Crime rate increase doesn’t tell the whole story
May 17, 2012
Overall, the crime rate in Washington is indicating a downward trend when comparing 2010 numbers with 2011. Snoqualmie is following that trend, but the numbers show North Bend with a slight increase.
The just released 32nd annual Crime in Washington 2011 statistics show a 5 percent decrease from 2010 in violent crimes statewide, a 3.3 percent decrease in property crime offenses and a 3.6 percent decrease in domestic assault crimes.
Since 2010, the crime rate is up 2.8 percent per 1,000 people from last year in North Bend, compared to Snoqualmie, which is showing a 32.2 percent decrease.
North Bend experienced an 87 percent increase in violent crimes, but North Bend Police Chief Mark Toner said the numbers needed some context.
There were 2.3 incidents in 2010, compared to 4.3 incidents last year.
“Now, if we had 100 incidents in 2010 and we experienced an 87 percent increase, then that number might mean a lot more,” Toner said. “But taken into perspective, only having a couple more incidents from the previous year isn’t indicating a significant increase in violent crime.”
The violent crime rate looks at incidents of murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
In North Bend, no one was murdered in 2010 or 2011; there were two robberies in 2010 and one incident last year; eight cases of aggravated assaults in 2010 compared to 17 in 2011; and there were three forcible rapes in 2010, compared to seven last year.
Toner said that if North Bend had actually had seven forcible rapes, “then seven would be a big number for our area.”
King County executive appoints manager for unincorporated areas
May 17, 2012
King County Executive Dow Constantine appointed a top adviser April 4 to lead the outreach effort from county government to residents in rural and unincorporated areas, including the Snoqualmie Valley.
Alan Painter — Constantine’s former adviser on human services, health and housing policy — will now serve as manager of the community service areas program.
Painter told the Star he is working with King County departments to see what they have under way in unincorporated areas.
“We’re looking at the full scope of county services: transportation, parks, crime prevention, zoning regulatory issues, community health and disaster management,” he said.
Painter’s plan is to collect information about key players, organizations and interests in the area over the summer, and then schedule a meeting with area communities to get feedback.
“We’ll be identifying issues for 2013 and beyond,” he said.
Similar groups exist in unincorporated areas across King County, outside Issaquah and from Vashon Island to urban Highline between Burien and Seattle.
Plans call for interdepartmental teams to hold public meetings at least once per year in each community service area.
Former teacher is new principal at Opstad Elementary School
May 17, 2012
Although she never really left, Amy Wright is coming home.
A resident of Fall City and a principal at Carnation’s Stillwater Elementary School, Wright has accepted the job as principal of North Bend’s Opstad Elementary School.
“Opstad has a tradition of great things happening,” she said. “To follow in Mr. Jester’s footsteps, it’s an opportunity I could not pass up.”
Longtime Opstad Principal John Jester will retire June 31.
Amy Wright
Prior to her six-year tenure at Stillwater, Wright spent a year in a principal internship at Snoqualmie’s Cascade View Elementary School and 15 years teaching first and fourth grades at Fall City Elementary School.
“The Snoqualmie Valley School District is a place I consider home, both professionally and personally,” she said. “I have two children who attend Mount Si High School. I have lived in the Valley my whole life.”
Snoqualmie Valley School Board President Dan Popp praised Wright’s hiring.
“My children were students in her class,” he said. “I could not be more pleased.”
Wright beat about 40 other candidates for the job, SVSD Super-intendent Joel Aune said.
Police blotter
May 17, 2012
North Bend
Graffiti
Someone broke into a vacant building in the east 500 block of North Bend Way and spray- painted graffiti on walls, including a Nazi symbol inside a circle. A neighbor reported seeing an open window on the building April 28, and that’s when the graffiti was discovered.
Popular building
A witness called police April 29 to report that she watched two juvenile males crawl into an open window of a vacant building in the east 500 block of North Bend Way, while a third juvenile male watched the area.
The three left the building together, and police report they were unable to locate the youths.
Vehicle violence
A man reported that he parked his vehicle behind a building in the 400 block of Mount Si Boulevard at 10 a.m. April 29.
When he returned to his vehicle at 3 p.m., he found his front, passenger window smashed and his coat on the ground.
MSHS baseball and softball tournament season in full swing
May 15, 2012
Baseball report
The Mount Si High School Wildcats baseball team, which had been battling it out with Lake Washington for a first place standing, has finally reached the coveted position.
They ended the season with a 12-2 conference record, compared to Lake Washington’s 10-3. Read more
North Bend man dies in car accident
May 14, 2012
Updated: 9:55 a.m., May 14, 2012
Donald R. Jones, a 52-year-old North Bend man, died in a single-vehicle accident at about midnight May 12 on Interstate 90, according to a press release from the Washington State Patrol.
The state patrol said the vehicle, a turquoise 1994 Jeep Wrangler, was traveling west on the interstate near Exit 31 when it veered right and struck a tree.
According to the press release, drugs or alcohol may have been a factor and the accident is under investigation.
Don’t be alarmed by explosions May 17
May 11, 2012
Snoqualmie Fireworks Supply will be hosting a fireworks vendor product demonstration around 7:45 p.m. May 17 near the Snoqualmie Casino, according to a press release from Jaime Martin with the Snoqualmie Tribe. Read more
Woman takes a close look at Gauguin’s paintings
May 10, 2012
Contributed by Julie Michelle Moshay Julie Michelle Moshay, 55, of North Bend, stands in front of the MS Paul Gauguin in Tahiti. She was invited to give a series of lectures about Gauguin’s life and artwork aboard the ship.
There is more than meets the eye when you look at Julie Michelle Moshay.
If all you see is a waitress at the Country Pride Restaurant in North Bend’s “Truck Town,” then you’re missing a lot.
She’s the landscaper at the restaurant, and her co-workers call her the hummingbird whisperer because of her ability to feed the skittish birds right out of her hands. She also organized North Bend’s recent first cash mob.
Man’s bunker is emptied, destroyed
May 10, 2012
What took eight years for Peter Keller to build only took a couple of days to dismantle.
Workers from the state’s Department of Natural Resources and King County Parks destroyed the multilevel, 30-foot deep bunker on Rattlesnake Ridge that Keller killed himself in on April 28.
Photos contributed by Washington’s Department of Natural Resources Workers from King County Parks and the state’s Department of Natural Resources spent May 1-2 dismantling Peter Keller’s 30-foot-deep bunker, located on Rattlesnake Ridge.
Doug McClelland, assistant region manager for the department, said that after law enforcement collected all the evidence needed from the bunker, such as guns and ammunition, workers started bagging up everything else May 1.
He said about 25 black plastic garbage bags filled with plastic bottles, plumbing pipes, clothing, food, bedding and oils were removed from the bunker before workers started demolishing the structure.
Workers used chainsaws to cut logs supporting the bunker into 2- and 3-foot long sections and tossing them and dirt into the hole, McClelland said.
North Bend man is named to National Academy of Sciences
May 10, 2012
Evan E. Eichler, a North Bend father and University of Washington professor, was named to an elite group of scientists May 1.
The National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., elected 84 new members and 21 foreign associates from 15 countries in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Those elected bring the total number of active members to 2,152, according to a press release from the nonprofit organization.
Contributed Evan E. Eichler reviews some scientific information in a laboratory.
An Act of Congress, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 at the height of the Civil War, called upon the academy to provide independent advice to the government on matters related to science and technology.
Eichler, 43, wrote in an email that his appointment was based primarily on his work on human genome “hotspots,” regions of instability in our genetic code that could predict diseases such as developmental delay, autism and epilepsy.
