Your locally-owned newspaper, serving North Bend and Snoqualmie, Washington
October 11, 2012 VOL. 4, NO. 41
Growing force North Bend to hire an additional officer. Page 2
Help for a leader Community pitches in for Nels Melgaard. Page 3
Fashion show, Valley style Page 9
Snoqualmie Valley royalty crowned Cuts in bus service Tribe elects strand many leadership New Tribal Council assumes power in ‘orderly transition’
By Michele Mihalovich
By Michele Mihalovich
What’s cooking? Local chef has her star turn on TV.
Page 6
Election season Candidates run for open seat in 5th District. Page 7
Crunch Mount Si football destroys Lake Washington. Page 8
Police blotter Page 10 Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER
The Snoqualmie Tribe, which hasn’t held an election since 2010 because of an enrollment dispute, now has a newly elected Tribal Council. “It’s no secret that there had been some internal political controversies,” Matt Mattson, the tribal administrator, said. “But, the Aug. 25 election was an orderly transition of power.” The Tribal Council has many new faces because three members were not re-elected and three chose to not run again. Jake Repin, the only incumbent to keep his seat, received 70 votes, the most of anyone running for the council. About 120 of the 650 Snoqualmie Tribe members cast votes in the election, Mattson said. New to the Tribal Council are Lois Sweet Dorman, Sunny Elaine Clear and Alisa Marie Culp Burley. They and Repin were elected to four-year terms. Also new are Rhonda Neufang, Robert de los Angeles, Steve de los Angeles and Melynda Davis, who all were elected to serve three-year terms. The sitting members of the council include Tribal Chairwoman Shelley Burch, and Councilwoman Nina Repin, whose terms expire in 2014. Margaret A. Mullen and Melissa Lynn Strand were elected as alternates. Pat Barker and Andy de Los Angeles remain chiefs of the tribe. Chiefs are not elected positions, Mattson said. After the election, a two-day transition meeting was held at Suncadia near Cle Elum in September, where the outgoing and incoming councilmembers met. “Tribal staff explained and summarized existing programs See TRIBE, Page 2
By Calder Productions
Elizabeth Holmes and Alex Censullo react to being crowned Mount Si High School’s homecoming king and queen Oct. 5.
A difficult financial decision has left many in the lower Snoqualmie Valley without a ride. Snoqualmie Valley Transportation, a unique service that allows people to call in and schedule a ride, ceased lower Valley operations Sept. 21, said B.J. Libby, who oversees the nonprofit service as the executive director of Mount Si Senior Center in North Bend. “This was a very difficult, emotional decision for me,” Libby said. “Three valued employees lost their jobs, and our valued customers lost their ride.” The bus service, which began in 2003, initially catered to senior citizens and the disabled, and mostly served the upper Valley, said Libby. But in recent years, it expanded to include service to all citiSee BUS, Page 2
Cougar has North Bend man worried By Sebastian Moraga Days after a cougar took a dog from a Riverbend home, authorities advised residents to remain calm. An officer for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife said cougars are transient, and fewer than 12 cougar attacks on humans have been recorded in state history. “You’re more likely to get hit by a vending machine falling on you,” Chris Moszeter said. Early the morning of Sept. 19, a cougar killed a 15-yearold golden retriever left outside a home in an isolated spot of Riverbend. “Left out at night in a dark, densely wooded area, animals left out to roam have the potential to meet up with anything, not just cougars,” Moszeter said. The incident led neighbors
“It carried off a 75-pound golden retriever like it was nothing.” — Bonnie Nicholson Neighbor to post signs warning of the cougar’s presence. Moszeter, who lives nearby, took down the signs. “We’re perplexed why we aren’t allowed to warn neighbors,” said Bonnie Nicholson, the owner of the dog and whose boyfriend witnessed the attack. “It carried off a 75-pound golden retriever like it was nothing,” Nicholson wrote in an email. Moszeter said the signs contained inaccurate information, including a phone number for the state’s liquor control board.
Moszeter said one of the signs described cougars as territorial animals that will not leave an area with a good food source. “Just trying to incite panic among people who don’t understand cougar behavior,” Moszeter said. The cougar was probably a male, he said. Male toms can roam for hundreds of miles, he added. The day the dog was killed, state Department Fish and Wildlife personnel set a trap for the cougar at the Nicholson home. Since then, Nicholson said, the cougar has not returned, nor have the fish and wildlife officials. “Just doesn’t seem like there seems to be much of a concern for this cougar,” she said. See COUGAR, Page 2