Casino’s first year marred by recession, bad weather, high debt and tribal conflict. Snoqualmie Casino’s one-year anniversary passed quietly in November, met with none of the fanfare that accompanied its opening in 2008.The Snoqualmie Tribe had hoped the casino would bring in an influx of money to the tribe and an elevated standard of living…
Category: Local News
Modern treasure hunt ends with nighttime rescue
In a high-tech search to find buried treasure, a hiker fell as far as 30 feet while bushwacking off trail in the Gifford Lakes area Oct. 24, injuring his knee and requiring an emergency night rescue. Fortunately, the global positioning system he was using to find the cache allowed him to tell the King County…
Luring tourist dollars to Valley
UPDATED — 9:00 a.m. Nov. 9, 2009 After two weeks in Seattle, Phra Charoen and Phiriya Phahondon spent the last few days of their vacation exploring the Snoqualmie Valley before returning home to Thailand. The two international visitors are exactly the type of consumers that many Snoqualmie Valley cities and businesses want to target—travelers with…
Muckleshoot Tribe hunts black bears in Valley
The Cedar River Watershed is normally closed to hunters, but for three weekends in October, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe was allowed to hunt up to nine black bears.While hunting is allowed in areas across the state, the Cedar River Watershed has been closed to trespassers, including hunters, since 1911. That changed in October, when the…
Snoqualmie may oppose tax cap ballot initiative
Snoqualmie’s City Council will consider approving a resolution opposing Initiative 1033 on Oct. 12.Initiative 1033 seeks to limit the growth of city, county and state governments by prohibiting general fund revenues from increasing faster than the rate of inflation and population growth. The initiative requires any revenue collected by the state, county or city in…
Snoqualmie Tribe paralyzed by split, goes to mediation
The Snoqualmie Tribe went to mediation in Seattle last week to resolve a dispute that caused a group of tribal elders to dissolve the council in August. The mediation has been between two factions of tribal council members, some of whom are also among the elders who dissolved the council. A Seattle law firm, Alhadeff and Forbes,…
North Bend gets official number on annexation
North Bend’s estimate of how many people live in the Woods River neighborhood and other areas that joined the city when the land was officially annexed on July 6 was very close. “We couldn’t have gotten much closer,” North Bend City Administrator Duncan Wilson said. A special census of the area recently annexed into North…
Economy has local libraries packed
One of Michele Drovdahl’s favorite parts of being a librarian is, as she puts it, “forcing a good book on people.” With the state of today’s economy, Drovdahl’s had plenty of opportunity to do that. As unemployment numbers across King County and the rest of the country continue to rise, so is the number of…
Mount Si High School to get geothermal system
Captain Planet would likely approve of the Snoqualmie Valley School District’s updated light bulbs, not to mention its new geothermal system at Mount Si High School. Using funds from a $27.5 million school bond, construction crews are changing all of the district’s inefficient light bulbs, as well as installing improved heating, ventilation and air conditioning…
Association to challenge Initiative 1033
Suburban Cities Association Executive Director Karen Goroski told the Snoqualmie City Council July 13 that her organization is preparing to oppose Initiative 1033. Goroski updated the council on what the organization was doing to advocate for the interest of King County’s suburban cities. Initiative 1033 seeks to limit the growth of city, county and state…