Your locally-owned newspaper, serving North Bend and Snoqualmie, Washington
November 1, 2012 VOL. 4, NO. 44
Here’s your diploma Snoqualmie’s citizen academy students graduate. Page 3
Fall back Time to change your clocks and batteries. Page 3
Talk turkey Food bank explains what it really needs. Page 3
Big swing going international Page 9
Echo Glen officials talk to public about recent escape, security issues By Michele Mihalovich The recent escape of six inmates from Echo Glen Children’s Center near Snoqualmie prompted center officials to address questions from the public and the City Council. The incident happened Sept. 22, when one of the center’s male inmates struck a staff member with a frozen water bottle, grabbed her keys and then released the other males from a maximum-security cottage. The six inmates were rounded up about three hours after the escape with the help of the Guardian One helicopter, 21 King County Sheriff’s Office deputies, two dogs and multiple law enforcement officers from Issaquah, Snoqualmie and the Washington State Patrol.
Halloween scares
Even though the capture was quick, the big question at the Oct. 22 City Council meeting was, why is there no fence around a facility that houses medium- and maximum-security youths charged with felonies? To be clear, the maximumsecurity cottage where the attack and escape occurred is surrounded by a 20-foot fence, according to David Griffith, director of institutions for Washington’s Rehabilitation Juvenile Administration in Olympia, who spoke at the meeting. The facility first opened in January 1967, decades before Snoqualmie Ridge even existed. Today, the Ridge continues to expand closer to the juvenile detention facility. And because of that, City See ECHO, Page 2 By Sebastian Moraga
Teach the vote Students learn about making voting decisions. Page 7
Earthquake recorded near North Bend By Michele Mihalovich
Playoff bound Mount Si football team heads into post season. Page 8
Police blotter
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Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER
A 2.3 magnitude earthquake was detected 12 miles south of North Bend at 11:23 a.m. Oct. 28, according to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network website. This is the fourth small quake, this time with a depth of 12.6 miles, to hit the Snoqualmie Valley since Jan. 14. According to the same site, the first earthquake felt near North Bend in 2012 was on Jan. 14, when a 1.1 quake occurred at 2:50 p.m., 3.9 miles southwest of the city. The second earthquake, on Jan. 16, had a magnitude reported as high as 2.1 and as low as 1.6, and had a depth of about 9.7 miles. The quake’s epicenter was 1.3 miles north of North Bend. The third earthquake, a magnitude .9 that hit 4 miles south
of North Bend at 4 p.m. Jan. 30, occurred at a depth of 12.2 miles. North Bend, Palmer and Stampede Pass suffered minor damage following an earthquake on April 29, 1945, according to United State Geological Survey website. Slight damage occurred in a number of other towns in the area and large rockslides occurred on the west face of Mount Si. Many reports described moderately loud to explosionlike sounds accompanying the ground shaking in 1945. That earthquake was felt over the greater portion of Washington, a small section of western Idaho and near Portland, Ore. A strong aftershock caused additional slight damage at North Bend about 10 hours later; another aftershock on May 1 was widely felt, according to the website.
Cassidy, Courtney and Chelsea Hineman take a break from their trick-or-treating to pose in their costumes. The three siblings were but a few of the children who braved the Snoqualmie Ridge rain to collect candy from businesses.
Two Rivers students get cut from bus service By Michele Mihalovich September cuts in Snoqualmie Valley Transportation bus service included all rides to and from Two Rivers School, an alternative high school within the Snoqualmie Valley School District. Two Rivers Principal Amy Montanye-Johnson said she learned of the terminating service in a Sept. 10 letter from B.J. Libby, executive director of Mount Si Senior Center, which oversees SVT. Libby told the Star in a previous SVT story that cuts to service in Carnation, Duvall
and Monroe were due to a cut in funding. But terminating service to Two Rivers students had to do with federal grant restrictions, according to an Oct. 23 letter from Libby to MontanyeJohnson. Libby did not return email and phone requests for an interview before press time. The reasoning in the letter from Libby to the principal said that because school bus service is available through the Snoqualmie Valley School District, and federal funds were used to See BUS, Page 2