Issaquah High grad Jennie Reed earns cycling silver medal in London
August 7, 2012
Jennie Reed
After a 10th-place finish in Athens and a seventh-place finish in Beijing (amid a swarm of controversy) Jennie Reed finally has her medal.
The 14-time USA Cycling National Champion and Issaquah High School grad earned a silver medal in the team pursuit event in London on Aug. 4.
Reed participated in the semifinal and preliminary heats of the event. In the finals, Great Britain broke the world record for the gold medal while Canada took the bronze.
Reed started her track cycling career at the Marymoor Velodrome in Redmond. She resides in Long Beach, Calif.
Press Editorial
August 7, 2012
School supplies for 1,000 children
It’s many of these same students who will be the recipients of the 1,000 backpacks stuffed with school supplies that the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank and other community service groups are providing. That’s double the number of recent years.
Every parent or guardian knows that school supplies are not a small expense. First, there is the backpack. One sturdy enough to last the year can cost $20 to $25. Thankfully, the employees at SanMar have committed to supply 1,000 backpacks.
Trash strike causes confusion for Issaquah customers
August 7, 2012
Drivers for the garbage hauler in most Issaquah neighborhoods fielded questions in late July as a strike paralyzed another hauler and led to festering containers on street corners in many King County cities.
The strike did not affect either contract hauler operating in Issaquah, but drivers for CleanScapes received questions from customers along collection routes. Many customers assumed the drivers to be nonunion replacement drivers for Waste Management.
CleanScapes drivers, members of Teamsters Local 174, operate under a contract signed last year. The company operates under a single labor agreement with garbage, recycling and yard waste drivers.
Japanese students travel 5,700 miles to volunteer in Pickering Garden
August 7, 2012
Falaah Jones (right), garden coordinator from Seattle Tilth, teaches visiting Japanese students about gardening at the city’s Pickering Garden on July 27. Contributed
The Pickering Garden had some unique visitors July 27, more than 20 students from Okinawa, Japan.
The students are part of a summer homestay program through Cultural Homestay International. They will spend one month with host families exploring the Puget Sound area. On their third day, they volunteered at the Pickering Garden with Falaah Jones, garden coordinator from Seattle Tilth. It was the students’ first visit to the United States.
Risa Kamiya and Showei Mori said they like the forest, trees and mountains covered with snow, something they have never seen before. Host families have one or two students in their home at a time.
“Everyone learns,” tour coordinator Cathy Kramer said. “It’s a great opportunity.”
The Japanese students didn’t know each other before the trip but Kramer said they made friends very quickly. Each day, the students have three-hour classes to learn about English and culture.
Unincorporated King County residents can receive grants for community projects
August 7, 2012
King County leaders announced the latest step in the effort to remake outreach from county government to unincorporated-area residents — $60,000 in grants to accomplish community projects.
The program is meant to encourage more people in rural and unincorporated areas to become more engaged in the surrounding community. The county made the grants available for projects such as concerts, festivals, newsletters, training, signage and more.
Village Theatre’s ‘Lizzie Borden’ musical promises more than 40 whacks
August 7, 2012
Long before Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, O.J. Simpson and Casey Anthony turned legal proceedings into media circuses, a comely ax murderess morphed into a cause célèbre.
Lizzie Borden
Lizzie Borden captivated the Gilded Age nation after a hatchet felled parents Andrew and Abby Borden. The ensuing trial and media firestorm guaranteed the ultimately acquitted Lizzie Borden a place in history.
The original musical “Lizzie Borden” lifts facts from the court transcripts and adds a rock ‘n’ roll score. “Lizzie Borden” debuts to the public at First Stage Theatre during Village Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals. (The show opens almost 120 years to the day after the murders occurred.)
The coarse language and thumping score represent a mash-up between the 1890s and present day.
King County councilwoman touts arena proposal’s economic potential
August 7, 2012
Before the King County Council made a landmark decision to authorize public dollars for a sports-and-entertainment arena, Kathy Lambert received 2,700 emails.
The councilwoman, a Redmond resident and the Issaquah representative on the council, said most messages urged the council to approve the arena proposal.
Kathy Lambert
Reagan Dunn
In the end, after months of discussion and hours of testimony, Lambert joined the council majority to approve a key agreement for a $490 million arena — a linchpin in the plan to bring professional basketball back to Washington.
The council agreed July 30 to contribute up to $80 million for a proposed Seattle arena near Safeco Field — if investors can secure NBA and NHL franchises. The county contribution is capped at $5 million if only professional basketball comes to the arena.
The agreement does not include additional taxes for county residents. Plans call for 30-year public bonds to finance the arena, and for arena revenue to pay off the bond debt.
Lambert later cited the proposed arena’s economic benefits — jobs for arena construction and operation, plus tax revenue for the county and a tourism attraction — for the region as reasons for the yes vote.
Park Pointe trail plan needs public input
August 7, 2012
City leaders have put out a call for additional citizen input about trails on a Tiger Mountain tract called Park Pointe, a section of forest long considered for development but set aside for conservation and recreation last year.
Issaquah Parks & Recreation Department staffers created a draft trail plan for Park Pointe — a site encompassing 101 acres near Issaquah High School.
Off the Press
August 7, 2012
Kathleen Merrill
Press managing editor
It started with a photo, years ago, a sepia-toned 8-by-10 that someone sent in about their 50th anniversary. I don’t remember the couple’s name anymore, but I remember their faces beaming as they looked into a camera and smiled.
They sent some information with the photo and asked if we could run a small announcement. I instead asked a reporter to write a story.
How do people stay married that long? What’s their secret? Are they happy? And what have their lives together been like?
Those were things I wanted to know.
Since then, I can’t count how many stories we’ve done about couples who have been married 40, 50, 60 and even 70 years. It amazes me, in an age where the reported average is one divorce for every two marriages, that some couples manage to stay together, and do it happily, for longer than many people have even been alive.
Pastor leaves Alaska for Pine Lake Covenant Church
August 7, 2012
Mark Meredith is the new lead pastor for Pine Lake Covenant Church in Sammamish. By Greg Farrar
If you ask the Rev. Mark Meredith if he is a fan of “churchliness” the answer is “no.”
“I hate churchliness,” he said.
He defines the term as being church-bound and thinking that within the four walls of a church is where God is most active.
“We gather on Sunday so we can have our batteries charged so that we can really be about God all week,” he said.
While he has only been in Sammamish for a few weeks and is still looking for a house to buy, Meredith has already started his new post as lead pastor of Pine Lake Covenant Church.
Keeping the lessons of Christianity present in everyday life has been something that has appealed to Meredith since he first committed to the faith in his mid-20s. That was nearly three decades ago, when he was living on Mercer Island and just getting started as owner of a small variety store.
