Issaquah burglary offers lesson in vigilance
August 14, 2012
The call from the Issaquah Police Department interrupted dinner at Pogacha for Fred and Mardi Nystrom, longtime residents in the Sycamore neighborhood south of downtown.
The officer on the line asked if the Nystroms expected any family members to leave their home through a bedroom window.
“I told him, ‘Not our family, man, we wouldn’t fit through that window,’” Fred Nystrom recalled Aug. 13.
They rushed home July 6 to discover their home had been burglarized. The thief shimmied into the home through a small bedroom window left open in the July heat, and stole jewelry, computers and family heirlooms.
“Most of what she stole from me were memories,” Fred Nystrom said.
Police later identified the suspect as Jackie Jean Johnston, 45, a SeaTac resident with a long rap sheet.
Woman arrested for July burglary
August 7, 2012
Issaquah police arrested a SeaTac woman Aug. 1 in connection with a July burglary.
Police said the arrest came after a positive identification by residents and a weekslong investigation. The burglary occurred in early July in the Sycamore neighborhood south of downtown Issaquah.
Jackie Jean Johnston, 45, remained in custody at the King County Jail on $10,000 bail Aug. 6 on charges of burglary, possession of stolen property and trafficking in stolen property.
Officers discovered Johnston’s truck at the Issaquah Transit Center, 1050 17th Ave. N.W., Aug. 1 and alerted a detective.
Issaquah police arrest woman for residential burglary
August 2, 2012
NEW — 5:15 p.m. Aug. 2, 2012
Issaquah police arrested a SeaTac woman Wednesday in connection with a July burglary.
Police said the arrest came after a positive identification by residents and a weekslong investigation. The burglary occurred in early July in the Sycamore neighborhood south of downtown Issaquah.
Detectives served a search warrant on the 45-year-old woman’s vehicle Wednesday, and discovered stolen items from burglaries in Issaquah and surrounding communities.
Police later booked the woman into the King County Jail on burglary, possession of stolen property and trafficking in stolen property charges. The case remains open and under investigation by the Issaquah Police Department.
Food scraps return as compost to fuel community garden
November 29, 2011
King County EcoConsumer Tom Watson (left) adds compost to a garden plot Nov. 16. Contributed
Turning trash to treasure — or, at least, rich compost — could lengthen the landfill’s lifespan.
King County Solid Waste Division officials said the average King County family tosses 45 pounds of food scraps each month. The agency estimates food recycling could divert the amount of garbage headed to the county-run Cedar Hills Regional Landfill by more than 20 percent.
So, the Solid Waste Division enlisted 10 families in the Sycamore neighborhood near downtown Issaquah to collect food scraps throughout August — and demonstrate the ease of food-scrap recycling. Overall, neighbors amassed more than 400 pounds from refuse otherwise headed for the landfill — chicken bones, pineapple tops, paper towels soaked in bacon grease and much more.
The garbage pile festering beneath the hot August sun in Donna Misner’s driveway re-emerged Nov. 16 as rich compost.
King County EcoConsumer Tom Watson joined the residents in late August to bid the garbage heap farewell on a journey to Cedar Grove Composting.
Then, 85 days and a decomposition cycle later, Misner and other Sycamore neighbors gathered on a rain-soaked morning to see the result.
Neighborhood turns trash, food scraps, to treasure, rich compost
August 30, 2011
Residents donate 400 pounds of garbage for composting effort
The half-gnawed corncobs, shorn pineapple tops, slimy banana peels and grease-stained pizza boxes simmered in the midday sun — a concoction assembled from the kitchen castoffs of 10 Issaquah families.
Residents of the Sycamore neighborhood near downtown Issaquah dump a last load of food scraps into more than 400 pounds of collected food waste. Contributed
The festering pile in Donna Misner’s driveway Aug. 24 included more than 400 pounds collected from residents in the Sycamore neighborhood near downtown Issaquah.
King County joined the residents to increase food-scrap recycling for a month to accomplish dual goals: demonstrate the ease of food-scrap recycling and turn the garbage into rich compost for a community garden.
“I don’t consider this waste. People always joke, ‘Oh, it’s garbage and it’s stinky. This is a material. This is a resource — that’s what this is right here,” King County EcoConsumer Tom Watson said during a midday event in the Sycamore driveway. “It may smell a little bit on a hot day, but when you do it at home, it’s not going to smell. When Cedar Grove makes it into compost, the final product is a product that’s going to help your garden grow. It’s a resource.”
Cedar Grove Composting plans to transform the refuse into compost and then donate the results to the Issaquah Flatland Community Garden near the AtWork! Recycling Center by late fall. Gardeners send 25 percent of the organic bounty to the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank.
“The garden is a nice focal point for the Issaquah community,” AtWork! Community Development Manager Dennis Wadja said. “Neighbors walk to the garden, children are exposed to growing food, the food bank receives nutritious organic food and space is available for the disabled population. We see this recycling project as an opportunity to connect deeper to the wider community.”
(Cedar Grove Composting is near the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill in unincorporated King County between Issaquah and Maple Valley.)
Officials and teams from the King County Solid Waste Division and Cedar Grove Composting — including a county staffer dressed as a banana — gathered at the Misner home along Issaquah Creek as Tiger Mountain basked in the sunshine beyond.
Residents donate 400 pounds of scraps for trash-to-treasure composting effort
August 24, 2011
King County EcoConsumer Tom Watson mucks around in a pile of more than 400 pounds food scraps from Issaquah residents Wednesday. By Warren Kagarise
NEW — 12:50 p.m. Aug. 24, 2011
The half-gnawed corncobs, shorn pineapple tops, slippery banana peels and grease-stained pizza boxes simmered in the midday sun — a concoction assembled from the kitchen castoffs of 10 Issaquah families.
The festering pile in Donna Misner’s driveway included more than 400 pounds collected from residents in the Sycamore neighborhood near downtown Issaquah. King County joined the residents to increase food-scrap recycling for a month for a month to accomplish dual goals: demonstrate how easy such recycling can be and turn the garbage into rich compost for a community garden.
City to elevate flood-prone homes
August 2, 2011
The city Planning Department is considering a permit to allow crews to elevate flood-prone homes along Issaquah Creek.
Plans call for elevating four homes in the Sycamore neighborhood by about 4 feet above the 100-year floodplain. The project includes decks, stairs, landings, walks, foundations, crawlspaces and some minor modifications to the homes to account for the elevation.
The homes along Sycamore Drive Southeast and Southeast Sycamore Place qualified for a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant program administered by the city.
The city also intends to elevate a home along Northwest Cherry Place.
In January 2009, floodwaters ruined houses in hard-hit Sycamore. Since the major flood, crews breached a Great Depression-era levee across the creek from the neighborhood to allow more room for the creek to meander during floods.
Policies limit flood damage
January 4, 2011
City has spent more than a decade on flood projects
Issaquah Creek sloshed into neighborhoods and onto streets in early December, but city and county leaders credit land-use policies for helping to limit damage from flooding and landslides.
Because much of Issaquah is located in a floodplain, officials can only do so much to limit flooding. Though the risk remains, the city has made strides since the 1996 flood to upgrade creek buffers and shore up bridges and other infrastructure to withstand floods.
The process has included purchasing and removing homes in the floodplain, plus buying undeveloped floodplain lots for preservation. Read more
Issaquah braces for rain-soaked winter, creek floods
November 2, 2010
City completed projects to reduce risk since last flood
Mike Crossley (yellow vest) works in the HAM radio communication station during a Community Emergency Response Team flood drill. By Autumn Monahan
January rain turned placid Issaquah Creek into a debris-filled torrent in early 2009 — and emergency planners hope fresh memories of the flood prompt residents to prepare for the rain-soaked winter on the horizon.
Long before fall rain blanketed the area, Issaquah and King County emergency planners had prepared to respond to Issaquah Creek flooding.
Meteorologists predict La Niña conditions — colder-than-normal temperatures and greater-than-normal rain- and snowfall — in the months ahead. The combination has emergency planners concerned about rain-gorged Issaquah Creek and the potential for disaster.
“If you look at Issaquah Creek now, you think, ‘Oh, that’s a nice, pretty little creek.’ It can turn into a roaring monster pretty quick,” Bret Heath, city Public Works Operations and emergency management director, said last week.
The city has completed a series of flood-control projects in the 21 months since the most recent flood, including a high-profile floodplain restoration effort at Squak Valley Park North.
City restores Issaquah Creek salmon habitat
October 19, 2010
Greenway volunteers plant native trees, shrubs
Environmental restoration crew workers add tree trunks to Issaquah Creek last month at Squak Valley Park North to provide habitat for salmon and other fish to spawn and hide from predators. By Greg Farrar
Squak Valley Park North — a slice of former farmland sidled against Issaquah Creek — started to resemble a bygone era by the time more than 250 planters left the site on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
