Watch out for cyclists Saturday
July 24, 2009
NEW — 6 a.m. July 24, 2009
Drivers will share Issaquah roads with about 500 cyclists Saturday as the Seattle Century ride passes through the city. Expect to see riders from 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Riders will come to Issaquah from Preston.
Cyclists will exit Interstate 90 at East Sunset Way, then head down West Sunset Way, turn right onto Newport Way Northwest and then turn onto West Lake Sammamish Parkway. Riders will proceed left onto Southeast Newport Way and then pass out of the city limits toward Factoria.
Get your free light bulbs today!
July 23, 2009
NEW — 12:52 p.m. July 23, 2009
Puget Sound Energy is offering Project Porchlight at 5 p.m. today at the community center.
Mayor Ava Frisinger, the city Resource Conservation Office and Issaquah community volunteers will be handing out energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs and energy saving information.
PSE’s events continue with its Rock the Bulb Tour, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Issaquah Lowe’s store, 1625 11th Ave. N.W. There, exchange incandescent bulbs for up to 10 free energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs.
False alarm calls could be met with fines
July 22, 2009
NEW — 4 p.m. July 22, 2009
Issaquah police officers responded to 1,035 burglary, robbery or duress alarms last year, according to police figures. But 99.2 percent of the alerts were false.
Now, city and police officials are cracking down on false alarms, and violators could pay fines for wasting officers’ time. City Council members approved a false alarm ordinance Monday night — setting fees to register alarms and penalties for users whose alarms accidentally alert police.
Alarm users will be required to pay $24 to register their systems. Violators could face fines up to $200, depending on the type of alert and the infraction.
Issaquah resident purchases The UPS Store in Redmond
July 21, 2009
The UPS Store, 23515 N.E. Novelty Hill Road, Redmond Ridge, is under new ownership. Longtime Issaquah resident Jack Graham purchased the existing franchise and took over May 23. Read more
Council kicks in city money to upgrade sports fields
July 21, 2009
NEW — 6:05 p.m. July 21, 2009
Since Issaquah Youth Lacrosse was founded in early 2004, teams have played on fields in Bellevue and Sammamish — but not in the organization’s namesake city.
By next spring, however, founders Matthew Balkman and Scott Wiley could be scheduling games on new all-weather, lighted fields in the Issaquah Highlands.
City Council members approved a finance package to improve a pair of sports fields at Pad 3 in the highlands’ Central Park last night.
Balkman and Wiley asked council members to vote for the measure.
“We are part of the fastest-growing youth sport in America, and Issaquah has become a dominant force in that,” Balkman said. “We need fields.”
Lighted, all-weather fields for lacrosse and soccer leagues could materialize by spring 2010. Crews will replace soggy, grass fields with artificial turf and install sports lighting.
Fire damages Mine Hill Apartments
July 21, 2009
A fire caused by a discarded cigarette setting a loveseat ablaze damaged two units at Mine Hill Apartments.Eastside fire & Rescue
Firefighters credited smoke detectors with saving lives during a July 18 blaze at a Southwest Clark Street apartment complex. The early morning fire caused $170,000 worth of damage but residents escaped unscathed.
Authorities said the fire began when a discarded cigarette ignited a loveseat on a second-floor deck.
When Eastside Fire & Rescue crews arrived at Mine Hill Apartments, 245 S.W. Clark St., at about 2:20 a.m., smoke and flames were coming from the deck and had burned through the front door of the apartment. Read more
Man’s legacy keeps growing with the trees
July 21, 2009
Ben Harrison sits in his Beaver Lake area home and recalls with humor his career as a forester, his World War II military service as a Navy submariner and a lifetime living in the Issaquah area. By Greg Farrar
If you’ve walked through Tradition Lake Plateau, you’ve seen the trees soaring into the air. It’s hard to imagine the area without the trees, but it could have happened, if it weren’t for one man.
Ben Harrison, 84, has been an Issaquah resident most of his life. Stepping in as a forest management employee with Weyerhaeuser, he helped secure the Tradition Lake Plateau’s future for generations to come and aided city officials in finding new funding sources.
“When I got there, it was full of dead, stunted, weak trees,” he said. “By thinning it and letting those trees grow, we’ve created something for people to enjoy years later.”
But Harrison’s life wasn’t always about trees. Read more
Pauline Marie (Bodell) Hanson
July 21, 2009
Pauline Hanson
Pauline Marie (Bodell) Hanson, wife, mother, sister, grandmother and human being extraordinaire, died peacefully July 6, 2009, at Hospice of the Valley, Tempe, Ariz., due to complications with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She was 71. Read more
Coyote pups rescued from storm sewer
July 21, 2009
Kyle Endelman and his maintenance team from the city of Sammamish netted the first coyote and carefully placed the wild animal inside a small cardboard box. The coyote was released into the forest soon after. By J.B. Wogan
It took five maintenance employees, two soccer balls and about 12 feet of pipe, but they got the baby coyote out. The only problem was, there was a second coyote in the Highland Creek Estates storm water sewer, and city of Sammamish maintenance workers couldn’t figure out where.
The incident began at about 9:30 p.m. July 14 when Shelagh Stoa decided that enough was enough — someone had to rescue the two baby coyotes from the storm water sewers outside her house near Klahanie.
“I had to listen to those things crying for three nights,” Stoa said.
She spent the evening calling public agencies, but it wasn’t until the next morning that she found one willing to help. Maintenance workers from the city’s Public Works Department said they would come out and take a look. Read more
Survey: 70 percent favor gas station
July 21, 2009
Issaquah Highlands residents could someday fill up vehicles with gasoline or alternative fuels without leaving the hillside community. But they may find it difficult to grab a snack or late-night fill up at a highlands gas station. Read more
