Your locally-owned newspaper, serving North Bend and Snoqualmie, Washington
Mount Si wins one against Interlake Page 16
Snoqualmie City Council candidates differ greatly. Page 2
Fire District considers expansion
Survey says...
By Dan Catchpole
October 6, 2011 VOL. 3, NO. 41
Over the rainbow
Election news
Snoqualmie public transit use studied in survey. Page 3
Leaflet away Judge allows man to distribute leaflets. Page 6
Police blotter Page 7
By Don Detrick
Homework time North Bend students get a bit of help. Page 14
Light from the late-afternoon sun is reflected in a rainbow below Mount Si. Snoqualmie resident Don Detrick caught this image while driving home from work in North Bend. He pulled over at a place where he often takes photos of the elk herd, but this time he was aiming for a different target — a rainbow. Rainbows are created when light is reflected in water droplets in the air. Contrary to legend, you can’t ever reach the bottom of a rainbow. The optical effect is created because of the angle that light hits the water droplets relative to where the viewer is standing, according to the website Atmospheric Optics. If you walk toward a rainbow, it will only move further away.
Caroline Loudenback, Geoff Doy seek fair fight in school board race By Sebastian Moraga
Take a walk Cascade View raises money by walking. Page 15
As consultants, Caroline Loudenback and Geoff Doy get paid to have the answers. This Election Day, however, they will be the ones asking one question: How about me? Doy, a telecommunications
consultant, and Loudenback, a Realtor and real estate consultant, vie for Loudenback’s Snoqualmie Valley School Board seat. Doy and Loudenback said they are friends, and Doy said he applauds what the current school board has accomplished.
Still, they disagree on some areas. The most pressing issue Asked what the most pressing issue is for the next four years, Loudenback said the See SCHOOLS, Page 3
Hospital district sells $15.3 million in bonds Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER
By Dan Catchpole Public Hospital District No. 4, which operates Snoqualmie Valley Hospital, is selling $15.3 million in bonds to refinance existing debt, raise money for initial work on the site of its new facility and buy new equipment for that site. The district’s board of commissioners approved the bond sale at its Sept. 22 meeting. “It takes a load off taxpayers,” said Jay Rodne, the district’s attorney.
It also puts the district near its limit for nonvoted debt of about $20 million, Rodne said. Of the money raised by the bond sales, $11 million will be used for refinancing existing debt, and $4 million will be spent on equipment and work for the site of the district’s new hospital. The facility is expected to cost about $30 million, and will be located on a nearly nine-acre See BONDS, Page 2
King County Fire District 38 could be getting bigger. The district’s board of commissioners is considering adding about 20,000 acres to the district, which serves areas around North Bend. If approved by the board, the addition could be completed within a year. The land, broken into seven parcels, includes state land and private property. The board held a public hearing on the annexation Oct. 4, after the Star went to press. Seventy-six percent of residents on about five acres of private property signed a petition for annexation into the district. The residents already pay taxes into the district, which provides fire coverage for the area, but they don’t have a vote. Annexation will formalize the relationship between them and the district, board member Ron Pedee said. Fire District 38 is a member of Eastside Fire & Rescue, which also provides fire services for North Bend. Despite the size of the addition, it will only add $23 million of assessed property value to the district, according to Pedee. Most of the land is forest owned by the state Department of Natural Resources. The district has already been responsible for providing fire service on the land since 1994, when the state Legislature gave several fire districts responsibility for state forestlands. The transfer left some property owners paying extremely high fire insurance rates, because their insurance companies didn’t consider them in the fire district, even though they paid taxes for it, Pedee said. The expansion will not affect EFR’s operating expenses or tax rates for district residents, he said. EFR is well-prepared and trained to handle forest fires, Pedee said. “Probably of all the fire departments on the Eastside, they’re the ones best equipped to deal with these incidents,” he said.