Car stolen, suspect flees near Preston
December 23, 2009
NEW—6:20 p.m. Dec. 23, 2009
A man driving a stolen car crashed near Interstate 90 milepost 24, east of Preston. Authorities said the incident occurred at about 2:45 p.m. Dec. 23.
Several 911 callers reported the man had been driving erratically at high speeds along the shoulder of the interstate, Washington State Trooper Cliff Pratt said. When the car hit the guardrail along the median, the vehicle became disabled and the man fled on foot.
Living with flooding, part 2: balancing growth and environment in Snoqualmie River floodplain
December 23, 2009
The Snoqualmie River pours out of its banks last January, flooding the Valley wall to wall near Carnation. A river’s floodplain is really the river at high flow, says David Montgomery, a geomorphology professor at the University of Washington. (Photo by Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)
Flooding. It’s an all-too familiar part of life for many residents of Snoqualmie Valley. Since moving to the Valley in 2005, Snoqualmie residents Don and Nancy Ekberg have had their home flooded twice. Business-owner and resident Julie Randazzo and her husband Harold Nesland have sandbagging their pizza restaurant and bowling alley down to a science.
Alpine Lakes expansion legislation goes to US Senate for vote
December 23, 2009
Proposed legislation to increase federally-protected land in and around the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area has passed committee in the U.S. Senate and will be next voted on by the full Senate.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., co-sponsored the bill, which would increase the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area and designate the Pratt and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers as Wild and Scenic Rivers.
The bill was simultaneously submitted in the U.S. House by Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash. and several co-sponsors.
The bill proposes adding over 22,000 acres to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.
The addition would include important lower-elevation lands and watersheds.
Congress designated the wilderness area in 1976. It is one of the closest blocks of wild forests to an urban center in the country and provides many recreational opportunities.
Designating the Pratt and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers as Wild and Scenic Rivers would permanently protect their free-flowing character, water quality and current natural value.
No vote is scheduled on the bill as of now.
Snoqualmie Tribe receives stimulus money for houses
December 23, 2009
In March, the Snoqualmie Tribe was awarded $120,359 in stimulus funds to boost its efforts in providing housing to low-income tribal members.
“We are really excited to get this funding,” said tribal administrator Matt Mattson.
Most of the money will go toward constructing four housing units for low-income elders on the Nelems Memorial Hospital property.
Tribal housing administrator Jamie Garner said the tribe hopes to start construction in 2010, after the old hospital is demolished.
The grant is funded by the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing, which is a department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, which already funds assistance programs and other projects for the tribe.
The tribe bought the property in November 2006 for $450,450 with tribal money and funding from HUD, said Garner. He did not know the total estimated cost for the project.
“The stimulus money is not a lot compared to the total budget of the project, but every bit helps,” said Mattson.
Garner said that the $120,000 received in March will go towards the installation of water, sewer and utility lines for the complex.
When completed, the Nelems project will be the tribe’s first tribally owned affordable housing.
Currently, the tribe offers rental and utility assistance to its low-income members whose family incomes are at or below the federal poverty level—which just over $22,000 for a family of four in 2009—are eligible to receive up to $2,400 in rental assistance each year.
Tribal member Suzanne Ventura said that without that assistance, she wouldn’t have been able to move into her two-bedroom Auburn apartment with her husband and son in 2006.
After qualifying, she used her assistance to pay for first and last month’s rent on her apartment.
The next year, she used the money to make rent and utility payments when her family’s financial situation declined.
“It helped me be able to focus on other bills and not have to worry about the rent,” Ventura said.
Now, her family’s income is too high to qualify for assistance, but she said that the help she received was invaluable during a hard time.
The housing assistance offered by the tribe is partially funded by NAHASDA, or the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act, sponsored by HUD.
Mattson said that affordable housing is a major issue for the tribe, and said he hopes that with the development of the Nelems property, older tribal members can move out of substandard housing or move out of houses and apartments that are overcrowded or unaffordable.
“There are many people here who need help with housing,” said Mary Ann Hinzman, vice chair of the tribal council and director of the Snoqualmie Tribal Food Bank in Snoqualmie.
Tribal members live in Snoqualmie, North Bend, Carnation and beyond, she said, but all have been affected by unemployment and the financial downturn.
“They need the help,” Hinzman said. “A lot of them just cannot pay their bills.”
Wildcat Commons to open soon at high school
December 23, 2009
Wildcats will soon get to hang out in new territory, known as the Wildcat Commons. Before construction the area was an outdoor courtyard. Now, construction crews are putting a roof overhead and transforming it into a second common area for Mount Si High School.
The commons will serve as a lunchroom, house the DECA class, let students scour the Web with wireless Internet capability, and have a screen for movies and presentations.
“It will be another area for the community to use as well,” Mount Si High School Principal Randy Taylor said.
Clint Marsh, construction program manager for the school district, said the commons are slated to open at the end of January.
“We’re still moving along,” he said.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
December 23, 2009
In 1897, a young girl named Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the New York Sun. The response, written by Francis Church, applies to us all, regardless of our personal faith.
Dear Editor: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus? — Virginia O’Hanlon
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
The key to home can be our golden friend
December 23, 2009
Dear readers: It’s become a tradition for me to reprint this week’s column in honor of the holiday season.
“You know how to get in.” – How many times have I heard that?
I’ve carried the key to home for as long as I can remember, tucked inside my front pocket when backpacks weren’t yet in fashion and PeeChees were the norm for school accessories.
When college years arrived, so did fun, late nights with friends. I never left the house without hearing Dad’s curfew reminder: “You know how to get in.” I rolled my eyes and sighed; of course, I knew.
When I pushed the clock toward pumpkin-turning time, a lit porch light and a bright lamp shined through the living room curtains. They reminded me where I was welcomed – and loved.
Then I married. My key ring expanded to include two car keys, a key to my new residence and the old key to my ‘home.’ My childhood house would always be ‘home.’
My husband and I frequently stopped by for visits – or, if we timed it just right, supper – by simply using my key.
Career opportunities moved us three hours away a few years later. Like the childhood song teaching us that new friends are silver and old friends are gold, I added a new house key, a silver friend. But I kept the old key, the golden friend.
I realize now what a turning point that must have been for Mom and Dad to see their youngest child join their eldest daughter’s quest in settling down so far away. Too far away.
I wonder what it must have been like for them to watch us back out of the driveway, our blond six-year-old son waving ‘goodbye’ from his booster seat.
I came home as often as possible. Before heading out for the journey, Dad reminded me over the phone, “Drive safely. If we’re out when you arrive, you know how to get in.” These times, I wasn’t rolling my eyes or sighing. I knew. Of course.
It’s been eight years now since I’ve turned that key – my golden friend. Eight years since driving up to a lit-up porch. Eight Christmases since hearing Dad’s voice remind me, “You know how to get in.” How I’d love to hear his voice just one more time.
As for Mom, she lives with the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s in an adult family home. I’m sure if she could, she’d echo Dad’s words, too.
Still, that old, golden friend remains on my key ring. I have no plans on removing it. It’s an ever-present reminder of a place in my heart – where parents don’t rest well until everyone’s tucked into bed, no matter how old we grow. It’s a place where the porch light stays on. Where embraces await.
This Christmas, I’m following in my parents’ footsteps.
“You know how to get in,” I’ve reminded our son, now with a family of his own. He lives too far away and his work schedule doesn’t permit us to get together this year.
Still, along with a silver friend, he carries the golden one. It’s a reminder of a place where the porch light stays on. Where he can count on hearing, “you know how to get in.”
For all of you – especially those who deeply miss loved ones, may you carry a golden friend this holiday season. For I believe as long as it remains in our hearts, it will always take us home.
Copyright © 2009 by Judy Halone, littlepencilwriting@gmail.com.
Letters to the editor, Dec. 24
December 23, 2009
Thank you to Turkey Trot’s organizer and sponsors
We would like to thank Sean Sundwall once again for organizing the Second Annual Snoqualmie Ridge Turkey Trot 5K/1K & Pancake Feed. It was a great event and we appreciate all the hard work that goes into making it successful, safe and fun!
We are grateful for the community sponsors as well. Thanks to Wesley Johnson, D.D.S., Finaghty’s, Sno Falls Credit Union, Peak Sports and Spine P.T., Snoqualmie Ridge R.O.A., Snoqualmie Ridge Chiropractic, The Cascade Team, Church on the Ridge, Mix It Up Ice Creamery, Kirby Nelson Orthodontics, Footzone and the Ridge IGA.
Your support means so much!
Thank you!
Mary Benham
Snoqualmie Elementary PTSA
Family endured flooding
On page 6 of the Dec. 17th edition of the Star, you ran an aerial photo of the Snoqualmie River overflowing, going across Highway 203 and destroying a green house. That house was the home of my grandparents, with whom I lived during World War II before graduating from Mount Si. High School in 1951.
My family has lived in the Snoqualmie Valley since 1875, when my great-grandparents settled in Fall City when Washington was still a territory.
Destructive flooding has a history in the Valley and it has many causes. I believe that negligence on the part of King County contributed to the current situation.
I eagerly await your subsequent articles, and then will be glad to comment further.
Dave Moore
Issaquah
Gov. Gregoire’s budget would cut money for schools
December 23, 2009
As Washington faces a $2.6 billion budget shortfall, the Snoqualmie Valley School District is gauging how much it could be affected by the cuts.
Last year’s $3.35 million budget cuts were hard enough. The district cut 11 teaching positions and cut three of its four library positions at the middle and high school levels.
Five custodians lost their jobs and the remaining 21 custodians received pay cuts. The middle school extra curricular program lost $300,000, forcing the district to start a pay-to-play policy for both clubs and sports. In 2010, cuts may be even more drastic. Governor Chris Gregoire released her proposed 2010 supplemental budget earlier this month. In a news release, Gregoire said though she was legally required to submit a balanced budget, she did so “with the greatest reluctance.”
“This document is not true to the values I believe in and which have guided me through a 30-year career in public sice,” Gregoire said. “It is not a budget I can live with nor is it one I believe Washingtonians can live with.”
Randy Dorn, the state superintendent of public instruction, calculated that as many as 5,000 teachers could be laid off on top of the 1,300 teachers the state lost this year.
“We have world-class standards, but fewer teachers and larger class sizes will make teaching those standards extremely difficult,” Dorn said in a press release. “How can we expect our teachers, already stretched thin in their jobs, to teach standards to a class of 30 or 35 students?”
Snoqualmie Valley schools Superintendent Joel Aune and the school board reviewed the proposed cuts at the Dec. 10 school board meeting and met with State Representative Glenn Anderson, R-Fall City, Dec. 15 to learn more about the state’s financial situation.
“It’s a pretty grim session,” Aune said of the 2010 legislative session, which convenes Jan. 11 and is set to meet for 60 days.
If Gregoire’s budget were passed as it is, public K-12 education would experience severe cuts, including but not limited to:
- K-4 class size enhancement;
- Initiative 728 funds, which provide money for professional development and lower class sizes; and
- the remaining Learning Improvement Day for teacher professional development and funding for the Highly Capable program.
“Almost all of the non-basic education funding will be cut,” Anderson said.
Some federal stimulus dollars may help schools deal with cuts, but those dollars are set to expire after the 2010-11 school year.
There is another way the school district could recoup lost revenue: if the legislature approved raising the levy lid, the district could raise its local tax rate. But Anderson said he was not sure if the legislature would change the existing levy lids in the 2010 session.
Anderson said the budget was sparse, but the state should concentrate on funding education first.
“These are our kids. They are the future,” Anderson said. “If there is one investment when times are really tough, what I think a broad cross section of people agree on is we should be preparing our children for what comes next, no matter how tough it is.”
Laura Geggel: 392-6434 ext. 221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
Unemployment brings new challenges to Snoqualmie Valley
December 23, 2009
As 2009 winds to a close, layoffs, foreclosures and debt have wreaked havoc on the financial and personal lives of many Americans.
While experts say that the Snoqualmie Valley is seeing similar hard times, it is an area that has grown accustomed to prosperity, and many Snoqualmie and North Bend residents have been blindsided by sudden unemployment.
Unemployment in Washington has recently started to slow. Around 9.2 percent of state residents in the job market were unemployed in November, down from 9.3 percent in October. King county is not much better off—around 10,000 people have been laid off in the county in 2009 and the unemployment rate was 8.8 percent in November.
Related link:> Do you qualify for unemployment benefits?
“Unemployment has risen in Washington state and all across King County,” not only in Seattle, said Desiree Phair, regional labor economist for the Washington Employment Security Department.
Often embarrassed and isolated, residents may not know who to turn to or how to find help, said Deborah Peterman, a consultant for several charities and social service organizations in the Valley.
“No one is talking about it, but we need a dialogue,” Peterman said.
Pride keeps many from seeking help, she said. People who have lost their jobs often try to hide it from their families or neighbors and end up cutting themselves off from social support in the process.
Finding the people and places to go to to get help can also be a challenge in the Valley, because there is no geographic concentration of poverty.
The social service organizations that usually orbit such areas can be harder to find as well.
“If you’ve never had to use resources for help and you’re not in a community organized around resources for help because its always in trouble, it’s going to be harder to know where to go,” said Pepper Schwartz, North Bend resident and sociology professor at the University of Washington.
“Where do you go for bankruptcy counseling? Where do you go for food stamps? These are things that most middle class people and even working class people have never had experiences with,” Schwartz said.
Even when help is available, using services that are traditionally associated with poor people can be a blow to the ego.
“They are embarrassed. Some avoid eye contact, and some will even drive to a food bank in another town so they aren’t seen,” said Greg Schatzlein, director of the Mt. Si Helping Hand Bank in North Bend.
The food bank’s customer base grow by 40 percent in 2009, and the majority of those people are families who have never been poor before, Schatzlein said.
“Poverty is in the Valley, but it’s a lot harder to see,” he said.
The low visibility of poverty is one factor that might make community members tight-lipped about their situations, said Schwartz.
“People always compare themselves to their peers. If you’re in a poor neighborhood, there’s a sense that everyone is going through the same things. But when you’re in a community where that isn’t that case, it’s more isolating,” said Schwartz.
Navigating the system can be daunting, said Kerry Beymer, manager of the Family Support program North Bend nonprofit Encompass. The program helps families connect with available social services in the community.
Beymer said that more and more of the families she works with are facing unemployment and need help learning about government agencies and other organizations who offer assistance.
“I had no idea I could still get unemployment when I working,” said Jose Thimsen, who qualified for unemployment pay after losing his restaurant job in Carnation in June. When he landed a part-time job at North Bend Bar & Grill, he thought that assistance would be history, but a co-worker told him he might be eligible to get part-time unemployment pay to help bridge gap.
The advice from his colleague led Thimsen to check it out, and he was able to stay on the roll.
Still, he said, figuring out the system—and waiting for assistance to kick in—has been tough, especially since his wife Cira being pregnant with the couple’s first child.
He said he waited ten weeks before finding out that he was eligible, with no income in the interim.
“The waiting was hard. We’re now two months behind on our mortgage,” Thimsen said. “At this point, we’re facing foreclosure.”
