READY FOR RAIN
December 15, 2008
Diane Brown, a downtown Issaquah resident, keeps dry under an umbrella in the rain Dec. 12 as she walks on Newport Way Northwest to complete an errand. Photo by Greg Farrar
I-90 Undercrossing clears legal hurdle, funding still needed
December 15, 2008
If no further legal challenges pop up, the city’s long-planned new street under Interstate 90 can proceed to construction in 2009, assuming funding can be found for the $13 million project.
To The Editor
December 15, 2008
Traffic
Road dividers for preventing illegal turns only serve to uglify town
I can understand the reasoning behind installing the sticks in West Sunset Way, by the library, to prevent folks from making left turns from First Place Northwest onto Sunset. But do we really want to uglify our town just because of a few miscreants?
I think the sticks look like something you’d expect to see in downtown L.A. or Chicago or someplace gross, not in our cute little town of Issaquah.
I’d rather see the sticks go away and put up with (or ticket!) a few violators each day.
Mike Harrington
Issaquah
Harvest Dance
Community event helped donate $15,000 to Issaquah Food Bank Read more
Off The Press
December 15, 2008
Got something on your mind? Send us a letter
David Hayes Press Reporter
Studies have shown that the most-read sections of most papers in the United States are sports, the police and fire report, obituaries and letters to the editor.
I’ve just compiled our letter writers for 2008 into one handy list to run at the end of the year. We get submissions from all segments of our population, from young and old, regulars and first timers.
As of the Dec. 10 issue, we’ve published 150 different authors. The number of letters we publish made me curious about what motivates readers to send their thoughts via snail mail (yes, we still get handwritten dispatches delivered by the mailman) or instantly by e-mail.
Education is a common topic. The year kicked off Jan. 2 with a complaint that the school district was catering to plateau schools. And our most recent issue had a concern about the Passage Point development’s effects on nearby schools. Read more
Press Editorial
December 15, 2008
Human services campus needs community input
As the year draws to an end, the rush is on for an agreement between the city of Issaquah, Port Blakely for Issaquah Highlands and the owners of Park Pointe property on Tiger Mountain.
Clubs
December 15, 2008
Camp Fire Family Group: 7 p.m., every other Tuesday, Clark Elementary School, 500 Second Ave. S.E., 313-1600
Cascade Republican Women’s Club: 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Plateau Club, 25625 E. Plateau Drive, 836-9352
Eastside Camera Club: 7 p.m., Thursday, www.eastsidecameraclub.com Read more
Preserving a memory in beauty
December 15, 2008
Glass urns earn national recognition for local artist
Mike Holberg and his assistant Wilbur Kelly heat pieces of blown glass for the cap of an urn in a furnace at Viscosity Glass on Rainier Boulevard South in Seattle. Photo by Greg Farrar
Washington has one of the highest cremation rates in the country at 64 percent. With estimates for the entire nation to be at 80 percent to 90 percent in 20 years, what can we do sans tombstone to create a meaningful memorial for a loved one?
Issaquah artist Mike Holberg recently started his own business designing and crafting hand-blown, glass memorial urns. His pieces offer something different than traditional urns.
“We just made them as works of art,” he said. “I think, ‘Let’s make a cool vessel, and we’ll just make sure it can hold a set of remains.’”
Last month, Holberg was featured on the cover of The Crafts Report, a national magazine, as part of its memorial art special. Read more
Meet Rocky, finalist for Milk-Bone national spokesdog
December 15, 2008
Dan Connolly (right) sent Milk-Bone this photo of him serenading Rocky, his pet boxer, for its national spokesdog contest. The two are top 100 finalists and expect to hear results in January. By Dan Connolly
Dan Connolly and his girlfriend Cory share custody of their dog Rocky. If the three get lucky, Rocky will be shared a lot more in the near future with the rest of America.
It seems a last-minute idea to enter a contest has landed Rocky in the top 100 finalists as a potential “spokesdog” for Milk-Bone, commemorating the company’s 100th anniversary.
Cory, who lives in Los Angeles full time, rescued Rocky, a 6-year-old boxer, from a shelter when he was 2. Since she and Dan have dated, they’ve shared Rocky, who stays in Issaquah when Dan’s in town at his software company.
“She’d heard about this contest, but I had Rocky with me at the time,” Dan recalled. “So, I took a photo with the camera’s remote of him and me.”
In the photo, Dan is playing his guitar, serenading Rocky, who is staring intently at Dan. For the “moment’s description,” Dan wrote: “Rock is many things — amazing companion, music critic, clown, teacher — to name just a few. He’s a great example of how we should all just simply shake off the bad moments and start new. Sounds crazy, but Rock inspires me to be a better person.”
Dan got the entry in just under the deadline, and the next week learned he was already in the top 100.
“I would guess there were not fewer than 100,000 entries,” said Dan, 42, an ex-Navy diver, now aspiring musician with an album coming out next month.
A winner will be picked in January, netting the owner a $100,000 prize and requiring the dog to make six appearances for the company.
“Rocky is very reflective, like most dogs are,” Dan said. “He’s got good energy, gets hyper psyched up. I think he’d do just fine.”
But he knows Rocky is up against some stiff competition. Many of the other finalists show photos of their pets doing tricks and just looking way too cute. Rocky, Dan said, doesn’t really have many talents.
“He just chills and listens to me play my guitar. That’s his only trick,” Dan said.
Which is rather ironic, since Dan used to teach sea lions to perform tasks for the U.S. Navy.
“I used to teach sea lions all sorts of tricks,” he said. “I should be able to do something with Rocky, like sit on the toilet.”
He also acknowledges that the other owners may also have an edge on him when it comes to a final decision by the company.
“There’s these girls kissing their dog,” he said. “This one girl, she’s 6 or 7. She’s really cute. She’s going to be my biggest competition.”
On the Web
Although public voting for the Milk-Bone finalists is over, you can still see Rocky and Dan Connolly together at http://milkbone.icmodus.com/?id=8559.
Reach Reporter David Hayes at 392-6343, ext. 237, or dhayes@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.issaquahpress.com.
Quintet collects quarter-ton of donations
December 15, 2008
Sammamish residents (from left) Grace O'Neel (on lap), Cassie Carter, Griffin Carter, Zach Colburn and Sydney Colburn sit on the tailgate of a car after filling it with food collected from residents at the Arbors development in the Pine Lake neighborhood.Contributed
Sammamish residents Nancy Colburn, Tena Carter and Sheri O’Neel accompanied their children as they went door-to-door around their neighborhood to place fliers and empty grocery bags on people’s porches.
The five children, ranging in age from 3 to 10, were soliciting donations from residents of the Arbors at Pine Lake and Arbors Court developments for the Issaquah Food Bank last month.
A week later, they made the rounds again, to collect the donations. After all was said and done, they had collected 616 pounds of boxed meals and canned goods — 779 items. It took two cars to haul it all to the food bank Nov. 25.
“They kept looking at us like, ‘When are you guys going to be done,’” Colburn said of when the families dropped it all off. “It was very cool. We had no idea it was going to be that much.”
The selfless act then inspired three other Sammamish neighborhoods to follow suit, she said. Residents from Bellasera, Asbury Place and Palermo contributed another 250 items to the food bank. Read more
Who’s News
December 15, 2008
Issaquah grad wins engineering competition
Andrew Salmeri, a 2008 graduate of Issaquah High School who attends the University of Portland, won the prestigious 2008 University of Portland Freshman Engineering design competition last month. Read more
