Candlelight vigil honors Mount Si student
September 22, 2010
NEW — 6:20 p.m. Sept. 22, 2010
The Valley community showed its support for the family of a high school junior Sept. 14 during a candlelight vigil on a grassy field next to Cascade View Elementary School. (By Sebastian Moraga)
In a park where boys and girls run and play, men and women stood and wept.
A place that on the morning of Sept. 14 was bathed in sunshine, in the evening glowed with candles.
Community comes together with tears, honesty
September 22, 2010
NEW — 6:16 p.m. Sept. 22, 2010
Robb Lane’s brother brought a friend home one day. When Trevor Lane went in to take a shower, the friend sat down and played video games with Robb.
“It’s not super memorable,” Robb Lane said of that day months ago. “But now looking back, it’s kind of special.”
School counselor Heather Kern speaks to sixth-graders at Snoqualmie Middle School about depression and suicide prevention Sept. 17. She had spoken earlier to seventh- and eighth-graders. By Sebastian Moraga
That friend is now being grieved across the Valley, eight days after he died of injuries from a suicide attempt.
Robb Lane last saw the student, an 11th-grader at Mount Si High School, at the Bothell football game Sept. 10.
“He was being himself,” said Lane, a senior at Mount Si and vice president of the school’s Associated Student Body. “He was happy.”
The student tried to commit suicide the next day, according to a letter from Mount Si High Principal Randy Taylor to parents.
“It shocked us all,” Lane said.
Snoqualmie is the fastest growing city in the state
September 22, 2010
NEW — 6:16 p.m. Sept. 22, 2010
It’s official: From 2000-2009, Snoqualmie had the fastest growth rate of any city in Washington.
The news, which came from data released Sept. 10 by the U.S. Census, is no great revelation to many city residents. But it bears the official imprint of the federal government.
During that 10-year period, Snoqualmie increased by 332.4 percent, growing from 2,010 residents to 8,692 residents.
The city has developed into a bedroom community for Seattle and the Eastside in an idyllic setting.
Its growth was led by the development of Snoqualmie Ridge, which began in the late 1990s. Since then, thousands of houses, a school, dozens of retail stores and a business park have been built.
The Great Recession and uncertain recovery have greatly slowed Snoqualmie’s expansion.
“The biggest challenge right now is the market,” said David Dorothy, vice president of Quadrant Homes.
Sample Snoqualmie attracts shoppers while showcasing merchants
September 22, 2010
NEW — 6:15 p.m. Sept. 22, 2010
In an effort to bring together local shoppers and merchants, Sample Snoqualmie drew between 250 and 300 people Sept. 10 to Community Park on Snoqualmie Ridge.
“The goal was to show our residents what they could find right here in town to make their lives easier, as well as give our merchants an opportunity to meet potential new customers,” said Gwen Voelpel, the city’s Parks and Recreation Director.
Merchants set up 25 booths featuring their wares and services.
“The event was meant to encourage all types of economic activity — more shoppers frequenting our local shops, more diners visiting our restaurants, more people applying for loans at our banks or getting their teeth cleaned at our local dentists,” Voelpel said.
The economic recession and sluggish recovery has not made life easier for local businesses.
“Verbal reports from some businesses show that a few are experiencing increases in sales over a comparable time period in 2009, while others are showing decreases in sales,” said Bob Cole, the city’s economic advisor. “A few businesses have been severely impacted and are closed or closing.”
The city might organize a second event next year, but earlier in the summer when daylight is longer, Voelpel said. The crowd began dispersing as darkness fell this year.
Clothing bank needs space
September 22, 2010
Almost a year has passed, but the Gift of Apparel clothing bank still cannot afford to reopen its doors.
Jan Van Liew, office manager at Snoqualmie Valley Alliance Church, started the bank in 2005, after she and a group of people discussed ways they could reach the community.
They decided the Snoqualmie Valley needed a clothing bank. Van Liew found the church had space in downtown Snoqualmie, and she set up shop with a group of volunteers, helping people in need select shoes, shirts, pajamas and other clothing necessities.
The church did not charge rent, “and that was great, because for all of those years, other than a few small purchases of pants’ hangers or bags, it was free, so it ran on a zero budget,” Van Liew said.
Agencies all over the area referred people in need to the clothing bank, including Encompass, the King County Sheriff’s Office, Eastside Domestic Violence, House of Hope, Snoqualmie Valley School District employees and the Mt. Si Helping Hand Food Bank.
Home Country: A special buck deserves a special place
September 22, 2010
When Bob Garcia removed that old mossyhorn mount from its place over the fireplace, we were a bit confused. That huge buck had been his pride and joy for more than 30 years.
But Bob put it back in his office, behind the kitchen. The spot of honor over the fireplace now belongs to a young forked-horn buck, the one he took last year on the other side of the hayfield. It’s the kind of buck you expect to get for your first deer, and not really the kind of buck you honor like that after a lifetime spent hunting in the autumn woods.
Bob just said it was a special buck and smiled.
Bob heard the deer before he saw him, and he got ready. He looked to the sound of the deer and checked what was on the other side of the animal. A large dirt bank. That’s safe enough. Can’t have that old .45-70 slug sailing around the country.
Church leads effort to aid uninsured with mobile clinic
September 22, 2010
This vehicle can’t be you-know-what on wheels. It’s sponsored by a church. Health on wheels is more like it.
A mobile hospital unit, owned by Seattle-based Puget Sound Christian Center, will be available in Snoqualmie once a week starting in January.
Physical therapist Lisa Rehm takes the blood pressure of Roxie Stott inside a mobile clinic during this year’s Railroad Days. By Sebastian Moraga
Doctors and nurses will volunteer to examine uninsured people in the parking lot of the Snoqualmie Valley Alliance Church, 8032 Falls Ave. S.E., Snoqualmie.
Patients may leave a donation if they want, said Hillary Tayet, an employee of the center. After all, a donation of sorts got the center the vehicle, which was paid for with a $100,000 grant, according to the center’s website.
Great Strides keeps hoping for a cure
September 22, 2010
For Cathy Gallagher, every step forward is a great stride.
The mother of a victim of cystic fibrosis, Gallagher counts on the community to put on its collective walking shoes and go for a walk Sept. 25 at Centennial Park, for the annual Snoqualmie Valley Great Strides cystic fibrosis fundraiser.
People of all ages will participate in this year’s Great Strides fundraiser. Contributed
The fundraiser, of which Gallagher is co-chair, starts at 11 a.m. with check-in set for 10 a.m. More than 100 walkers have registered for the stroll, Gallagher wrote in an e-mail.
More than 70,000 people are affected by cystic fibrosis worldwide, according to the website for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation — www.cff.org.
The disease is hereditary and causes the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections. It also obstructs the pancreas and keeps the body’s enzymes from absorbing food.
Kaitie Gallagher, a middle-schooler, was diagnosed in 1999, Cathy Gallagher wrote.
Great Strides walks happen nationwide. Snoqualmie’s is the last walk of the season for the state, said Alison Morton, director of special events for the foundation’s Washington and Alaska offices. Walks this year began May 8 in Gig Harbor, Poulsbo and Vancouver.
Letters: In appreciation from Cody’s family
September 22, 2010
In appreciation from Cody’s family
There are no words to express our pain, nor words to express our gratitude. The love, support and prayers we have received from the community have been both humbling and inspiring.
We have been especially moved by the students of the Valley — and beyond. All who camped out with us at the hospital were respectful and compassionate. We read Cody all of the cards, prayers and Facebook posts, and showed him your beautiful pictures, posters, candles, T-shirts, songs, tattoos and everything else. Cody felt your love — and so did we.
We desperately wish we had answers, or even insight, as to what happened. The prior week, we were all in Georgia spending family day with our oldest son Trey, who graduated from Army basic training at Fort Benning. Cody was happy as could be.
In vivid detail, he painted for all of us the picture of his future. It consisted of working out with his brothers and uncles this winter, wrestling at 130 this year, starting Running Start in January, getting a ROTC scholarship to Central after graduation, and then joining the Army and becoming an airborne ranger. After all that, he wanted to be a firefighter.
Friends for Life event will raise funds for children with cancer
September 22, 2010
Imagine you’re 5 years old.
Your tricycle has a flat tire, and your dad replaces it with one from his Ford F-150.
Now, imagine you’re still 5, but instead of a flat tire, you have cancer.
The treatment many children get is the medical equivalent of the giant tire for the tricycle.
Lori Salow Marshall, vice president of the Friends For Life Guild of Seattle Children’s, said much treatment for children is based on research for adults.
Marshall helped organize the third annual Friends For Life Fall Fest fundraiser at Finaghty’s Pub and Restaurant, 7726 Center Boulevard S.E., Snoqualmie. The fundraiser is from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sept. 25.
“Having cancer as a child is devastating enough, but having an adult treatment can really bring on some devastating long-term side effects,” Marshall said. “Our goal is to support cancer research that focuses on treatment fit for children.”
The Friends For Life Guild raises seed money toward pediatric cancer research, so that young cancer patients may someday have a treatment meant for people their age.
