NEW — Thursday sports update
December 31, 2009
Plan ahead for holiday closures, schedule changes
December 31, 2009
UPDATED — 10:35 a.m. Dec. 31, 2009
Forget celebrating New Year’s Eve with fireworks.
The citywide fireworks ban remains in effect New Year’s Eve, although unincorporated King County residents may discharge fireworks from 6 p.m. – 1 a.m.
Officials reminded residents to set off only approved and legal fireworks purchased from reliable state- and King County Fire Marshal Division-licensed retailers. Learn more about fireworks regulations and safety here.
Police will also ensure merrymaking remains safe. Issaquah police and officers from 25 other law enforcement agencies will increase DUI patrols as New Year’s Eve turns to 2010.
Top 10 news stories of 2009
December 29, 2009
Sisters Jennifer Davies, Julianne Long and Mindy Heintz (from left) retrieve belongings Jan. 8 from the toppled guesthouse at the home of their parents, Jack and Karen Brooks, beside Issaquah Creek in the 23300 block of Southeast May Valley Road. — By Greg Farrar
Growth slowed and the economy cooled throughout 2009. The watershed moments in Issaquah hinged on expansion and recession. Leaders broke ground for a major new employer, even while other businesses left town for good.
Issaquah began the first decade of a new century as a fast-growing city, a title the city held for years. As 2009 reached a close, however, officials pared the size of government to face the new economic reality.
From January floods to record July heat and brutal December cold, 2009 was jam-packed, but the year was never dull.
Detectives re-examine ’68 cold case with few clues
December 29, 2009
Innocence Lost, a three-part series about the 1968 disappearance of David Adams.
Part 3: Clues
Scott Tompkins (left) and Jake Pavlovich, King County Sheriff’s Office detectives, working out of their office at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, have a three-inch binder compiling the available information on the David Adams disappearance. By Greg Farrar
Investigators scoured Tiger Mountain for almost a week. Volunteers searched for days more. Still, the mountain yielded no secrets in the search for David Adams, the 8-year-old boy last seen near 15 Mile Creek in May 1968.
The disappearance baffled investigators. Left to work with few leads and scant evidence, the case faded into memory for more than four decades — until now.
In the spring, King County Sheriff’s Office investigators received a $500,000 grant to re-examine cold cases. The agency established a cold case unit; detectives treated the Tiger Mountain disappearance as a priority.
When David vanished May 3, 1968, authorities handled the case as a search-and-rescue effort. Perhaps the boy fell down a defunct coalmine shaft or suffered a wild animal attack. After exhaustive searches for David turned up no traces, people suspected something more sinister.
David played with a friend after school, and then left for the short trek home at about 5 p.m. Ann Adams, now 76, asked her son to return home for dinner just before he vanished.
“I have the firm, firm feeling that this was not an accident, that somebody was involved,” she said. “Now, whether it was an accident on their part, I don’t know if they deliberately set out to do harm to him. But somehow along in the association that they had, harm was done to him.”
Highlands gas station decision is delayed
December 29, 2009
Questions about commercial development in the Issaquah Highlands prompted developer Port Blakely Communities to ask city officials to postpone a decision on a highlands gas station. Read more
Happy birthday
December 29, 2009
Above, Vitez rolls around with some bamboo, about the only Christmas present he enjoyed Dec. 23. At right, Bagheera eyes a box, one of his presents, suspiciously. Maybe he knew it contained nothing but small tufts of reindeer fur. The newest Cougar Mountain Zoo cubs were given Christmas trees, plenty of bamboo and boxes that had meat, fur and various smells in them. See video of the cubs enjoying their first Christmas at www.issaquahpress.com.
Once around the lake
December 29, 2009
Two Santa Clauses enjoy the cold, clear sunshine on Lake Sammamish Christmas Day, as Douglas Bubbletrousers, of Los Angeles, wakeboards behind the personal watercraft of Issaquah resident Jason "The Pirate" Gilluly. Bubbletrousers substituted for Issaquah resident Blake Thomson, who could not ski this year, in the fifth year of continuing a longtime holiday tradition started years ago by Barry Nyman. Sounds of cheers could be heard coming from surprised lakeshore residents. By Colin Thomson
2009: The year of the champion
December 29, 2009
Jake Heaps, Skyline senior quarterback, pumps up the Spartan students to scream while the defense is on the field Nov. 28 against Bothell at the Tacoma Dome. — By Greg Farrar
It was a championship fall for the Skyline High School athletic program with the girls swimming, girls soccer and football teams all capturing state titles. That itself, was quite a story for 2009.
There were also championships by the Issaquah High School lacrosse club and the Lakeside Senior American Legion baseball team. There were gallant efforts by other teams, too.
In all, every Issaquah School District high school had something to cheer about in 2009.
Keeping the beat on Snowflake Lane
December 29, 2009
Issaquah students help residents get into the holiday spirit on Bellevue’s Snowflake Lane
Joey Tom, an Issaquah High School junior, gets shoppers ready for the holiday season Dec. 23 during the Snowflake Lane, Las Vegas-style drum show. Photos By Christa Lusebrink
Andy Meigs, Matt Strombom and Joey Tom, juniors at Issaquah High School, and Sara McDonald, a 17-year-old Bellevue College student, have been performing in the Las Vegas-style drum show every night since Nov. 27.
The production is nightly at 7 p.m. through Dec. 31, and features lovable characters and falling snow at the Bellevue Square Mall and Lincoln Center buildings on Bellevue Way Northeast. Read more
President Obama picks Issaquah resident as cyber security chief
December 29, 2009
President Barack Obama greets his new White House Cyber Security Chief Howard A. Schmidt in the Cross Hall of the White House on Dec. 17. Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
The White House has tapped a corporate cyber security expert and former Bush administration official who lives in Issaquah to lead the effort to shore up the country’s computer networks and better coordinate with companies that operate 80 percent of those critical systems. Read more
