Memorial Day events planned
May 25, 2011
The Snoqualmie Valley chapter of the American Legion is scheduled to participate in several events on Memorial Day.
Renton-Pickering Post 79’s Honor Guard will begin the day by presenting the colors at 9 a.m. at Preston Cemetery. Then, at 10 a.m., the guard will take part in a ceremony at Fall City Cemetery.
At 11 a.m., the guard will present the colors in North Bend. Finally, at noon, the guard will participate in a memorial service at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie.
Redistricting proposition leave some disappointed
May 25, 2011
The redrawing of director seats for the Snoqualmie Valley School Board continues to leave people incensed.
While accusations of gerrymandering the district’s first attempt have dissipated, the new proposal has some folks still feeling ignored.
The second proposal would divide the board into five districts — two in North Bend, one in Snoqualmie, one in Fall City and one shared between Snoqualmie and a fragment of Fall City. Each spot would have about 7,000 people living in each.
“This is the closest we will get to a 2-2-1,” school board member Craig Husa said, referring to the desire of a citizens group to have the districts redrawn into two seats in North Bend, two seats in Snoqualmie and one in Fall City.
Board president Dan Popp called the 2-2-1 idea, “brilliant.”
Fall City resident Bill Blakely commended the board on being responsive to citizens, although not all were as enamored with the plan.
Carolyn Simpson, who presented a plan to the board that included the 2-2-1, said the second proposal was better than the first but she was still disappointed.
“There was no time spent on the citizens’ plan,” she said, adding that Snoqualmie Ridge is still underrepresented.
“District 3 is still represented by an incumbent from Fall City and District 1 can’t go up for re-election in two years,” she said. “It’s not fair.”
Simpson said she did not believe the board actually considered public comment.
Sheriff’s office seeks help in nabbing burglar
May 25, 2011
The King County Sheriff’s Office is looking for help with a string of burglaries that include two robberies from the Coach store at the North Bend Premium Stores.
In each case a man wearing a knit hat broke the store’s glass front door and made off with thousands of dollars worth of expensive purses.
The sheriff’s office is working with police in Burlington and Woodburn, Ore. Police believe that the same people are behind four late night burglaries at Coach stores in those towns and North Bend, where the sheriff’s office provides police services.
A man wearing a knitted wool hat and gloves is suspected of robbing four Coach stores in Washington and Oregon. Police believe he has twice robbed the Coach location at North Bend Premium Outlets. King County Sheriff’s deputies are looking for information about the suspect. Contributed
The suspect is an adult black male who wears gloves and a knit hat with a unique pattern, according to Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound.
The suspect is believed to have had an accomplice.
Police say he has made off with thousands of dollars in merchandise.
“We’re looking for help in identifying this guy,” said Sgt. Mark Toner, a sheriff’s deputy and head of North Bend police.
Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest and conviction. Call 800-222-TIPS toll free or send a text message to 27437.
Coach is offering a separate reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Valley police net 135 pounds of pills in drug take-back day
May 25, 2011
Police in the upper Snoqualmie Valley netted about 135 pounds of discarded pills while participating in National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on April 30.
It was the second year local police have joined in the national effort.
Snoqualmie police collected nearly 60 pounds of drugs, while North Bend police took in more than 75 pounds.
People could anonymously dispose of unwanted, unused and expired medications, which could otherwise be misused or pollute groundwater.
Across the country, nearly 377,000 pounds of medications were collected this year.
The medications are passed on to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, which disposes of them following strict guidelines.
The event could turn into a twice-annual event, according to a news release from the Snoqualmie Police Department.
Star staff honored in regional contest
May 25, 2011
SnoValley Star staff was recognized for excellence in reporting in the annual awards contest for the Society of Professional Journalists’ Northwest chapter.
A ceremony at Safeco Field in Seattle on May 21 honored more than 200 journalists in print, online, radio and television news media. The Star competed against publications in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.
The Star and sister publications The Issaquah Press and Sammamish Review claimed awards in numerous categories in the contest, including a sweep in the environmental reporting category.
Former Star reporter Laura Geggel took first place in the category for a report about Snoqualmie Valley’s wet and windy weather.
Geggel also earned second place in the education reporting category for a piece about auto crash safety at Mount Si High School.
Star editor Dan Catchpole took third place in the government and politics reporting category for a piece about King County Sheriff’s Office deputy salaries, a subject of intense focus amid cuts last fall.
Letters
May 25, 2011
Encourage school board to make the right decision
The Snoqualmie Valley School Board has an important decision to make May 26. On that night, board members will vote on a 10-year plan to realign the school board director districts, pursuant to state law and new census results, in order to reflect a shift of population among North Bend, Snoqualmie and Fall City.
The school board has a choice. It can accept the district’s revised plan, which keeps all incumbents in place and limits and delays long-awaited Snoqualmie representation, or it can make two adjustments to this plan to ensure the school board is balanced with Snoqualmie representation in time for this year’s election.
One of the key components of the District Plan is to reduce the number of North Bend directors from three to two, freeing up one new seat for Snoqualmie. But the district’s plan divides North Bend in a way that maintains all three North Bend seats until 2014.
Honor guard seeks new members
May 25, 2011
Snoqualmie Valley’s American Legion post is recruiting members for two new positions on its Honor Guard.
The Renton-Pickering Post 79 has raised enough money to equip and uniform two new positions. The money came from a donation from the Summit at Snoqualmie and the Tahoma National Cemetery Honor Guard.
The unit performs in local ceremonies and events, and renders final honors at funerals for veterans.
Learn more at http://cpoapnw.com.
Take time this weekend to remember the fallen
May 25, 2011
In the more than 140 years that Americans have lived in the Snoqualmie Valley, many have given their lives during wartime while serving their country.
Memorial Day is an opportunity to pay tribute to the fallen and set an example for future generations.
The following is an incomplete list of the Valley’s fallen:
World War I
Arthur William Lyford
Battista Pasini
David Renton
Edward Clements Koester
Peter Erickson
Police Blotter
May 25, 2011
North Bend police
Tools taken
At 1:16 p.m. May 19, police responded to a theft in the 900 block of Mountain View Boulevard Southeast. A man said he parked his company van in his driveway and he probably left the front passenger door unlocked. The night before, someone stole a cable compression tool, a laptop computer, a screwdriver set, a sound pressure meter, a grocery sack, a staple gun and three sets of wire strippers. The total value of the stolen items was $1,076. The suspect took tools out of the tool bag but left more expensive tools untouched.
Plan ahead for holiday travel headaches
May 25, 2011
Memorial Day weekend means more traffic congestion as people hit the road for the traditional start to summer.
The state Department of Transportation is alerting drivers to expect delays along Interstate 90 at Snoqualmie Pass and U.S. 2 at Stevens Pass, as well as along Interstate 5 at the Canadian border and between Olympia and Tacoma.
In 2010, Memorial Day weekend traffic over Snoqualmie Pass decreased slightly from 2009, but drivers still ran into long delays caused by a collision. In all, about 187,000 vehicles crossed the pass between Friday and Monday.
The agency offers many ways for motorists to check road conditions, including a travel website, www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic, and a travel information hotline, 511.
Motorists can find information such as camera images from across the state, state ferry schedules and a map of highway incidents and closures online.
People using mobile devices can go to www.wsdot.wa.gov/inform to see how transportation officials provide travel information through email alerts and other tools, such as Facebook and Twitter.
