Arts Calendar
September 27, 2011
SEPTEMBER
28th
Village Theatre presents “Take Me America” through Oct. 23, 303 Front St. N., $22 to $62, available at the box office, 392-2202
29th
Michael Gotz, 7-10 p.m., Vino Bella, 99 Front St. N., 391-1424
30th
An opening reception for “RecycleART: Reduce, Reuse, Rethink!” is from 6-9 p.m., artEAST Art Center, 95 Front St. N. The exhibit runs through Oct. 30.
Ventura Highway Revisited, 8:30-11 p.m., Pogacha, 120 N.W. Gilman Blvd., 392-5550
James Howard Band, 7:30-11:30 p.m., Vino Bella
David Lanz Trio, featuring Gary Stroutsos on flute and Walter Gray on cello, 7:45-10 p.m., Bake’s Place, 4135 Providence Point Drive S.E., $30
African choir performs at local church to promote aid for Uganda
September 27, 2011
Watoto Children’s Choir members perform. Contributed
Rescue a child. Raise a leader. Rebuild a nation.
That’s the slogan, and the hope, of Watoto, a Ugandan church and charity organization dedicated to helping that country’s struggling youth.
“You’re changing the country from the inside out” is how Watoto’s Sherry Hanson described the organization’s mission.
Hanson is the U.S. tour coordinator for the Watoto Children’s Choir. Consisting of youths served by Watoto, the choir will perform Oct. 1 at Eastridge Church in Issaquah.
Additionally, in a bit of a coup for the church, the two founders of Watoto will be guest speakers at Eastridge’s Sunday services, at 9 and 11 a.m. Oct. 2, said Eastridge’s Heather Retzlaff.
“It’s kind of cool, we didn’t expect it,” said Retzlaff, an executive assistant at the church.
What’s new for 2011 at local high schools?
September 27, 2011
Classes debut at new Issaquah High School
Jacob Brunette Issaquah High School
It is the beginning of another year at Issaquah High School, and the school’s construction is almost complete. The old building has been entirely torn down, and the new school is completely functional at last.
With the new building comes a set of new classes, as well as the return of a few old ones. The band director, Patrick Holen, is teaching “Movies and Music,” a class based on learning about and discussing the role and use of music in film.
In the new industrial arts wing will be a ceramics class, taught by Karin Walen, a course that has been absent for a few years due to the lack of a kiln. Drama, taught by Marty Kelly Peterson, will be taking advantage of the new theater, the first Issaquah High has had. For the first time this year, drama and ceramics will be offering a second level of the course.
King County Library System adds Kindle e-books to collection
September 27, 2011
King County Library System users on the hunt for a popular title, like say, “I Don’t Know How She Does It” — a comic tale about a mother balancing children and a career — no longer need to head to the brick-and-mortar library for a paper-and-ink book.
The library system started offering e-books to Kindle e-reader users. The rollout came as Kindle maker Amazon.com started offering books for the device at libraries nationwide.
“With the increase in popularity of digital readers, at about last year’s holiday gift-giving season, we ramped up our digital collection significantly,” said Marsha Iverson, public relations specialist for the Issaquah-based library system. “We kind of saw of it coming and got a little bit ahead of the curve, so we do have a good selection of digital downloads.”
Before the announcement Sept. 21, the library system offered books only on other e-readers, but not the popular Kindle. The library uses e-book distributor OverDrive for digital titles.
‘It was like being in a war zone’ amid shootout
September 27, 2011
Guardian One, the King County Sheriff's Office helicopter (above), takes off from the Issaquah Community Center lawn as law enforcement agencies respond to a gunman in downtown Issaquah. By Christina Lords
Investigation continues after police kill gunman at Issaquah school
Issaquah police stopped a gunman in a fusillade of gunfire Sept. 24, after he led officers on a circuitous chase through downtown Issaquah, prompting residents to scramble for cover inside homes, and athletes and spectators at a youth football game to duck beneath bleachers for protection.
Officers fatally shot the 51-year-old Maple Valley man on the Clark Elementary School campus, not far from a youth football game on nearby Issaquah High School fields.
Investigation, absences challenge Issaquah police
September 27, 2011
The investigation into the officer-involved shooting death of Maple Valley man and a manpower shortage created dual challenges for the Issaquah Police Department in the days after the Sept. 24 shootout.
The police department placed the four officers involved in the shooting on paid administrative leave after the incident on the Clark Elementary School campus, per standard procedure. The officers involved in the shooting could return to work a little more than a week after the incident, although the date depends on when the investigation is completed.
Because the police department is involved in the death, the King County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation into the Sept. 24 incident and the fatal shooting.
Clark Elementary students return to school, a crime scene
September 27, 2011
Clark Elementary School administrators, teachers and volunteers sought to reassure students Sept. 26 as the campus reopened to students after a lethal shootout on school grounds days earlier.
Police roadblocks create traffic headaches
September 27, 2011
Police used roadblocks to slice Issaquah in half in the moments after a gunman abandoned a car along a downtown street and trekked to Clark Elementary School for a fatal shootout.
The rapid police response — from the Issaquah Police Department, King County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Patrol and at least a half-dozen other agencies — left motorists unable to use most of Second Avenue Southeast and a critical stretch of Front Street South for more than seven hours.
Issaquah hatchery could collect fewer salmon eggs as cost-cutting measure
September 27, 2011
The unsettled economy is threatening the chinook-salmon spawning program at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has proposed reducing the number of chinook eggs collected at Issaquah and other state-run hatcheries to cut costs as the state faces a $1.4 billion shortfall.
The proposal recommends for the local hatchery to collect about 1.3 million eggs — about 1 million fewer than hatchery crews planned to collect.
“Issaquah is not a sole target in this,” said Doug Hatfield, hatchery operations manager for the region encompassing Issaquah. “This is a decision that the agency put forth to distribute this impact throughout Puget Sound and on the coast.”
FISH stewardship salvages Salmon in the Classroom
September 27, 2011
Under a plan hatched after state support for the Salmon in the Classroom program dissolved, Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery is serving as the coordinator for more than 100 schools involved in the popular program.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife used to administer the program, but after state lawmakers drained Salmon in the Classroom dollars last year, a grassroots effort formed to salvage it.
FISH is in the midst of a fundraising effort to facilitate Salmon in the Classroom. The nonprofit organization needs to raise $10,000 for the effort to succeed.
