Your locally-owned newspaper, serving North Bend and Snoqualmie, Washington
Mount Si nets a 3-1 win over Liberty Page 16
Rally school draws noise complaints
April 21, 2011 VOL. 3, NO. 17
Tale of two hotels One project stalls while a second is sailing along. Page 3
By Dan Catchpole
Police blotter
ered at Laughing Jacobs Creek to celebrate the “little red fish.” They had come to release 75 kokanee fry, which swam in a small camping cooler near the creek. Using Dixie cups, children and community members spooned the fish out of the cooler and gently released them into the creek’s cold and gurgling waters. The release of the kokanee
Gail McCullough works construction. She drives a dump truck for a construction company. Her husband Tim also drives a dump truck. Their workdays are full of loud noise, so they appreciate the quiet of their home the east of Snoqualmie, overlooking the former Weyerhaeuser Mill site. But the mill’s new tenant, the DirtFish Rally School, is cutting into that quiet, the McCulloughs say. They could clearly hear the roaring engines and public announcement system during the Global RallyCross championship round held recently at the school. Other neighbors said they could hear the noise, too. Rally driving uses souped-up street cars on dirt and gravel courses. An information packet put together by DirtFish executives when they were applying to King County for permits to open the school explicitly states that the site “will not have any rally or racing competition events taking place at our facility.” But the Global RallyCross event was a made-for-television event filmed by cable sports network ESPN, DirtFish President Ross Bentley said. “We don’t have ongoing race events,” he said. The Metropolitan King
See KOKANEE, Page 6
See DIRTFISH, Page 2
Page 7
Marching two by two Spring brings unwanted petsts into the home. Page 9
By Greg Farrar
Jessica Leguizamon, 10, watches kokanee salmon fry swim away from her Dixie cup into Laughing Jacobs Creek as her sister Sabrina, 5, waits her turn and their grandfather, Gary Smith, looks on. County environmental scientist Hans Berge makes sure the release is done properly.
Snoqualmie tribe participates in historic kokanee fry release April Pools Day Children learn water safety at annual event. Page 12
Road act Middle class band heads south for musical festival. Page 14
Tattered lessons High school group earns and learns with shredding. Page 14
By Laura Geggel Every season, the kokanee salmon returns to the creeks and streams after its journey to Lake Sammamish. At the second annual kokanee fry release in Issaquah April 18, Matt Baerwalde, of the Snoqualmie Tribe, recounted the relationship between the fish and his people, explaining how they relied on the fish for sustenance.
“When things might have been otherwise lean, there was this wild abundance of fish from Lake Sammamish into these small streams, and the various families that lived on those streams were able to take advantage of that,” he said. “And that’s part of why the little red fish are so important to the Snoqualmies.” He and a group of concerned citizens, and city, country, state and federal administrators gath-
Redistricting looms for schools on eve of election Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER
By Sebastian Moraga Dan Popp, president of the Snoqualmie Valley School District board of directors, says the group he leads has done a good job representing Snoqualmie and Snoqualmie Ridge. Former Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation head Carolyn Simpson is not so sure.
“For most of the last 10 years, the city of Snoqualmie residents have been under-represented on the school board,” she said. “There’s one from Snoqualmie and Fall City, three from North Bend and one from Fall City.” Simpson said the requirement states that one director from each district be a member of the school board. The last time the districts were drawn was 2000,
after that year’s census. Snoqualmie’s growth has rocketed since, and the district lines have become outdated and unbalanced, Simpson said. Snoqualmie Middle School parent Laurie Gibbs, a Simpson supporter and Snoqualmie Ridge resident, said the Ridge had “ballooned” in the last 10 years. “We have a community that has elementary school children
who go to four different schools in three different towns,” Gibbs said, adding that she believes areas like the Ridge bear the brunt of most redistricting. Popp, who lives in Redmond, said district officials have responded promptly to concerns about redistricting. “Any inquiry that has come See REDISTRICTING, Page 3