YOUR LOCALLY OWNED NEWSPAPER SERVING SNOQUALMIE AND NORTH BEND
FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2016
SNO★VALLEY
STAR
BIG-TIME SLUGGERS
Falls Little Leaguers notch another District 9 victory, this time over Eastlake Page 10
Fire districts eye putting merger on November ballot again
SCOTT STODDARD | sstoddard@snovalleystar.com
Artoo and his owner Joan Hitchner (left) during a training session last month at Snoqualmie Point Park. Artoo’s challenge was to locate Mathew Gilson (right), who was hiding under tarps in the forest a few hundred yards away from where Hitchner and Artoo began their search.
Man’s best friend is a lost hiker’s, too Dedicated local search dogs are ready to assist at a moment’s notice BY CHRISTINA CORRALES-TOY ccorrales-toy@snovalleystar.com
Superman’s cape is red, Batman’s is black, but Artoo, a local mutt with heroic tendencies of his own, goes with a faded orange vest that has seen better days.
Issaquah resident Joan Hitchner slips the well-worn garment over her 3-year-old dog’s neck, pulling it down and straightening it out over his torso. The side of the vest should say Search Dog, but the S is long gone, a testament to wear and tear over the years. Hitchner commiserates with
Artoo, a herding dog mix, for a moment, before he jets across a small, grassy alley in downtown North Bend. He finds something in a box under a tarp and returns to tell Hitchner. The duo then rushes to the scene where they successfully free a volunteer hidden in the enclosed space. What follows is a boisterous chorus of compliments for Artoo on a job well done. “At that point, it’s all play,
play, play, and a big party, because it’s all a big game for the dogs,” Hitchner explained. This was only a demonstration, but the real game is a serious one for King County Search Dogs, an all-volunteer group that helps find missing people. Whether it’s a lost hiker or a person that simply walked away from his or her neighborhood, the SEE DOG, PAGE 9
Jazz returns to heat up North Bend firehouse BY STUART MILLER smiller@snovalleystar.com
Picture in your mind a jazz club. For many people it will conjure up images of a smoky, dimly lit bar in an urban corner of Harlem. Most people would likely not picture that
jazz club in a small town surrounded by mountains and forests. That is, however, the reality of North Bends’s JazzClubsNW location. Inside an old firehouse that’s been converted into wine cellar, Danny Kolke took
a seat in front of his grand piano and began tapping away at the keys, joined by bass and drums. The room, now filled with the beat of drums, steady thumping of the upright bass and wandering melody of the piano, transformed from a garage
with tables and seats into a jazz club that rivals whatever you pictured in your mind. Jazz is about the music Kolke founded JazzClubsNW as a nonprofit SEE JAZZ, PAGE 5
Fire Districts 10 and 38 will consider a resolution again asking voters to combine both agencies into one fire authority on the November ballot. Voters narrowly turned down the proposal during April’s special election. District officials say the merger would protect emergency service levels longterm for the areas they serve. Fire District 10 will meet to consider the resolution at 4 p.m. July 20 at 175 Newport Way NW in Issaquah. Fire District 38 has scheduled its meeting for 4 p.m. July 25 at Fire Station 87, 500 Maloney Grove Road, in North Bend. Under the measure, taxpayers in District 10 would pay less for fire service. However, District 38 would see an average increase of 20 cents per $1,000 on an assessed property. Currently, District 10 serves Carnation and the unincorporated areas of May Valley, Tiger Mountain, Mirrormont and Preston. District 38 serves Snoqualmie and North Bend. District leaders say costs to provide emergency service continue to increase, and SEE MERGER, PAGE 3
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