Inquest opens to examine Clark Elementary School shootout
May 22, 2012
King County authorities started to examine the actions of Issaquah police officers involved in a deadly September 2011 shootout at Clark Elementary School as a prosecutor-led inquest opened May 21.
The officers shot and killed Ronald W. Ficker, 51, after the rural Maple Valley man abandoned a rental car at a downtown Issaquah intersection and, brandishing rifles and carrying ammunition, set off in the direction of school campuses.
Witnesses at police inquest describe strange scenes from school shootout
May 22, 2012
NEW — 8 a.m. May 22, 2012
Just after 11 on a September morning, as Ronald W. Ficker meandered on a fateful trek from a downtown Issaquah intersection to Clark Elementary School, Leslie Olerich stared down the barrel of Ficker’s rifle.
“He looked right at us, looked down the barrel and he smiled,” Olerich said Monday at a court hearing about the Sept. 24 incident.
Issaquah police fatally shot Ficker, 51, after the rural Maple Valley man abandoned a rental car at a downtown intersection and, carrying rifles and ammunition, set off in the direction of school campuses and, along the way, brandished firearms to passers-by.
Olerich testified Monday at a King County-led inquest into the actions of police officers involved in the shootout — Laura Asbell, Brian Horn, Christian Muñoz and Jesse Petersen.
Strange behavior shaped Issaquah gunman’s final days
May 15, 2012
Inquest into police shootout starts May 21
The rough outlines resemble doodles more than a far-fetched blueprint, and the instructions on the page defy explanation.
Ronald Ficker
In hand-scrawled notes about a manmade island scattered among the sketches, the creator urges, “Start building Atlantis.”
The creator later stuffed the notes, sketches and more than $23,000 in Swiss francs into a safe deposit box at the Bank of America branch in Issaquah.
The stack of documents contained instructions for the reader.
“If I get hurt, must take this to police.”
The sentence outlined the future. The man behind the notes, Ronald W. Ficker, 51, died in a police shootout on the Clark Elementary School campus Sept. 24.
Preliminary timeline is in place for school, fields construction
May 15, 2012
Issaquah School District officials are wasting no time when it comes to putting their recently approved $219 million bond into action.
The school board reviewed a preliminary schedule of projects and timeline for school construction and other district upgrades at its May 9 meeting. Some projects could begin as soon as July and other smaller projects extend through the end of 2019.
“Somebody has to be first and somebody has to be last,” said Jacob Kuper, chief operations officer for the district.
Phase 2 construction of Liberty High School and Phase 2 at Maywood Middle School are first in line with finishes projected by the end of 2013. At the caboose of the tentative timeline of the larger projects is the reconstruction of Sunny Hills Elementary School, which wouldn’t finish until December 2018.
Off the Press
May 15, 2012
Tragedy yields changed perspectives
Warren Kagarise Press reporter
Memories from the afternoon remain fresh months after the last gunshots echoed across the Clark Elementary School campus, even as the incident recedes deeper into the past.
Downtown Issaquah transformed into a crime scene Sept. 24, as a gunman menaced residents and later died in a police shootout.
The incident receded into memory for most people not long afterward. Still, the investigation continued and throughout the process, the events from Sept. 24 remained close to me.
A stack of documents from the King County Sheriff’s Office investigation sits on my desk. Photos from the incident still flicker across my computer screen. I speak to sources about the investigation at least once each week.
The inquest into the incident starts May 21 at the King County Courthouse. I plan to report from the official inquiry into the event, too.
Issaquah police officers earn top law enforcement honor
May 8, 2012
Officer Jesse Petersen, Cpl. Christian Munoz, and officers Brian Horn and Laura Asbell (from left) stand at the Washington Law Enforcement Memorial after receiving the Law Enforcement Medal of Honor in a May 4 ceremony in Olympia. By Jacqueline Kerness/Issaquah Police Department
In a solemn ceremony not far from the state Capitol, Gov. Chris Gregoire slipped a Law Enforcement Medal of Honor around the necks of police officers involved in a deadly September 2011 shootout at Clark Elementary School.
Growth is focus as City Council, Issaquah School Board meet
May 1, 2012
City and Issaquah School District leaders pledged coordination and cooperation as the city outlines a bold plan to add thousands of residences in the decades ahead.
Chad Magendanz
Discussion about the Central Issaquah Plan — a proposal to transform more than 900 acres near Interstate 90 and state Route 900 — and possible changes to the school district, such as redrawing boundaries for schools to accommodate population shifts, dominated the annual joint meeting April 24.
City Council and Issaquah School Board members, plus Mayor Ava Frisinger and Superintendent Steve Rasmussen and other officials, gathered at Mandarin Garden a week after school district voters approved a $219 million bond to fuel a school construction boom. The planned projects include major changes for schools in downtown Issaquah.
The groups, seated beneath red lanterns and arranged around lazy Susans, sipped tea and nibbled on fried rice and roast pork as discussion unfolded about long-term development plans. (The city hosted the meal and spent $311.24 on food and beverages.)
“Both organizations have gone from fast-growing organizations to more stable, mature organizations with different sets of issues,” Council President Tola Marts said. “So, now the challenge is how do we manage the remaining growth that we have?”
Community hosts discussion about alcohol, drug use among children
April 30, 2012
NEW — 1:30 p.m. April 30, 2012
Community leaders, including the Issaquah Police Department, plan to host a discussion about drug use among children Wednesday.
The discussion, titled “Drug Use and Our Kids: The Neurological, Developmental and Social Realities Associated with Youth Drug Use and Abuse,” is scheduled for 7-8:30 p.m. at Clark Elementary School library, 500 Second Ave. S.E.
The speakers include Jerry Blackburn, a chemical dependency professional and faculty member in the Chemical Dependency Counseling program at Bellevue College, and Karin Weihe, the Issaquah Police Department’s student resource officer for the school district.
Participants can learn more about the prevalence of alcohol and drug use by local youths, and the effects such use has on their learning, development and success.
Email info@clarkpta.org for more information.
Forum opens community conversation about drug use and children
April 24, 2012
Ever wonder what makes someone an addict and how to prevent your child from becoming one? The Issaquah Drug Free Community Coalition has and it is hosting a community forum to discuss the answers.
“Drug Use and Our Kids,” will take place from 7-8:30 p.m. May 2 at Clark Elementary School where a presentation about the neurological and developmental aspects of drug use and abuse will be followed by a community discussion about the perceptions and realities of local youths’ alcohol and drug use.
“We want to really raise awareness. A lot of the time parents are unaware of the extent of youth drug use,” said Jerry Blackburn, a chemical dependency professional and faculty member in the Chemical Dependency Counseling program at Bellevue College, who will give the presentation.
Voters easily approve $219 million school bond
April 24, 2012
Issaquah School District voters overwhelmingly approved a $219 million bond to fund construction and renovation projects on campuses across the district.
In the April 17 special election, 70 percent of voters — encompassing more than 15,000 yes votes of out more than 22,000 ballots cast — approved the measure. (The measure needed to receive a 60 percent yes vote from a minimum turnout of 12,229 voters.)
Despite the passage of the bond, local homeowners will pay less in property taxes to the schools than they do now because a previous bond issue is set to expire this year.
The retirement of the earlier bond will drop the local tax rate from $4.85 per $1,000 of assessed property value to $4.05. Passage of the new bond would put the rate at $4.42.
