After waiting two years, then an extra 24 hours, then 71 minutes, it began to seem as if fate simply wasn’t on the side of the Mount Si girls soccer team.

In a matter of nine minutes, however, all of that changed.

The Mount Si soccer team celebrates its first-round Class 3A state playoff victory against Bonney Lake Thursday night.

The Wildcats scored two goals in the final nine minutes to score a dramatic, come-from-behind 2-1 victory against Bonney Lake in the first round of the Class 3A state playoffs Thursday night at home.

Mount Si — which missed the playoffs last season and then had to wait an extra day to play this one because of flood warnings — handed Bonney Lake its first defeat of the season and moved into the state quarterfinals to take on top-ranked Kennedy at 1 p.m. Saturday at Highline Stadium.

Needless to say, it was worth the wait.

“That was one of the most dramatic finishes I’ve seen in a long, long time. It was pure adrenaline all the way through,” Mount Si head coach Darren Brown said. “You don’t see that happen very often.”

The Wildcats, the KingCo 3A/2A champions this season, fell behind 1-0 when Panthers standout Savannah Moorehouse scored an unassisted goal in the 58^th minute.

That prompted Brown to move Mount Si star Nikki Stanton up top, and the Wildcat offense went on the attack. After several fast breaks nearly ended in points, Brittany Conway finally put Mount Si on the board with an unassisted goal in the 71^st minute to tie it up, 1-1.

The Wildcats didn’t back off from there and, with less than a minute left, Stanton managed to move the ball deep into the Bonney Lake side of the field, just to the right of the goal. The Panthers overplayed that side defensively, and Stanton rifled a pass to a wide-open Conway in front of the goal. Conway was able to then tap the game-winner in.

Of course, the drama still wasn’t finished. With mere seconds left, Moorehouse broke free of the Mount Si defense and had only goal keeper Marika Loudenback standing in the way of a game-tying goal. But Loudenback made a save and the Wildcats stormed the field in celebration.

“I knew that we had to push it at the end,” Conway said. “I thought some girls might think the game was over, so I thought if I picked it up, maybe it would pick the rest of the team up. And it ended up paying off.”

Conway said her game-winner was one of the easiest — and most exciting — goals she’s had.

“It was all Nikki. She fed it to me and I just had to tap it in. She did all the work,” she said. “This is very exciting. I think this will provide a lot of momentum from here.”

Bonney Lake, the SPSL 3A champ, finishes the season 15-1-2. Moorehouse finishes with an impressive 24 goals and 7 assists for 55 points on the season.

“They had a lot of opportunities. They’re a very good team,” Brown said. “But we’d been put in that kind of situation all year long, where we’ll be down a goal and have to persevere and come back.”

Kennedy also is unbeaten this season at 19-0-1, after dismantling Camas 3-0 in a first-round playoff game Wednesday night. With a win, Mount Si would move into the state semifinals for the first time ever.

Reach editor Ryan Piersol at editor@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.

Updated – 4:44 p.m., Nov. 13

When Rena Goforth went to bed Wednesday night, she did so with flood waters creeping up the driveway to her home and reports of a deluge of unprecedented levels swirling around her home town of Snoqualmie.

When she awakened Thursday morning, however, threatening water had retreated — and Goforth was feeling quite fortunate.

Flood waters overtake trees as the Snoqualmie River rages Wednesday afternoon.

“After we heard the reports, we scrambled to get as ready as we could. And it came about six feet up our driveway, but didn’t get any further than that,” said Goforth, who lives on Southeast Park Street in downtown and a short distance from the Snoqualmie River. “We’re very lucky.”

Goforth was just one of a collective group of residents and business owners in downtown Snoqualmie who were feeling that way early Thursday, as reports of flooding coming from the Snoqualmie River didn’t turn out to be nearly as damaging as first predicted.

On Wednesday, King County officials delivered estimates to the city that the cubic-feet-per-second ratio could get as high as 65,000 for the sum of the three forks of the Snoqualmie River. That’s 10,000 higher than a flood in November of 2006 that severely damaged businesses and homes in the downtown area.

At this end of this one, though, the river crested much early than expected and only reached the 44,400 c.f.s level.

“We’re quite relieved. We feel like we dodged a bullet,” Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson said. “It’s certainly nothing like the 2006 flood.”

From left, Cody Schneider, Matthew Lyne and Devin Aberle romp through a flooded Riverview Park in downtown Snoqualmie Wednesday.

Larson said the most likely reason for the miscalculation was weather. There were a pair of storm systems that had overlapped and were expected to hit Snoqualmie at the same time. Before one of them reached the city, however, it turned in another direction.

That was just fine with Michael Row, who had cleaned out his shop in anticipation of massive flooding. Row owns Morgan’s Custom Cycle, which is at 8306 Meadowbrook Way SE, just a stone’s throw from the river.

“There wasn’t a drop in here. We got all the bikes out and were all prepared for it, but it didn’t get us. I was surprised,” he said.

“Back in 2006, there were some houses on this block that were just a few feet from being completely submerged and they were trying to tell us that it was going to be worse than that. I think they kind of slipped in 06 and maybe they were trying to make up for it. But it’s better to be too prepared, than not prepared enough.”

Row was complimentary of the city’s emergency notification system, which called residents in danger areas to apprise them of the situation. The city of Snoqualmie did not have its current, high-tech emergency notification system in place in 2006, and was pleased with its performance this time around.

“It was our first opportunity to use this in a flood,” Larson said. “It’s a pretty slick system. It’s essentially a dynamic map and the fire chief can go in and outline particular streets he wants to have called.”

Morgan

With a flood looming Wednesday, the city set up an area in the parking lot off King Street for residents to fill bags with sand. A large collection of volunteers, including children, helped residents prepare.

The city also offered the fire station as a temporary warming shelter for those forced to evacuate and the American Red Cross opened the Preston Park Community Center for residents who needed somewhere to stay overnight.

With flood estimates as high as they were, many residents did evacuate the downtown area of Snoqualmie upon the recommendation of the city. Early in the day, Larson issued a State of Emergency as flood levels had risen to Phase IV — a level that includes residential flooding.

It was about 4 p.m. Wednesday when the city realized the flood wouldn’t be as damaging as first predicted. A press release issued by the city had the river cresting at that time.

Snoqualmie Valley Schools closed both Wednesday and Thursday, due to the threat. A Class 3A state playoff game, scheduled between Mount Si and Bonney Lake Wednesday at Mount Si Stadium, was postponed until Thursday night.

Several streets were closed in the Valley, including some in North Bend, where the situation wasn’t nearly as dire. North Bend Mayor Ken Hearing said water levels on the south fork of the Snoqualmie River got within about a foot of the banks, before receding. Still, storm water forced the closure of several roads.

As a precaution, hundred of sand bags were filled in North Bend and used primarily to protect a levy adjacent to the Mount Si Senior Center near the Bendigo/Highway 202 Bridge.

“I want to thank the dozens of people that braved the rain and wind to help protect the city,” Hearing said in a press release. “The volunteers in the community are part of what make North Bend a great place to live.”

Reach editor Ryan Piersol at editor@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.

Some students came for free food and extra credit, but many attended to spend Nov. 4 with their friends and watch electoral maps change to shades of blue and red. This was the high school’s second political event within a week; the entire staff and student body voted in a mock gubernatorial and presidential election Oct. 31.

Cate Reynolds came to the election watch with her daughter Sarah, a freshman at Mount Si.

“I think that it’s awesome they make it available for the students to be involved in the process,” said Cate. “When I was younger, we didn’t talk about it.”

Toying with a blue Barack Obama bracelet on her wrist, senior Alex Likeman explained her reasons for coming to the high school event.

“I love politics,” Likeman said. “I’m excited about the election.”

“We want to see Obama win,” freshman Wesley Nelson said. He said he had researched the matter, saying he liked Obama’s tax and healthcare plan more than McCain’s.

Jim and Elaine Larson, who watched the two screens with their eighth-grade daughter, had several reasons for coming to Mount Si.

“We don’t have a T.V. at home,” Jim said.

“It’s a community event,” Elaine added. 

As the race tightened, senior Landon Wilson, president of the conservative club, said he planned to stay at the election watch “as long as they’ll let me.”

This is the second election watch held at Mount Si. The ASB and leadership classes started the event in 2004 and asked attendees for either a $1 donation or three cans of food. All of the proceeds benefited foodball, the annual food drive. 

ASB and leadership teacher Charlie Kinnune reported the drive amassed $113 and 130 pounds of food, a good foodball prelude.

After donating to foodball, senior Devyn Parsons settled down in the commons to talk with her friends and watch the political coverage. Unlike many of her classmates, Parsons had passed the main impediment preventing high-school voting: she had turned 18.

“It was kind of weird, because I could finally vote,” Parsons said. “Instead of telling my parents what I think, my voice actually gets to be heard.”

Senior Brian Carlson also voted for the first time.

“I read up on everything that was on the ballot,” Carlson said. “I felt like I was playing my part for the country. I feel I made a difference, no matter how small.”

Social studies teacher Lisa Truemper, who helped organize the mock election, said she was pleased with the turnout of about 60 students and community members at the election watch. In addition to motivating her students to follow politics more closely, the election provided a useful real-world application to her curriculum.

“I’ll ask them how our mock election process was similar to the national election,” Truemper said.

“It’s pretty interesting to come out here and pay attention to it,” said junior Jake Beck. “I wanted to see it and I knew that if I stayed home I wouldn’t.”

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

UPDATED — 7:41 p.m. November 12, 2008

As rain continued to pour, the height of the Snoqualmie River reached dangerous levels Wednesday, causing Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson to issue a State of Emergency.

As of 6 p.m., the sum of the three forks of the river was at 39,430 cubic feet per second, more than 1,000 above levels required for a Phase 4 flood alert — a phase which includes residential flooding. That total, however, appeared to be on its way down, having peaked at around 44,000 earlier in the day.

The c.f.s. level of the Snoqualmie River near downtown Snoqualmie was at 44,400 at 4:30 p.m. and had actually risen since earlier in the day.

Estimates given to the city of Snoqualmie were that levels could top out at around 65,000 about midnight Wednesday. As a result, the city recommended that all residents of downtown evacuate.

Levels topped out at 54,000 during the Nov. 2006 flood in Snoqualmie.

“We have not issued a mandatory evacuation, but we highly recommend an evacuation at this time,” said Joan Pliego, communications public information officer for the city said early in the afternoon. “The river levels have been rising rapidly.”

The city announced that flooding was beginning to occur in downtown Snoqualmie neighborhoods like Pickering Court, Walnut, Spruce, Park, Mountain Avenue and Mountain Drive. Sand bags and sand were available for those in need at the King Street parking lot in the downtown area.

Pliego said the city is offering a temporary shelter for residents at the fire station in Snoqualmie, 37600 SE Snoqualmie Parkway. An overnight shelter, however, is not being offered.

The American Red Cross has opened a shelter at the Preston Park Community Center, 8625 310^th Ave. S.E., in Preston. Residents are asked to bring toiletries, including toothpaste, blankets, sleeping bags, pillows, clothing, towels and washcloths. Pets are not allowed in shelters.

The city of North Bend also said that it has plenty of volunteers already. Mayor Ken Hearing said they have stacked three rows of sand bags along one point of the south fork and that the water there had actually started to recede.

“It’s still raining, but the south fork has apparently started to recede. It was within about a foot of the ledge, before is started to pull back. It has receded about a foot since then,” he said. “We’re not out of the woods yet, but it is starting to look better.”

Hearing said citizens should call 888-0486 and press option 1 for help.

Due to stormwater, two streets in North Bend have been closed — Ballarat Avenue at 12^th and 428^th between the middle fork and south fork of the Snoqualmie River.

In Snoqualmie, Southeast Reinig from 396^th Drive Southeast to Meadowbrook Bridge has been closed, as well as West Snoqualmie River Road Northeast between Southeast 24^th and Northeast Told Hill Road.

To check on updated flood levels and road closures, go to www.kingcounty.gov.

Snoqualmie Valley Public Schools also closed on Wednesday, due to an anticipation of flooding. All after-school activities were cancelled or postponed. The Mount Si girls soccer state playoff game, which was scheduled to be played at Mount Si Stadium, was moved to 7 p.m. Thursday.

For the first time this school year, Cat Tales writers and editors have published their newspaper — and it was without prior review.

Mount Si High School Principal Randy Taylor and Cat Tales co-editors-in-chief Sean Byrnes and Julie Censullo came to a compromise after meeting Nov. 5 with Fern Valentine, the Freedom of Expression chair for the Washington Journalism Education Association. Taylor agreed not to hold prior review of Cat Tales, if journalism students ascribed to a higher journalistic standard. If students are unsure about publishing specific content, they will acquire input from a community newspaper.

The students are writing the new policy and expect to deliver it to Taylor for approval this week. They published their first issue of Cat Tales Nov. 10 without prior review.

“We’re setting up a policy with the SnoValley Star,” Censullo said. “If there’s a whole column or a quote or a line from a column that we think might be questionable or objectionable, we can just send it to the editor and ask ‘Would you print this? Is this ascribing to a higher level of journalism?’”

Journalism advisor Susan Holihan, who is the secretary for the executive board of the WJEA, and Vice Principal Beth Castle also attended the meeting.

“This was a trust issue,” said Taylor. “I trusted them to understand the context of my concerns about journalistic standards and Cat Tales. They indicated to me that they would.”

Taylor initially planned to review Cat Tales after learning about district policy 3221 this summer, which allows the principal to review any student publication for up to 24 hours before printing. The school board approved the policy in 1993, but it had never been exercised.

Cat Tales students refused to publish their paper if it were subject to prior review, fearing the newspaper would lose credibility as an open student forum if it were monitored by the administration, Byrnes said. Instead, the class produced but abstained from actually publishing Cat Tales.

The students contacted Valentine at the WJEA and presented their case against prior review at the Oct. 23 school board meeting, but Superintendent Joel Aune stopped them mid-presentation and referred the group back to Taylor.

At the subsequent Nov. 5 meeting, Valentine mediated between the two sides. She said that district policy 3221 was “very poorly written” and “probably does not meet legal limitations in the state of Washington.”

Valentine said the policy was likely purchased from a company in Ohio, which sells policies to districts across the country. The policy contradicts Washington Administrative Code, which states, “All students possess the constitutional right to freedom of speech and press.”

To show alternative options, Valentine presented high-school newspaper policies from all over the state and country. The group agreed to try a policy used at Auburn High School — a policy in practice when Taylor was the principal there, before coming to Mount Si in 2005. 

Jarret Dodge, the journalism advisor at Auburn High School, said the policy directs students to consult with local, community newspaper editors if disagreements about content arise. Dodge said students had only contacted community editors once in the last eight years, but he was happy to have them as a resource.

Valentine commended the Mount Si administration for the progress made at the meeting.

“They didn’t want to censor the kids, but they wanted the language to reach professional standards for community journalism,” Valentine said. “Mr. Taylor was very supportive of the kids having a free press, as long as the language was not offensive.”

Washington state curriculum states journalism students should understand and exercise the rights outlined in the first amendment, Valentine noted.

“We feel that students who are working without censorship learn a great deal more,” she said. “They learn critical thinking and decision-making skills they wouldn’t learn if a principal were making those decisions for them.”

At three double-sided pages, the Cat Tales issue published Nov. 10 is three times longer than its normal length.

“It’s a huge issue, because we’ve been building up all of this material, but we haven’t been publishing it,” Byrnes said.

The class was “relieved to be putting an issue out,” Byrnes said. “It feels rewarding to see your work published.”

About 50 students, teachers and community members discussed the Snoqualmie Valley School District’s options for addressing crowding at a public forum Nov. 6 at Mount Si High School. The district held the forum before the school board voted whether or not they would put a $34.2 million bond before voters March 10.

If it were passed, the bond would fund 18 double modular classrooms for the elementary and middle school and pay for repairs and upgrades to existing school buildings. The board has postponed putting a second high school and sixth elementary school on the ballot.

“We’ve pushed those out on the horizon,” Superintendent Joel Aune said. “Part of that depends on more fully utilizing our schools’ capacity.”

Although student growth has slowed to 2 percent this year — in the past it was as high as 6 percent — the district said new families moving to the phase II development on Snoqualmie Ridge could cause a sharp student population increase. When this happens, the district will need space to accommodate these students.

Aune presented several options the district could implement to avoid crowding and reorganize student distribution. Following Aune’s presentation, the audience broke into smaller discussion groups that were headed by members of the school board.

One option would transform part or all of Snoqualmie Middle School into a satellite campus for the high school. All middle school students would attend either Chief Kanim or Twin Falls, a solution unsettling to some community members.

Snoqualmie Middle School P.E. and health teacher Jerry Maher noted the population boom from the elementary schools would hit the middle schools first. He said common spaces — including hallways and gyms — would be stressed if the district were downgraded to two instead of three middle schools.

“I think we’re taking an issue at the high school and moving it to the middle school,” Maher said.

Jerry Hillburn, the technology teacher at Snoqualmie Middle School, said he worried a crowded middle school would be more chaotic than a crowded high school because of student maturity.

Snoqualmie Middle School music director Dean Snavely said he would support the district “if we can know for sure they can accommodate, not just fit, the populations at the middle schools.”

Aune reviewed other options proposed by the Facilities Task Force. They included transitioning the elementary schools to include grades kindergarten through sixth, having grades seven through nine at the junior high level and 10 through 12 at the high school.

But three of the five elementary schools, with the exception of Opstad and North Bend Elementary, have no space for the sixth grade.

Other reconfigurations dominated the discussion of managing short-term crowding.

The district considered making an academy for gifted students to help mitigate the Mount Si population. But the state has requirements, such as graduation rates for magnet schools, and the number of students attending could substantially vary year to year.

“This particular solution might provide relief to the overcrowding at Mount Si, but it would depend on the number of students who enrolled in that specialized program,” Aune said.

Yet another option would shift Chief Kanim Middle School into a sixth through 12 facility, “which would essentially create a smaller high school in the Chief Kanim school,” Aune said.

Double shifting could alleviate crowding, too. But Aune said splitting the high school into a morning and afternoon school with 700 students apiece had little allure. Transportation costs would double, as would supplies for programs.

“We’ve talked about double shifting, but we did not spend much time talking about it,” Aune said. Still, he got a laugh from the audience when he acknowledged, “This solution does more fully utilize the facility. It gets an A-plus.”

The school board will look at all of the comments from the forum discussion groups before making a decision about putting the bond before voters. The next school board meeting will be held at the district office, 8001 Silva Ave S.E., Snoqualmie at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

This is how much Nikki Stanton loves soccer.

The Mount Si senior accomplished the dream of many young girls Oct. 24 when she was named queen during the football team’s annual homecoming game. She was presented with flowers, had a crown placed on her head and immediately became the focal point of a crop of photographers.

And it wasn’t even the highlight of Stanton’s weekend.

No, that came one night earlier, when Stanton booted through the game-winning goal in an overtime soccer victory against Juanita — a victory that locked up Mount Si’s first league championship in 20 years.

To Stanton, there was little comparison.

“Winning (queen) was great, because it shows that people must respect me and like me as a person,” she said. “But scoring the game-winning goal to win the league… it doesn’t get any better than that.”

The weekend personified Stanton’s role at Mount Si. One of the most popular girls on campus, the senior is still first and foremost a standout soccer player. And, when she takes the field, it shows.

Stanton is the leading scorer on a Wildcat team that is 9-3-4 overall and automatically in the final 16 in the state playoffs, thanks to winning KingCo 3A/2A. But she’s so much more valuable than just her seven goals and six assists show.

Stanton is the engine that makes the offensive machine at Mount Si go. And she’s done it this season, despite a switch to a position she’d never played before.

“She’s an all-around player. Her vision and her foot skills are phenomenal. She can put the ball anywhere she wants it. And she kicks as hard as the guys do,” Mount Si coach Darren Brown said of Stanton, who just recently was named KingCo 3A/2A Player of the Year. “She’s just a complete player. She’s very rare. Players like her don’t come along very often.”

Stanton is scheduled to lead her Wildcats into the Class 3A state playoffs Wednesday night, as Mount Si will play host to Bonney Lake at 7 p.m. The game is a round-of-16 playoff match.

This season didn’t start out the way the Wildcats had anticipated, and the slow start could mostly be attributed to a lack of scoring. That changed when, midway through the season, Brown moved Stanton from her usual position of midfielder to forward, something she’d never done before.

The scoring picked up, the Wildcats went on a late six-game winning streak and they now are league champs.

“She’s such a good player that she picked it up pretty quickly,” Brown said. “Most players, it would take them one or two months to pick it up. But it took her just one or two games.”

Stanton’s move was all about the team, too.

“I’m not going to lie, I liked it at the beginning, but now I’ve gotten kind of bored with it. When I was at midfield, I got the ball a lot and had a chance to make a lot of plays. Now it’s mostly a matter of waiting and not getting open, which I’m not used to,” she said. “But if it’s what’s best for the team, then I’m all for it.”

Stanton plays defensive midfielder on her club team, a position that is even further back than her usual varsity spot of attacking midfielder. That team, Crossfire, won regionals and placed third at nationals when they were in the U15 division.

Of course, Stanton will soon have to deal with much more than a simple position change. In a matter of months, she will experience a completely different environment.

The soccer standout has committed to play at Fairfield University in Connecticut. Fairfield has a rising soccer program, but the campus is roughly 2,900 miles from the Snoqualmie Valley.

“I think it’s going to be kind of a shock in the beginning. I’ll be away from my parents, who have been a huge part of my soccer life,” Stanton said. “I never thought I’d go to the east coast (for college). I didn’t want to go there, until I found Fairfield.”

Stanton’s coach, for one, has complete faith in her making the transition to the east coast. Whether it’s soccer or making friends, she’s managed to succeed quite well so far.

“She’s awesome. She’s a good student, she’s fun to be around and all the other students really seem to like her,” Brown said. “She takes the game seriously, but not too seriously. She still knows how to have fun.”

Reach editor Ryan Piersol at editor@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.

The Mount Si football team got back to the basics – and to a little thing called the state playoffs.

Focusing on running and tackling – two aspects the Wildcats have grown notorious for – Mount Si crunched Peninsula, 33-9, in a Class 3A preliminary playoff game in Purdy Nov. 7. With the win, the Wildcats move into the first round of the Class 3A playoffs to face Eastside Catholic.

Sean Snead heads upfield during the second half of Mount Si

Senior running back Sean Snead once again went wild, rushing for 190 yards and a whopping five touchdowns on 32 carries. And the Mount Si defense – upset with the way it played in a regular-season-ending loss to Liberty the previous week – stifled Peninsula for just two scores, including a meaningless one with less than four minutes to play.

It was all about the basics.

“We didn’t feel like we did a good job last week, so we went back to the fundamentals this entire week,” said junior lineman Aaron Moetului, who helped pave the way for Snead’s big game on offense and spent much of the night on defense chasing Seahawk quarterback J.R. Grosshans out of the pocket. “Once the line got the job done, it was just up to our backfield, which did a great job.”

The Wildcats rushed for 311 yards, to go along with a solid 104 yards passing by quarterback Tyson Riley. And, from very early on, they established the fact that Peninsula was in for a bruising night.

Mount Si took the game’s opening possession 45 yards in 10 plays and got a 4-yard touchdown run by Snead to grab an early, 7-0 lead.

The second time the Wildcats received the ball, they went 79 yards in eight plays for another touchdown. The score was a 34-yard run by Snead and, after a missed extra-point attempt, it was 13-0.

It took the Mount Si defense a little longer to get going. On Peninsula’s second possession, the Seahawks marched 58 yards to the Wildcat 10 and picked up a 27-yard field goal to get on the board.

After that, however, Mount Si put the clamps down. Peninsula picked up 117 yards on its first two possessions and only 155 on its final seven.

After watching his defense hold the Seahawks to 22 points below their season scoring average, Wildcat head coach Charlie Kinnune was in the mood to talk fundamentals, as well.

“We just got back to the basics. We had to play fundamentally sound,” he said. “We were getting off the ball, getting off our blocks and having a good time with it.”

Mount Si really began to take the game over late in the first half. With 5:27 to go before the break, the Wildcats got the ball at their own 20, still leading 13-3. As they drained nearly all of the remaining time off the clock, they went 80 yards in 13 plays – capped by a 6-yard scoring run from Snead – to seize a commanding 19-3 lead.

Peninsula put together unsuccessful drives of 15, zero and 7 yards to start the second half, before the Wildcats struck again.  Finishing off a 41-yard drive, Snead found the end zone from 4 yards out to make it 26-3.He scored again with 5:21 to play on a 13-yard scamper to up the lead to 33-3.

The Seahawks managed a good return on the ensuing kickoff and went 56 yards for their only touchdown of the night to make it 33-9, but only 3:13 was left on the clock. Mount Si recovered an onside kick attempt and was ready for the next round.

Kinnune praised his defense’s ability to stuff Peninsula on first down as a key to the Seahawks finishing the game with single digits on the scoreboard.

“You have to be able to run the ball. We knew, if we could get them in a predictable situation, we’d do well,” the head coach said. “It always starts up front and we did a good job there.

“Our kids are really mentally tough. And we travel well. When (the seniors) were sophomores, they traveled in the playoffs and won. So, as long as the field is decent, we’re fine.”

Riley finished with 103 yards passing and also had 72 yards rushing and a team-leading 10 tackles. Snead’s total gives him 1,563 yards for the season, a single-season school record. His five touchdowns scored against Peninsula also is a single-game school record.

Reach editor Ryan Piersol at editor@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.

At least two streets in Snoqualmie have been closed due to flood concerns.

Northern Street, Mill Pond Road between Meadowbrook Bridge and Tokul Road, were close off because of rising levels of the Snoqualmie River.

Elsewhere, the Tolt River near Carnation was declared in a Phase 4 flood state by the King County Flood Warning Center Friday morning.

The Snoqualmie River was coursing at 27,090 cubic feet per second at 10 a.m. Friday, strong enough to warrant Phase 3 flood warnings, but far below the 38,000 cfs point necessary to trigger a Stage 4 alert.

Real-time river level and flood information is available at www.kingcounty.gov/flood

A recorded King County flood information hotline is updated each hour at 206-296-8200 or 1-800-945-9263.

The majority of the United Classrooms of Mount Si High School favor both Democrats and Republicans. 

About 60 percent of Mount Si High School’s population voted for Barack Obama during a nationwide high-school mock election Oct. 31. John McCain scored second with 35 percent of the popular vote, Ralph Nader placed third with 3 percent and the remainder of students and staff — two percent — voted for other parties.

Mount Si High School teacher Lisa Truemper organizes shoeboxes containing student ballots, as senior Leah Wiley turns in the votes for the class she supervised.

But while the democratic candidate soared in the presidential mock election, Republican candidate Dino Rossi beat Chris Gregoire in the Washington state governor’s race 55 percent to 45 percent.

This is the first time Mount Si students have participated in a national mock election. Student officials from the contemporary issues and criminal justice classes monitored the voting process and explained to their classmates they were there to “ensure the accuracy and reliability of the vote.” 

Senior Leah Wiley, a student in Lisa Truemper’s current events class, directed the voting process in the gymnasium. She called students up one at a time, while senior Logan Sutton handed out ballots. 

The voting process mimicked professional polling places; students penned their names on a sign-in sheet and then voted on anonymous ballots for the presidential and gubernatorial races. Students voted one at a time, “so their friends couldn’t tell them who to vote for,” Wiley said. 

Physical education teacher Dirk Hansen said he didn’t mind shortened class periods for the mock election. 

“I think it’s a great way to convey the importance of voting and the power they have,” Hansen said. “I’ve already noticed kids talking this morning about who they’re going to vote for.”

Freshman Tasha Hartwig said she was looking forward not only to voting but also to learning which candidate would get the most votes from her peers.

“I think it’s interesting we get to see who favors who,” Hartwig said.

Although most high-school students have not yet reached the legal voting age of 18, many of them are closely following the election.

“I think the nation is very divided about the election,” junior Colby Jones said. 

He said the mock election was good practice because “pretty much all of the students will be voting soon.”

Even apathetic voters participated.

“I don’t really like politics,” sophomore Chris Appleseth said. Still, he filled out his ballot. 

At a school board meeting Oct. 9, Kim Sales and Lisa Truemper said the mock election tied in with 2006 Washington state house bill 3145 designed to “help graduate students who are better voters, better citizens, and who are ready to take an informed and responsible place in society.”

Both teachers said they wanted to emphasize the voting process, not partisan affiliation. 

“This is the love of social studies,” Truemper said. “I don’t care what your opinion is, as long as you can support it.”

Students finished with the voting process read a worksheet detailing the history of how Americans elect their president. Depending on the population of each second period class, Sales and Truemper assigned classrooms throughout the school with electoral votes. The most crowded rooms — Bonnie Foote’s gym class and Adam Rupert’s sound engineering class — had nine electoral votes apiece.

According to Truemper and Sales’ calculations, Obama received 307 electoral votes and McCain had 43. But only the presidential race depended on the Mount Si electoral system. The popular vote determined the gubernatorial race.

“It was an awesome opportunity for the kids to see an electoral process occur,” Principal Randy Taylor said. “The mock election was a good simulation of the voting process and learning that the vote is more than just the popular vote. It’s about the electoral process.”

Sales and Truemper said they hoped the mock election would promote youth involvement in politics. Jenni Anderson, a 2008 Mount Si graduate, participated as a delegate for Obama at the Washington state democratic caucus. 

“It’s important to have a say, even if your vote doesn’t technically count,” Anderson said of the mock election. “It’s good to know about the issues and understand the process for when you can vote.”

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

With mere hours to go before the grand opening of its new 170,000-square-foot gaming emporium, the Snoqualmie Tribe has the dice in its collective hands and a $375 million bet on the crisp, new felt of the craps table.

And the roulette wheels. And the smoke-free poker room. And the 1,700 state-of-the-art slot machines.

Slot machines at Snoqualmie Casino await tonight’s grand opening.

Yes, the Snoqualmie Casino is finally ready to open, and last-minute preparations are everywhere — and not just among the tribe and the 1,300 employees who will greet the first visitors starting at 10 p.m. tonight.

Local law enforcement have been planning for what is expected to be the largest traffic jam in local history with projections of as many 30,000 people converging on tiny two-lane North Bend Way within the first 24 hours of the casino’s operations.

“I don’t know about those numbers,” Gina Brodie, of the casino’s marketing team, said Monday afternoon while guiding a reporter through the sea of workers diligently wiping, shining, stacking and arranging their way through the orchestrated chaos that was the scene in the bowels and open areas of the majestic casino.

“I think that’s all speculation. At this point, no one really knows.”

North Bend Police Chief Joe Hodgson isn’t hedging his bets.

“The city is expecting significant traffic impacts,” Hodgson said in a recent press release.

“The Snoqualmie Casino is expecting 10,000 to 30,000 visitors during the first 24 hours of operation. Both Bendigo and North Bend Way may be significantly impacted as visitors travel through town to and from I-90 at Exit 31.”

Snoqualmie Police Chief Jim Schaffer and his department are more concerned with impacts at Exit 27, the most direct access point to the Snoqualmie Indian Reservation and its casino operation.

“Starting by noon (today), avoid eastbound I-90 at Exit 27,” was Schaffer’s warning to locals who are not interested in tempting Lady Luck in all her various and sundried ways available at the casino.

“We’re going to have extra patrols and will be staffing the command post,” Schaffer said. “If there’s any way people can find to avoid that interchange, that will really help out.”

Schaffer said responsibility for what occurs on the reservation is the providence of the one-man tribal police force; outside the main entrance falls into the jurisdiction of the King County Sheriff’s Office. Once I-90 comes into play, it’s the Washington State Patrol’s area of responsibility.

“We’re mainly concerned with the traffic on two roads where we feel there could be problems: Meadowbrook Way and the (Snoqualmie) Parkway,” Schaffer said.

Aside from the potential of illegal parking and traffic jams on city streets, Schaffer said he fears the casino could experience capacity problems, which only further exacerbates the traffic concerns.

At a recent meeting of the city’s Public Safety Committee, Schaffer and Fire Chief Bob Rowe — who is responsible for fire and medical emergency concerns at the casino, under terms of an agreement between the city and the Snoqualmie Tribe — said the casino capacity is rated at only 4,800 people.

The casino only has 2,680 parking spots available, Rowe said in his report to the committee, and no more than 2,700 cars will be allowed on the casino property at any one time.

Casino officials have said they will open the gates to parking at 9 p.m. tonight, but law enforcement and other public safety officials consider it almost a certainty that once the available parking is filled, vehicles being turned away from the casino can only serve to make an already bad situation even more untenable.

“We’re just going to have to wait and see,” Schaffer said.

On Monday, however, casino employees weren’t interested in talking about traffic problems.

Visitors to the facility were guided to the lower-level employee parking lot and driven to the casino proper by a never-ending fleet of shuttle buses.

Lines of potential employees who were being led by groups into the human resources department were met with other groups of workers toting colored uniforms bearing the casino’s distinctive half-moon logo.

In the Lit, the casino’s high-end cigar lounge, two workers were spotted taking a break at the lounge’s bar until Brodie walked in and they sprang back to life, offering a quick visit to the fully-stocked humidor where the sweet, heady aroma of fine tobacco emanated from boxes of cigars, many of which bore prices in the $100-plus price range.

Finely prepared food was on display at more than one of the casino’s several dining facilities as Brodie explained that the only way to ensure the casino’s hallmark cuisine offerings were up to the test of opening day was to put the legions of cooks, chefs, sauciers and servers through their paces early.

Brodie was quick to point out the thickly padded seating accommodations awaiting Friday’s Jessica Simpson performance in the casino’s Grand Ballroom, and racks of guitars and other instruments were already visible in the Sno Lounge, where visitors will be able to enjoy a drink, music and a stunning view of Mount Si while taking a break from the sea of gambling opportunities just a few steps away.

“We’re ready to go,” Brodie said, with a confidence matched by Hodgson, Schaffer and Rowe.

Now, it just remains to be seen if the Snoqualmie can pull off its greatest gamble since Chief Pat Kanim placed his name on the Treaty of Point Elliot in 1855.

Reach reporter Ed Farrell at efarrell@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.

From World War II to Vietnam and the Korean War to Afghanistan, Americans have enlisted in the armed forces to serve their country. With Veterans Day approaching, Kim Wagner’s fifth-grade class at North Bend Elementary is honoring veterans by organizing a Veterans Day assembly and contributing to the local Thank-a-GI food and supply drive.

Kim Wagner and her fifth-grade class stand in front of their fundraising boxes at North Bend Elementary.

“We get the day off from school and most people just go ‘it’s a day off,’” fifth-grade student Kelly Corder said. “We need to remember the sacrifices they made for us.”

Wagner’s class has practiced their respective roles in the assembly since the beginning of October for their daily social studies unit.

Caleb Mitchell is reading a paragraph about Veterans Day about “what they’ve done for us,” he said. 

Kelsey Frederick will recite “The Veteran,” a poem written by Wagner herself. The teacher also composed the ABC’s of Veterans Day, in which each letter stands for a feat accomplished by U.S. Veterans. 

“I’m honored and proud to pay tribute to the veterans,” said Wagner, whose classes have organized the Veterans Day assembly for more than a decade. Often, her students have family members who have served or are serving in the armed forces. Wagner changes names and places in songs and skits the children perform to personalize the day. 

“I think it makes it more real to them,” Wagner said. 

Every year, North Bend Elementary invites local veterans to its Veterans Day assembly. This year, the assembly will be held in the gymnasium at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 10. State Representative Jay Rodne, whose daughter is in fifth grade at North Bend Elementary, will speak at the assembly. 

Rodne, who is still a reservist, served on active duty from 1989-93 in the U.S. Marine Corps. He went to Kuwait in 1991, served in Somalia from 1992-3 and spent six months in Iraq in 2003.

“I’ll be talking about service and appreciating the freedoms we have,” Rodne said. He will talk at the Mount Si High School Veterans Day assembly, before speaking at North Bend Elementary.

In addition to the assembly, Wagner’s class is organizing a drive for food and supplies benefiting veterans. North Bend resident Christine Chartier started the Thank-a-GI organization in 2003 and regularly sends care packages to soldiers and veterans. She coordinates with Baker’s Angels, founded by North Bend resident Donna Padilla, whose son was wounded in Iraq. Baker’s Angels bakes cookies for wounded soldiers at Madigan Army Medical Center.  

“I like to give them to the marine’s moms groups,” Chartier said. “They find those soldiers that don’t get a lot of boxes. And they know — they find out who doesn’t get letters or cards or boxes all of the time.”

Wagner’s class is collecting supplies ranging from non-perishable food to dental hygiene. The collection boxes are positioned at the entrance to North Bend Elementary. 

Fifth-grade student Ryan Hyland gave a poignant answer for why people should donate to America’s veterans.

“So that they get help and support from us,” Hyland said. “So they don’t think they’ve been forgotten.”

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

Almost every class at Mount Si High School requires books — a resource sorely lacking in the Uganda education system.

Working through the Invisible Children non-profit, the National Honors Society, Key Club and other student groups, Mount Si High School has banded together to raise money and books for Ugandan students.

If they collect more than 10,000 books, Invisible children will pay their shipping fees.

Kimberly Calhoun, a North Bend resident, commended the students for their fundraising efforts. Calhoun works with the Adopt-A-Classroom program, which helps organizations collect money for school supplies for students in underprivileged classrooms. 

Calhoun works with community members to raise funds for Ugandan students. She has visited Uganda for the past three years with In the Field Ministries, a group she founded with her husband. 

“They definitely need books,” Calhoun said. 

She recalled the Ugandan students’ expressions when she helped pass out books and school supplies.

“The kids just sat there and looked at them,” Calhoun said. “They have to convince the kids they could keep them. They were just in shock. A lot of them have never received a gift before.”

Only 4 percent of Ugandan children have books. Mount Si High School students are hoping to increase that statistic.

By standing outside the North Bend QFC, high school students have already raised $1,000 they plan to donate to Invisible Children. They’ve collected about the same number of books.

“I donated my old childhood books,” said senior Gillian Kenagy, co-president of the National Honor Society. “We had shelves and shelves we were no longer reading.”

Students have placed book collection boxes in Snoqualmie Valley schools, businesses and libraries. The community is also invited to drop off books at the Mount Si High School gymnasium from 2-7 p.m. Nov. 22. The drive lasts until Dec. 1.

Senior Brooke Moorhead, Key Club member, said she plans to donate her books Nov. 22 to help Key Club in a competition against the National Honor Society. 

All types of books — from picture to chapter to academic — will be accepted.

After the National Honor Society learned about Invisible Children, they learned about Uganda’s history with civil war and child soldiers. 

“Helping out their children through education,” in other words — books — could bring positive change to a child’s future, Kenagy said.

Invisible Children, founded in 2004, was named after a documentary with the same name that follows the hardship children in northern Uganda face. The non-profit sponsors two programs — the Invisible Children Education Program, which awards scholarships, supplies and mentors to Ugandan students, and the Invisible Children Bracelet Campaign, which employs Ugandans to make bracelets out of recycled wire. The bracelet profits help fund the education program.

Moorhead encouraged people to donate money or books to help Ugandan students.

“It’s a good cause and we all need to help out in the world in some way,” she said.

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

Sheep brains are no larger than the hand of a middle-school student, but they held the attention of Kyle Wallace’s eighth-grade biology class for well over an hour. 

“It feels like a dog toy,” Courtenay Wilhelm said, as she probed the neural matter with her forefinger.

Nicole Trickey wiggles her thumb as she tries to remove the hippocampus from the sheep brain. The lab took place on pajama day at Twin Falls Middle School.

Students in Wallace’s three biology classes picked up the scalpel Oct. 29 for a lab relating to their neurology unit. The teenagers had already learned the names for the brain’s regions — ventral, caudal, dorsal and rostral — through lessons and homework. The lab helped students connect the unit’s vocabulary to the sheep specimen. 

“This is a great real-life application,” Wallace said. 

After reviewing lab etiquette, the class trooped across the hall to the laboratory in the North Fork of Twin Falls Middle School. Students fished sheep brains — each duo receiving half a brain — from a bucket and immediately began following a worksheet detailing the dissection steps.

First, students transcribed five physical characteristics relating to the brain.

“It looks yellowish,” Kaylie Duran said. 

Another student, Sarah Montgomery, noted how the stringy and purple blood vessels were embedded in the grey matter.

The brain’s “soft and squishy” composition didn’t surprise Mountgomery. It made sense, “or else you wouldn’t have such a hard head to protect it,” she said.

Students jotted down functions pertaining to each lobe they could identify. The frontal lobe helps store certain kinds of long-term memory, they wrote. The temporal lobe helps with speech, memory and hearing. 

Wallace just started teaching his students about neurons, and Alex McAlistair took a stab at explaining their function.

“It’s like the cell that sends messages throughout the body telling the body to do stuff,” McAlistair said, consulting her notebook briefly. 

Next week, Wallace said he would review neurons in more depth and explain the function of the corpus callosum — the structure that allows chatter between the brain’s two hemispheres. 

This is the third year the eighth grade has dissected sheep brains. Some of the worksheet’s questions asked students to compare the sheep brain to its human counterpart.

Once biology classes move into their next unit — systems of the body — they will dissect a frog. 

“The brain is your control center. Well, what is it controlling?” Wallace asked, explaining the logic behind the frog lab. The last dissection of the year — a cow’s eye — will show students a specific system. 

Students said they enjoyed the hands-on aspect of the dissection lab. 

“Instead of reading what other people have seen, you can learn it for yourself,” Josephine Cousins said. 

“I liked exploring the cerebellum,” Lydia Pinkley said, adding that the cerebellum controls balance and coordination, the exact skills she needed to slice the brain in two with the scalpel. “You actually get to touch it.”

Some questions on the worksheet pushed the students to consider the brain’s origin. 

“What kinds of things does a sheep need to remember?” read one question after students removed the C-shaped hippocampus, the structure storing short-term memory. 

Aren Orr said he and his classmates had reviewed ethical considerations of the lab.

“We went over to respect it because it once was a living animal,” Orr said.

The lab helped students grasp the material, but funds are tight for biology classes. Twin Falls has no microscopes or Bunsen burners and they had to borrow dissection trays from Snoqualmie Middle School. In the past, the Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation funded the brain bill, but this year the department paid $800 for the 60 brain hemispheres. 

Rhonda Hughes, who assembles science kits for the district, said much of the funding responsibility falls on the foundation and the PTSA.

Middle-school dissections prepare students for high school anatomy lessons. Students in anatomy and physiology and AP biology can dissect a fetal pig.

“If you’re trying to understand the structure and function, dissections are one way to explain to a student that relationship,” said Andrew Rapin, Mount Si High School AP biology teacher.

Presenters talked about learning, the environment, fundraising and elk at the Twin Falls Middle School Dedication and Community Celebration Oct. 30. 

ASB students led guests on tours of the school, while middle-school student Gabe Kangas played the piano. The ribbon cutting, performed by School Board President Marci Busby, officially opened the school for business.

The dedication had a full program, starting with local Boy Scouts Daniel Green, Tyler Moore, Sean Heckler and Collin Peery, who led the Pledge of Alliance for the crowd of about 120.

Principal Ruth Moen acknowledged the property’s former owner, Paul Tredway, who sold the lot to the school district. Twin Falls architects also received a round of applause.

A few community members inspected Twin Falls new spirit stick, carved by Twin Falls parent and artist Bob Antone. Fury Construction found the cedar log buried 20 feet under the Cascade Golf Course. The construction company donated the wood to Antone, who said he would carve it with symbols representing the new middle school.

Antone said he suspected the log was buried in the late 1800s to help develop transportation in the Valley.

“They would bury cedar logs to build up the roadway and prevent washouts,” Antone said. 

The spirit stick will be awarded to the class who wins the school’s spirit-week competition.

“It’s an actual living piece of history, an artifact the kids can hold,” Antone said.

Artifacts are everywhere, and so are elk. Moen mentioned math teacher George Warren had an “elk incident,” a story he elaborated on later.

As he drove to Twin Falls via Southeast Mount Si Road the morning of Oct. 24, he got an unpleasant surprise.

“All of a sudden, this elk came from across the street and just bolted,” Warren said.

He hit the elk, which busted the side and hood of his Honda. Luckily, Warren was uninjured and there were no other cars around.

“It could have been a multiple-car accident,” Warren said.

Joel Aune followed Moen on the stage, praising voters for passing the 2003 bond funding the construction of Twin Falls. 

“Without community, schools do not get built and more importantly schools do not flourish,” Aune said.

ASB student leaders and Green Team advisors also made presentations. Science teacher Dawn Frearson said she hoped Snoqualmie Valley could become a “green district” through the King County Green Schools program. 

Following the Green Team update, a group of six girls presented on the School of the Future project. To enter the national contest, the students will have to design a model and write a 750-word essay about their entry. 

The girls said they would design their school with environmentally friendly aspects, including geothermal heat sourcing, solar panels and a recycling system. If they place at the regional competition, the three Twin Falls students will win a free trip to Washington D.C. with their advisor Dave Bettine for the national championship.

The dedication ended with a speech from PTSA President Xiomara Pilon, who stated her goal to raise $70,000 during the 2008-09 school year. To jumpstart its campaign, the PTSA is selling $100 name-bricks that will pave the pathway leading from the parking lot to the school.

Matt Wenman and the Twin Falls Middle School Jazz Band — complete with piano and xylophone — debuted at the end of the open house, much to the delight of audience members who tapped their feet in time with the snazzy tunes. 

With the word “legacy” on the lips of so many presenters, Aune summed it up by saying the school would serve students for years to come.

“I believe that schools are a measure of a community’s priorities and values,” Aune said. “This school, like our other schoolhouses sends a strong message that our community places high value on education and the highest value on its children.”

With all seven of the city’s precincts counted and 77 percent of mail-in ballots accounted for, Snoqualmie’s Proposition No. 1, Recreational Facilities Bond is still well below the 60 percent supermajority required for approval.

As of Thursday afternoon, 53 percent of votes tallied were in favor of the $10 million bond proposition – 7 full percentage points below that required by state law for approval.

A total of 1,263 votes were tallied in support of the measure, while 1,120 votes were cast against the proposition.

In the latest round of results posted by the King County Elections Office, 46.07 percent of the city’s registered voters had cast ballots by Tuesday or had been counted as absentee or mail-in. Only 862 mail-in ballots remained to be counted or accounted for by Thursday afternoon, according to elections officials.

If the results hold up, it will be the third time voters have declined to support a property tax increase to build and support a community center on Snoqualmie Ridge.

The total estimated cost of the center is $14 million; the city has promised to dedicate $1 million in Real Estate Excise Tax, or REET, revenues and Quadrant Homes has $3 million in mitigation fees it has collected as required as part of its original development agreement with the city.

David E. Dorothy, spokesman for Quadrant Homes, said Wednesday that until the ballot count was completed, he couldn’t talk about future plans.

“With the outstanding ballots that remain, it’s too early for me to comment at this time,” Dorothy said.

If the last remaining ballots are enough to top the 60 percent mark, the bonds will cost an estimated 30 additional cents per $1,000 assessed valuation, or about $120 a year on a $400,000 home.

A precinct by precinct vote tally will not be available until after the election results are certified on Nov. 25.

In 2002, voters defeated a $9 million bond measure — 59.63 voted against the bonds to 40.37 in support. And in 2006, the bond question was defeated 52.28 percent to 47.72 percent.

Snoqualmie Councilman Charles Peterson, a downtown Snoqualmie resident and former city mayor who had urged voters to support the measure as a symbol of community unity, said Wednesday he had “no concept of what we’ll do” should the numbers hold up and the final tally fail to reach 60 percent.

Councilman Jeff MacNichols agreed with Peterson.

Councilman Bob Jeans, like his colleagues, suggested it “will be days” before the final tally is known.

“If the matter does not pass, then we need to reassess why that occurred,” Jeans said. “The simple answer could be that the current economic crisis caused people to again reassess their priorities.”

Jeans, however, said the council took the proper steps in placing the question before the voters for a third time.

“The council listened to the people and presented what we felt addressed their needs for a community center.”

The council had already approved a memorandum of understanding with the Greater Seattle YMCA to manage the facility, promising to subsidize the YMCA to the tune of $100,000 a year for 20 years.

YMCA officials did not immediately return telephone calls soliciting comment.

The $2 million subsidy was a point of contention with some prospective voters in the days leading up to the election, and even caught some city council members by surprise when Larson announced the terms of the subsidy prior to the election.

Before the Snoqualmie Valley School Board approves putting another bond before voters, the district is holding a meeting for the public. The meeting — which will be held at Mount Si High School, 8651 Meadowbrook Way S.E., Snoqualmie from 7-8:30 p.m. Nov. 6 — will provide the community with information about the bond proposal and other options the district has to address crowded classrooms.

Attendants will have the opportunity to discuss their thoughts regarding the district’s bond proposal. 

Community members who are unable to attend the meeting are encouraged to comment about the bond proposal online until Nov. 10. Visit www.svsd410.org, select “Bond Decision coming in November” and click on “School Bond Input” to participate. 

If the board approves the bond proposal, voters living within the Snoqualmie Valley School District can vote either for or against the $34.2 million bond March 10. The bond would fund 18 double-modular classrooms and renovations to existing school buildings and infrastructure.

More controversial is the proposed use of Snoqualmie Middle School as a satellite campus for Mount Si High School, which needs more room to house its large student population. If the proposal is put into action, the district would redraw middle school boundaries and direct students toward either Chief Kanim or Twin Falls middle schools. The modular classrooms from the bond would be placed at these two middle schools to help with an influx in population.

If the $34 million bond passes, taxpayers would contribute $0.41 per $1,000 of assessed home value from 2010 to 2020. For example, owners of a $200,000 house would pay $82 per year. If it does not pass, the district will turn to its No Fund Plan and consider solutions that include double-shifting, alternate schedules, utilizing non-traditional spaces for classrooms, redrawing boundaries or year-round school. 

The board plans to vote on the bond proposal at the Nov. 13 meeting. All school board meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. at the district office at 8001 Silva Ave. S.E., Snoqualmie. 

Superintendent Joel Aune said he would like to have a decision regarding the bond completed by Dec. 1. 

The district will hold two other meetings about school funding in the month of November. The first meeting, State Education Funding Crisis, will be held at Mount Si High School from 6-7:30 p.m. Nov. 10. The Snoqualmie Valley PTSA Council and the school district will explain the big picture for funding in the K-12 public education system.

A second meeting, Funding Challenges for Snoqualmie Valley Schools, will be held twice Nov. 17. The public is invited to the 1-2:30 p.m. meeting at the district office or the 6-7:30 p.m. meeting in the Snoqualmie Middle School commons, 9200 Railroad Avenue S.E., Snoqualmie.

Online presentations from both of these meetings will be posted online at www.svsd410.org in December.

Standing near a new Snoqualmie City Hall that is being developed on SE River Street, Mike Roy, operations supervisor for the city, notes that the first floor of the new building stands more than a head high off ground level.

Roy doesn’t have to think long before recalling just how deep flood waters can get at that location, but is as certain as he can be that plans for the new municipal center have addressed everything but a flood of biblical proportions.

“The whole building is within the floodplain,” Roy said, recalling how in 2006, water ran through that exact site at more than knee deep.

Charles Peterson, a current city councilman and former mayor of Snoqualmie, as well as a life-long city resident, said he is very confident the new city hall building will weather any storm.

“The first floor is one foot above the 100-year flood level,” Peterson said, adding that, to his knowledge, the city has never experienced that mythical 100-year inundation.

Peterson could recall, however, water an estimated three feet deep on the site when it housed the city’s old fire station.

The city’s new fire station now sits firmly on higher ground on Snoqualmie Parkway.

“We had to,” Peterson said of relocating the station. “It’s pretty hard to operate a fire station when it’s under water.”

Hundred year flood or not, most everything in the downtown area of Snoqualmie routinely finds itself under some level of water more years than not, so flood preparation is key for both safety and the preservation of property.

Even an official flood preparation handout from the city notes that preparation for a worst-case scenario is proper: “Remember, the next flood can always be bigger than floods you have seen before.”

The most important steps, according to the city, are keeping family and property prepared.

Making sure family members understand emergency procedures, such as whom to notify in case of flooding, is important, as is knowing the safest route to higher ground from home or businesses.

“Establish meeting places and phone numbers in case family members are separated by rising flood waters,” and “teach all family members how and when to turn off gas, electricity and water lines,” are just two of the many “before a flood” tips offered by the city.

Storing valuables at higher levels, such as on a second story, if possible, and the need to keep household chemicals above flood levels are other important steps.

A disaster supply kit is recommended by both the city and emergency experts, and should include a portable radio – a NOAA weather radio is strongly recommended — emergency cooking equipment, flashlights with fresh and extra batteries, non-perishable food and drinking water, essential medications and a first-aid kit.

Residents are encouraged to keep a battery-powered radio tuned to a local station if flood waters are eminent, and if a resident is trapped by rising waters, they should first dial 911 to seek help and then move to a higher spot inside the building, or to the roof if necessary.

“Be prepared to evacuate,” city emergency officials said, “and if advised to evacuate, do so immediately. Evacuation is much simpler and safer before flood waters become too deep for ordinary vehicles to drive through.”

If evacuating by car, do not drive where water is over the road or past barricaded road signs. If the car stalls in a flooded area, “abandon it as soon as possible and walk to safety in the direction you came from,” is the city’s recommendation.

Upon returning home after the floodwaters recede, residents are urged to first check for structural damage, and to be cautious of potential gas leaks, electrical shorts and live wires.

Property owners should consider purchasing flood insurance, according to the city.

“Homeowners’ insurance does not cover flood loss,” the city’s flood-tips program states, but adds that most insurance agents offer flood insurance. “Anyone can get flood insurance, even if you are located in an area not mapped as a floodplain, or even if you have never been flooded before.”

The city, along with officials from Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, will host a pair of meetings Friday, Nov. 7 at the Snoqualmie Fire Station. The first meeting, from noon to 4 p.m., is for insurance agents. A second meeting, starting at 6 p.m., is for homeowners.

For more information on flooding and flood preparation, go to http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/waterandland/flooding.aspx

   It is our responsibility as taxpayers to make sure our school board members hire and oversee the work of the superintendent, approve a balanced district budget and lead the way in needed policy adoptions.

   It is not our job to tell them what to do with their own children.

   At an Oct. 23 board meeting of the Snoqualmie Valley School District, two citizens requested that Board Vice President Kathryn Lerner resign her position. Their reasoning revolves around the fact that Lerner has chosen to send her daughter outside the district to attend Mercer Island High School. Lerner still has another daughter attending school inside the Snoqualmie Valley district.

   While keeping tabs on the actions of our elected officials is a necessary duty, Lerner’s family decision is really none of our business and should do nothing to damage her reputation as a board member. She has explained that her decision had to do with her daughter’s desire to participate in marching band and study Mandarin, programs unavailable at Mount Si. If anything, her attempt to fulfill her daughter’s needs – even in the face of possible scrutiny – is admirable.

   Furthermore, Lerner was challenged to unify the board to help get a bond passed that would alleviate school crowding. Any accusation that Lerner isn’t out to do whatever she can to help get a bond passed is absurd — not after she served as co-chair of Valley Voters for Education, a group that has campaigned for school bonds in the past.

   Instead of scrutinizing the families who have opted to send their children outside the district — for whatever reason — perhaps we should encourage and join forces with our board members to be creative in extending curriculum that entices students to stay. Communicate to the board about problems. Offer ideas as to how the district can be better.

   If, at the end of a term, you don’t feel a board member is doing the job, you as a citizen should feel free to vote for someone else. Personal family decisions like where their kids attend school should not be up for discussion.

School board resignation request

At the October 23 school board meeting, Ken Hutcherson and Todd Shaw took the bold step of calling for the resignation of school board vice president Kathryn Lerner claiming she has “compromised her ability to serve the Snoqualmie Valley” by allowing her older daughter to attend a school in Mercer Island (she also has one attending CVES) because it offered marching band and Chinese, things not offered at MSHS.  

First of all, it’s none of our business where Lerner’s children are educated. Second, if anything, the process has likely provided Lerner with invaluable experience about curriculum challenges facing every school district.

Apparently, Mr. Hutcherson and Mr. Shaw would like to require that all school board member’s children must attend schools in the district. While we’re at it, should we also require that school board members have children at all? Certainly a person without children or someone who has children too young or too old to attend our schools wouldn’t have the “ability to serve the Snoqualmie Valley.”

I find it incredibly ironic that Hutcherson, whose antics at an MSHS assembly last year did nothing to help passage of the April school bond, suggests that Lerner’s daughter’s attendance at Mercer Island High School could be detrimental to passage of the upcoming bond. He says “I’m one parent who would like to move off of the controversy issue and deal with the work to get our next bond passed?” Really? Then might I suggest Mr. Hutcherson volunteer to knock on doors, make phone calls and otherwise participate in the process of getting the bond passed rather than take useless, divisive potshots at a board member who did what she thought was best for her daughter.

Our schools are filled with great curriculum, great teachers and fantastic students. Our test scores are among the highest in the state. Our teachers and school board successfully negotiated a new contract to avoid a strike. We are certainly not a perfect district. We all have things we wish were offered that aren’t. But no district can offer everything to everyone nor should it try.

Sean Sundwall

Snoqualmie

Cat Tales censorship

While I hardly wish to take space in this publication to respond to a recent letter from a reader, I feel that Mr. Strine directly attacks my character and me personally, and thus feel obligated to defend myself accordingly.

The issue at hand is of the recent attempt of censoring Cat Tales, Mt. Si High School’s student newspaper, by school administrators.

While Mr. Strine is busy making Ad hominem attacks on the other original letter writer – whom I in no way speak for here – and myself, he fails to combat a single point either him and I make in our letters.

While I find many of his statements ill-informed and down-right offensive, Mr. Strine’s assertion that “With [my] current [attitude], [I] wouldn’t last a week for a commercial paper where rookies are always edited” particularly struck me.  Yes sir, you are certainly right, we are edited — by editors — not by those whom we report on.

I am surprised and dismayed that he fails to realize or acknowledge this point because it is at the crux of my argument against this censorship. And it is also at the heart of this “trade” called journalism that Mr. Strine so deeply wishes me to learn. Well, sir, for one, I know that.

And for two, these student reporters need to know that if they are ever going to, as Mr. Strine puts it, “be a cub reporter, get experience from the bottom up, and then pop off.” So I would appreciate more substance from your criticism, sir, and less personal attacks that have no place in this important discussion.

Chris Pulliam,

New York City, N.Y.

Melodies and harmonies from practice recitals will soon emanate from Snoqualmie Middle School’s band room, but the musicians won’t be teenage students.

Dean Snavely, director of music at Snoqualmie Middle School, is holding a community adult holiday band for the winter season. Snavely and the Snoqualmie Middle School Music Booster Association are inviting community members to unsnap their trumpet cases and blow the dust from their clarinets. The holiday band, which will hold five rehearsals before the 7 p.m. Dec. 19 concert, will practice at Snoqualmie Middle School from 7-8:30 p.m. Nov. 17 and 24 and Dec. 1, 8 and 15.

To enroll, contact Snavely at 831-8474. Download a registration form at www.mrsnavely.com. 

“I’ve had parents and community members who, over the years, have talked to me about doing a community band,” Snavely said.

Community musical outfits already exist in Renton and Seattle. 

“This is kind of a lightening rod to see if we can create enough interest to start our own,” Snavely said.

Players who have warm memories of band, but who forget terms like andante, coda or crescendo, will get help from Snavely and a troop of his students. Registration for the band costs $35 for individuals and $50 for couples. The Music Booster Association will invest the profits into instruments, sheet music, trips and master classes.

“We’re going to be doing some Saturday master classes,” Snavely said. “They’ll be free for any kid in the district.”

He hopes the community band will attract about 60 brass, wind or percussion players. String and other music makers are welcome, too, but Snavely said the sheet music would be aimed primarily at band instruments.

Snavely also noted, “the larger the ensemble, the more the bad notes get drowned out.”

The music is still undergoing selection, but listeners should expect to hear Sleigh Ride and other holiday favorites at the concert. 

“It’s going to be determined upon the level of playing,” Snavely said. 

Musicians lacking an instrument who want to join the community band can get a special deal at Snoqualmie Ridge Music. The store is partnering with Harmony Music in Redmond to offer six-week instrument rentals for the price of four. 

Rental prices will range from $23 to $46 per month, depending on the instrument, said owner of Snoqualmie Ridge Music Steve Bell, who said he and Harmony Music were offering the deal to “support music in the community.”

Musicians can also rent from Mills Music in six-month increments. 

Harley Brumbaugh, trumpeter, conductor and North Bend resident, encouraged former music players to resume their musical studies.

“Give it a try. You’re going to find that maturity is on your side,” Brumbaugh said. “You may not have all of the coordination you had before, but what you will play you’ll play with more depth and more understanding.”

Jane Ellen Seymour, president of the booster association, also tooted her horn for the program.

“I love the idea of adults being beginners or being really rusty and relearning their instrument for the kids,” Seymour said. “I know that there are a lot of kids whose parents used to play instruments. It isn’t just about their kids. They love music for a reason, too. It’s kind of a thrill for both.”

Snoqualmie’s Proposition No. 1, Recreational Facilities Bond — also known as the Snoqualmie Ridge Community Center bond — is failing.

With all seven of the city’s precincts reporting, supporters of the $10 million bond issue so far have been unable to achieve the 60 percent supermajority required by state law. However, there are still an unknown number of mail-in and absentee ballots uncounted.

According to the King County Elections Office, 52.61 percent of votes cast were in support of the measure, while 47.39 percent of voters were opposed.

Only 33.7 percent — 1,813 of 5,370 registered voters — cast counted ballots on the bond question. It’s unsure how many more votes could come in. In a similar vote in 2006, voter participation was 64 percent. In 2002, it was 52 percent.

If the bond fails, it will be the third time voters declined to support a property tax increase to build and support a community center on Snoqualmie Ridge.

If approved, the bonds would cost an estimated 30 additional cents per $1,000 assessed valuation, or about $120 a year on a $400,000 home.

A precinct-by-precinct vote tally was not available Wednesday morning from county election officials, but in both 2002 and 2006, voters residing in the downtown area of Snoqualmie voted strongly in opposition to issuing bonds to build the center, while Snoqualmie Ridge residents voted overwhelmingly in favor.

In 2002, voters overwhelmingly defeated a $9 million bond measure — 59.63 voted against the bonds to 40.37 in support. In 2006, the bond question was defeated with 52.28 percent in favor to 47.72 percent against.

Prior to Tuesday’s election, Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson had urged voters to approve the bonds, promising the city would try again in two years.

On Wednesday, Larson — an ardent and vocal supporter of the bond effort — issued a terse “no comment” in the wake of current results.

Councilman Charles Peterson, a downtown Snoqualmie resident and former city mayor who had urged voters to support the measure as a symbol of community unity, said Wednesday that he was not yet ready to concede defeat.

“I believe there are still a number of mail-in ballots to be counted,” Peterson said, noting that he himself had only mailed in his ballot Tuesday.

“But it is a lot of ground to make up, and I wouldn’t want to bet money (on achieving the 60 percent total required for victory) it.”

Peterson added he had “no concept of what we’ll do” should the numbers hold up and the final tally fail to reach 60 percent.

Councilman Jeff MacNichols agreed with Peterson.

“We are far from the end of the vote count,” MacNichols said, adding that the King County numbers “are preliminary” only.

The council had already approved a memorandum of understanding with the Greater Seattle YMCA to manage the facility, promising to subsidize the YMCA to the tune of $100,000 a year for 20 years.

YMCA officials did not immediately return telephone calls soliciting comment.

The $2 million subsidy was a point of contention with some prospective voters in the days leading up to the election, and even caught some city council members by surprise when Larson announced the terms of the subsidy prior to the election.

In other local elections, Republican incumbents for state legislative offices in the 5^th district were ahead on Wednesday. With 96 percent of precincts reporting, Republican incumbent state Senator Cheryl Pflug had a convincing lead, ahead 58-42. Pflug has 16,333 votes to Democratic challenger Phyllis Huster’s 11,949 votes.

Republican incumbent Jay Rodne seems poised to cruise to victory against Jon Viebrock, leading by a 56-43 margin. Rodne has received 15,470 votes to Viebrock’s 11,897.

In a much closer race, incumbent Republican Glenn Anderson was up by 310 votes against Democratic challenger David Spring. Anderson had 13,813 votes for 50.53 percent of the total counted, while Spring had 13,503 votes for 49.39 percent of the total counted.

Of the three statewide ballot measures, two passed.

Initiative 1000, sometimes referred to as the “Death with Dignity Act”, won 59-41.

Initiative 1029, which entails more funding for long-term care for elderly and disabled persons, passed 74-26.

Initiative 985, which would have opened up HOV lanes to all-purpose traffic at certain hours of the day, lost by a 59-41 margin.

Reporter J.B. Wogan contributed to this story. Reach reporter Ed Farrell at efarrell@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.

When the Mount Si volleyball team enters the KingCo Tournament this weekend, it will do it on the heels of nine league wins this fall and a 2007 season in which the Wildcats qualified for the state tournament.

Still, Mount Si will be in hunting mode.

That’s because, despite all their success, the Wildcats are not the most sought-after team at the league tournament. Mercer Island bears that honor after going 12-0 through its league schedule and a whopping 15-0 through the entire regular-season schedule.

Included in the Islanders wins, of course, were two defeats of Mount Si.

The Wildcats promise they’re not focused on Mercer Island, yet also know that if they’re to win the league tourney, they’ll most likely have to defeat the Islanders.

“It would be a very good matchup between us, but I think we’re just really excited to see how far we can make it this season,” senior Mackenzie Peerboom said. “We lost twice to them, but the second time we played them, we showed some improvement. We’ll be really excited to play them again.”

Since it finished second in the league, Mount Si received a bye in the first round of the tournament. It will take on the winner of Juanita and Interlake at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The finals of the tournament are set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Each of the Wildcats’ losses to Mercer Island were competitive. Mount Si lost in five sets on Sept. 17 and in four sets Oct. 13. The Wildcats have come closer to beating the Islanders than anyone else on Mercer Island’s schedule.

“Both matches were really close and they were back and forth. In order to beat them, we just have to stay confident and use what we’ve learned,” senior Bethany Frieler said. “Passing and serving is really important against them, because they’re really good in those areas.

“Mostly, we just need to work on having fun. When we have fun, we’re awesome. When we have fun, we forget about everything else and all the pressures that go along with it.”

Mount Si’s only other league loss this season was to Juanita. The Wildcats are 9-3 in the league and 11-4 overall.

Frieler admitted she’s felt the pressure for the team to succeed after a 2007 season in which the Wildcats placed eighth at the state tournament, their highest finish since 1990. She cautions that any comparisons between this year’s team and last year’s could be unfair, but that there are similarities.

“It’s a completely different team, because we lost six seniors last year. Going into this year, it was almost like a fresh start,” Frieler said. “There’s a bit of pressure, but a lot of it has to do with bringing another great season to the team to let all the other players who haven’t played at state know what it’s like.

“It’s tough to compare season-to-season. Statistic-wise, we might be a little stronger than we were last year. But that’s tough to compare, because our league is different than it was, too.”

The top four teams that come out of the league tournament will advance to the district tournament, scheduled for Nov. 13-15 at West Seattle and Sammamish High Schools.

Reach editor Ryan Piersol at editor@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.

Snoqualmie City Administrator Bob Larson said Monday the city has discussed plans to locate a 125-bed hotel on Snoqualmie Parkway that would be adjacent to the recently announced desired location of Snoqualmie Valley Hospital.

Larson told the city’s Public Works Committee he had been privy to discussions with a developer who is “not committed, but very interested” in building the hotel and possibly a restaurant at a 3-acre site next to the site unveiled by hospital officials Oct. 27.

Hospital Director Rodger McCollum revealed the plans to build a 28-bed medical center on Snoqualmie Parkway and SE 99^th Street.

McCollum said the hospital’s plans were for a new hospital only, but that the adjacent property would be a good site for a hotel and other commercial uses.

On Monday, Larson said the hotel developers he had met with felt the site “is very viable for this community.”

Larson also said the city’s “executive team,” which includes himself and Mayor Matt Larson “would like to support” both the hospital’s plans and the potential hotel proposal.

Larson also told the committee he would not recommend any new efforts to limit parking times on Ridge Street as requested recently by a local business owner.

Ken Staude, owner of Snoqualmie Ridge Learning Center, 34929 SE Ridge St., had complained to city officials about commuters parking for extended periods of time while using King County Metro’s new bus service on the Ridge.

Larson said most commuters are parking at Snoqualmie Community Park, but even if they were parking vehicles on Ridge Street or other area streets it was within their rights to do so.

“They are residents and have a right to park” on city streets, Larson said, adding that “forcing” commuters to park elsewhere would only serve to push the problem onto residential streets on the Ridge.

Larson also noted that enforcement of any parking limitations would be something he would not recommend, and would prefer to see the city continue to urge commuters to park where long-term parking would minimize impacts on businesses.

“We’ll try to educate people to see if we can get commuters to not park right in front of retail businesses,” Larson said.

Reach reporter Ed Farrell at efarrell@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434. 

The North Bend City Council is exploring its options after learning Oct. 28 that miscalculations may have been made in establishing the costs for the city’s already-approved Utility Local Improvement District No. 6.

The expected cost for installing the new sewer system in the city’s Urban Growth Area is now above $20 million – a 43 percent increase from the estimated $14 million the city had based on a pair of studies provided by another city consultant, Earth Tech, Inc, and a subsequent consulting firm, Berryman & Hennigar, also known as BHC, who were previously involved with Earth Tech.

The city has scheduled a meeting for property owners within the district for Nov. 24 to discuss the cost increase situation.

If the new calculations hold up — and the city’s new consultant, Gray and Osborne, Inc. insist they have been checked multiple times — the higher costs will have to be passed along to the property owners who have already agreed to join the special taxing district.

City Administrator Duncan Wilson said the higher costs would not derail the new district, and that under the terms of the establishment of the ULID, the city has the right to charge participants a “fair share” of the true costs incurred to the district.

ULID 6, Wilson said, is “critical to the future growth of the city.”

In June, when the council agreed to expand the new district to include more than 100 homes left out of the original boundaries, the city calculated an average initial assessment of about $2,100 per residence. In addition, district members would be expected to pay between $7,000 to $7,500 to actually hook into the new system.

Wilson said “there is no doubt” the initial assessment figure will increase, given the new calculations, but until Gray and Osborne can provide the city with firmer figures, he would not estimate what the new price might be.

In addition to the increase in costs, Gray and Osborne is recommending the city go with a gravity-fed wastewater system – BHC had recommended a vacuum-powered mechanically-assisted system – and that the city could not reasonably expect the new system to go online until 2011, more than a year later than originally expected.

The largest single increase, the council was told, involved the estimated cost of replacing streets after the new infrastructure was in place. The prior studies had estimated the cost at $60,000; Gray and Osborne representatives said Tuesday a more realistic figure is $5 million, largely because of King County’s stringent pavement restoration requirements.

In addition, the Gray and Osborne engineers said BHC had miscalculated flows into the system, and planned for smaller sewer mains that were not capable of handling the anticipated capacity.

Telephone calls to Earth Tech’s offices were not immediately returned.

Earth Tech was the city’s consultant for the 2001 Comprehensive Plan update, and when the city was considering creating the new sewer district in 2006, BHC was hired to provide the calculations necessary to determine the cost and feasibility of the new ULID, according to Ron Garrow, city public works director.

BHC’s contract was for $73,287, but the firm was paid only $21,413 for the work they performed, Garrow said.

When the ULID was actually formed in 2007, however, Gray and Osborne were brought in to design the proposed system, Garrow said, and soon realized that there were problems with the earlier data.

The Gray and Osborne contract is for $2.46 million, and was approved by the council on Mar. 4, 2008, according to Garrow.

In addition, Gray and Osborne quickly reached the conclusion that a gravity-fed system – which is less expensive to operate and maintain – was more efficient for the city.

BHC’s recommendation for a vacuum system, for example, would have required two pump stations and more than 88,000 feet of lines and mains; Gray and Osborne’s gravity-feed system needs only one pump and 70,000 feet of pipe.

Given the concerns about capacity miscalculations and a completely different recommendation between consultants, the city commissioned a “value engineering” study, which confirmed the Gray and Osborne conclusions, Garrow said.

Reach reporter Ed Farrell at efarrell@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.

Mount Si’s final heave into the end zone was knocked away by two defenders.

When the dew on the field settled, the Wildcats also found themselves behind two league foes.

Mount Si wide receiver Ryan Frazier makes his way upfield after catching a pass in the Wildcats’ 25-20 loss to Liberty.

The Liberty football team hooked up on a 51-yard touchdown pass with less than three minutes to play to lead the Patriots to a 25-20 win against Mount Si Friday night. The final helped the Patriots finish second in KingCo 3A/2A, while the Wildcats end up third.

Mount Si will go on the road next weekend for a Class 3A playoff qualifier contest at Peninsula.

The Wildcats had one final chance for a comeback against Liberty, but a fourth-down bomb into the Patriot end zone fell incomplete with 1:29 left. It was the fifth turnover of the night for Mount Si.

“When you play in big games, you can’t turn the ball over. And we did,” Wildcat head coach Charlie Kinnune said. “We needed to avoid the negative plays tonight and we just had too many negative plays.

“We knew it was going to be tough. When you have turnovers, it makes it even tougher on you.”

The game was tied 13-13 at halftime. Liberty mounted its first lead of the contest when it went 77 yards in 11 plays on the initial possession of the second half. The extra-point kick attempt, however, was botched and the score remained 19-13.

Late in the third, the Wildcats regained the lead when senior Sean Snead busted loose up the middle for a 77-yard touchdown romp. His longest run of the season, followed by an extra-point kick, gave Mount Si a 20-19 lead.

The Wildcats still led when they received the ball on their own 3 with 10:29 to go in the game. They rattled off four consecutive first downs and moved the ball inside the Liberty 35, looking to seal the win with one final touchdown. But an illegal procedure penalty put Mount Si into a fourth-and-8 play and they turned the ball over on downs at the 36.

The Patriots wasted little time, striking on the 51-yard game-winner four plays later. They were unable to convert a 2-point conversion and led, 25-20, with 2:25 remaining.

On Mount Si’s final chance, the Wildcats moved the ball to the Liberty 47, before a holding penalty drove them back. Their final pass attempt, which fell incomplete in the end zone, came on fourth-and-8 from the Patriot 45.

Snead finished with another monster game, going for 229 yards and two scores on 25 carries. Still, even that wasn’t enough on this night, mostly due to a pair of turnovers in each half – two fumbles and two interceptions.

“I think everybody in the country would feel good when their running back goes over 200 yards,” Kinnune said.

Liberty coach Steve Valach – like Kinnune – said he had to re-emphasize the importance of not turning the ball over at halftime. After three turnovers in the first half, the Patriots had none in the second.

“My comment at halftime was, ‘Those guys wearing Liberty out there are doing a pretty good job against our offense,’” Valach said. “That’s not to take anything away from Mount Si, but we needed to quit turning the ball over and hurting ourselves.

“Every time we play Mount Si, it’s a war. It’s a fun football game. And it wasn’t perfect tonight, but sometimes you just have to win anyway you can.”

Liberty sophomore quarterback Trey Wheeler tossed for 256 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.

The Wildcats scored on the game’s first possession, as Snead had six carries for 40 yards and a 2-yard touchdown plunge on the drive. The extra point was good and Mount Si led, 7-0.

Liberty answered when Dan Eck intercepted a pass and returned it to the 3-yard line. The Patriots scored on a 1-yard run three plays later, yet missed the point after, and it was 7-6.

On the ensuing kickoff, Mount Si’s Rossco Castagno returned the ball for a touchdown, but a clip late in the play moved it back to the Patriot 15. Two plays later, the Wildcats scored on a 13-yard pass from Tyson Riley to Castagno. The point after was missed and it was 13-6.

Liberty tied the game up, following another Mount Si turnover on the Wildcat 42. The Patriots scored on a 1-yard run on fourth-and-goal to make it 13-13 with 2:00 to go before halftime.

Reach editor Ryan Piersol at editor@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.

A small wooden bridge on Boalch Avenue, known as Bridge No. 1, has been declared as unsafe and “ready to fail,” according to King County’s Roads Services Division.

The bridge is located between the King County Sheriff’s Office substation and the Meadowbrook Farms Interpretive Center.

Public Works Director Ron Garrow told the North Bend City Council Oct. 28 that the bridge “needs to be closed,” but declined to do so until the city’s legal counsel first weighed in on the matter.

Jim Markus, managing engineer for the county’s bridges department, said the bridge “is in an advance stage of rot, and has been rotting for awhile. It’s no longer safe to use.”

While discussing the matter with the council, Garrow noted that the board had discussed the structure in 2007, but had not budgeted for either repair or replacement.

Markus said county engineers had been keeping a close eye on the structure, given previous concerns about the bridge’s stability.

“The numbers say it can’t even hold itself up,” Markus said.

Still, Markus said the bridge didn’t meet criteria to dictate an immediate emergency closure by county officials.

“In this case, it was our decision to recommend closure,” Markus said.

Garrow said it will cost the city as much as $300,000 to replace the bridge, if a box culvert device is used and even more if a full-blown bridge design is used.

Repairs alone could run in the vicinity of $80,000.

Garrow said once a final decision is reached on how to address the bridge, Boalch Avenue will likely be closed for as much as two months.

Garrow said a second span, the Elm Way Bridge, was also inspected and found to be safe.

A third bridge, located outside of North Bend, was closed at noon Oct. 31 due to serious deterioration, Markus said.

The Sunday Creek bridge, a small span on North Fork Road SE, about 17 miles northeast of North Bend, will be closed immediately, and for an indefinite period of time.

Markus said replacement of the Sunday Creek span is a $1.5 million project that will have to be approved by the King County Council.

Reach reporter Ed Farrell at efarrell@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434. 

Signs in support of a proposed community center dot Snoqualmie Parkway.

The strongest feelings, both for and against the center, seem to focus on the city’s choice of the YMCA as its partner to manage the $14 million facility.

The city has already promised to subsidize the YMCA’s maintenance and operations costs for up to $2 million — $100,000 a year for up to 20 years — an agreement city officials have said was necessary to secure the YMCA’s commitment to the project.

And while the YMCA has promised to waive joining fees for city of Snoqualmie residents should the bond question be approved, the group’s own survey shows few city residents have expressed interest in using the facility and that the strongest showing of support could come from other areas of the Snoqualmie Valley, including North Bend, Fall City and Preston – areas where the question will not be on the ballot, nor where homeowners will be subject to property tax increases.

Approval of the bonds would add about $120 annually to the property tax bill for owners of a $400,000 home within the Snoqualmie city limits.

In addition to the property tax increases, a city of Snoqualmie family wishing to use the facility regularly would be subject to monthly dues of up to $93, making the annual cost to the family to use the community center in excess of $1,200.

“We’re strongly for it,” said Laurie Henderson, a Snoqualmie Ridge resident who said the new center could make great strides in improving relations between residents of “old” Snoqualmie and “new” Snoqualmie Ridge.

Henderson said the most favorable aspect of the proposal to her was the involvement with the YMCA.

“I have friends who live close to YMCAs in other areas, and they create a great sense of community and provide fabulous opportunities for users of all ages,” Henderson said.

“I love the concept of a community center,” said Ridge resident Carol Waters, “but I have problems with the city providing the building for the YMCA. This proposal would not be a community center run by the community for the community, but rather a Y facility run for the YMCA.”

City officials have struggled with the need to maintain a sense of neutrality on the bond question, yet still have tried to convey the need to move forward with the project as one that would benefit the community as a whole.

Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson has stated that if approval for the bonds is not secured on Tuesday, the city will try again in two years, at a far more expensive cost given expected construction inflation of as much as 15 percent a year.

Even former city officials have weighed in on the measure.

Former mayor R. Fuzzy Fletcher, in a letter to the editor published in The Star, said that he once opposed the center but now was supportive of the bond issue.

Among Fletcher’s conclusions: “It will never get any less expensive to build a community center.”

Fletcher also warned voters that should they not pass the bond measure Tuesday, “then when the city builds the community center, the taxpayers will pay for maintenance and operation.”

Several community groups, including Encompass and the Mt. Si Metropolitan Parks District have endorsed the bond issue. As has the Snoqualmie Valley School District, even though both opponents and supporters of the bonds suggest a future school bond question could be threatened by the community center bond effort.

James Joyce, another Ridge resident, said he felt “this just isn’t a good time” to ask voters to approve a bond issue, given the pending need by the school district to pass a bond issue of its own.

“There just seems to be a lot of unknowns,” Joyce said, “and it would be a shame to endanger the school bond issue. And, quite frankly, this seemed to be very rushed … it smacks of the city trying to push this thing through.”

Reach reporter Ed Farrell at efarrell@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.

An audience of about 50 people applauded the Snoqualmie Valley School Board’s decision to postpone a vote concerning a school bond at the Oct. 23 meeting. 

Many people at the meeting came to learn about the district’s plan to potentially transition Snoqualmie Middle School into a satellite campus for Mount Si High School.

If this were to happen, middle-school students would be directed toward either Chief Kanim or Twin Falls middle schools, which have larger student capacities.

At the meeting, School Board member Caroline Loudenback recognized “the community wants more of a voice” in regard to the bond.

The school board would “set up some avenue to get some input from the community,” Loudenback said. Such an opportunity would allow the public to review the school board’s options before the next board meeting in the district office at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13.

Superintendent Joel Aune said he hoped to have a decision regarding the bond completed by Dec. 1. 

Kathryn Lerner, who served on the Facilities Task Force that studied the district’s options to accommodate its growing student population, seconded Loudenback’s motion. She encouraged discussion, but said that after three failed bonds to build a second high school, the district did not have many alternatives to alleviate crowding.

 “I realize that it’s a hard issue to grapple with,” Lerner said.

Community members are invited to give their input online at www.svsd410.org until Nov. 10. Select “Bond Decision coming in November” and then click on “School Bond Input” to participate. 

As of Tuesday, the district was still considering whether it would hold a public forum, said Public Information Coordinator Carolyn Malcolm. 

Several community members said an online link on the district’s Web site was not a proper venue to discuss the bond.

“The critical next step that’s missing from the chart is public engagement,” said Ames Lake resident Nina Rivkin, addressing the school board’s plan overview. “A Web site is not public engagement.”

Snoqualmie Middle School Music Director Dean Snavely offered his school as a location for a public forum.

“We need to hear what each other thinks,” Snavely said. “Not have e-mails going back and forth.”

The proposed bond costs $34,183,000. Of the bond, about $8.4 million would fund 18 double modular classrooms and about $25.7 million would finance upgrades and repairs to existing schools and facilities. 

Director of Business Services Ron Ellis broke down the $25.7 million figure into three categories: infrastructure, interior and exterior, and safety and security upgrades. 

Infrastructure upgrades would allow for building reconfiguration and upgrades in the areas of roofing, electrical, heating and ventilation and emergency power refrigeration. 

Interior and exterior upgrades would aid improvements for ceilings, floors and parking lots.

Lastly, safety and security upgrades would finance security video systems, safe playground equipment and update fire panels and a track for Chief Kanim. 

“Every school in the district, with the exception of Two Rivers and Twin Falls, gets something,” Ellis said.

The last bond proposal included $15 million for the purchase of land for future schools. The school board has since removed that expenditure from the bond.

“We’re trying to make it so we just take care of the necessities right now due to the economy,” said School Board President Marci Busby. “We’re trying to get the portables to take care of the crowding.”

If the proposed bond is successful in March, the school board plans to run a bond for a second high school in the 2011-12 school year and a bond for a sixth elementary school in 2014-15.

If the $34 million bond passes, taxpayers would contribute $0.41 per $1,000 of assessed home value. For example, owners of a $200,000 house would pay $82 per year. If it does not pass, the district will turn to its No Fund Plan and consider solutions including double-shifting, alternate schedules, utilizing non-traditional spaces for classrooms, redrawing boundaries or year-round school. 

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434.221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

A new plan to relocate Snoqualmie Valley Hospital, this time to a smaller site within the Snoqualmie city limits, was unveiled Monday by hospital officials.

Hospital director Rodger McCollum told the Snoqualmie City Council “we’re in full design mode now” to locate the new 67,000-square-foot, 28-bed medical center just inside the city limits at State Route 18 and SE 99th Street.

The new site is very close — virtually across the street — to the SR18/I-90 location originally desired by the hospital, but which was rejected when the King County Council declined to expand the city’s Urban Growth Area, a move necessary to allow the annexation to the city required by the hospital.

McCollum’s brief presentation showed a scaled-back plan on 7 acres of land, rather than the hospital’s earlier proposal for a 72-acre parcel that would have potentially included a campus of Bellevue Community College, a hotel and a senior care facility.

Access to the parcel, which consists of the western portion of a 14-acre parcel, would be off SE 99th Street, McCollum said.

McCollum’s plan did include, however, a tentative picture of additional development on the remaining 7-acres — abutting Snoqualmie Parkway — which he said would be a good site for, among other uses, a hotel or medical offices.

The tentative deal, McCollum said, was being negotiated between King County Hospital District No. 4, Quadrant Homes, Murray Franklyn and Opus.

Council response to the plan was mixed; Mayor Matt Larson acknowledged the parcel in question, although currently zoned for residential development, was the last large parcel available to the city in the Snoqualmie Ridge II agreement, and had been “reserved” for potential commercial business development.

City Attorney Pat Anderson told the council that the plan was presently “not an acceptable use,” for the parcel in question, and would “require some changes” in land use plans to allow such a project to move forward.

McCollum said the new location was one of only two remaining that would keep the hospital in Snoqualmie; a potential relocation to the Snoqualmie Ridge Business Park would still be possible, he said, but city officials have already stated they do not favor giving up potential commercial acreage in the park to the hospital.

When Larson called for a consensus on the council’s feelings on the proposal, several council members declined.

“There’s a time and a place for us to make a consensus,” said Councilman Jeff MacNichols, “but I’m certainly not prepared to make a decision on this tonight.”

“I heard no mention of an assisted-living center with this,” said Councilman Charles Peterson, “and it gives me less interest in supporting this.”

Despite telling the council the hospital was “in full design mode,” McCollum later stated the entire proposal “is all theoretical.”

State Rep. Jay Rodne, who serves as the hospital district’s counsel, told the board the presentation was “only informational. It’s a conceptual plan that could occur.”

McCollum declined to disclose how much it would cost the hospital to purchase the land, referring to the price only as “a lot less” than the $24 million the district had budgeted for land acquisition under its original proposal.

McCollum also said the property, by virtue of its being part of the original development package between the city and Quadrant, would be exempt from entering into a “latecomer’s agreement” that would otherwise require the hospital to pay its fair share of pre-existing infrastructure costs.

It was the district’s inability to shoulder those infrastructure costs, according to both city and hospital officials, that was instrumental in abandoning the original site plan, even before the county rejected the request to expand the city’s sphere of influence.

The need for the district to move forward with relocation is precipitated by the fact that it has already sold the current hospital, a 25,000-square-foot facility, along with 50 acres of land, to the Snoqualmie Tribe for $30 million.

Reach reporter Ed Farrell at efarrell@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.