogue begins concerning truck idling ban By Michele Mihalovich
Let’s chat Hospital board considers informal meeting times. Page 3
Freshmen get a home School board votes to approve freshman campus. Page 6
Police blotter
Page 6
Choo-choo! Northwest Railway museum to open soon. Page 7 By Michele Mihalovich Trucks wait in a small parking section of the TA Truck Stop in North Bend. The City Council is considering limiting how long tractor-trailers can idle.
New hotel might finally be coming to North Bend
She’s the best Schools foundation gives top honors. Page 10
Start kicking Soccer team preps for new season. Page 12
Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER
Bellevue developer submitted plans for two-phase project
negative, it would be tough for him to move forward.” Hearing said he would welcome a new hotel, especially in that location, By Michele Mihalovich just off Exit 31. “We’re looking at attracting folks to A hotel might not just be a pipe getting off the freeway and coming into dream for the city of North Bend. downtown,” he said. “The proposed Paul Pong, a hotel developer out of hotel is close enough that people could Bellevue, recently submitted his plans walk to old town and see that there’s to build one, and possibly two, hotels more to North Bend than just the exit.” on the corner of South Fork Avenue Hearing said 70 percent of the Southwest and Bendigo city’s revenues come “It will be done right or it from businesses, and Boulevard South. But Mayor Ken people spending the won’t be done at all.” Hearing said that night at a North Bend although Pong is “mov— Ken Hearing hotel would certainly ing ahead” on the projNorth Bend mayor increase that revenue ect, it’s far from being a base. done deal. “But I want to be He said Pong has clear on this,” he said. submitted all of the applications nec“He will have to comply with every law. essary for the city to make a State It will be done right or it won’t be done Environmental Policy Act determinaat all.” tion. Pong did not return calls request“But there are an awful lot of enviing an interview, but he did submit a ronmental constraints, such as the development narrative to the city Feb. property being close to the South Fork 15 that outlines his plans for a developRiver,” Hearing said. “There are wetment in phases. lands and some flooding issues. The document states that the first “The SEPA determination will be phase would include a 106-room hotel, the all to end all,” he said. “It can be appealed, of course. But if it comes back See THEFT, Page 2
The majority of people who turned out for a public hearing on North Bend’s proposed truck idling ban spoke out against the ordinance, including a TravelCenters of America field manager from Oregon. The TA truck stop, known locally as Truck Town, has been located near Interstate 90’s exit 34 for nearly 40 years. But the city’s boundary has expanded over the years, and now Truck Town is neighbors with a large residential area and a middle school. City leaders say complaints about the noise and fumes, and concerns about air quality, are what prompted the ordinance draft. See IDLING, Page 2
Fleeing driver jumps in creek, dies A man who fled on foot after being stopped by police for a traffic violation died after being stuck in a Tokul Creek logjam for nearly 30 minutes, according to Rebecca Munson, spokeswoman for the Snoqualmie Police Department. At about 8:20 a.m. March 9, a Snoqualmie police officer was following a Honda Accord on Millpond Road in Snoqualmie. The Honda turned north onto state Route 202, and the officer continued to follow the vehicle. Upon observing the Honda following too close behind the vehicle in front of it, the officer made a traffic stop near the entrance to the Snoqualmie Valley Rifle Range on Fall City-Snoqualmie Road, according to Munson. The driver, whose name has not been released yet, exited the Honda and ran on foot into the Rifle Range, leaving three passengers inside the vehicle, Munson said. The officer remained with the Honda and its passengers and called for backup. When backup arrived, the officer attempted to locate the driver and heard him yelling for help. The officer found the man stuck in a logjam in Tokul Creek, and contacted the Snoqualmie Fire Department for rescue, Munson said. Fire department personnel arrived within minutes and after several attempts were able to free the man from the logjam and remove him from the creek, Munson said. However, the man had been in the creek for approximately 25 minutes and he went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance on the way to a hospital. He was later pronounced dead at Swedish/ Issaquah, Munson said. The driver was a 31-year-old Fall City man, who was found to have a felony warrant, she said. One passenger in the vehicle was arrested on a misdemeanor warrant and the other two passengers were released and given a ride home.