Snovalleystar061214

Page 1

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

Rock out with local music scene Page 6

June 12, 2014

Tribe sues Stars shine outside theater to recover $1.5 million The Snoqualmie Tribe filed a lawsuit May 27 in King County Superior Court seeking to recover $1.5 million, plus interest and other fees, on an past due promissory note related to the tribe’s investment in a Fiji (an island nation in the South Pacific) resort and casino project. The lawsuit names Larry Claunch and three of his business entities associated with the Fiji project as defendants. “We have been trying for months to recover the $1.5 million without having to file suit,” said Carolyn Lubenau, chairwoman of the Snoqualmie Tribal Council. “But no one responded to the tribe’s demand. The note is past due and must be repaid in full.” The lawsuit alleges that representatives of the tribe were approached with a proposal to invest in a new casino/resort project in Fiji in mid-2011 and, based on representations made and recommendations from a tribal delegation that visited Fiji in December 2011, the Snoqualmie Tribal Council passed a resolution authorizing a $1.5 million loan. In February 2012, a promissory note was executed by Larry Claunch on behalf of One Hundred Sands, Ltd., promising to repay the tribe the $1.5 million, plus interest, by Feb. 2, 2014. No payment has been made. “Snoqualmie Tribal Council’s primary job is to protect the welfare of the tribe and the Snoqualmie people,” said Lubenau. “Our goal with this lawsuit is to recover the money that was loaned to Mr. Claunch for Fiji so that it can be used to benefit our tribal members here at home.”

Contributed

A group of students show off books that helped them hit their 1-millionword mark.

1,000,000 words

Students take on reading challenge and beat it By Sam Kenyon By Greg Farrar

A series of commemorative stars were recently installed in the sidewalk in front of the North Bend Theatre. Owner Cindy Walker had the stars made to honor donors who helped raise $100,000 last year to update the projection equipment in the historical building. Without the upgrade, the theater would not have been able to show current films.

North Bend Council addresses city transportation improvements The North Bend City Council held a special work study session June 3 at City Hall to discuss implementation of its 2015-2020 Transportation Improvement Program. The draft plan designates funds and set priorities for various projects that will cost a little under $36 million over the length of the program.

Localities are required to update their program at least once per year. Just because an item is on the list does not mean it will actually be built as planned – the council will still need to find money for each project as part of its regular budget process. However, placing a project on the plan means it can become eligible for grant funding, which can speed up how soon some projects get finished. See TIP, Page 6

Fourteen children at North Bend Elementary School are putting up some serious numbers. The huge stats aren’t happening on any sports field, but rather through books. These children, ages 7-11, have each read more than 1 million words this school year. It’s part of the Accelerated Reader Program, which is designed to encourage more school children to read. A nationwide company called Renaissance Learning has a database of more than 900,000 books commonly read by children. The company assigns a point value to the books based on their length and difficulty. After a student reads one of the books, he or she takes a test about the content of the story and is awarded points based on the test score. It’s a program that acknowledges and rewards reading, and it is working.

ADS FOR GRADS! Congratulate your grad !

See more info on page 9

A personalized message published on June 19.

How big is a book? Not all books are created equal. Here are the lengths of some popular books, to help give a sense of scale. “War and Peace” — 560,000 words “Atlas Shrugged” — 645,000 words “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” — 76,944 words “The Cat in the Hat” — 236 words Accelerated Reader has been the most widely used reading program in K-12 schools for years, according to Renaissance Learning. A big part of the appeal of Accelerated Reader for the children is the fact that there is such a large library of books from See READ, Page 3 Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.