Valley Center Stage has a winner in ‘Same Time Next Year’ Page 7
Your locally owned newspaper, serving North Bend and Snoqualmie, Washington March 19, 2015
North Bend man initiates standoff with county SWAT team A SWAT team from the King County Sheriff’s Office had a home in the Wilderness area of North Bend surrounded March 17, hoping to peacefully end what appeared to be a domestic violence standoff. A 41-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman did not want See STANDOFF, Page 5
By Sam Kenyon
We’ll put a school right here Snoqualmie Valley School District Superintendent Joel Aune (left) and members of the Snoqualmie Valley School Board (from left) Tavish MacLean, Marci Busby, Vice President Carolyn Simpson, Dan Popp and President Geoff Doy, break ground March 14 at the site of the new, currently unnamed elementary school scheduled to open in September 2016.
All of downtown is a venue for Jazz Walk Mount Si graduate Courtney Cutchins gives homecoming performance By Sam Kenyon Courtney Cutchins used to play in the Mount Si High School jazz band. But since graduating in 2006, she has since moved on to New York. However, Cutchins found incentive to return to her home town March 14, this time to sing in the city’s annual Jazz Walk. “It’s awesome,” she said. “I started performing in Seattle as an undergrad but after I graduated, Boxley’s gave me a place
to perform and was very supporting and encouraging of my growth as an artist.” Cutchins, the daughter of Boxley Music Fund board member and Jazz Walk organizer Pat Cutchins, is getting her masters in jazz performance at the Manhattan School of Music. She came home to sing, along with Chris Symer on bass and Gregg Belisle-Chi on guitar, at Piccola Cellars wine bar. Now she has an even more extensive platform in her hometown to perform jazz. “The atmosphere is exciting,” she said. “It brings some really amazing culture just right here into the heart of this little town out in the mountains. “When I was in high school, I would have to go all the way into Seattle and walk around by myself in Belltown to go to a jazz club out there. It’s just cool
to have it right here.” The Jazz Walk is an annual celebration in North Bend where the city opens itself up to jazz music and nearly every store becomes a venue. Thirty-one bands performed at places like Mt. Si Art Supply, Scott’s Dairy Freeze and Chaplin’s Chevrolet dealership, as well as more orthodox venues like Boxley’s and the North Bend Theatre. The rain held back just enough the night of March 14 and the community came out to hear the music. Started four years ago, the Jazz Walk has become a go-to performance night for many of the greater Seattle area’s jazz musicians. What began as a simple six-venue festival has grown into a night where hundreds of people can see music at 22 different venues featuring everything from legendary jazz players to four
high school jazz bands. “It puts us on the map,” Pat Cutchins said. “This is representing tens of thousands of hours, literally, of major dedication, hard work and talent from these artists, and we get to actually enjoy it right here in our little Valley. I mean how cool is that?” The Jazz Walk, along with the sister-event the Blues Walk, is a Boxley Music Fund event. The fund is a nonprofit organization that supports live local music programs for performance and education in the Snoqualmie Valley. It’s the brainchild of Danny Kolke, the owner of the restaurant and jazz club Boxley’s. Members of the Boxley Music Fund support live jazz at Boxley’s seven nights a week. See JAZZ WALK, Page 2
Snoqualmie Police arrest robbery suspect Snoqualmie Police arrested a suspect in the armed robbery of a North Bend gas station that occurred March 8. The male suspect, 35, is a resident of unincorporated North Bend. The police, along with members of the Major Crimes Task Force and Special Operations Team, converged on the man’s home in the 13300 block of 427th Avenue Southeast shortly after 1 p.m. March 10. The suspect was arrested without incident. Investigators believe the man was involved in two commercial burglaries that occurred in North Bend early the morning of March 10. More than $24,000 in merchandise and cash was stolen. After a search of his vehicle and premises, investigators recovered all stolen items from the two burglaries. The man was booked into King County Jail on several felony charges. Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER