Where’s Woo? Cancer survivor mourns death of her feline pal
March 23, 2011
For years after Sally Busby-Hill’s son Luke brought him home in 1998, Woo the cat would hide inside closets.
When Busby-Hill and Woo first moved to a house in Sandpoint, Idaho, the cat rushed to the nearest wardrobe.
“I don’t know how appropriate this is,” said Busby-Hill, back in Snoqualmie since 2007, “but my son would make jokes about the cat being in the closet. He would say, ‘Woo, we have to talk about this.’”
Sally Busby-Hill holds a photo of one of her best friends, the great Woo. A cancer survivor still dealing with the effects of radiation treatment, Busby-Hill is now mourning the passing of her furry pal. By Sebastian Moraga
Woo never did speak about his “issues,” the same way he never put mice out of their misery.
He brought them and then watched Eddy, the female cat, try to catch them. Sometimes, the rodent would hide under Woo’s tail.
Woo never stopped asking to be let in and out of the house, sometimes for 15 minutes at a time. He never stopped napping on Busby-Hill’s dog Martha and he never stopped making his owner feel loved, not even that day in late January.
Entrepreneur takes dip in ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’
March 23, 2011
James Mitchell sprays his tongue with deodorizer. Twice.
Then, he takes a bigger bottle and he sprays three times. On his eyes.
If you think he should be committed, don’t worry. He already is. To those bottles, that is.
“I have a passion for truth, integrity and honesty,” said Mitchell, whose deodorizer Pure Ayre will appear in the April 1 episode of ABC’s reality show “Shark Tank.”
James Mitchell and his life’s passion: a food-grade deodorizer called Pure Ayre that will be featured in the April 1 edition of ABC’s ‘Shark Tank.’ By Sebastian Moraga
The industry that regulates deodorizers does not, he said, and as a result most “natural” odor removers carry chemicals.
Pure Ayre does not, and he said that’s why it has so much potential. It’s entirely food grade and works on the foulest domestic odors.
To prove it, he grabs a bottle labeled “NH3,” and sprays a tissue with it. The tissue reeks of ammonia.
Out comes the Pure Ayre and the tissue now smells of peppermint. Five seconds later, the tissue smells of nothing.
Hundreds of demos like these over the past 10 years led Mitchell’s friends to convince him to contact ABC about being on “Shark Tank,” a reality show that lets entrepreneurs pitch ideas to five business moguls.
Dual Sport Riding Club puts the vrooom in off-road motocross
March 23, 2011
After surviving breast cancer, Anne Wheeler decided to buy a motorcycle.
She had always wanted one, but the dangerous warnings associated with motorcycles had kept her at bay. At age 47, she embraced the culture, took a safety course and hopped on her bike, putting an outstanding 20,000 miles on it her first year, driving to places like San Diego from her home in North Bend.
Now, Wheeler has a dual sport bike — a motorcycle that can go on trails and roads — and has joined the Dual Sport Riding Club.
Dual Sport Riding Club members take off-road outings be it on dirt (above) or way off road in the river (right). Photos courtesy meetup.com
Steve Justham, of North Bend, founded the club in May when he decided to take up the sport again. He began riding as a child and rode through adulthood, but stopped when he had children.
“It’s just a place for people to find other people to ride with,” Justham said. “The whole reason I started it is to make friends. Some people you really connect with and some you just ride with.”
Two local companies have sponsored the club, including I-90 Motor Sports in Issaquah and Bellevue Kawasaki.
Opstad’s Sharon Piper is elementary educator of the year
March 23, 2011
B Sharon Piper, Opstad Elementary School third-grade teacher, was chosen as Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation Elementary Educator of the Year. y Sebastian Moraga
Let it be said that Sharon Piper, elementary educator of the year for the Snoqualmie Valley School District, breaks her promises.
Every year, she promises herself she will go home shortly after her students have, and not stay in the classroom correcting, grading, preparing, researching.
Elementary students promote clean water
March 23, 2011
In chemistry, we learned that water is H2O. At Opstad Elementary School, we learn that it should be “H” to all.
Students at the school are collecting funds to bring potable water to underdeveloped nations, like Honduras and Bangladesh. And they are doing it by way of the bake sale.
Students have learned about the lack of water in certain areas of the world the hard way: By watching videos of children carrying containers of water and then doing it themselves.
“I loved to see children involved in this,” Opstad volunteer Shelley Huestis said.
Alexis Tachell and Sierra Spring sell baked goods to raise money and awareness of the need for clean water in the Third World. By Sebastian Moraga
At one point, Kirk Anderson of Water1st.org came to the school with the same kind of containers children have to carry to and from polluted rivers.
Children really found an understanding of what it’s like to carry the containers, even if they did it for only seconds.
Science goes pop at Opstad
March 23, 2011
The children asked for a handout, again and again. Nate George and John Day obliged, again and again.
Two seventh-graders with a container of dry ice were just about the biggest hit at the Opstad Elementary School Science Fair March 17.
The dry ice in water created a rush of carbon dioxide that, mixed with soap, made apple-sized, lightbulb-colored bubbles. The children put their gloved, and sometimes sleeved, hands out to hold the bubbles.
Twin Falls Middle School student John Day lays a bubble made with dry ice, water and soap on the hand of an Opstad Elementary School student. Day and fellow middle schooler Nate George wowed the crowd with their light-bulb shaped bubbles at Opstad’s science fair. By Sebastian Moraga
And when the bubbles popped, the wisp of white vapor fascinated the children even more.
“It’s one of those things that is giving us a big bang for the buck,” said Lori George, Nate’s mom and one of the organizers of the fair.
Although neither Day nor Nate George are students at Opstad, they participated to show how cool science can be, Lori George said.
Mount Si soccer sweats for win over Bellevue
March 23, 2011
Mount Si’s Kody Clearman battles Bellevue defenders during the Wildcats’ 1-0 victory March 18. Clearman scored Mount Si’s only goal. By Calder Productions
The team that stepped onto the field March 18 looked like the fifth-best team in the state. For about 10 minutes.
The Mount Si Wildcats, opening their 2011 season, started their home match against Bellevue in a way reminiscent of the 2010 squad, which broke all sorts of records and finished fifth at the state tournament.
Mount Si grad relishes shot at national title
March 23, 2011
To Alex Rudd, finishing 170th in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ Cross Country Nationals felt a little like mission accomplished.
The Mount Si High School grad ran at Fort Vancouver in southwestern Washington in November with the goal of putting her Southern Oregon University team first.
The Raiders wanted to place at nationals higher than any team from the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
So Rudd, a freshman, beat as many conference opponents as possible.
Alex Rudd, Mount Si High School grad, helped her Southern Oregon University Raiders to a seventh-place finish at the cross country national championships. Contributed
Rudd’s women’s team finished seventh in team scores. The men won the title.
Rudd ran the slow course knowing no personal records loomed, except perhaps in muddy shoes. Still, she wanted to run “the race of my life,” she said.
It was the first time anybody in the women’s team had made it to nationals.
Mount Si softball team is young but talented
March 23, 2011
The Mount Si Wildcats will face a tough league with a young softball team this season.
Coach Larry White said he expects to regularly start six freshmen in a squad that lost five players from last year.
The 3A KingCo Conference will be as good as ever, with Bellevue and Juanita returning experienced and deep squads. Liberty won’t be a pushover, either.
And Lake Washington could put things together for a solid season.
Anchoring the Wildcat team will be catcher Danielle Massengill, shortstop Maura Murphy, left fielder Kassidy Maddux and center fielder Lauren Smith.
Massengill and Smith were named to the All-KingCo 3A/2A first team last year. Murphy was named to the second team.
Veteran third baseman Carly Weidnebach is coming off surgery and could be a big offensive contributor depending on her recovery.
The newcomers include one sophomore, second baseman Tamarra Crowe, and six freshmen: Rachel Picchena, Nikki Carroll, Jenny Carroll, Britney Stevens, Lauren Padilla and Celine Fowler.
Snoqualmie Valley to host extreme car race
March 23, 2011
Snoqualmie could host one of three events in the Global RallyCross Championship at the former Weyerhaeuser mill site.
DirtFish Rally School is in talks with the championship’s organizer, Rally Cross Management, to finalize the deal. The school is also waiting to hear back from King County for approval to hold the event. The mill is on unincorporated county land.
If the agreement is inked, some of the world’s elite drivers will go head to head at the mill site April 15-16. ESPN has already agreed to broadcast the event May 14.
By Dan Catchpole International competitors could be tearing up the track at the DirtFish Rally School in Snoqualmie. The rally driving school hopes to land an event in the Global RallyCross championship.
The event probably won’t cause any headaches in Snoqualmie, though, according to Greg Lund, co-owner of DirtFish.
He expects fewer than 30 cars to compete and about 300 spectators. The noise from the one-mile course will be minimal, he said.
It will likely be a recurring event and could draw more spectators in the future.
