snovalleystar082511

Snoqualmie man leads thousands of volunteers at golf tourney Page 20

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

Teachers contract negotiations stall

August 25, 2011 VOL. 3, NO. 34

Election results Voters overwhelmingly approve veterans levy.

Page 2

By Christopher Huber

Wet idea?

It’s coming down to the wire.

Teachers in the Snoqualmie Valley School District could boycott the district’s staff technology day Aug. 24 if no new contract agreement is reached by the union’s general membership meeting Aug. 23, according to the Snoqualmie Valley Education Association website.

School is scheduled to start Aug. 30.

The union’s executive board and its building representatives (teachers) around the district “unanimously recommended that all members boycott the Aug. 24 Technology Day, because our compensation issues have not been settled,” according to an Aug. 20 update on its website.

Union leadership has not recommended its

Evidence shows county’s life vest law is ineffective.

Page 6

Police & Fire Page 9

Don’t have a seat Complicated laws leave tribal council members in limbo.

Page 10

See CONTRACT, Page 3

Schools face another lean budget year

By Dan Catchpole

Time for school!

Get your back-to-school info in our special section.

Page 12

By Greg Farrar

An eye for trains College painters Local students paint the town red, and white.

Page 18 Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER

The Snoqualmie Valley School District is getting less money this year from the state and federal governments.

The district’s budget is about the same as last year, but its enrollment is expected to grow by about 2 percent. That leaves fewer dollars to spend per student compared to last year.

The biggest cuts are in money for a classroom size reduction program for kindergarten through fourth grade, federal stimulus funds and salary reductions. Despite the tight budget situation, the district’s proposed plan does not include any layoffs. It actually adds the equivalent of three and a half full-time teaching positions to handle the expected enrollment growth.

The district’s board of directors asked for a balanced budget that did not dip into its roughly $3.6

Peyton Stachelski, 4, runs an HO-gauge train next to a princess castle on a modular layout provided by local members of the National Model Railroad Association.

See BUDGET, Page 7

Weyerhaeuser mill site annexation schedule set

By Dan Catchpole Ross Bentley, the soft-spoken former professional driver and current president of DirtFish Rally School, wants someone to tell him what to do.

“What we want is someone to tell us what we can do and what we can’t do. Right now, it’s a bit

vague,” Bentley said. “Tell us what the regulations are, tell us what we can and can’t do, and we’ll operate that way.”

DirtFish sits on land in unincorporated King County, but Snoqualmie is considering annexing the site, which until 2003 was a working Weyerhaeuser wood mill. The

site is still dominated by former mill buildings.

The Snoqualmie City Council set a schedule for moving forward with the proposed annexation at its Aug. 22 meeting. The nonbinding timeline would have the annexation completed

by November.

While the council has not

voted in favor of the annexation, several of its seven members have spoken favorably about the proposal. Still, all members have said they want more information before they commit the city to anything.

Many local residents are hopSee SCHEDULE, Page 10

SnoValley Star

PAGE 2

AUGUST 25, 2011

Voters overwhelmingly renew veterans levy

By Dan Catchpole King County voters overwhelmingly supported renewing the Veterans and Human Services Levy until 2017 in the Aug. 16 election. Money collected by the levy supports social services in and around the Snoqualmie Valley.

The measure, Proposition 1, garnered 69 percent of the vote in early returns released by King County Elections. By Aug. 22, more than 332,000 ballots had been counted. That is about 30 percent of registered voters.

The levy renewal is expected to generate $100 million for a wide range of social services through 2017. The money will be split 50-50 between programs for veterans and for King County’s neediest residents.

Organizations operating in the Snoqualmie Valley and the surrounding area, such as Friends of Youth and Hopelink, receive money from the existing levy.

Joel Estey, King County’s

See city government from the inside Snoqualmie is offering a free seven-week course for citizens to get a first-hand look at how the city’s government works.

The sessions will be led by Snoqualmie city leaders, officials and department heads.

The course’s sessions are designed to be informal, interactive and fun. Some sessions will include tours of city facilities.

“The Citizens Academy is a

Regional Veterans Services liaison, helps veterans access the services available to them, which can be a difficult process.

Once a month, he comes to the Mount Si Senior Center in North Bend to meet with veterans face to face to help them tap into existing services, such as the Veterans Health Administration.

“Oftentimes, the VA itself can present a barrier to the people who need those services,” Estey said.

Being able to go into the field and work with people directly helps greatly, he said.

“It’s made the services accessible,” he added. “Oftentimes before, people who live out in the Valley didn’t know how to get services.”

He estimates he works with 30-40 veterans from the Valley in person and more on the phone. Most of the veterans he sees in North Bend served in World War II, Korea or Vietnam, but younger veterans need services, as well.

His position is funded by the levy.

The levy’s benefit is far more valuable than its cost, its supporters say.

“The Veterans and Human Services Levy is a small investment with a huge impact. It provides essential services that help our veterans and strengthen our families, from employment training and housing to PTSD counseling,” County Councilman Bob Ferguson, sponsor of Proposition 1 and the initial levy in 2005, said in a statement.

Organizations in Snoqualmie Valley and the surrounding area use levy funds to house homeless parents, build affordable housing, offer child care, and assist unemployed and homeless teenagers.

Cities also support social services. North Bend gave $72,000 to several local service providers, including the Eastside Domestic Violence Program, Eastside Baby Corner and the Mount Si Helping Hand Food Bank.

terrific way to get to know your city and its inner workings,” Trapper Bailey, a Citizens Academy graduate, said in a news release from the city. “We all deserve to understand how our government works, and this course is a great way to get up to speed. I especially enjoyed touring the city facilities and learning the history of our city.”

The course begins Sept. 14 with a look back at Snoqualmie’s history and a look to the city’s future.

Over the course’s seven weeks, participants will learn what a mayor-council form of government is, where city revenues come from, where property taxes go, who is responsible for capital planning, how public safety programs are enacted, how citizens can be more involved in the decisions that influence their quality of life and more.

The sessions are from 6-8:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Sept. 14 through Oct. 19, at Snoqualmie City Hall, 38624 S.E. River St.

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Results As of Aug. 22: Total Ballots cast 332,724 Approved 223,046 Rejected 100,289

Percent 30.4 69 31

Source: King County Elections

Snoqualmie gave about $100,000 to local service providers.

In 2005, voters approved the original Veterans and Human Services Levy at 5 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

It expires at the end of the year.

The levy renewal extends the existing property levy. It does not increase the rate. So, the owner of a home assessed at $340,000 would pay $17 in 2012.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Reporter Warren Kagarise contributed to this report. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

There is also a session from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 8, at the Snoqualmie Police Department, 34825 S.E. Douglas St. The course is open to 30 residents. Get an application at the city’s website, www.cityofsnoqualmie.org. Click on the “Citizens Academy” link beneath “Community Activities.” Applications are also available at City Hall.

Clarification The ballot measures being placed on the November ballot

by Si View Metropolitan Park District that were in the Aug. 18 issue of the Star will maintain the district’s current level of funding, not increase it.

Correction The same article gave the incorrect year that Si View Metropolitan Park District was formed. It was formed in 2003.

Apply now for tourism grants in Snoqualmie The city of Snoqualmie’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee is accepting applications for grants to support tourism-related services provided in the city next year.

Local organizations that accommodate activities for tourists and positively impact tourism in the upper Snoqualmie Valley are eligible to apply.

The money to support the grants comes from the city’s share of the 2 percent lodging tax levied in Snoqualmie.

The grant awards support to eligible organizations or groups that are encouraging tourism, and for certain capital, operating and maintenance expenses for tourism facilities.

The committee makes recommendations to the Snoqualmie City Council, which makes the final decision on the grants. The recommendations must be made within three months of the deadline for submitting proposals.

The committee consists of Councilman Bob Jeans; Richard Anderson, of the Northwest Railway Museum; Doris Christenson, of Salish Lodge & Spa; Dick Kirby, of Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum; Bret Matteson, of Salish Lodge & Spa; and a vacant seat usually filled by a representative from the Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce. The chamber does not have a director, who usually represents the organization on the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee.

Proposals are to be for tourism promotion and/or the construction, operation and maintenance of a tourism-related facility.

Snoqualmie considers lodging tax-funded proposals from nonprofit organizations, public agencies and, in limited cases, for-profit organizations.

Applications, due to the city by 5 p.m. Sept. 19, are available online at www.cityofsnoqualmie.org. Send completed applications to Joan Pliego at jpliego@ci.snoqualmie.wa.us.

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SnoValley Star

AUGUST 25, 2011

New fire station opens at the pass After more than a decade of work, Snoqualmie Pass has a new fire station.

Snoqualmie Pass Fire and Rescue had been trying to find land for a new station since the mid-1990s. But the mostly-volunteer fire department made little headway.

In 2009, the department was given three acres of U.S. Forest Service land by a federal land conveyance act. The bill was backed by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-WA, in the Senate.

“For too long, Snoqualmie Pass Fire and Rescue has served one of the most traveled mountain passes in the nation out of a 1920s era Forest Service maintenance shed that was never intended to house a fire station,” Cantwell said in a news statement. “This new station will enable faster response times, greater emergency preparedness, and allow the volunteer fire fighters to more safely and efficiently respond to emergencies.”

Fire Station 291 was built with a federal stimulus grant of more than $4 million. The station opened in July.

DirtFish president pens eighth book on racing Ross Bentley, president of DirtFish Rally School, has had his eighth book about automotive racing published.

The book, “Ultimate Speed Secrets: The Racer's Bible,” was recently released by Motorbooks.

A longtime racing enthusiast, Bentley’s first guide to driving came out in 1998.

His latest work is aimed at helping novice and experienced racers improve their performance on the track.

“My main goal is to help you learn more in a shorter period of time,” Bentley writes in the book’s introduction.

Many racers focus on making their cars go faster, rather than making themselves better drivers, according to Bentley.

Snoqualmie is currently considering annexing the property occupied by DirtFish Rally School.

Bentley also runs a consulting firm focused on improving business performance. He and his family live in Issaquah.

Back issues of your hometown newspaper – now online!

Contract From Page 1 members vote to strike, said Art Galloway, a Mount Si teacher and the association’s president.

But the tech day boycott would demonstrate teachers’ tough stance on what they see as the district not putting its money where its mouth is.

“Sometimes, the reward is worth the risk,” Dave Clifford, who has taught for 38 years at Mount Si High School, said at the Aug. 18 school board meeting.

He was among a dozen teachers, union reps and community members who aired their comments before the school board approved a $55 million budget for the 20112012 school year. Clifford encouraged the district to risk a little bit and bring Snoqualmie Valley teachers’ pay up to roughly the statewide average.

“How well do you expect me to turn out the best quality (students)?” Clifford asked the board, addressing increasing class sizes.

He noted that his classes average about 30 students.

Among the key sticking points between the teachers’ union and the school district are the length of the contract, health care costs, the state Legislature reducing teacher pay by 1.9 percent, and the district freezing the base salary and reducing the professional rate pay (after-school tutoring, etc.) by $3 an hour.

The median take-home pay for Snoqualmie Valley teachers for the 2010-11 school year was $69,516. That included $48,723 in salary, $10,183 in bonuses and stipends, and $10,079 in insurance benefits, according to data from the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The district has historically

agreed to three-year contracts with teachers, Galloway said.

But thus far it has only offered a one-year contract, while the teachers’ union insists on at least a two-year contract. As of Aug. 23, the district had not offered to pay 100 percent of the state’s portion of medical benefits funding, leading teachers to pay more out of pocket.

According to the union website, the district has only committed to offset one year of the 1.9 percent salary cut the state handed down. Within the school year, leaders would have to return to the bargaining table to renegotiate that for next year.

Teachers also want the district to find a way to maintain their current professional rate at $29 per hour, rather than cut it to $26 per hour. They cited the going rate for private academic tutors ranges from $40 an hour to $80 an hour.

“Teaching is a joy,” said Gena Meyer, a longtime teacher at Opstad Elementary School. “I feel I’m not being respected.

We can not keep getting less and less for more work.”

District leaders admitted it’s getting tougher to fund all of the necessities for teachers and classrooms. But they also have to work with major cuts already passed and be prepared for potential midyear cuts, a new dynamic in school funding that keeps them on their toes all year.

“A lot of this is unfortunate, that we now have to react to what the state has handed down,” Ryan Stokes, the district’s director of business services, said at the board meeting.

The district begins the school year with a roughly $3.6 million general fund balance, according to Stokes’ presentation Aug. 18. And union leaders think the district should free up some of that to address some of the sticking points, as well as provide ample funding for classroom

PAGE 3

By Christopher Huber

David Spring holds a sign in support of the teachers union during the Aug. 18 Snoqualmie Valley School Board meeting. supplies, which some teachers noted were severely lacking toward the end of the 20102011 school year.

To some, that “rainy-day” fund balance is too large, considering the increasing workload and decreasing pay. Many teachers seemed to speak humbly about having dealt with the cuts the past few years.

But to most of them, the cuts this year seemed to go deeper than they could take.

“I love what I do, but I think

you need to have respect for teachers … when you see where you can make sacrifices in the budget,” said Janna Reeisman, a longtime Fall City resident and a librarian at Chief Kanim Middle School.

In the event of another flood or financial emergency, the current fund balance would allow the district to operate for just one month. After that, there’s not much else the district could do, board member Scott Hodgins said.

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Opinion

PAGE 4

Editorial

Share Your Views

Compromise legislation worked, more is needed

Citizens can make a difference by contacting their elected representatives.

Last week, government worked, and it was amazing to behold.

The King County Council passed bipartisan, compromise legislation creating a $20 car tab fee to keep Metro bus service at current service levels.

This is the way our elected leaders are supposed to work.

We in this state and region have become accustomed to holding a referendum on just about everything, sending every little tax to the voters. Fear of voters blaming state legislators and County Council members keeps them from making the tough decisions.

For all our throwing around of the word democracy, we don’t live in one. This is a republic. The citizens are supposed to elect leaders to actually lead. And if you don’t like what they did, don’t vote for them in the next election.

In this case, the County Council actually managed to pass the fee increase with bipartisan compromises.

County Executive Dow Constantine, Councilwoman Kathy Lambert (who represents the Snoqualmie Valley) and the rest of the council showed that they are not mere ideologues and worked for what they believe to be the best interests of their constituents and the county.

We were opposed to the $20 fee, and still are, but the compromises worked out in the deal — an end to the Seattle free-ride area and 24 free bus passes for everyone who pays the car tab fee — make the bill better public policy.

And that’s really the whole idea. Bipartisan compromise leads to better policy pretty much every time.

We hope our state and federal officials are watching.

Sure, in the grand scheme of things $20 to save some bus routes isn’t exactly as challenging as figuring out what to do with Social Security. But working across the aisle to get something done is a lesson all politicians should follow.

WEEKLY POLL The weather has been warm recently. Did you manage to cram summer into a couple weeks?

A. Yes, it was nonstop grilling, swimming, hiking and loafing in the sun.

B. No, I’ve still got things to do this summer, like water skiing.

C. I missed summer because I took a nap!

Vote online at www.snovalleystar.com.

Deborah Berto Kathleen R. Merrill Jill Green

Publisher Managing editor Advertising manager

Dan Catchpole

Editor

Sebastian Moraga

Published by

David Hayes Michelle Comeau

ISSAQUAH PRESS, INC. P.O. Box 1328 Issaquah, WA 98027 Phone: 392-6434 Fax: 391-1541

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$30 per year Call 392-6434

State — 5th District Sen. Cheryl Pflug (R), 415 Legislative Building, P.O. Box 40405, Olympia, WA 985040405, 360-786-7608; 413-5333; pflug.cheryl@leg.wa.gov Rep. Glenn Anderson (R), 417 JLOB, P.O. Box 40600, Olympia WA 98504-0600; 360786-7876; 222-7092; anderson.glenn@leg.wa.gov Rep. Jay Rodne (R), 441 JLOB, P.O. Box 40600, Olympia, WA 98504-0600; 360-786-7852; rodne.jay@leg.wa.gov Toll-free Legislative Hotline: 800-562-6000.

County King County Executive Dow Constantine, King County Chinook Building, 401 Fifth Ave., Suite 800, Seattle, WA 98104; 206-296-4040; or kcex-

AUGUST 25, 2011

ec@kingcounty.gov King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, District 3. King County Courthouse, 516 Third Ave., Room 1200, Seattle, WA 98104; 206-296-1003; 800-3256165; kathy.lambert@kingcounty.gov

North Bend Mayor Ken Hearing, mayor@northbendwa.gov Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Dee Williamson, dwilliamson@northbendwa.gov Councilman Jonathan Rosen, jrosen@northbendwa.gov Councilman Chris Garcia, cgarcia@northbendwa.gov Councilman Alan Gothelf, agothelf@northbendwa.gov Councilman Ross Loudenback, rloudenback@northbendwa.gov Councilman David Cook, dcook@northbendwa.gov

Councilwoman Jeanne Pettersen, jpettersen@northbendwa.gov

Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson, 8885307; mayor@ci.snoqualmie.wa.us Councilman Robert Jeans, 396-4427; bjeans@ci.snoqualmie.wa.us Councilman Jeff MacNichols, 396-4597; macnichols@sbmhlaw Councilman Bryan Holloway, 396-5216; bholloway@ci.snoqualmie.wa.us Councilman Kingston Wall, 206-890-9125; kwall@ci.snoqualmie.wa.us Councilwoman Maria Henriksen, 396-5270; mhenriksen@ci.snoqualmie.wa.us Councilman Charles Peterson, 888-0773; cpeterson@ci.snoqualmie.wa.us Councilwoman Kathi Prewitt, 888-3019; kprewitt@ci.snoqualmie.wa.us

Home Country

Caring matters despite qualifications

By Slim Randles Down at the county seat, the hearing room seats 20, and 40 people showed up. Marvin and Marjorie Pincus looked around at all their friends and neighbors. All they saw were smiles.

Marvin held a large envelope with his business license in it.

Of course, the college degree was the real sticking point. He sighed and thought that his love-counseling/fly-tying service was fun while it lasted.

“Mr. Pincus?”

“Uh, yes,” Marvin said, turning around.

“I’m Emily Stickles. I wrote you the letter?”

Marvin smiled and nodded.

“We’ll get this over as quickly as possible.”

In the second row of spectators, Dewey Decker’s mouth dropped open. Emily Stickles.

She wasn’t what he’d pictured when he read Marvin’s letter.

Prune didn’t exactly fit this vision of loveliness. She was statuesque. She had a soft smile.

She had great cheekbones. She had a kind eye. She was young.

He wanted to have her children. Right now.

The examiner called the hearing to order. Ms. Stickles said Mr. Pincus had been operating a counseling center without a license and credentials.

Marvin showed the license to the examiner.

Emily Stickles smiled. “But Mr. Pincus, that alone … do you have a college degree?”

“Yes, he Slim Randles does!” called a voice from Columnist the back row.

A stocky built man walked to the front. “I’m Dr. Walter Snow, director of Jerry Hat Trick Community College. We have awarded Mr. Pincus an honorary associate in arts degree for his outstanding service to lonely people and the sport of fishing.”

Marvin took the certificate and just stood there.

The examiner said, “Mr. Pincus, if you’ll reimburse the

money people gave you before you were qualified ….”

“I’ve never charged anyone, sir,” he said.

“Ms. Stickles, are you satisfied?” the examiner asked. She nodded.

“Case dismissed.”

Dewey stood there long after everyone else had left, staring at Ms. Stickles. When she left, his heart followed her out the door.

He turned to see Marvin staring at his degree.

“Can you believe this?” he asked. “I didn’t even know Dr. Snow.”

“Oh,” said Dewey, walking out the door on a cloud, “you mean Uncle Walt?”

Brought to you by Slim’s new book “A Cowboy’s Guide to Growing Up Right.” Learn more at www.nmsantos.com/Slim/Slim.html.

Write to us Snovalley Star welcomes letters to the editor about any subject, although we reserve the right to edit for space, length, potential libel, clarity or political relevance. Letters addressing local news will receive priority. Please limit letters to 350 words or less and type them, if possible. Email is preferred.

Letters must be signed and have a daytime phone number to verify authorship. Send them by Friday of each week to:

snovalley star P.O. Box 1328 ❑ Issaquah, WA 98027 Fax: 391-1541 ❑ Email: editor@snovalleystar.com

AUGUST 25, 2011

SnoValley Star

PAGE 5

SnoValley Star

PAGE 6

AUGUST 25, 2011

Evidence shows county’s new Eastside Fire & Rescue life vest rule is ineffective so far offers water safety tips

By Dan Catchpole

Betsey Brocco was enjoying the Snoqualmie River recently when she saw what she called a “party barge” — a collection of inner tubes and rafts lashed together — float down the river between Snoqualmie Falls and Fall City.

The people of the barge were clearly drinking and not wearing life jackets.

The marine unit of the King County Sheriff’s Office cruised past the collection of inner tubes and rafts, Brocco said.

It left her with one question: Why did the King County Council pass a measure requiring life vests to be worn by anyone swimming, floating or boating on major rivers in unincorporated areas of the county if it isn’t enforced?

“It makes you wonder, what’s the point?” said Brocco, who lives near Fall City.

King County officials say that it is being enforced but anecdotal accounts offer a mixed picture.

Since the ordinance became effective July 1, the sheriff’s office has issued more than 100 written warnings, but not a single $86 ticket, according to information released by the

county.

Part of the problem has to do with where the enforcement is taking place, according to Sgt. Rodney Chinnick, a sheriff’s office spokesman.

“Their No. 1 priority is life safety, and that includes operating their vessel safely,” he said.

On rivers and lakes, sheriff’s deputies can’t always stop to enforce an infraction.

“They try the best to do their job as effectively as they could,” Chinnick said.

Under the new law, first-time violators are supposed to receive a warning. A second violation can result in an $86 ticket.

Ticket or no ticket, some boaters say they won’t wear a life vest.

“I’m not about to wear a vest,” Mike Coulter, 23, said as he and friends loaded up their canoes to put them into the Raging River on Redmond-Fall City Road near 338th Place Southeast.

Coulter said life vests might make sense for young children, but not for adults.

While growing up near Fall City, Parker Newhouse, 22, said he spent plenty of time on the Raging River. And he doesn’t remember ever actually wearing a life vest. Newhouse talked

about formerly carrying a vest in his canoe, but said it mostly sat rotting in the bottom of the small boat.

According to Coulter and Newhouse, the river has not become more dangerous in recent years.

Even if no vests were apparent among this particular group, the county has unofficially declared the program a success.

“Since we haven’t found any repeat offenders, the education process seems to be sinking in.

And that’s our goal: to educate the public about the danger of the rivers and get voluntary compliance,” King County Sheriff Sue Rahr said.

Most of the warnings handed out so far have been to people in their 20s who are living in the Seattle metropolitan area, rather than rural King County, according to county information.

The new rule, proposed by County Executive Dow Constantine, is supposed to be in effect for this summer, but could be extended if the County Council decides to do so.

The vest or flotation device rule is in effect on the portions of the Snoqualmie, Tolt, Cedar, Green, White, Raging and Skykomish rivers that run outside of cities.

As the temperatures reach summer levels, Eastside Fire & Rescue has released some safety suggestions for those looking to enjoy local rivers.

Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional deaths for children younger than 18, according to information supplied by the fire service. Further, most drownings occur in outdoor settings, such as lakes, rivers and ponds.

EFR offers the following suggestions when participating in recreational activities on local rivers. ❑ When possible, swim where lifeguards are present.

Children who are in or near water should be supervised by a sober, attentive adult. ❑ Stay within designated swimming areas. Swimming beyond designated areas in lakes and rivers is a factor in the drowning deaths of Washington teenagers and adults. Be cautious of sudden drop-offs. Because rivers are constantly moving, they can carve new channels, bring trees down into the river and create new drop-offs. ❑ Many rivers and lakes

remain cold all summer, even if they are warm on the surface. It’s hard to swim in cold water, especially when one is tired. Hypothermia can set in quickly. ❑ Know your limits; stop before you are too tired. ❑ Weather and water conditions can change quickly.

Check weather forecasts and be prepared for adverse conditions. ❑ Set limits with your children: when they can go in the water; where they can go; who needs to be there; and what they should have with them.

Learn more at www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/WaterSafety/waterinjuriesfactsheet.html.

Learn more safety tips from Eastside Fire & Rescue at http://www.eastsidefire-rescue.org.

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SnoValley Star

AUGUST 25, 2011

Budget From Page 1 million in reserve — about 8.7 percent of the overall budget.

The district might have to use that money depending on the outcome of ongoing negotiations with the Snoqualmie Valley Education Association, the teachers’ union.

Grappling with a looming budget shortfall, the state cut the money given to districts for teacher salaries by 1.9 percent — or the equivalent of five work days — for the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years.

“They basically say ‘We’re going to pay less, and let you deal with it,’” said Ryan Stokes, the district’s director of Business Services.

The district has proposed making up the difference for this school year. The district has not decided what it will do about the state’s decision to cut pay for administrative and classified staff by 3 percent, Stokes said.

The teachers’ union wants the district to commit to making up the difference for two years. Its members have accused the district of not respecting them or their students.

“People are to be loved and things are to be used. And you know how many people have that backwards?” Ann Heideman,

a Mount Si High School art teacher who now also has to teach math, said at the Snoqualmie Valley School Board’s Aug. 18 meeting.

The board approved the budget at that meeting.

According to the union’s analysis, the school district has increased spending on administrative costs about twice as fast as it did for teachers and teacher support.

Stokes disputed that claim, saying that the increases include paying for technology teachers, who fall under administrative costs because of budgeting protocol.

School board members and district officials have said they are reluctant to commit to making up the salary difference for teachers for the next two school years because it would require them drawing from the district’s reserves.

The district took $2 million out of its reserve in early 2009 to cover flood damage. Last year, it took out $500,000 to make up for an unexpected midyear reduction from the state.

“It’s not just rain we’re watching out for. It’s cuts from the state,” board member Craig Husa said.

The district’s reserve is enough to keep the schools running for about a month.

“The idea of having one month to survive ... it’s minimal,” board member Scott Hodgins said.

Remember Dental Check Ups during the Back to School Season

PAGE 7

SnoValley Star

PAGE 8

AUGUST 25, 2011

RAILROAD DAYS Photos by Greg Farrar

Two sisters wave from their passenger rail car seats to people on the train depot platform as their train ride begins.

The 1954 Whitcomb/Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton locomotive arrives at the historic Snoqualmie Train Depot to give another ride to passengers.

Maximus Sing, 7, puts on a rocket burst of power to finish his first 5kilometer race at the Snoqualmie Railroad Days Fun Run.

Families line up to board passenger cars for an 11-mile roundtrip between Snoqualmie Falls and North Bend on the Northwest Railway Museum’s locomotive.

The Encompass float is decorated for the Grand Parade with pictures of students as astronauts on each rocket.

Elizabeth Ward, 10, and Paytan Murray, 9, dressed as tooth fairies, prepare to hand out paper party whistles for Snoqualmie Ridge Family Dental’s giant tooth balloon in the Grand Parade.

The Cascade Jazz Quartet, including (from left) Brian Gmerek, John Chmaj, Ryan Donnelly and Susanna Fuller, performs for the crowd.

Above, Maddy Magana (left), 10, and sister Marissa, look at the flying disc art they created. At left, U.S. flags decorate antennas of a 1964 Chevrolet Impala with other classic cars in line for the parade.

SnoValley Star

AUGUST 25, 2011

Police & Fire North Bend police No smoking here At 5:50 p.m. Aug. 8, police responded to an incident in the 400 block of Main Street. A man had been smoking on a bus platform. When police arrived, the bus was gone, but the man was there, looking intoxicated and smelling of alcohol. He was booked and charged with one count of smoking on a bus platform, a violation of county code.

Attempted shoplifting At 8:05 a.m. Aug. 10, police responded to a theft call at QFC, 460 E. North Bend Way. A man was caught trying to leave with unpaid batteries in a bag.

When store personnel called 91-1, the man fled on a bicycle.

Store personnel told police that if the man returns, they would like to have him banned from the store.

Snoqualmie police Black thumb At 10:20 a.m. Aug. 12, police were dispatched to the city’s police station, 34825 S.E. Douglas St., where an employee told an officer someone had yanked plants from their pots and others had been cut from their stems.

Need directions At 10:39 a.m. Aug. 12,

police received a call from a man saying someone had broken into his Suzuki pickup in the 38500 block of Kimball Creek Drive Southeast. When he entered his truck that morning, he saw his GPS device was missing but thought his daughter had taken it. When she said she had not and when he received an email from a neighbor warning him of another car break-in, the man called the police. Besides the GPS device, valued at $300, the man said his insurance card, registration and owner’s manual had disappeared.

Causing a disturbance At 9:24 p.m. Aug. 14, police appeared at the Black Dog Restaurant, 8062 Railroad Ave. S.E., where five people were holding an aggressive man on the ground. The man had tried to start a bar fight. Once police arrived, the man continued his behavior, telling the officer handcuffing him that he had a bachelor’s degree in law and was a former firefighter, and that the officer was a disgrace to law enforcement.

According to witnesses, the man arrived alone and began hitting on a woman tending bar, who is one of the place’s co-owners. The man had two glasses of wine, walked around the bar and began chasing the woman around, grabbing her waist. When the woman’s husband told him to leave, the man responded by punching the husband in the face. He was arrested for disorderly conduct, fourth-degree assault and second-degree criminal trespass, and taken to King County Jail.

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PAGE 9

Need more alcohol At 1:55 p.m. Aug. 17, police arrived near the corner of Railroad Avenue and Meadowbrook Way to see a man yelling and reaching for a weapon. An officer already at the scene had commanded the man to sit down and the man had, but in the way of the entrance to an eatery. Police told him to move, and when he did, police noticed a strong odor of alcohol coming from his mouth. The man had watery, bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. Police asked him how much he had imbibed and he responded, “Not enough,” before he began cursing at the officers. The reporting party said the man had walked into the restaurant holding a beer and had shoved him. Police arrested the man, 27, who began crying when sitting in the police car, and banging his head against the interior of the vehicle. He was booked on fourth-degree assault charges into King County Jail.

Snoqualmie fire ❑ At 3:58 p.m. Aug. 12, EMTs responded to Echo Glen Children’s Center for a 19-yearold female with abdominal pain. She was evaluated and transported to a hospital by a private ambulance. ❑ At 9:10 a.m. Aug. 13, EMTs responded to Southeast Turnberry Street for a 13-yearold girl who had fainted. She was evaluated and left at home with her parents. ❑ At 12:30 p.m. Aug. 13, EMTs responded with Bellevue paramedics to Snoqualmie

Casino for a 60-year-old woman experiencing chest pain. She was evaluated and transported to a hospital by a private ambulance. ❑ At 9:37 p.m. Aug. 13, EMTs responded to Railroad Avenue Southeast for an assault.

The patient had been punched in the nose, and was taken by a private vehicle to a hospital to have it checked out. ❑ At 3:29 p.m. Aug. 15, EMTs responded to Strouf Avenue for a 4-year-old boy experiencing a high fever. He was evaluated and transported to a hospital by his parents. ❑ At 5:52 p.m. Aug. 15, EMTs responded to Southeast Northern Street for a 39-yearold woman experiencing low blood sugar. She was treated and left at the scene. ❑ At 9:45 a.m. Aug. 16, firefighters were dispatched to downtown Snoqualmie for an automatic fire alarm. After an investigation, it was determined that it had been a false alarm. ❑ At 10:12 a.m. Aug. 16, EMTs responded to Snoqualmie Casino for a medical call. The patient was treated and then transported to a hospital by a private ambulance. ❑ At 4:54 p.m. Aug. 16, firefighters were dispatched to Snoqualmie Ridge for a trash bin fire. Fire crews arrived to find that a worker on scene had extinguished the fire.

North Bend fire No information was available for this week.

The SnoValley Star publishes names of those arrested for DUI and those charged with felony crimes. Information comes directly from local police reports.

Rosie

Dog goes missing on family visit in North Bend A 30-pound, honey-brown pit bull is missing in North Bend. Rosie Ozie was last seen Aug. 19 near the North Bend Library.

The dog has a mostly brown coat with a white chest and black muzzle.

“She is our kids’ dog, and we need her home,” said Shane Goin, whose family was visiting relatives in North Bend when the dog got loose.

Goin’s family lives in Mossyrock, so Rosie is unfamiliar with the area.

Information regarding the dog’s whereabouts can be passed along by calling 360-918-1143 or emailing emeraldhillsabs@aol.com.

A reward for Rosie’s safe return is being offered.

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SnoValley Star

PAGE 10

Complicated laws Schedule leave tribal council members in limbo From Page 1

By Dan Catchpole Two Snoqualmie Tribal Council members are waiting to retake their seats on the council after a federal judge overturned the tribe’s case against them in tribal court.

The judge determined that the case was politically motivated.

But the Snoqualmie Tribe’s administration said that they can only have their suspension lifted with a vote by all tribal members. The tribe’s annual general meeting scheduled for May was delayed by the Tribal Council until an audit of its membership lists had been completed. The meeting has not been rescheduled.

In the meantime, the two council members, Arlene Ventura and her son, Kanium, still have no trespass orders against them for the tribe’s headquarters in Snoqualmie.

The two are members of the Enick family, one of the tribe’s five major families. The Enicks are at the center of the ongoing fight for control of the tribe.

The Snoqualmie Tribe’s influence once covered thousands of square miles. With as many as 4,000 members, it was among the strongest tribes in the Puget Sound region.

Today, it is a much smaller band of about 600, whose economic hopes have been rekindled by Snoqualmie Casino, which opened in 2008.

The tribe had been re-recognized in 1999, and is still building its governing infrastructure and the institutional knowledge needed to run a multimillion dollar organization that functions as a sovereign nation.

Arlene Ventura has served on the Tribal Council since 1994, and Kanium Ventura was elected to the council in September 2007. In 2010, the two were accused of conducting an illegal audit of Snoqualmie Casino.

At a council meeting Aug. 12,

2010, the tribe’s prosecutor, Cynthia Tomkins, told council members that she would likely file criminal charges against the Venturas, saying “I don’t bring a charge that I think I can’t win,” according to court documents.

On Nov. 8, Tomkins filed five charges against Arlene Ventura and four against her son.

The case in tribal court ran into problems when the judge at the time resigned, citing interference from the Tribal Council in her resignation letter.

The current judge, Richard Woodrow, dismissed the charges against the Venturas in July, saying in the dismissal order that potentially important evidence in tribal records had been destroyed and that Tomkins had failed to protect the evidence.

The case was also hampered by interference by the council, according to Woodrow.

“The court concludes, based on the Tribal Council’s interference, that this case has been political since its inception,” Woodrow wrote in his decision.

When the Venturas will be permitted back in council meetings is unclear.

“The council still considers them suspended from the Tribal Council, and they’re still not permitted in the tribal center,” Tribal Administrator Matt Mattson said.

Other Tribal Council members declined to comment on the matter.

The suspension can only be lifted by the general membership, Mattson said.

The council’s postponement of the general membership meeting prompted Tribal Chief Jerry Enick to call for new elections. Enick is Arlene Ventura’s brother. She and her son have backed the chief’s effort to recall the sitting council.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

ing to slow the annexation process down or stop it altogether. The proposal’s opposition has raised a broad range of concerns, many of which have nothing to do with DirtFish directly. But some residents do want to shut the business down because, they say, it hurts residents’ quality of life and home values in the area.

The opposition has coalesced into Your Snoqualmie Valley, a grass-roots organization that has raised legal concerns about the annexation process.

Dave Bricklin, a land-use attorney representing Your Snoqualmie Valley, said that the city is not following the requirements of the State Environment Policy Act. The city has engaged in a “fundamentally flawed environmental review process,” Bricklin said in a letter to the city’s Planning Commission in July.

City staff has proposed zoning for the land to become effective after annexation, but that is putting the cart before the horse, Bricklin said.

“The question is whether the city can adopt the zoning before an environmental review,” he said in an interview with the Star.

City Attorney Pat Anderson rejected Bricklin’s claim that the city is doing things out of order.

Following state policy, the city determined that the change in zoning would not have any significant affect, so no environmental review is needed, Anderson said.

But that is wrong, Bricklin said.

“The current King County zoning does not allow a facility of that type,” he said.

Again, the city disagrees. The zoning does permit schools, which is what the city considers DirtFish to be, Anderson said.

While it has “school” in its name, DirtFish is a retail business selling experiences, Bricklin said.

A proposed pre-annexation agreement between the city, and the current owners and occupants of the mill site also allows up to two large events a year to be hosted at the site. In April, a two-day rallycross race was hosted on the site by the land’s owner, Snoqualmie Mill Ventures. The company is

AUGUST 25, 2011

Preliminary timeline ❑ Aug. 22 council meeting: Commence deliberations on preannexation agreement; council identifies areas where more information from staff is desired, frames issues for decision and establishes proposed schedule for all actions. ❑ Aug. 29 special Planning Commission meeting: Action on recommendation of revised ordinance providing zoning to become effective upon annexation ❑ Sept. 12 council meeting: Time allotted for deliberation of preannexation agreement; council decisions on specific issues if any ❑ Sept. 26 council meeting: Deliberation and potential action on pre-annexation agreement ❑ Oct. 10 council meeting: Public hearing before City Council on interlocal agreement between city

owned by Steve Rimmer, who also owns DirtFish.

The event prompted some residents to join the opposition to DirtFish and the annexation.

Many people in the opposition point to the event as an example of what they say DirtFish will ultimately become — a noisy racetrack.

That couldn’t be further from the truth, Bentley said.

“Any discussion about there being a racetrack on this site is 100 percent wrong,” he said.

The company’s focus is on building the school.

Business has been good since DirtFish opened in October 2010. The company’s executives had anticipated about 750 customers in their first year.

Now, they expect more than 2,000, but many of those — about 1,600 — bought discounted introductory courses offered through the social media coupon service Groupon, Bentley said.

He is confident that many of those Groupon customers will come back for longer courses. He has already seen many people do so, he said.

For the time being, Bentley is focused on improving DirtFish’s operations and customer service.

The rest of the site owned by Snoqualmie Mill Ventures and not being used by DirtFish could be developed by other businesses in the future, but right now, no

and county; deliberation and action on pre-annexation agreement if needed, and action on pre-annexation zoning ordinance ❑ Oct. 24 council meeting: Deliberation and possible action on interlocal agreement between city and county; set public hearing for annexation ordinance; introduce ordinance annexation ordinance ❑ Nov. 14 council meeting: Hearing on annexation ordinance; deliberation and possible action on annexation ordinance ❑ Nov. 28 council meeting: Deliberation and action on annexation ordinance if needed; the crux of the process is the preannexation agreement, which lays out the annexation conditions between the city and the site's current owners and occupants.

Source: City of Snoqualmie

proposals are being considered until the annexation process is finished, Bentley said in speaking for Snoqualmie Mill Ventures.

The key step to Snoqualmie annexing the site is the preannexation agreement, Anderson said to the city’s Parks and Planning Committee at its Aug. 15 meeting.

"Get the pre-annexation agreement wrapped up and everything else falls into place," he said.

SnoValley Star

AUGUST 25, 2011

PAGE 11

Author’s work reunites former POW with Holocaust survivor Thanks to the curiosity and perseverance of a former North Bend resident, a World War II veteran will be reunited with a woman he met 67 years ago in Holland while hiding from German security forces.

The reunion is the result of a self-published book written by James Keefe III about the experiences of his father, Jim Keefe Jr., during the war. The elder Keefe served as a bomber pilot until he was shot down over Holland. He evaded capture for several months with the help of the Dutch resistance.

But his attempts to reach England and rejoin his unit, the 389th Bombardment Group, ended in his arrest after a double agent told German forces about his whereabouts. He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war.

James Keefe III lives in Fall City and formerly lived in North Bend.

He published the book, “Two Gold Coins and a Prayer,” in 2010. His father lives in Bellevue.

The book won the 2011 Next Generation INDIE Book Award for Historical/Legacy/Career Memoir and the 2011 Independent Book Publishers

Benjamin Franklin Award for Autobiography/Memoir.

While in hiding, Jim Keefe Jr., met Helen Berman-Cohen, who was 8 years old at the time. A dentist and his wife in Rotterdam hid Keefe, BermanCohen and five others.

Keefe knew that she had survived the war, but didn’t know anything more. His son’s book helped reunite the two former fugitives.

Berman-Cohen now lives in Israel and will travel next month to Bellevue to visit with Keefe and his family.

Contributed

James Keefe III (far left) and his father Jim Keefe Jr. pose for a picture. At right, Jim Keefe Jr., sits in the cockpit of his B-24 Liberator during World War II. James Keefe III will discuss his book, his father’s experience and

Auto Repairs

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the reunion at 2 p.m. Aug. 27, at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

PAGE 12

Back to School

AUGUST 25, 2011

Teachers share tips and tricks of trade

By Sebastian Moraga

By Sebastian Moraga

Ryan Hansen works on putting up brackets for an ActivBoard in a classroom. The new technology has made the whiteboard obsolete.

Innovative teaching boards replace ‘old-school’ tools

By Sebastian Moraga

ActivBoards are interactive whiteboards that teachers can operate with a pen-shaped stylus that acts like a computer mouse.

By Sebastian Moraga The classroom had no students in it. School wouldn’t start for two weeks.

But what stood at the front of it spoke volumes about the state of learning in the Valley.

There was still a whiteboard.

But the whiteboard hung,

almost hidden, behind an ActivBoard.

There were still felt pens, but the felt pens lay flat, while along the ActivBoard’s edge stood styluses.

This isn’t your father’s classroom. Actually, chances are this isn’t the classroom you studied in, either.

“For the most part, it has made the whiteboard obsolete,” Jeff Hogan, executive director of technology services for the Snoqualmie Valley School District, said of the ActivBoard.

Teachers, Hogan said, use a whiteboard to have permanent information, such as schedules.

An ActivBoard is an interactive, wire-free whiteboard that teachers can operate with a pen-shaped stylus that acts like a computer mouse. Any computer software can be used to appear on the ActivBoard, according to www.activboardnz.com.

“As a tool of instruction, most teachers who have an ActivBoard, use an ActivBoard,” he added.

One of these teachers is Jacqueline Ross, formerly a teacher at Cascade View Elementary School and now a teacher on special assignment, or TOSA for the area of technology.

See TECHNOLOGY, Page 13

In today’s classrooms, technology may be king, but now and then a wrench comes in handy.

“Sometimes, a teacher uses wacky methods,” Mount Si High School director of bands Adam Rupert wrote in an email. “Just to throw a wrench in the works and keep the kids from getting too comfortable.”

The wrench may take many forms, both simple and complex, Rupert said. From arranging seats differently to teaching outdoors, teaching in character, playing a board game that relates to the lesson or letting students teach.

“Or randomly flash-mobbing Mr. Hagler’s science class,” Rupert wrote, later clarifying that he was joking about that one, but had used all of the others, including teaching in character.

“Done it once or twice,” he wrote. “It’s easy in jazz band or concert bands when you are mimicking directors, composers

or singers, etc. I haven’t done the history-teacher-dressed-upas-Lincoln bit and don’t intend to go that far.”

Jokes aside, when teachers make learning more fun, he wrote, students learn more.

Rupert calls this learning by accident.

“Don’t let them know they are learning,” he wrote. “With certain class dynamics, this is a key element to their success.”

Jana Mabry, technology and exploratory teacher at Twin Falls Middle School, uses songs, the cornier the better, to help her students learn.

“One of my favorite ways to get students to remember or participate is to sing or play corny music,” she wrote. “I am absolutely persistent and make them sing it with me or I will not dismiss them from class.”

Students then struggle for hours to get the song out of their heads.

Sometimes, the songs help students learn that it’s time to See TRICKS, Page 13

By Sebastian Moraga

Brian McDermott shows off his scooter skills in a physical education class. Teachers are finding creative ways to make learning fun.

Back to school

AUGUST 25, 2011

Superintendent’s message All our schools seek to get better with improvement plans On Aug. 30, more than 6,000 youths will return from their summer vacations to begin the 2011-12 school year here in the Snoqualmie Valley School District. For educators, this is an exciting time as we look forward to greeting our students and reconnecting with

them on the first days of school. To be part of a profession that provides opportunities to make a lasting impact on young people Joel Aune is both a privilege and a responsibility that we take seriously.

While our schools are already performing among the best in

PAGE 13

the state, we are committed to making them even better.

Through a systematic review of the available data related to student achievement, each of our schools will develop school improvement plans that will focus their resources and efforts in the coming year to further advance student learning. While these plans will include a wide variety of strategies and initiatives to boost student learning, a major thrust of our work for the coming year will be to build even more capacity in our teaching staff.

We believe that exemplary teaching is a key element of effective schools and we are fortunate to have a dedicated group

of teachers who bring talent and skill to their classrooms. In recent years, staff development has been a priority in our district, and this year will be no different. During the coming year, we will be moving into the second year of our technology initiative: a continuation of the resource allocation for teacher training that will provide many opportunities for staff to deepen their knowledge and further refine their skills. This initiative, along with additional training opportunities for staff, will further develop the capacity of our teachers to deliver top-quality instruction in each and every classroom.

Today’s political and econom-

ic climate is presenting significant challenges for our country, state and many in our community. Schools are faced with unprecedented fiscal challenges due to the state Legislature’s repeated failure to adequately fund our state’s public schools.

Regardless, we remain firmly committed to providing for our students the best educational experience possible.

We appreciate both the opportunity and the privilege of teaching the young people of this community, and we are looking forward to a great school year.

Joel Aune, superintendent Snoqualmie Valley School District

School district, foundation share common missions, goals The following are the mission statements for the Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation and the Snoqualmie Valley School District, along with the time and date of their first meetings of the school year.

Snoqualmie Valley School District Mission Statement: It is the mission of the

Snoqualmie Valley School District to meet the individual learning needs of its students, thereby enabling them: to identify and realize their potentials, to develop skills and attitudes for life-long learning, and to be knowledgeable, productive, and involved citizens.

First school-year meeting date: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 8

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The Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation is working hard to: ❑ Build community support for schools by partnering with parents, students, teachers, and business and community leaders. The foundation invites community input and expertise to strengthen or initiate school programs. ❑ Secure resources from indi-

viduals, business and foundations to support programs that will sustain excellence in Snoqualmie Valley Schools. ❑ Support the mission of the Snoqualmie Valley School District, which is to meet the individual learning needs of its students, thereby enabling them to identify and realize their potentials, to develop

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Sources: Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation and Snoqualmie Valley School District websites

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PAGE 14

Technology From Page 12 Most teachers have really embraced the new technology, said Ross, who has been teaching for 24 years.

The boards allow teachers and students to access the Internet, making the learning more vivid before, she said.

“That’s a really positive change,” Ross said. “Instead of just textbooks, now they are seeing the world live.”

The ActivBoard has made learning more interactive, Hogan said.

Students working on a computer can now use the board to upload their assignments or can use the board’s camera to display their assignments for the

Tricks From Page 12 start learning.

“If I caught the class waning in their attention, I would play some of the more annoying ones and the students would beg

The clicker Since 2010 the district has brought to class a new device called ActivExpressions, commonly known as “the clicker.”

These clickers work in tandem with the ActivBoards, allowing students to answer multiplechoice questions and sending teachers the answers. The ActivBoard then displays answers in graph form.

That way, the teacher can know how well the students understand material.

“They’re pretty popular,” Hogan said. “It gives you really

From one to 250 Every elementary school classroom in the Valley has an ActivBoard, Hogan said. Threefourths of the classrooms in the high school have them.

“Just about every middle school classroom has them,” Hogan said.

The district has about 50 clickers, spread evenly through the district, he added.

The boards first arrived in the district in 2005 via a Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation grant that purchased

the first one, Hogan said, and the district had one or two for a few years. Then, PTSA groups got involved, a school technology levy came along, and in about 2008, the district first began buying them in large quantities.

The district has 250 ActivBoards now. Each costs about $1,200.

Proof of their success is what happens when they don’t work correctly.

“When something goes wrong with their system, many of them feel kind of handicapped,” Hogan said of teachers.

“It’s become a crucial part of what they are doing.”

Proof of that are the panicked emails and phone calls he gets when that happens, Hogan added.

Still, not every teacher uses

me to make it stop and promise to give me their full attention,” she wrote.

Sometimes a song is too much, and just a rhyme will do.

Mabry wrote she sometimes tries to makes things rhyme so they catch the students’ ears.

“It works because it is odd and fun,” she wrote. “Bottom

line, it is serious but if you can make it fun and memorable, it is much more powerful.”

An alternative to that is what Rupert termed “forced learning” or beating students over the head with information.

“It’s a phrase that tells them that no matter what they have going on that day, THIS period

will be spent learning what’s coming out of my mouth,” Rupert wrote.

He wrote that he supports forced learning though he can’t use it every day.

Great teachers are often required to teach that way every day, he added.

However, forced learning is

entire class.

Students working on a problem on the ActivBoard can print it like a computer file or save it.

“When it’s in the hands of a skilled teacher, it’s a thing of beauty to watch,” Hogan said.

good immediate response from the students and it’s really valuable feedback for the teacher.”

Ross agreed, saying teachers now know immediately which students need to go beyond what is being taught and which students need a little help.

AUGUST 25, 2011 an ActivBoard for everything, Ross said. It’s a process and some are just dipping a toe in the technology waters.

“They use the ActivBoard based on their comfort zone,” Ross said. “And people are supportive of that.”

Like many of her colleagues, Ross began her teaching career with a stick of chalk in her hand.

She made the change when she saw what her students’ world was going to be like.

“I embraced the technology because these children are going to have to get comfortable with it,” she said. “This is their world, this is their generation and they are using technology.”

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

nothing a little rhyming and singing can’t cure.

“Teachers risk being called crazy,” Rupert said. “Which for me is fine, as long as ‘good teacher’ follows ‘crazy.’”

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

AUGUST 25, 2011

Back to school

Valley’s PTSAs have something for everyone

Students must be up to date on immunizations

By Sebastian Moraga Monique Kruyt knows about the staple of elementary school parenthood but insists there’s much more to volunteering than just that.

“We, of course, bake brownies,” the president of the Snoqualmie Elementary School PTSA wrote in an email, “but not as often as you would think.”

Opportunities for volunteerism go beyond setting the oven at 350 degrees, Kruyt wrote.

Those include, at Snoqualmie Elementary, an art program, a reading program, pep assemblies and family fun nights.

Little of which would succeed without volunteers.

“Anybody willing to spend time making a child’s educational experience better makes a good volunteer,” Kruyt wrote.

It’s that T-word that tends to scare volunteers away, she added.

“People believe it will take more time than they have,” she wrote. “But we have opportunities that take as little as half an hour of your time once a week.”

Liz Piekarczyk, president of the Snoqualmie Valley PTSA council, wrote in an email that many people think volunteering takes too long or is too hard.

“Some don’t think they have the skills,” Piekarczyk said, “but really there is something for everyone to do.”

Volunteers need to be flexible and be good listeners, she added.

A volunteer since her oldest

son, now 24, started first grade, Piekarczyk wrote she wants to volunteer at least until her youngest daughter, who is in fourth grade, graduates.

She said she became a volunteer after seeing other volunteers make a difference in children’s lives.

“I always hope that I can make a difference,” she wrote.

Kruyt came to volunteering via her mother, a volunteer herself. Wanting her children to enjoy having Mom at school as much as she had, Kruyt began volunteering four years ago. She has been on her son’s school PTSA board for two years.

“It allows me to help make not only my child’s school experience better, but hopefully the other students’ as well,” she wrote.

With a new school year about to start, Kruyt said opportunities exist for new people to jump on board the PTSA with new ideas and new energy.

“My fear is always that we won’t have the resources, both financial and the volunteers, to make our goals for the year,” she wrote.

Still, both women said they have high hopes for the upcoming 10 months.

“I would like to see all the local units have a year in which their board comes together and works positively for the good of the kids they serve,” Piekarczyk wrote, “while also enjoying their time together and growing as individuals.”

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Hepatitis B ❑ Required grades K-12: Three doses ❑ Acceptable: Two doses of an adolescent vaccine, if given between ages 11 and 15, and the doses happened four months apart or longer Diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP, DT, Td, Tdap): ❑ Required in kindergarten: Five doses, the fifth happening on or after the fourth birthday ❑ Acceptable: Four doses of DTap/DT, if the child received fourth dose on or after the fourth birthday ❑ Required grades one through 12: Five doses, the fifth happening on or after the fourth birthday ❑ Required: One dose of Tdap for children grades 6-10, if the student is 11 years old or older and if it has been at least five years since the last DTaP, DT or Td

❑ Acceptable: Four doses of DTaP /DT, the fourth doses happening on or after the fourth birthday ❑ Acceptable: Three doses of diptheria- and tetanus-containing vaccines may complete the series for children 7 years old or older Polio ❑ Not required for students 18 or older ❑ Required in kindergarten: Four doses, the fourth happening on or after the fourth birthday and at least six months passed between third and fourth doses ❑ Acceptable: Four doses before the fourth birthday if all doses happened before Aug. 8, 2009 ❑ Acceptable: Three doses, if the third doses happened on or after the fourth birthday ❑ Required grades one through 12: Four doses, if the child received fourth dose

before the fourth birthday ❑ Acceptable: Three doses, if the child received last dose on or after the fourth birthday Measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV); ❑ Required grades kindergarten through three: Two doses, with the first dose on or after the first birthday and second dose happening at least three months later ❑ Acceptable: A health care provider’s verification of disease and 28 days or more between doses ❑ Required grades four through six: One dose — child must get dose on or after the first birthday. ❑ Acceptable: Parent-reported history of disease ❑ Grades six through 12: Vaccine is recommended but not required.

Source: Snoqualmie Valley School District’s website, Health Services page

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Back to school

PAGE 16

Key dates August 2011 ❑ Aug. 30: First day of school, grades one through 12

September 2011 ❑ Early dismissal: Sept. 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30. ❑ Sept. 2: First day of school, morning kindergarten, full day kindergarten ❑ Sept. 5: Labor Day, no school ❑ Sept. 6: First day of preschool and afternoon kindergarten

October 2011 ❑ Early dismissal: Oct. 7, 14,

Orientation Mount Si High School Wildcat Days ❑ Seniors: 9 a.m. Aug. 22 ❑ Juniors: 2 p.m., Aug. 22 ❑ Sophomores: 8 a.m. Aug. 23 ❑ Freshmen and new students: 1 p.m. Aug. 23

21 and 28

November 2011 ❑ Early dismissal: Nov. 4 ❑ Nov. 11: Veterans Day ❑ Nov. 18, 21, 22 and 23: Parent-teacher conferences, grades one through 12 ❑ Nov. 24: Thanksgiving Day ❑ Nov. 25: Thanksgiving holiday

❑ Jan. 2: New Year’s Day holiday ❑ Jan. 3: Classes resume ❑ Jan. 16: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

❑ Early dismissal: May 4, 11, 18 and 25 ❑ May 28: Memorial Day

February 2012

June 2012

❑ Early dismissal: Feb. 3, 10 and 17 ❑ Feb. 20-24: Midwinter break

8

December 2011

March 2012

❑ Early dismissal: Dec. 2, 9 and 16 ❑ Dec. 21-30: Winter break

❑ Early dismissal: March 4, 11, 18 and 25

January 2012 ❑ Early dismissal: Jan. 6, 13, 20 and 27 ❑ Jan. 1: New Year’s Day

Twin Falls Middle School Back To School Event ❑ Seventh- and eighthgraders: 10 a.m. Aug. 23 ❑ Sixth-graders: 2 p.m. Aug. 23 Snoqualmie Middle School ❑ Fee payment day: Noon Aug. 24

AUGUST 25, 2011

May 2012

❑ Early dismissal: June 1 and ❑ June 7: Last day of preschool and morning kindergarten classes ❑ June 8: Last day of afternoon and full-day kindergarten classes ❑ June 11: Last days of classes, grades 1-12 ❑ June 12-15 and 18-21: Make-up dates, if needed

April 2012 ❑ Early dismissal: April 13, 20 and 27 ❑ April 2-6: Spring break

Source: Snoqualmie Valley School District website

Chief Kanim Middle School ❑ Fee payment day: 11 a.m.

Aug. 25 North Bend, Opstad and Snoqualmie elementary schools ❑ Rosters posted: 4 p.m. Aug. 26 ❑ Meet Your Teacher day at Opstad: 1:30 p.m. Aug. 29,

grades one through five ❑ Meet Your Teacher day at ❑ Snoqualmie Elementary: 1:30 p.m. Aug. 29 ❑ Meet Your Teacher day at North Bend Elementary: 3 p.m.

Aug. 29

District directory Contact the Snoqualmie Valley School District’s nine departments AT: Business Services Ryan Stokes, director, 831-8040, stokesr@svsd410.org Curriculum and Instruction Don McConkey, assistant superintendent, 831-8018, mcconkeyd@svsd410.org Food Services Patrick Reilly, director, 831-8009, reillyp@svsd410.org Health Services ❑ Mount Si High School and Two Rivers School: Margie Blackmon, nurse, 831-8024 office, 864-7865 cellphone, blackmonr@svsd410.org ❑ Opstad Elementary School and Twin Falls Middle School: Carol Gunning, nurse, 831-8312 cellphone, gunningc@svsd410.org ❑ Snoqualmie Elementary School, Cascade View Elementary School: Anne McGavran, nurse, 766-2739 cellphone, mcgavrana@svsd410.org ❑ Fall City Elementary School and Chief Kanim Middle School: Corrinna Walter, nurse, 7660402 cellphone, walterc@svsd410.org ❑ Snoqualmie Middle School and North Bend Elementary School: Cathi Woolley, nurse, 766-0406 cellphone, woolleyc@svsd410.org Health Services assistant Kathy Cruz, 831-8023, cruzk@svsd410.org

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Back to school

AUGUST 25, 2011

Bell times Cascade View Elementary ❑ Monday-Thursday: 8:35 a.m. to 2:55 p.m. ❑ Midday dismissal: 11:15 a.m. ❑ Midday start: 12:15 p.m. ❑ Friday: 8:35 a.m. to 12:55 p.m.

Snoqualmie Middle School ❑ Monday-Thursday: 7:25 a.m. to 2:12 p.m. ❑ Friday: 7:25 a.m. to 12:12 p.m.

Two Rivers School ❑ Monday-Thursday: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ❑ Friday: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

North Bend, Opstad and Snoqualmie elementaries Mount Si High School

❑ Monday-Thursday: 9:05 a.m. to 3:25 p.m. ❑ Midday dismissal: 11:45 a.m. ❑ Midday start: 12:45 a.m. ❑ Friday: 9:05 a.m. to 1:25 p.m.

Chief Kanim and Twin Falls middle schools ❑ Monday-Thursday: 7:40 a.m. to 2:33 p.m. ❑ Friday: 7:40 a.m. to 12:35 p.m.

❑ Monday-Thursday: 7:40 a.m. to 2:18 p.m. ❑ Friday: 7:40 a.m. to 12:18 p.m.

Transition Learning Center ❑ Monday-Thursday: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. ❑ Friday: closed Source: Snoqualmie Valley School District website

School Board members emails Reach your Snoqualmie Valley School Board members by email at: ❑ Scott Hodgins, District 1, gscott.hodgins@comcast.net ❑ Caroline Loudenback, District 2: loudenback@svsd410.org ❑ Craig Husa, District 3:

craig.svsd@husas.com ❑ Marci Busby, District 4: mbusby2831@aol.com ❑ Dan Popp, District 5, board president: dan.popp@microsoft.com

Lunch prices

❑ Adult breakfast $2.25 ❑ Adult lunch: $4 ❑ Reduced-price breakfast and lunch, grades kindergarten through three: free ❑ Reduced-price breakfast, grades four through 12: free ❑ Reduced-price lunch, grades four through 12: 40 cents

❑ Elementary school breakfast: $1.75 ❑ Elementary school lunch: $3.25 ❑ Middle school breakfast: $1.90 ❑ Middle school lunch: $3.25 ❑ High school breakfast: $1.90 ❑ High school lunch: $3.50

Source: Snoqualmie Valley School District website

Source: Snoqualmie Valley School District website

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Community

PAGE 18

AUGUST 25, 2011

By Sebastian Moraga

Former child star Karolyn Grimes and filmmaker David Spies smile big inside the Snoqualmie Falls Candy Factory.

Snoqualmie store to appear in film

By Sebastian Moraga

By Sebastian Moraga In the movie business, it’s all about who you know.

In the candy business, it’s the same deal.

Just ask Wes Sorstokke, coowner of Snoqualmie Falls Candy Store in Snoqualmie, whose wife Sharon befriended Karolyn Grimes after meeting at several Christmas festivals.

Grimes, a Seattle-area resident, played Zuzu, George Bailey’s youngest child in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

So when movie director David Spies told Grimes he needed a candy store for his next film, “Silver Bells,” and mentioned a couple of locations, the former child star suggested her new buddy’s place.

“Karolyn said ‘No, no, no.

You want the Snoqualmie Falls Candy Factory,’” Wes said. ‘‘‘They have the ambiance and the cuteness of a candy store.’”

Spies met Wes in Snoqualmie and returned Aug. 9, this time with his director of photography.

“Silver Bells,” a story of a man searching for his first love, contains a flashback to 1955, Spies said. Downtown Snoqualmie’s buildings fit the mold.

“You have a lot of historical architecture here, a lot of nice older homes that are set in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s that serves well for the story that I have in mind,” he said.

Filming will begin the first week of October and the film will be ready by Christmas, Spies said.

A certain film starring Grimes

On the Web ❑ “Silver Bells” will happen if movie director David Spies reaches his goal of $15,000 for funding.

“We’re going to do everything we can to reach that goal,” he said. ❑ Spies is taking donations at www.kickstarter.com. Type in “Silver Bells” in the search box. ❑ Learn more about the movie at www.silverbellsfilm.com.

and somebody named Jimmy Stewart had a similar calendar, Spies said.

“It reminds me of what Frank Capra was up against,” he said, referring to the director of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” who had to film a Christmastime movie in warmer weather.

Spies, who also wrote “Silver Bells,” said he wanted to write something magical and inspirational.

It certainly inspired Grimes, who will play the older version of the lead actor’s first love, Marjorie. The 71-year-old actress said she turned down two jobs to be in the movie.

“I really don’t act,” she said.

“This is what I call just having fun, and perhaps being part of a good, wholesome message.”

This is the second time the Sorstokkes’ store is used in a film. Bob Farrell, the founder of Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlours and one of Wes’ heroes, used the store to record a movie about running a business.

See MOVIE, Page 19

Tyler Karavias, who works for Student Painters, a group of college students who paint houses as a summer job, paints a house southeast of North Bend.

College students bring the pain(t)

By Sebastian Moraga Meet the paint-repreneurs.

College students led by a former college student are painting the town red. And green.

And beige. And off-white.

All for the chance to earn a few bucks while working outdoors before school starts again.

“It’s difficult and fun at the same time,” said Nikki Buzzell, a North Bend-raised physical education major at Central Washington University, while on the eighth step of a ladder, brush in hand.

It’s fun because progress comes quickly. It’s difficult because it’s an 8-to-5 job during summer vacation and the ladder sits on uneven ground in the middle of cluttered yards.

Plus, there’s that lovely paint smell.

“You get used to it,” she said.

The leader of this crew is Ben Garding, who was, up until a year ago, a college student himself. Working for someone almost her own age helps, Buzzell said.

“Of all the other jobs I’ve had, I like this one a lot better,” she said. “I’m more comfortable around him because I know he knows what us college students are going See PAINTERS, Page 19

By Sebastian Moraga

Nikki Buzzell paints a balcony. She is one of a handful of painters under the command of North Bend native Ben Garding, of Student Painters.

SnoValley Star

AUGUST 25, 2011

Painters

Obituary

From Page 18

Jack E. Burley

through.”

A former student at Western Washington University, Garding decided to leave school and “do something different.” He hooked up with Seattle-based Student Painters and after starting as just another painter, he was placed in charge of one crew and later a second one.

“It’s an awesome entrepreneurial experience for me,” Garding said. “It’s kind of what I want to do.”

He later added, “You don’t hear too much about people my age doing really cool, awesome things. Everyone’s just going to college and that’s the last you hear of them.”

A fellow North Bender, Garding has earned Buzzell’s respect.

Although she and coworker Tyler Karavias predict that sooner or later their boss will return to the classroom, they respect the chutzpah of dropping out and having six employees a year later.

“He knows what he’s doing,” said Karavias a graphic design student at Central.

Artist that he is, Karavias likes the leisurely pace of painting.

“I like it when my mind wanders,” he said. “When you work with customers, you got to be focused.”

Being the boss has had the opposite effect on 23-year-old Garding. He has had to hire, and fire, people his age.

“It’s pushed me to my limit,” he said. “It’s been extremely difficult but I enjoy it. I work 15-, 16-hour days but I like feeling accomplished at the end of the day.”

Working in their hometowns has helped the students.

The first step toward painting a house is making contacts in neighborhoods, and when you recognize people’s faces or last names, it gives you an advantage.

Buzzell said her parents like her having a job in town, although life on the ladder scares her mom. “‘Don’t fall off the roof, honey,’” Buzzell said in a maternal tone. “But they are happy for me.”

Jack E. Burley passed from this earth into the loving hands of the Heavenly Father on March 16, 2011, in Surprise, Jack Burley Ariz.

Jack worked for Weyerhaeuser in

Engagement

Loren DuVall and Sabrina Porterfield

Porterfield-DuVall Sabrina Porterfield and Loren DuVall, both of Bellevue, are engaged to be married.

Porterfield’s parents, Jim and Stephne Porterfield, live in Snoqualmie, where she grew up. She graduated from Mount Si High School in 2004.

DuVall’s parents, Dave and Lori DuVall, live in Longview.

He graduated from Mark Morris High School in 2004.

The couple works in banking. Porterfield is a business analyst for ING Direct Investing. DuVall is a personal banker for JP Morgan Chase.

The couple has scheduled their wedding for June 16, 2012, at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Ore.

Snoqualmie for 32 years before retiring to Surprise, Ariz.

Besides Lila Burley, Jack leaves behind five children, Sharon Horn (Larry), Mike Burley (Loree), Randy Burley, Ken Burley (Sherry) and Terri Herndon (Andy); plus 15 grandchildren and 11 greatgrandchildren.

A celebration of Jack’s life will be held at the Mount Si Senior Center, in North Bend, at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 3.

Jack’s full obituary can be found at www.smartcremation.com.

PAGE 19

Movie From Page 18 The store closed for two days while it was turned into a Farrell’s. This time, the store will remain open. Filming will occur after 6 p.m.

“We’re very excited about it,” Wes said.

About 24 people work in the movie. The film will be distributed online and will appear mostly in film festivals, Spies said.

With a mixture of caution

and optimism, Wes waits to see the movie hit the big screen.

“It’s not like it’s going to be a huge Hollywood production, but I guess it will create some buzz,” he said. “I imagine a little bit before, some during and a little after, just because it’s happening and because everyone will remember the little girl from ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’”

He added, “I don’t see a huge impact, but I hope I’m wrong.”

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

Sports

PAGE 20

AUGUST 25, 2011

Medal of Honor recipient will help present trophy to Boeing Classic winner Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry will be the guest of honor for the Boeing Classic’s Military Appreciation Day on Aug. 28.

Petry, a U.S. Army Ranger, is one of two living Medal of Honor recipients of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Seven servicemen have posthumously received the award for their actions in the two wars.

The Medal of Honor is the highest military honor given by the U.S. government. Petry is currently stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

At the tournament’s final round, Petry will accompany the tournament leaders to the 18th green. Afterward, he will join in presenting the trophy to the winner.

Petry lost his right hand while trying to protect his fellow Rangers during a fight with enemy soldiers in Afghanistan’s Paktia Province.

During the fight, he and two other soldiers became pinned down. All three were injured.

An enemy grenade landed in between them.

“It was probably going to

Official White House photo

President Barack Obama presents the Medal of Honor to Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry in a recent ceremony. kill all three of us,” he told the Army News Service. “I had time to visually see the hand grenade. And I figure it’s got about a four-and-half-second fuse, depending on how long it has been in the elements and the weather and everything, and how long the pin has been pulled. I figure if you have time to see it you have time to kick it, throw it, just get it out there.”

Petry grabbed the grenade to See PRESENTER, Page 21

Golfing fundraiser surpasses $10,000 for basketball program

By Dan Catchpole Mount Si Golf Course was crowded Aug. 12 as more than 140 people took to the links to support the boys basketball program at Mount Si High School.

It was the fourth annual fundraiser.

The event is critical to the health of the basketball program in the Snoqualmie Valley.

The game has a long tradition in the Valley. Mount Si High School’s boys team won the state championship in 1977. In the 1960s, the school twice finished second in the state. More recently, the school finished sixth in 2006 and fifth in 2000.

The tradition even predates Mount Si High School.

Snoqualmie High School finished in the top five in the state tournament three times in the 1920s and 1930s.

Steve Helm, head coach of the current high school squad, wants the program to return to its former glory.

Getting there will require passion, discipline and hard work from the players and coaching staff. It also requires money to pay the team’s travel expenses, and for equipment and other expenses.

The money from this year’s golf fundraiser will help pay for the team’s trip to the Maui Winter Classic High School Basketball Tournament.

The golf tournament is one of the program’s biggest fundraising events, Helm said.

“The community has really come together to support us,” he said.

Every hole had at least one business or local organization sponsoring it. Players had a chance to win a new Chevy Camaro by hitting a hole-inone shot on the 11th hole. The offer came from Michael’s Chevrolet of Issaquah.

Other Mount Si teams were able to bring in money for their program. The girls softSee FUNDRAISER, Page 22

By Dan Catchpole

Snoqualmie resident Gary Kerr has been one of the Boeing Classic’s key organizers from the beginning.

Leader of the pack Snoqualmie’s Gary Kerr coordinates thousands of Boeing Classic volunteers

“We have our organization and plan down pretty well, so it operates very efficiently.”

— Gary Kerr Boeing Classic volunteer coordinator

By Dan Catchpole Today, the Boeing Classic runs seemingly like clockwork.

Tens of thousands of spectators flock to Snoqualmie Ridge to watch some of the golfing world’s greatest competitors.

But behind the long drives, chip shots, birdies and bogeys is an army of volunteers. They are the meat and the muscle of the three-day tournament on the PGA’s Champions Tour.

For most of the Classic’s existence, one Snoqualmie resident has been leading the tournament’s all-volunteer army.

Perhaps more than anyone else, Gary Kerr has helped shape how the Classic functions.

The 65-year-old Kerr is a latecomer to golf. He took up the game when he and his wife moved to Snoqualmie Ridge in 2001. They moved into a house on the eighth hole of the golf course at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, which hosts the Classic.

Kerr joined TPC and took to the links in his free time.

In 2005, Kerr saw that the Boeing Classic was coming to Snoqualmie, and thought it would be fun to volunteer at the event. So, he called Chuck

What to know Gary Kerr’s tips for organizing volunteers 1. Develop and document the plan for the volunteer effort, and communicate it to committee coordinators.

2. Recruit committee coordinators who have solid organizational and communication skills.

3. Meet with committee coordinators regularly leading up to the event

Nelson, the tournament’s organizer at the time.

“I didn’t know what I was getting myself involved in,” Kerr said.

When he called, he didn’t expect to become such an integral part of the tournament’s organization.

Building the organization At the time, everyone was trying to figure out how best to organize the tournament. There was no model and no one to go to for advice.

“We didn’t really have a sounding board, so that was

(preferably at the same location).

4. Compose meeting notes during committee meetings that identify issues and action items, and distribute notes to committee coordinators within a couple of days of a meeting.

5. Encourage committee coordinators to raise a ‘flag’ if issues arise that will impede progress, and solicit everyone’s help to solve the problems.

6. Make volunteers feel they are part of the process and success.

7. Trust your instinct.

more stressful,” Kerr said.

He and other organizers had to take their organizational experiences — mostly from the business world — and translate them to a three-day tournament with television coverage and some of the golfing world’s biggest names.

Kerr started out as head of the Shot Link Committee, which was responsible for measuring the distance of each shot and how far players were from the hole, and transmitting that data to the Golf Channel’s commenSee VOLUNTEER, Page 21

SnoValley Star

AUGUST 25, 2011

PAGE 21

Volunteer From Page 20

Dustin Breshears

Contributed

A member of TPC Snoqualmie Ridge’s swim team races during a swim meet in the team’s inaugural season.

TPC Snoqualmie Ridge swimmers advance to division championships

By Dan Catchpole In its inaugural year, TPC Snoqualmie Ridge’s swim team sent several members to compete in the divisional championships.

The team competes in Division 5 of the Midlakes Swim League.

In its first year, the team had 56 racers.

“The focus of it has been to have fun and learn,” said Katie Farr, the director of TPC’s aquatics program.

Even so, most of the team’s racers have improved their times. In all, 15 team members raced in the division or league championships.

The team’s coach, Rachel Marinos, has 25 years of coaching experience in the area. The assistant coach, Katie Haas, swims for Colonial University in Kentucky.

There are six other teams in Division 5. The team had four swim meets this season.

At the division championships on July 16, Sara Bosworth finished first in the 50-meter butterfly. She also joined teammates Sarah Miller, Hannah Green and Isabelle Gonzalez for a third-place finish in the 200-meter freestyle relay.

Cameron Pearson finished second in the 25-meter backstroke. He and teammates Tanner Quinn, Brock Gates and Carter Nelson finished second in the 100-meter freestyle relay.

Nelson also took third place in the 25-meter butterfly.

Maddie Hager took second place in the 50-meter butterfly and third place in the 50-meter breaststroke.

“The focus of it has been to have fun and learn.”

— Katie Farr Director of TPC’s aquatics program

At the Midlakes League Championship meet on July 20, John Cullen finished 12th in the 25-meter butterfly and Cole Norah took 15th place.

Emma Cullen, Jackalyn Gates, Anika Nelson and Elizabeth Thurmond also raced in the 100-meter freestyle relay.

Farr is looking forward to next year. She said she expects the team, which is open to club members with a pool membership, will continue to grow. It is a very young team, so most members are expected to return.

The TPC team is the first new team to join the Midlakes League in 15 years.

Mount Si High School does not usually have a swim team, but recent graduate Chase Goulart won the state championship in the 200-meter individual medley in 2010.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

Mount Si High School’s Dustin Breshears commits to Gonzaga Another member of Mount Si High School’s state baseball championship team has committed to play Division I baseball in college next year.

Dustin Breshears plans to play for Gonzaga University in Spokane.

Playing second base and often batting leadoff, Breshears was a key piece of the Wildcats’ run to the state title this spring. He had a .301 batting average, a .419 on-base percentage and 18 RBIs. He led the team with four triples and 18 walks.

In the field, Breshears formed a fearsome double-play combo with shortstop Tim Proudfoot, who will play for Texas Tech, another Division I school, in 2012.

Presenter From Page 20 throw it away, but before he could, it detonated in his right hand.

He put on a tourniquet and continued to maintain radio contact with the rest of his unit, which was able to reach the injured men after further fighting. One Ranger died in the effort.

Petry also has two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. He has a wife and four children, who live in New Mexico.

The Boeing Classic is offering free admission, free parking and a special event tent at the 18th green for active and retired members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their dependents. A valid military identification must be presented when entering the tournament.

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tators.

As with everything else, there were no previous examples of how to organize the dozens of volunteers he was overseeing. Kerr created templates to efficiently schedule and position the volunteers.

The templates worked so well, an official from the PGA Tour sent them to other tournament organizations.

“That was a situation where I was flying by the seat of my pants,” Kerr said.

The next year, Kerr found himself at the head of the Boeing Classic’s volunteers.

By 2007, he and other organizers had begun to document how to manage the volunteers.

“We have our organization and plan down pretty well, so it operates very efficiently,” Kerr said.

Still, in the beginning, the organizers had to get by with less. The tournament didn’t draw 1,000 volunteers but 500 or 600. That required a lot of juggling between responsibilities and roles.

The structure has grown as well, from 13 committees to 22. Organizers found it was better to have committee cochairs rather than a single head for each one.

People keep coming back Getting good people involved and keeping them has been critical to the Boeing Classic’s success.

Kerr sought people with organizational and people skills. He also worked to get people to return year after year.

He did that, in part, by making sure volunteers understood how they contributed to the tournament’s success. It doesn’t hurt that most of the volunteers have fun, too.

About 55 percent of the Boeing Classic’s volunteers return from one year to the next.

“That means they’re having a good experience,” Kerr said.

Volunteers for the tournament actually “pay” for the experience. Many people take a week of vacation to volunteer for the Classic.

The return rate is even better among the volunteer committee co-chairs. About 75 percent of

By Dan Catchpole

Gary Kerr surveys the course before the tournament starts. them come back from the previous year. Having experienced organizers come back makes things run much smoother.

“We’re privileged to have those people return each year,” he said.

Being a volunteer co-chair is not a small commitment, either. They begin meeting in March and put in hundreds of hours. As the Volunteer Committee co-chairman, Kerr spent 500 to 600 hours a year working on the Boeing Classic.

The activity really picks up in June.

“The emails are flying,” he said.

The buzz of activity only grows as it gets closer to the actual tournament.

Kerr’s role doesn’t leave him much time to watch the event in which he has invested so many hours. Each year, he is usually able to take a little while to watch the leaders on the 18th hole, often the best place to watch. The Boeing Classic typically is not decided until the last couple holes of play.

Working on the tournament has been a labor of love for Kerr, and an opportunity to show off his adopted home to the world.

The Golf Channel broadcasts the Classic, and its camera operators make good use of the sweeping views from Snoqualmie Ridge and other shots from the Valley.

“If you think of all those eyeballs — it goes worldwide,” Kerr said. “It brings great attention to this area.”

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

SnoValley Star

PAGE 22

Fundraiser From Page 20 ball team, and the boys and girls golf teams each raised money at the event.

Ken Sinner organized the tournament, which offered prizes to the top finishers.

But most people were there to support local athletics.

That’s why former Mount Si basketball player Mike Patton came out. He said he likes what Helm has done for the program since taking it over in 2010.

“I think it’s improving.

There’s more emphasis on the

By Dan Catchpole

Erik Tierney, the freshmen boys basketball coach at Mount Si High School, chips onto the green during the basketball program’s fundraising golf tournament.

youth program,” Patton said.

One of Helm’s goals has been to better integrate the Valley’s youth and high school programs.

To do that, he has worked closely with Warren Sheldon, the head of the Valley’s youth basketball program. Helm made Sheldon his assistant coach at the high school.

Helm, Sheldon and the program’s other two coaches — Vince Johnston and Erik Tierney — played their best on the links at the fundraiser. But they proved that basketball — and not golf — is where their focus is.

Rich Moore, Paul Stuit, Brent Lutz and Loren Simmons won the tournament and a round of golf at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

AUGUST 25, 2011

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Calendar

AUGUST 25, 2011

PAGE 23

Public meetings Snoqualmie Public Safety Committee, 5 p.m. Aug. 25, 37600 S.E. Snoqualmie Parkway Snoqualmie Community and Economic Affairs Committee, 5 p.m. Aug. 30, 38624 S.E. River St.

August

Teeing off at the classic

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Events Snoqualmie Falls Forest Theater presents “Brigadoon,” various times until Aug. 28, 36800 David Powell Road, Fall City. Show times: 2 and 7 p.m. on Saturdays, and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets: $18 ($16 senior/students, $8 for children ages 6-12). Buy tickets and dinner reservations online at www.foresttheater.org.

North Bend Farmers Market and Summer Concert Series, 4-8 p.m. Aug. 25, Si View Park, 400 S.E. Orchard Drive. See a performance

by Down the Road at 5:30 p.m.

Family Fun Nights at the Park, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 25, Snoqualmie Community Park, 35016 S.E. Ridge St., Snoqualmie. Games and events for all ages 3-12. Bring a picnic.

Alive and Kicking: A Valley musical theater review, 7 p.m.

Aug. 25, The Black Dog, 8062 Railroad Ave. S.E., Snoqualmie.

Suggested $5 - $10 donation.

Dave Anderson Trio, 7 p.m. Aug. 26, Boxley’s, 101 W. North Bend Way, North Bend Timber and Her Two Sleazy Friends, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26, The Black Dog, 8062 Railroad Ave. S.E., Snoqualmie.

Campfire Program, 7:45 p.m. Aug. 26, Cedar River Watershed, 19901 Cedar Falls Road S.E., North Bend. Come along for an easy evening hike led by staff of the Cedar River Watershed. For ages 5 and older.

Cost: $5 Home Buyer Workshop, 10-11:30 a.m. Aug. 27, 102 W. North Bend Way, North Bend.

Three professionals from the real estate industry will talk about the home-buying process.

Refreshments will be provided.

RSVP to James Dennis, 533-7854.

Guided Tour of Meadowbrook Farm, 10 a.m.

Aug. 27, Snoqualmie Middle School, 39801 S.E. Park St., Snoqualmie. Learn the history, boundaries, flora and fauna of this jewel of the Snoqualmie Valley.

Led by local historian Dave Battey. Dress for the weather.

Merlot in the Meadow, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 27, Madison Grove Farm, 3807 324th Ave. S.E., Fall City. Enjoy a silent auction and dinner at Madison Grove Farm, a nonprofit equestrian farm that rehabilitates neglected and abused horses.

Cost: $50 per person.

Reservations can be made at

2011

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Sept. 3, The Black Dog, 8062 Railroad Ave. S.E., Snoqualmie North Bend First Tuesday Book Club: “The Glassblower of Murano,” by Marina Fiorato, 7 p.m. Sept. 6, North Bend Library, 115 E. Fourth St., North Bend

Volunteer opportunities

File

Bernhard Langer drives off a tee at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge during the 2010 Boeing Classic. The annual Champions Tour tournament runs Aug. 26-28. A few things to make sure to see are the traditional flyover by a Boeing jet plane to kick off the tournament at 11:20 a.m. Aug. 26, and Military Appreciation Day on Aug. 28, when active and retired military members and their dependents get in for free with a valid military identification. All events are at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, 36005 S.E. Ridge St., Snoqualmie.

www.madisongrovefarm.com.

Gene Argel Quartet with Jay Thomas, 7 p.m. Aug. 27, Boxley’s, 101 W. North Bend Way, North Bend Danae Dean, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 27, The Black Dog, 8062 Railroad Ave. S.E., Snoqualmie.

Tunes and Trains: A free outdoor concert, 1-3 p.m. Aug. 28, Railroad Park, corner of Southeast King Street and Railroad Avenue Southeast, Snoqualmie. Live music by “Trip the Light,” including Latin, drum and bass, rock and groove.

Danny Kolke Trio, 7 p.m.

Aug. 28, Boxley’s, 101 W. North Bend Way, North Bend Meet the Author: David Volk, author of “The Cheap Bastard’s Guide to Seattle,” 7 p.m. Aug. 29, Snoqualmie Library, 7824 Center Blvd. S.E. Times may be tough, but Seattle travel writer Volk demonstrates you don’t have to stop going out just because your budget is tight.

Open mic, 6:30 p.m. Aug. 30, Twede’s Café, 137 W. North Bend Way, North Bend.

RMI Performance Night, 6:30 p.m. Aug. 30, Boxley’s, 101 W. North Bend Way, North Bend Kids’ Play in the Parks Program, 1-3 p.m. Aug. 31, alternating location, Snoqualmie.

Children can play games, work on art projects and enjoy other activities. Parents must pre-register children with Snoqualmie’s Parks and Recreation Department.

Locations alternate each week

between Centennial Fields Park, 39903 S.E. Park St., and Azalea Park, 6604 Azalea Way, Snoqualmie. For children ages 510. Pre-register by calling Cassie Craig, Parks and Recreation Department, at 831-5784.

Open mic, 7 p.m. Aug. 31, The Black Dog, 8062 Railroad Ave. S.E., Snoqualmie.

Scott's Dairy Freeze 60th anniversary celebration, 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Aug. 31, Scott's Dairy Freeze, 234 E. North Bend Way, North Bend. The Dairy Freeze is saying "thank you" to its customers after 60 years of business. Come by and get a burger, fries and soft drink for $2.

North Bend Farmers Market and Summer Concert Series, 4-8 p.m. Sept. 1, Si View Park, 400 S.E. Orchard Drive. See a performance by Collin Mulvany Quartet at 5:30 p.m.

“Purl One, Listen Too,” 1 p.m. Sept. 1, Snoqualmie Library, 7824 Center Blvd. S.E., Snoqualmie. Learn new stitches, meet new friends, listen to new books and talk about knitting.

Poetry Open Mic Night, 6-8 p.m. Sept. 1, The Black Dog, 8062 Railroad Ave. S.E., Snoqualmie Spanish/English Story Time, 10:30 a.m. Sept. 3, Snoqualmie Library, 7824 Center Blvd. S.E., Snoqualmie.

All young children are welcome if accompanied by an adult.

Women in Music: Saritah with Tiger Zane, Jessica Lynne and Sista Lu, 7:30 p.m.

The Mount Si Food Bank: Help unload food at noon Mondays, sort food at 9 a.m.

Tuesdays or pass out food on Wednesdays. Call the food bank at 888-0096.

Elk Management Group: Participate in elk collaring, telemetry and habitat improvement projects in the Upper Snoqualmie Valley. Project orientation meetings are at 6 p.m. the third Monday of the month at the North Bend City Hall, 211 Main Ave. N. Email research@snoqualmievalleyelk.org.

Snoqualmie Valley Hospital is accepting applications for ages 16 or older to volunteer in various departments of the hospital. Email volunteer coordinator Carol Waters at carolw@snoqualmiehospital.org to arrange an interview.

Spanish Academy invites volunteers fluent in Spanish to participate in summer camps on its three-acre farm-style school.

Must love children and nature.

Call 888-4999.

Senior Services Transportation Program: Drive seniors around North Bend and Snoqualmie. Choose the times/areas in which you’d like to drive. Car required.

Mileage reimbursement and supplemental liability insurance offered. Call 206-748-7588 or 800-282-5815 toll free, or email melissat@seniorservices.org.

Apply online at www.seniorservices.org. Click on “Giving Back” and then “Volunteer Opportunities.”

Mount Si Senior Center: Help with sorting and sales in the thrift store, reception and class instruction. The center is at 411 Main Ave. S., North Bend.

Call 888-3434.

Hopelink in Snoqualmie Valley seeks volunteers for a variety of tasks. Volunteers must be at least 16. Go to www.hopelink.org/takeaction/volunteer.com or call 869-6000.

Adopt-A-Park is a program for Snoqualmie residents to improve public parks and trails.

September

2011

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An application and one-year commitment are required. Call 831-5784.

Study Zone tutors are needed for all grade levels to give students the homework help they need. Two-hour weekly commitment or substitutes wanted. Study Zone is a free service of the King County Library System. Call 369-3312.

Classes S.A.I.L. (Stay Active and Independent for Life) exercise class meets Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Mount Si Senior Center, 411 Main Ave. S., North Bend. Led by certified exercise instructor Carla Orellana. Call 888-3434.

Clubs Sallal Grange, 12912 432nd Ave. S.E., North Bend, meets the first Friday for a potluck and open mic with local musicians.

The potluck starts at 6 p.m. with the music from 7 p.m. to midnight. Open to all people/ages.

Go to www.sallalgrange.org.

Snoqualmie Valley Chess Club, 7 p.m. Thursdays, North Bend Library, 115 E. Fourth St. Learn to play chess or get a game going. All ages and skill levels are welcome.

The North Bend Chess Club meets every Thursday from 7-9 p.m. at the North Bend Library, 115 E. Fourth St. All ages and skill levels are invited.

Snoqualmie Valley Rotary Club meets at 7 a.m. every Thursday at the TPC Snoqualmie Ridge Golf Club Restaurant. All are welcome. Go to www.snoqualmievalleyrotary.org.

American Legion Post 79 and the American Legion Auxiliary meet at 7 p.m. the second Thursday at 38625 S.E. River St., Snoqualmie. Call 888-1206.

Snoqualmie Valley Garden Club meets at 6:30 p.m. the second Thursday at the Mount Si Senior Center, North Bend. Call 888-4646.

Snoqualmie Valley Kiwanis Club meets at 7 a.m. every Thursday at the Mount Si Golf Course restaurant in Snoqualmie. Email snovalley@member.kiwanis.org.

Submit an item for the community calendar by emailing editor@snovalleystar.com or go to www.snovalleystar.com.

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SnoValley Star

AUGUST 25, 2011