Your locally-owned newspaper, serving North Bend and Snoqualmie, Washington
June 21, 2012 VOL. 4, NO. 25
High-flying dance moves Page 8
Farmers market = summertime in the Valley By Michele Mihalovich
Police blotter Page 2
Affordable housing Some are upset about lowincome housing proposal. Page 2
Survey says... Snoqualmie public transit use is studied in survey. Page 3
Refreshing treat Throw some cherry in that limeade. Page 6
60 years and counting Local couple celebrates diamond anniversary. Page 6
There were plenty of new faces in the vendor booths opening day at the North Bend Farmers Market, with just as many reasons why they chose to sell their wares at a market where Mount Si hovers in the background. Andrea Jensen, a full-time nursing student who lives in North Bend, started her Ekernal Bliss kettle corn business a year ago. She said she’s been hitting fairs and festivals for the past year, but decided to give a farmers market venue a try. “It’s right here in my own town,” Jensen said. “So I figured, ‘Why not?’” Kristen Raney is another hometown woman who figured she’d try her hand at the farmers market scene, selling planters she created using recycled cedar wood. She’d left her director position at a wellness center to be a stay-at-home mom. Raney said she’d watched her father create birdhouses, shelves and furniture and decided to give it a try. “Basically it’s a creative outlet for me,” she said, adding that when she amasses more tools,
Longtime principal retires. Page 9
Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER
she’ll be able to offer more than garden planters. But the simple boxes were pretty good sellers, she said. “And I’ve already gotten two custom orders,” Raney said.
New Snoqualmie police chief is ready By Michele Mihalovich
Goodbye
By Greg Farrar
Scott Godfrey, of North Bend (left), buys a Mount Vesuvius pizza from employee Peggy Whitlock, of Pompeii Woodfired Pizza. See a slideshow of photos from the market at www.snovalleystar.com.
A changing of the guard takes place July 1 at the Snoqualmie Police Department. Chief Jim Schaffer, who has been with the department 23 years, will retire and hand his office keys to Capt. Steve McCulley. Schaffer, 60, rose through the ranks in Snoqualmie, starting as a patrol officer and ultimately being named chief in 2003. However, he didn’t begin his working career in law enforcement. His first real job was managing parking facilities in Seattle, which he eventually got laid off from due to a sagging economy. Schaffer was literally riding a bus to go to file for unem-
ployment when he bumped into an FBI agent friend who suggested he apply for a support job with the bureau. Hanging out with the men in black for years is what led him to eventually becoming a man in blue. McCulley, however, knew he wanted to be a Washington State Patrol trooper as a Monroe High School student. A family friend’s son was a trooper who sat down with McCulley and talked about his job. McCulley spent 27 years with WSP, serving as a sergeant with the North Bend Detachment, assistant district commander in King County, assistant diviSee CHIEF, Page 3
She said she’d always loved attending the North Bend Farmers Market and she’s thrilled to now be a part of it from a vendor’s perspective. Some vendors, however,
travel great distances to sell in North Bend, but it was usually a strategic decision. Cenovio and Kathy Meraz, See MARKET, Page 2
Substitute teacher arrested in child porn sting By Sebastian Moraga A substitute teacher from North Bend was arrested June 15 for possession of child pornography, according to a press release from the King County Sheriff’s Office. Police were tipped off that the man, 64, had posted a link to a child porn website on his Facebook page. They contacted the man and found he had many videos and photos containing “sexually explicit images of children,” according to the release. Detectives described the items they found as “disturbing.” The man, whose identity has not been released, was booked the day of his arrest into the King County Jail for investigation of child porn possession.
The case has been forwarded to the county prosecutor’s office for review. “They’ve told us it’s still an active investigation, and we have not seen the report,” said Carolyn Malcolm, public information coordinator for the Snoqualmie Valley School District. “King County notified the district in mid-May that they were going to conduct an investigation.” Malcolm said the district removed the man from its substitute-teachers’ list as soon as it learned of the investigation. The man has not worked in the district since then, but did work for the district this year, she added. Lastly, Malcolm said the disSee STING, Page 3