Out of work by Seth Truscott

VALLEY RECORD SNOQUALMIE

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2011  DAILY UPDATES AT WWW.VALLEYRECORD.COM  75 CENTS

Out of work

Capsized canoer rescued in frozen lake

Families in long-term unemployment turn resourceful in face of challenges BY CAROL LADWIG

SPORTS

PARENTING

Staff Reporter

Boy’s bake sale benefit makes life sweeter for strangers a world away Page 6

Cedarcrest girls don’t give up in Interlake nail-biter Page 8

INDEX OPINION 4 5 BUSINESS 7 PUZZLES 7 OBITUARIES 8 SPORTS 9 ON THE SCANNER CLASSIFIED ADS 9, 10

Vol. 97, No. 32

Christmas didn’t happen for Will and Carla Neiss of Snoqualmie. No money, so no parties, no tree, no gifts, no travel. “We got a wreath on the door, at least,” said Will, wistfully. “We just can’t do the things we want to do right now.” Will is one of the estimated 327,000 unemployed residents in Washington as of November, and one of millions of Americans in long-term unemployment. Laid off from his sales position in June 2009 and medically unable to receive unemployment checks for months after that, Will has had to make some difficult lifestyle changes. “When we were both working, we could afford everything,” he said. In the last two years, though, they’ve cut their home phone and cable service entirely, lowered their thermostat to 64 degrees, and reduced Internet service to dial-up, since Will still needs Internet access for his job search. Carla is working three jobs, about 60 hours a week, to help pay the SEE WORK, 2

Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo

Jeanne Fowler of Snoqualmie loads groceries into her Jeep Cherokee, which she plans to sell soon. Although she doesn’t really want to sell the vehicle, she thinks the price will help keep her family afloat for a while longer. “It’s way more important to have a house,” she says.

Sale changes Ridge mix Pulte Group buys future Snoqualmie lots in $50-million deal BY CAROL LADWIG AND SETH TRUSCOTT Valley Record Staff

The rollicking sounds of “Good Lovin’” by the Young Rascals issued from the garage of future home number 58 on Eagle Pointe, keeping painter James Gillespie entertained as he rolled on another coat of Brazilian brown.

The region may be deep in a recession, but the sounds of work were still evident Tuesday, Dec. 28, at Eagle Pointe, an in-progress subdivision of Snoqualmie Ridge. Besides Gillespie’s classic rock, small backhoes rumbled, landscapers scraped and shoveled cement and large earthmovers prepared the ground for the next crop of houses, among the final ones in Eagle Pointe to go up under current ownership. SEE SALE, 3

Seth Truscott/Staff Photo

James Gillespie, a house painter with RC Painting, adds a coat to new home number 58 in Snoqualmie Ridge’s Eagle Pointe neighborhood. The Snoqualmie Ridge subdivision’s future lots changed hands last week in a sale by Snoqualmie Ridge II Development LLC to the Pulte Group.

A Renton man plunged into the near-freezing waters of Rattlesnake Lake near North Bend Sunday afternoon, Jan. 2, to rescue a capsized boater. Howard Hirshman said he was visiting the lake on a hike with his wife and dogs when he noticed a canoe in the lake, at around 2 p.m. A few minutes later, he said, “We saw somebody in front of the canoe in the water... he was actually trying to drag the canoe in.” A witness calling 9-1-1 reported that the man was about 20 yards from shore and about 100 yards from the boat launch, according to the incident report from Eastside Fire & Rescue. Hirshman yelled to the man, asking him if he needed help, then telling him to abandon the canoe and swim for shore. The man didn’t respond for a long time, but kept trying to tow the canoe. Within minutes, the man wasn’t swimming, just floating Hirshman said. He had a lifevest on under his sweater. Air temperatures had been in the 20s and 30s for several days before the incident, and the water, typically at 40 degrees in the winter, was near freezing. In those temperatures, exhaustion sets in within 15 minutes, and death from is likely within 45 minutes. Hirshman pulled off his shoes and coat, swam out to the man, and pulled him to shore, and to a waiting group of bystanders.

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2 • January 5, 2011 • Snoqualmie Valley Record

UNEMPLOYMENT RATES IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON The % of the labor force that is unemployed, not seasonally adjusted 350,000

324,954

313,365 300,000

250,000

200,000

179,392

187,597 163,384

154,157

150,000

100,000

2005

2006

2007

2008

2010

2009

Years Listed: January 2005 - November 2010 Data source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Last updated December 10, 2010

source). Sheryl Hutchison, ESD Director of Communications, strongly recommends WorkSource to all unemployed people, especially 99ers.

Wendy Fried/Valley Record Illustration

bills, and they are barely making the mortgage payments on their Snoqualmie Ridge home, which they wouldn’t be able to sell, anyway. Will is doing all the maintenance on their cars. “We’re watching every penny,” Will said. His unemployment checks helped, but his benefits almost dried up while Congress was debating HR 4853. This bill, to continue emergency unemployment benefits and several tax breaks through 2012, was approved by the Senate Dec. 15 and the House of Representatives Dec. 17. The extension reassured Neiss, who had only one week of benefits remaining before that vote, but it didn’t really

change things for Jeanne Fowler and her family. Her husband Ben, a union plasterer, has been on unemployment since March 2009, and received what is probably his last check the week of Dec. 27. “We haven’t gotten the letter yet,” said Fowler, of Snoqualmie, “but we’re pretty sure it’s done, because it’s been 99 weeks.” The unemployment insurance program administered by the state Employment Security Department (ESD) does not cover anyone beyond 99 weeks of benefits. This includes regular, extended and federal emergency unemployment compensation (EUC). As a “99er,” Ben can still receive help from the ESD’s WorkSource offices (https:// fortress.wa.gov/esd/work-

Number of People Unemployed per 100,000 (Actual)

WORK FROM 1

www.valleyrecord.com

“There’s a real skill to looking for a job,” Hutchison said, and WorkSource offers many classes on resumes, interviews, networking and so on.

The Fowlers also are likely to qualify for some of the many assistance programs available, with their combined income loss. They haven’t researched these possibilities yet, though. “You don’t think you need it till you’re absolutely desperate,” said Fowler, standing outside the Mount Si Helping Hand Food Bank. Many people feel the same way, and don’t seek the help that is there, said Margaret Hindle of Hopelink’s emergency services. Several services are available year-round, and three different heating assistance programs are available right now for qualifying people. “If people have been working, they might not qualify,” she said, but each program has different income require-

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ments. Hindle encourages people to call 800-348-7144, an assistance hotline for LIHEAP and PSE Help. A third program, the Salvation Army Warm Home Fund, is managed by administrators at the Snoqualmie and North Bend Police Departments. The Mount Si Food Bank also works to connect people with the services they might need, said director Heidi Dukich, adding that the food bank does not use income to qualify its clients. Fowler planned to look into some assistance programs, soon. She has been visiting the food bank only for a few months, since the birth of her son, Sage. Although she’s grateful for the help, she doesn’t consider her situation “rock-bottom.” “We’re really happy. We have a beautiful baby boy,” she said. They also have a roommate, Ben’s brother, helping to pay the mortgage, and are planning to add on to their home so they can take on another renter. They’ve eliminated all their luxuries—“I cut cable when I found out I was pregnant” Fowler said—and sold a lot of things on eBay. Ben’s brother just got a job, Even so, they’ve used up all of their savings and credit, and Fowler is steeling herself to sell her car, a Jeep Grand Cherokee that should get them through a few more months. “I hate to sell it,” she said, loading groceries from the food bank into her car, “but it’s way more important to have a house.” Neither the Fowlers nor the Neisses have plans to sell their homes. Both love the area and plan to stay here as long as they can. For Neiss, that means retooling his career. “I can’t count on the workforce to hire me,” he said, so he has been teaching himself Web design, and building up a portfolio of Web pages, which he’s doing for clients for free, to gain experience and recommendations. Washington’s unemployment rate has been at 9 percent or higher since August of this year, the highest rates recorded this decade. With the exception of July 2010, the rate has been 9 percent or more for the last 19 months. Long-term unemployment is a financial challenge and an emotional drain. Both the Neiss and Fowler families are fairly objective about things, but they do have their occasional down moments. “It’s very hard to stay confident when you keep getting knocked down,” Neiss said. “It is sad and depressing, but if you think about it, it’s not always going to be this way,” Fowler said.