571884 Your Neighborhood Veterinarian Covington Animal Hospital (253) 631-8616 27045 174th Pl. SE (behind Jiffy Lube, adjacent to WalMart) www.vcacovington.com Hours: Mon. Tue. Wed. and Fri.7am-7pm; Thur 7am to 9pm; Sat 8am-6pm; Sun: Closed A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING LOCAL | Tahoma Junior High students win video contest [page 3] DUAL DOMINANCE | Tahoma dismantled Kentlake and Kent-Meridian in a double dual meet Jan. 4 [13] FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012 NEWSLINE 425-432-1209 COVINGTON | MAPLE VALLEY | BLACK DIAMOND R EP O RTER BY DENNIS BOX [email protected]e first community facili- ties district in the state received the thumbs up from one Black Diamond City Council and the thumbs down from the new coun- cil Jan. 5. At a Dec. 27 special meeting, the last act of the 2011 City Coun- cil was to pass a resolution autho- rizing the formation a community facilities district, a special taxing district, to complete 10 projects associated with the YarrowBay’s master planned development e Villages. e Kirkland developer is also planning to build a second MPD in the city, Lawson Hills. e first vote was 4-1 with council members Bill Boston, William Saas, Leih Mulvihill and Kristine Hanson voting yes and Craig Goodwin voting no. With the dawn of a new year and three new members in the seats at the dais, the council moved to rescind the resolution Community facilities district rescinded BY TJ MARTINELL [email protected]Rich Young decided to take his final bow aſter 33 years of directing theater productions at Tahoma High. In November, he submitted his resignation as drama director to the school, aſter the department had wrapped up the production of “Much Ado About Will.” “I’m getting old,” he said. “It was just time.” Young, however, will continue to teach at the school. “We need someone with more energy,” he said. With more than three decades at the school, Young has seen its student population change and transform, as well as the venues for the school’s theater productions. When he first arrived in 1979 aſter four years as a Russian linguist in the Air Force, the region was sparsely populated with farming families. “It was still pretty rural,” he said. is became evident to him when he put on the school’s first musical, “South Pacific,” in 1980. When the cast was rehearsing the song “I’m gonna wash that man right out of my hair,” Young recalled, “A girl came up to me and said, ‘Why did you take the song out of a commercial?’” e commercial she was referring to was for a Clairol hair product which used samples of the song. “I realized how rural it was, how little the students knew of live theater,” he said. Some things, however, never changed as the years went by. Tahoma still does not have a theater or performing arts center. “South Pacific” was performed in the gymnasium, while plays were put on in the student lounge, where a sunken area allowed them to perform. In 1981, when he put on “Brigadoon,” the school built its multipurpose room, where the school plays have been performed since. “We had very minimal sets (in the lounge),” he recalled. “Virtually no set at all in most cases. We couldn’t have any background.” e first play Young put on was “Bad Seed,” a story about a child serial killer based on a 1954 novel by William March and the subsequent Broadway adaptation. “Because it was a shocking ending it went quite well,” Rich Young takes his final bow at Tahoma Jeffrey Lee, a Kentwood High senior, listens as judge Jennifer Bowman offers him feedback during the Green River Music Region Piano Competition Jan. 7 at Kentlake High. DENNIS BOX, The Reporter To view a slide show go to www.maplevalleyreporter.com and to buy photos go to the Web site and click on the photo reprints tab. Playing Your Heart Out BY KRIS HILL [email protected]If necessity is the mother of invention then the current economy may well be the catalyst for creative problem solving when it comes to the area’s transporta- tion woes. For the past three years Coving- ton, Maple Valley and Black Dia- mond have been working together on a commuter rail concept that would use diesel multiple units, or DMUs, on existing Burlington Northern Santa Fe lines to shuttle commuters from here to Auburn. But, as the economy has taken its toll on the checkbooks of government at all levels, leaders from the cities have realized there needed to be a shiſt in focus. Aſter studying the issue, of- ficials said, they realized the price tag for a long term commuter rail plan as they envisioned would cost tens of millions of dollars the cities don’t yet have. So, now they are pulling back to Mission expands for regional coalition Rich Young [ more BOW page 4 ] WEBSITE | Check the website for breaking news stories and weather updates. maplevalleyreporter.com or covingtonreporter.com [ more COALITION page 5 ] [ more DISTRICT page 15 ]
Transcript
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Your Neighborhood Veterinarian
Covington Animal Hospital(253) 631-8616
27045 174th Pl. SE (behind Jiffy Lube, adjacent to WalMart) www.vcacovington.com
Hours: Mon. Tue. Wed. and Fri.7am-7pm;Thur 7am to 9pm; Sat 8am-6pm; Sun: Closed
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
LOCAL | Tahoma Junior High students win video contest [page 3]
DUAL DOMINANCE | Tahoma dismantled Kentlake and Kent-Meridian in a double dual meet Jan. 4 [13]FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012
Th e fi rst community facili-ties district in the state received the thumbs up from one Black Diamond City Council and the thumbs down from the new coun-cil Jan. 5.
At a Dec. 27 special meeting, the last act of the 2011 City Coun-cil was to pass a resolution autho-rizing the formation a community facilities district, a special taxing district, to complete 10 projects associated with the YarrowBay’s master planned development Th e Villages. Th e Kirkland developer is also planning to build a second MPD in the city, Lawson Hills.
Th e fi rst vote was 4-1 with council members Bill Boston, William Saas, Leih Mulvihill and Kristine Hanson voting yes and Craig Goodwin voting no.
With the dawn of a new year and three new members in the seats at the dais, the council moved to rescind the resolution
Rich Young decided to take his fi nal bow aft er 33 years of directing theater productions at Tahoma High.
In November, he submitted his resignation as drama director to the school, aft er the department had wrapped up the production of “Much Ado About Will.”
“I’m getting old,” he said. “It was just time.”Young, however, will continue to teach at the school. “We need someone with more energy,” he said.With more than three decades at the school, Young has
seen its student population change and transform, as well as the venues for the school’s theater productions. When he fi rst arrived in 1979 aft er four years as a Russian linguist in the Air Force, the region was sparsely populated with farming families.
“It was still pretty rural,” he said.Th is became evident to him when he
put on the school’s fi rst musical, “South Pacifi c,” in 1980.
When the cast was rehearsing the song “I’m gonna wash that man right out of my hair,” Young recalled, “A girl came up to me and said, ‘Why did you take the song out of a commercial?’”
Th e commercial she was referring to was for a Clairol hair product which used samples of the song.
“I realized how rural it was, how little the students knew of live theater,” he said.
Some things, however, never changed as the years went by.
Tahoma still does not have a theater or performing arts center. “South Pacifi c” was performed in the gymnasium, while plays were put on in the student lounge, where a sunken area allowed them to perform.
In 1981, when he put on “Brigadoon,” the school built its multipurpose room, where the school plays have been performed since.
“We had very minimal sets (in the lounge),” he recalled. “Virtually no set at all in most cases. We couldn’t have any background.”
Th e fi rst play Young put on was “Bad Seed,” a story about a child serial killer based on a 1954 novel by William March and the subsequent Broadway adaptation.
“Because it was a shocking ending it went quite well,”
Rich Young takes his final bow at Tahoma
Jeff rey Lee, a Kentwood High senior, listens as judge Jennifer Bowman off ers him feedback during the Green River Music Region Piano Competition Jan. 7 at Kentlake High. DENNIS BOX, The Reporter To view a slide show go to www.maplevalleyreporter.com and to buy photos go to the Web site and click on the photo reprints tab.
If necessity is the mother of invention then the current economy may well be the catalyst for creative problem solving when it comes to the area’s transporta-tion woes.
For the past three years Coving-ton, Maple Valley and Black Dia-mond have been working together on a commuter rail concept that would use diesel multiple units, or DMUs, on existing Burlington Northern Santa Fe lines to shuttle commuters from here to Auburn.
But, as the economy has taken its toll on the checkbooks of government at all levels, leaders from the cities have realized there needed to be a shift in focus.
Aft er studying the issue, of-fi cials said, they realized the price tag for a long term commuter rail plan as they envisioned would cost tens of millions of dollars the cities don’t yet have.
So, now they are pulling back to
Mission expands for regional coalition
Rich Young
[ more BOW page 4 ]
WEBSITE | Check the website for breaking news stories and weather updates.maplevalleyreporter.com or covingtonreporter.com
[ more COALITION page 5 ] [ more DISTRICT page 15 ]
A pair of Tahoma Junior High ninth graders won the Puget Sound Facing the Future video contest by making two very diff erent videos.
While Sierra Sa-rino created a silent video featuring signs and various loca-tions, AJ Tift made a music video featur-ing himself singing environmental lyrics to a rap song.
For their creativ-ity both of them will receive a $300 cash prize.
“I feel great about it,” Tift said. “To be honest, I didn’t feel like I had much of a chance because my classmates’ videos were really good.”
Tift explained he origi-nally planned to make the
video as a part of a history class project spreading awareness about the Puget Sound and the Cedar River. Initially, he intended to simply discuss the issues
in the video, until his mother of-fered an alterna-tive suggestion.
“My mom said I should do a song for it,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d be able to, but I got out a pad and pen and the words just started com-ing to me.”
Aft er writing the song, Tift then went to Seattle to fi lm the video “Power to the Puget,” which he said took about 15 takes.
“I got kind of nervous,” he said. “Th ere were a lot of people staring at me.”
For the background music to the song, Tift picked an app on iTunes called “I am T-Pain,” which also altered his voice so that if sounded like that of the rapper whom the app is named for.
“It has beats on it and I didn’t know I would be able to make a song on my own,” he said. “I heard one of the song’s beats and I thought it was perfect.”
Sarino, on the other hand, had an entirely dif-ferent idea about the kind of video she wanted to make.
Instead of singing, “A Runoff Experience” uses music and signs to explain how households items such as pesticides and herbi-cides can pollute the Puget Sound when dumped into the Cedar River through storm drains. She fi lmed the video at the Cedar River as well as at piers in Seattle.
“I didn’t really want to be in the video,” she said. “I didn’t want to talk because my voice sounds weird on fi lm.”
She preferred signs because she felt “it would have more of an impact
and deeper meaning, as well.”
Reach TJ Martinell at 425-432-1209 ext. 5052. To comment on this story go to maplevalleyreporter.com.
[3]January 13 , 2012
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Th e Cutest lil’ Gift Shop you didn’t know was there!
Th e Maple Valley City Council selected Council-man Bill Allison as its new mayor at its Jan. 3 meeting.
Allison, who holds Posi-tion 2, was fi rst elected to the City Council in 2010.
“When I fi rst was elected I knew there was going to be a learning curve,” he said. “But the opportunity to be the mayor was always there and was always an aspiration because I do believe I have the ability to speak and to lead people to a common vision. It’s a huge responsibility and honestly it’s a great honor to have the trust of the council to lead them and to be one of the seven voices that
goes before King County and represents our 23,000 residents.”
Allison has lived in Maple Valley since 1999 and is the city’s youngest mayor.
He will replace Noel Gerken, who was selected as mayor in January 2010.
Th e Maple Valley City Council members select the mayor from among their ranks every two years.
As mayor, Allison said, he will work to unite the City Council in order to ad-dress various issues which it has been dealing with for several years.
“We are seven voices and it needs to be seven voices communicating together, working together to get things accomplished,” he
said. “We see economic development and creating new revenue is absolutely essential for this city. We need to be aggres-sive in that area. We need to get back to the table with King County, annex-ing in the Summit Place, and we need to come up with a solution for the northwest quadrant. People have been talking and waiting for four years. We need an actual plan that works and we need to move for-ward with that.”
Allison added that, “We’ve got to do something with our ballfi elds. When we’re having to do athletics outside of town because we can’t accommodate in town we’ve got to be willing to
talk about summit ballfi elds and see if we can get that ballpark.”
Th e City Council also reelected Victo-ria Laise Jonas as deputy mayor. Jo-nas, who currently holds Position 6, has served on the City Council since January 2000.
“I’m very hon-ored my fellow council members continue to have the trust to reelect me as deputy mayor,” she stated in a telephone interview. “I look forward to us work-ing together collec-tively for the benefi t
of our city. It’s awesome. It’s quite a responsibility. I look forward to assisting Mayor Allison anyway I cane. Over the last two years, I’ve
gotten to know him. He’ll make an awesome mayor for our city. “
In addition to her reelec-tion, the Jan. 3 meeting marked Jonas’ 13th year on the City Council, the longest in city history.
“I’m humbled by the fact,” she said. “So I think my experience on the coun-cil and my connections in the community both locally and regionally... will help Bill and I’m willing to share and help in any way pos-sible. It’s a new chapter.”
Reach TJ Martinell at [email protected] or 425-432-1209 ext. 5052.To comment on this story go to www.maplevalleyre-porter.com.
Leadership shifts on Maple Valley City Council
Bill Allison
Victoria Laise Jonas
Filmmaking talent of Tahoma students earn awards
LOCAL
CO
VIN
GT
ON
M
AP
LE
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HARGROVE TO HOST TELEPHONE TOWN HALL
MEETING JAN. 17
Rep. Mark Hargrove, R-Covington, will host a district wide
telephone town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 17.
Constituents are invited to call in to ask questions and listen to
other residents’ concerns around the 47th Legislative District. The
call will last one hour.To participate, constituents
should call the toll-free number 1-877-229-8493 and, when
prompted, enter PIN number 17556.
Once on the call, participants can press star 3 (*3) on their telephone keypads and staff
members will assist callers with asking their question live.
To schedule an appointment with Hargrove or to ask for help
dealing with or fi nding a state agency service, residents can call
As we begin a new year, we at QFC would like to say “thank you” to thousands of customers who have not only shopped with us, but who have also been partners in helping us give back to the communities we so proudly serve through our Checkstand Charity of the Month program.
Every month, we have identified a non-profit organization that provides a great service or multiple services to members of our communities who may be suffering from a serious illness or condition, need help feeding themselves and their families or have some other important need that the charity can help with. By partnering with our great customers we can help raise funds to support the work the organization is doing.
Here are the charities we are supporting in 2012:
January – Multiple Sclerosis • Society
February – American Heart • Association, “Go Red for Women”
March – Treehouse (Washington •
stores) and Trillium Family Services (Oregon stores)
April – The Nature • Conservancy
May – Susan G. Komen, “Race • for the Cure”
June – Boys and Girls Club•
July – USO•
August – Seattle Children’s • and Portland Doernbecher Children’s Hospital
September – Leukemia and • Lymphoma Society
October – YWCA•
November and December – Food • Lifeline/Oregon Food Bank
We offer several ways customers may donate to the Charity of the Month if they wish. We have coin boxes at each checkstand where customers can donate loose coins or bills. We have checkstand scan cards in three amounts, $1, $5, and $10. And we offer a 3 cent credit to customers for every bag they reuse for their groceries. They may keep this credit or donate it to the charity of the month.
A word about this month’s charity, the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, sometimes disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system. It can strike children, but most commonly affects people in the age range of 20 to 50. It is between two to three times more common in women than men and is more prevalent in northern climates. The exact causes and a cure for MS have yet to be discovered, but new treatments and advances in research are giving new hope to people affected by the disease.
Customer donations will go to two local chapters of the Society: The Greater
Northwest Chapter which proudly serves more than 12,000 people with MS living in Alaska, Montana, Central and Western Washington and the Oregon Chapter which serves more than 7,200 individuals with MS and their families in Oregon and SW Washington.
QFC is proud to support many great charities on a local level. We thank our customers and our associates for their generosity. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of many of the less fortunate in our communities.
QFC Thanks Our Customers for Your Community Support
Paid Adver tisement
The National MS Society, Greater Northwest Chapter educates, inspires and empowers those affected by multiple sclerosis. With a passion for bringing about a world free of MS, we help everyone affected by the disease to live richer, healthier, more independent lives.
The Greater Northwest Chapter proudly serves over 9,000 people living with MS and more than 50,000 others including caregivers and health care professionals throughout Western Washington and Central Washington.Visit www.MSnorthwest.org for more information.
To contribute, hand a donation card to your checker.
EFFECTIVE: January 1, 2012 - January 28, 2012
Young said.Young said he first de-
veloped his love for theater as a child when his family relocated often.
“I think it was the thrill of being someone else other
than myself,” he said. “We would move around during school and I was always the new kid, so, theater was my outlet.”
When Young’s family moved to New York, Young jumped at the chance to
star in “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Young took his talent on to higher education, performing at Boise College — now Boise State Univer-sity — where he earned a degree in theater arts. After serving in the Air Force from 1971-1975, he earned his Master’s in Theater Arts at Washington State University and taught for two years at Kimberly High in Idaho before coming to Tahoma.
He said his theater experience while in school initially affected the type of plays and musicals he put on at Tahoma.
“I chose plays I had seen at other schools or been in during college because I knew them or had a better idea of what I wanted with them,” he said.
Over the years, Young dealt with several highs and lows with the program,
from 2000, when “Fiddler on the Roof ” brought the largest audience in, to the year he had to cancel the production three weeks be-fore its opening night when his son was sent to the hos-pital, as well as a year when he was forced to step down as drama director when his son was diagnosed with cancer for the fourth time.
Some years, he had only 11 students audition.
Other years, 30 students would show up, requiring him to cut. Interestingly, when he put on his favorite play, “The Clumsy Custard Horror Show,” he saw the biggest student turnout, and decided to double cast rather than cut anyone.
“It’s twice the work in a short amount of time,” Young said. “It’s one of those where working with the two separate casts, you’ll tell one cast some-thing and then you have to
tell the other cast the same thing the next day, so it’s devoting twice the energy to one show.”
Although his last play involved selections from Shakespeare, Young said, he tended to avoid the Bard.
“Shakespeare doesn’t tend to draw too well,” he said. “The name scares people. They’re afraid of the language and they don’t realize seeing things makes it a whole lot clearer. I love directing drama because there is so much meat to them, something people can connect with. But people tend to be drawn to musicals. They’re just a huge amount of work.”
As for the students who participate in theater, Young said, there are vary-ing reasons for them to get up in front of an audience on stage.
“I think a lot of the kids go through a phase where
they dream of becoming the next Meryl Streep and making a million dollars,” he said. “For some, it’s like high school sports. They do it because they enjoy it while others see it as a springboard for a college scholarships.”
Staff at the high school are looking for a replace-ment for Young who reflected on the impact he hoped he had on kids.
“I wanted to make sure I gave students exposure to theater and hopefully give them a life long source of entertainment and plea-sure,” he said. “I’ve seen the quality of acting grow tremendously because they’ve been exposed to so many other things. I have so many amazingly talented kids. That’s the one thing I will miss.”
Reach TJ Martinell at 425-432-1209 ext. 5052.
[ BOW from page 1]
RELAY FOR LIFE EVENT SCHEDULED AT GREATER MAPLE VALLEY COMMUNITY CENTER ON SUNDAYRelay for Life of Black Diamond, Covington, Maple Valley will host its kick off event, the 2nd Annual Community Cancer Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
on Jan. 14 at the Greater Maple Valley Community Center, 22010 S.E. 248th Street, in Maple Valley.
Organizers encourage anyone interested in how to help every cancer patient with every type of the disease.
There will be also be a blood drive during the event as the Bloodmobile will be onsite from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Community Note
54
05
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2
[5]January 13 , 2012
look at a bigger picture.Covington Councilman
Wayne Snoey, who has led the committee on DMU, said he realized about four years ago that trans-portation was be-coming a significant issue and improving the ability to get from point A to point B in Southeast King County could have a positive impact on other issues he’s passionate about such as services for children and families.
“The reason transporta-tion is so important is you don’t have an economy without it,” Snoey said. “Without an economy there’s a lack of funding. So, I thought, what’s the best way to affect human ser-vices. That’s the motivation, how to be most effective, and how to impact future generations.”
When the DMU concept was first brought up in the summer of 2008 at a joint meeting of the three city councils, Snoey said, Cov-ington took the lead.
“I said, ‘We’ve got to actually do something,’” he said. “Because I proposed it, I ended up being the chair of this group. It revolved around expanding the DMU concept into a real idea.”
Noel Gerken, a long time Maple Valley City Council member, has been active in regional transportation discussions for a number of years and said it seemed a natural fit for him to serve on this committee.
“Partnering is the future for government because government funding and revenues is down,” Gerken said. “You’ve got to have a certain amount of funding just to submit requests for more money. You really need to work regionally and partner.”
In addition to Covington, Maple Valley and Black Diamond, representatives from Auburn and Enum-claw attended meetings of the group that is now
know as the Southeast Area Transportation Solutions, or SEATS, Coalition.
“It’s important for Covington to be part of
a transportation advocacy coali-tion because our scientific surveys tell us transporta-tion, specifically traffic, is among our residents’ highest priorities for city government, and because an adequate
transportation network is essential to continue to grow our business com-munity and build a more traditional town center,” wrote Covington City Man-ager Derek Matheson in an email. “Federal and state transportation money is so scarce these days — and there are so many states, counties, and cities asking for that scarce money — that lawmakers take notice and want to help when they see three cities with the same request.”
The coalition began by winning a $400,000 grant to pay for a feasibility study, Snoey said, to determine if the area needed additional transportation options. The process took about a year and a half.
“Turns out, yes, there was a need,” he said. “Transit has not followed growth. So, we got that done in
September 2010. Concurrent with that we lobbied the federal government with the assistance of Dave Reichert’s office… and we got $360,000.”
That paid for the second phase study to find out
what it would cost to actu-ally implement the DMU concept.
The news from that, how-ever, was not as encourag-ing.
Snoey explained the upgrades to BNSF’s track would cost upwards of $100 million due to strict federal guidelines which regulate how freight and passenger rail share track.
“The feasibility study said there’s a need for transit, either rail or bus, but the
rail piece would be very ex-pensive because of the silly federal rail rules,” Gerken said. “The rules are over 100 years old... you end up buy-ing bigger and slower and more expensive rail cars than you need. It’s a pretty big capital investment to make the rail piece go. So. it’s not really practical.”
The study also showed that such a commuter rail line with stops in Coving-ton and Black Diamond would have the ridership and it would likely gener-ate revenue similar to what other services of that nature create.
The price tag, however, made the members of the coalition rethink the strat-egy.
“We realized because this would be a 10 year process we needed to come up with something in the interim,” Snoey said. “Our meetings continued. The process started with DMUS and has morphed into an interim solution to back in Septem-ber 2011 where we renamed our organization.”
The name change was in-tended to reflect the change in its mission.
“We’ve expanded from just looking at DMU to transit in general,” Snoey said. “We’re looking at integrated solutions.”
Gerken said the decision was made for the group to continue meeting.
“We’ve moved on recently from DMU to transportation advocacy in southeast King County,” he said. “We are basically lobbyists for southeast King County transportation issues. We have two main focal points, we have two state highways, we have 169 and 516. I feel good, I think we’ve got a working group, we have an understanding of need and we have an understanding of funding and moving forward
I think it’s natural to move forward and broaden our scope.”
So, in the meantime, there’s been the recent suc-cess in lobbying the state Legislature for money to study the state Route 516 corridor Snoey noted. That process is about half done
and is another step to be-ing included in big picture planning done by the Puget Sound Regional Council as well to make it easier to get additional money from the state and federal govern-ments.
The next step, Gerken noted, is to get onto the state Legislature’s transpor-tation budget package.
“We’re going to educate and make our legislators more aware,” Gerken said. “We’re going to hand out materials, touching base with them, having meetings
and advocate … with the hope they can fit that into the transportation pack-age, if they have one... they have a $2 billion hole to fill and until they get that done they can’t deal with that, so, it might not happen.”
Whether it’s commuter rail or buses or some com-bination, Snoey explained, something has to be done to alleviate current choke points as well as prepare for future growth particularly with the potential develop-ment in the Donut Hole in Maple Valley as well as Yar-
rowBay’s master planned communities proposed in Black Diamond.
“I’ve been a huge propo-nent of buses and I’ve not been big on light rail,” Sno-ey said. “But, now I think it has a place. Light rail is a 100 year investment. It may not look like a good short term investment. But, if you look at all the great cities of the world they all have great mass transit systems because you can never build enough roads. We have to
0 Physicians are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of Auburn Regional Medical Center. The hospital shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians.
January 13, 2012[6]
The new year has started and there are few items I would like to write about as the
2012 engine revs up. None are worthy of a column on its own, but here are a few notes about issues I am interested in or would like to fi gure out.
COUNCIL ELECTIONSTh e fi rst council meet-
ings of the year can be quite intriguing depend-ing on the city. Th e obligatory swearing in of candidates freshly elected is a nice picture, but the more interesting story can be the choosing of council presidents for strong-mayor systems or mayors for council-manager forms of govern-ment.
In the council-manager form the mayor is chosen by the council.
Maple Valley is a council-manager system as is Covington. Black Diamond, Kent and Tukwila are strong-mayor systems and the council will choose a council president, mayor pro tempore or deputy mayor. It is basically the same position with a diff erent name.
Maple Valley is usually the most fun to follow because there are plenty of back-room gymnas-tics going on prior to a mayor being selected. Th e choice tells us a great deal about the group dynamics of the council.
Th is season in Maple Valley, Councilman Bill Allison won by a 5-2 vote replacing former Mayor Noel Gerken. Th e deputy mayor position went to Victoria Laise Jonas on a 4-3 decision.
Covington chose Margaret Harto as the mayor for a third two-year term. I am pretty sure God couldn’t beat her for the job.
Jeff Wagner will again serve again as mayor pro tem.
Black Diamond’s City Council is the very interesting with three new mem-bers swept into offi ce on what appears to be a wave of voters voicing their op-position to the YarrowBay developments. In my years of reporting I have oft en seen that voters presumptions about a candidate and the reality of governing hit head on very quickly once the chair is fi lled.
Councilman Craig Goodwin was chosen as mayor pro tempore for Black Diamond.
Kent elected Councilman Dennis Higgins unanimously to the council president position. I am sure there was some backyard croquet be-fore the decision was made, but nothing nearly as entertaining as Maple Valley.
I guess there can only be one Maple Valley.
A BRAINY BUSINESS IDEAHere is a quirky business venture I heard
about just before Christmas. It is currently my top business idea for 2012.
Initially it made absolutely no sense to me. Aft er thinking about it and observing certain behavior around the offi ce I decided this may be the real salami.
A couple of weeks ago our newest reporter, Sarah Kehoe, told me about this ShoeDazzle thing. It’s like a book-of-the-month for shoes.
Now when I was a kid I lived for the Book-of-the-Month club. My grandma got me start-ed on it and I still have some of the books, which explains why I had mainly imaginary friends.
Apparently, through Shoe-Dazzle, a woman can get three or four pairs of shoes to try each month and if they keep them it costs a certain amount or they send them back.
Seriously, is this brainy or what.
I mentioned this to my daughter and you would think Moses came down from the mountain all full of light, carrying tablets and shoe boxes.
I asked Sarah if men were doing this and I got the look. (Men know exactly what I mean.)
Apparently only women understand the need to have 700 pairs of shoes.
I admit that I hate buying shoes, I hate spending money on them, I even hate look-ing down and thinking about shoes.
But this business idea is a stroke of twisted genius and I wish I had thought of it.
I hear God looks down occasionally and asks Peter, “Are those things really shoes?
How come no one ever tells me about these things?”
ShoeDazzle – I bet it will make a million bucks for someone.
TO IRON OR NOT TO IRONHere is something I cannot fi gure out, and
I need help. You know all that permanent press stuff sold in stores – shirts and pants and whatever.
I take that particular advertising claim at its word. Permanent press means forget the iron-ing.
I know this woman who thinks you still have to iron permanent press things. In fact, she had a closet built just for her ironing board.
When she started talking about the ironing board I tried to make an intelligent comment and I suddenly got this silence.
I quickly gathered myself and began lying. I said I had an ironing board... oh yeah and an iron.
I tried to explain to her that wrinkles on permanent press will fall out aft er you wear them for a while. Or if they don’t fall out, aft er an hour or so the new wrinkles cover up the old ones and it doesn’t matter anymore. It’s a mathematical cancellation equation, like a posi-tive and a negative.
I heard something about me being nuts and a pig.
I am male so I didn’t know what else to say. I ran out of lies so I began whining.
I would like to understand this ironing phe-nomena in the new year. Are we supposed to iron things that say permanent press or not? Th is seems a lot harder and more relevant than property taxes and council elections.
To iron or not to iron… that is the question.
Thank you for your generosity
A sincere thank you to the kind and generous person who paid for our lunches at the Black Diamond Bakery last Friday. We two elderly women appreciated it so much! You made our day!
A thankful senior citizen,Black Diamond
● Q U O T E O F N O T E : “Women always worry about the things that men forget; men always worry about the things women remember.” - Unknown
Reflections for the new year
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Question of the week:
Vote online:Do you believe Social Security will be around in 20 years?
maplevalleyreporter.comcovingtonreporter.com
Last week’s poll results:
Did you spend more money on Christmas this year than 2010??
● L E T T E R SY O U R O P I N I O N C O U N T S :E-MAIL: [email protected]. MAIL: Letters, Covington/Maple Valley Reporter, 22035 SE. Wax Road Maple Valley, WA. 98038
FAX: 425-432-1888
“Maple Valley is usually the most fun to follow because there are plenty of back-room gymnastics going on prior to a mayor being selected The choice tells us a great deal about the group dynamics of the council.”
[7]January 13 , 2012
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Many educators in Kent and Tahoma say they can’t wait until 2018 to receive the funds they need to properly educate their students.
“Our teachers are doing they best they can with the limited resources they are given, but any mor cuts schools will hurt our students’ education,” said Antonio Morales, Mill Creek Middle School principal. “We can’t sit back and say, ‘well this funding will come in 2018,’ we need to be pro-active now.”
This discussion follows a decision made Jan. 5 by the Washington State Supreme Court, who ruled in favor of a lower court’s finding that
the government is failing to meet its constitutional duty to fully fund basic education for all the state’s children. The justices said they could monitor the Legislature to help facilitate progress toward full funding, but the ruling did not require lawmakers to take specific or immediate action.
Instead, the court de-ferred to legislation already on the books from as late as the 1978 to as current as 2007, which gives the state until 2018 to provide enough funding to meet its own definition of “basic education.”
“The Supreme Court deci-sion confirms what the state constitution says: Education is the paramount duty of the state,” wrote Tahoma
School District spokesman Kevin Patterson in an email. “What is less certain is how the state will carry out its duty. At the very least, it is our hope that discussion of reducing the number of school days and other severe cost cutting will cease and more effort will be put toward establishing reliable funding for education over the long haul.”
The decision is symbolic of the fight to fund schools, educators said.
“I find it interesting how long this conversation has been in our court system and we’ve continued to see increased cuts in our fund-ing every year,” said Kathy Torres, math teacher at Mill Creek.
Many principals and
teachers stated any amount of cuts will have negative impacts on their schools.
“I do not know what the impact on the cuts will have on our school at this time, but any cuts to educa-tion hurt children and our future,” said Sherilyn Ulland, Kent Elementary principal.
Some educators feel their schools are operating well despite cuts and the long wait for education support.
“In a perfect world,us educators would get all we believe we need; but times are tough, not just for educators, but all around the state,” said Kentwood High School’s principal Doug Hostetter. “So I believe that when the economy picks up, tax revenues will pick up, and schools will start receiv-
ing the money they need.”Hostetter used the current
state SAT scores to demon-strate the success of students despite cuts.
Last year, Washington state Kindergarten through 12th grade students received an average score of 524 for reading, 532 for math, 508 for writing and 23 for composite, according to the OSPI website.
“I think that education is a large system and in any large system there are inef-ficiencies,” Hostetter said. “The success of our students academically is due to this lack of funding because it’s created opportunities for educators to think of differ-ent ways to provide services to our students. I believe our public schools are doing
more with less.”Hostetter stated he hoped
there were no more educa-tion cuts and wishes the state could provide more money to schools.
“It is frustrating, but I think that legislature needs to get away from looking at money and ask themselves, ‘what is it we want for our students?’ Maybe we don’t need more money, maybe we just need to look at things differently,” Hostetter said.
Hostetter would like to get creative with how classes are taught.
“That’s the kind of think-ing we all need to have,” he said. “Let’s restructure our education so perhaps we don’t have to throw in so much money.”
How a court decision could affect education funding
The second week of Janu-ary has seen the Christmas decorations finally packed away so there is room to improve your indoor space.
Speaking of space, it was NASA that confirmed what gardeners have suspected all along – indoor plants are good for your health. Cer-
tain houseplants actually clean and purify polluted indoor air. Some house-plants do this better than others.
To really make a dent in the volatile organic compounds of benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene, NASA recom-mends 14 to 16 houseplants in at least 6-inch pots for the average-sized home. So if you have a few larger houseplants you can get away with a fewer number.
The good news is the houseplants that do best indoors all year long are also the ones most efficient at grabbing and filtering bad indoor air.
CLEAN AIR
Grow these jungle plants with bold, broad leaves
Just give peace lily a chance if you’ve failed with houseplants in the
past. This upright houseplant or Spath-iphyllum waves a han-ky-shaped white bloom when it is
given a lot of light but even if your home or office is dark and dreary this survivor will continue to thrive. The peace lily will even forgive you for irregular watering, unlike the more finicky tree-like
houseplant the weeping fig. Ficus or weeping fig is often sold as large, potted indoor trees and once established and adapted to your home a ficus can live for many years with few problems; the key here is getting a new weeping fig tree to adapt to a new location. Leaves turn yellow and fall off every time this plant is moved or experiences a change in environment.
If you are lacking floor space for your indoor jungle use hanging plants like golden pathos or heart-leaved philoden-drons. These plants can also be grouped at the base of a ficus tree to cover the pot and convert a reading corner into an area free of indoor pollutants.
MID-CENTURY MODERN AND POLITICALLY INCORRECT: SANSEVERIA OR MOTHER-IN-LAW’S TONGUE
This is a sleek, slender houseplant that sends lance-like green and yellow leaves straight to the sky. Out of respect for kind mother-in-laws every-where, the new common name for this contempo-rary-looking houseplant is now the snake plant. All Sanseverias will thrive even in low light as long as you don’t over water. Place a snake plant inside a sleek, metallic pot, display it on a pedestal and you have liv-ing modern art.
Dracaena is another houseplant with thin, elegant foliage and a con-temporary vibe. This hard-to-kill indoor plant comes in many forms including the colorful Red Edge and
Indoor plants for your home recommended by NASA
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FLOWER POWER AND MEAN-SPIRITED GOSSIP: EASYGOING CHRYSANTHEMUMS AND DEMANDING GERBER DAISY
Who would suspect the common mum of being such a hard worker when it comes to cleaning up the air quality? Of all the plants tested by NASA, it was the chrysanthemum that re-moved all three of the most common indoor pollutants. The next time you’ll feeling ill, bring home a potted mum as well as medications for your treatment.
NOW FOR THE GOSSIP
Gerber daisies are the new darlings of wedding shows and interior design-
ers because the bold, bright colors are hard to miss. But I must pass along that Gerber daisy are difficult to grow both indoors and out and sometimes those remarkable color tones are enhanced by paint, dyes and even glitter. Buy a potted Gerber daisy if you must, but I have killed too many of these divas to have any warm and friendly feelings towards them. Yes, mean-spirited indeed.
WHO NEEDS HOUSEPLANTS?
If you live in a new, well-insulated or freshly-painted and carpeted home than you are most at risk for VOCs or indoor pollutants. Remaining indoors for the winter and the use of wood burning stoves also means your indoor air could need a good scrubbing.
Make this the week you add mums, sanseveria, philodendron, dracaena and the peace lily to your home – and breathe easy.
Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of “Easy Answers for Great Gardens” and several other books. For book requests or answers to gardening questions, write to her at: P.O. Box 872, Enumclaw, 98022. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope for a personal reply.For more gardening information, she can be reached at her Web site, www.binettigarden.com.Copyright for this col-umn owned by Marianne Binetti.
[ BINETTI from page 8]
UPDATED CEDAR RIVER REPORT
The city of Maple Valley, Tahoma School District and Friends of the Cedar River Watershed will cohost a commu-nity screening of the annually updated Watershed Report at 7 p.m. at the Tahoma Middle School Auditorium
Narrated entirely by local high school students, the Water-shed Report is a series of short videos that track and up-date positive sustainability trends in the 13 school districts and 28 cities of the greater Cedar River/Lake Washington Watershed.
Tahoma students applied to be part of the Watershed Report Leadership Team which now includes 22 students from 10 different high schools representing seven school districts plus the private school network within the bound-aries of our watershed.
Tahoma High School students will emcee the screening and facilitate audience questions and comments.
The evening will also include opportunities to hear from both the school district and the city on positive advances in sustainability practices in our own backyard.
Tahoma Middle School is located at 24425 SE 216th Way Maple Valley. For further information, contact Rebecca Sayre at [email protected] or call 206-297-8141.
Community Notes
January 13, 2012[10]
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have mass transit.”Gerken stated, “It’s not just about commuting, it’s about
services, it’s about economic development, it’s about quality of life.”
Mass transit planning, however, has not been a histori-cally easy or popular thing in the Puget Sound area and the region is way behind on such infrastructure funding, Snoey said.
But, there also has to be a balance and mass transit has to work in tandem with those who do use the roads, or else neither will be effective he added.
“Not everybody can ride the bus,” Snoey said. “So, we have to allow for both, those people who can’t and those who can. The delta is those who can’t ride the bus, if things slow down enough, people won’t ride the bus.”
It’s also important to reiterate the importance of trans-portation to the economy.
“Everything we use in and around our home is deliv-ered by truck,” Snoey said. “We need to have good freight mobility. It’s a key component.”
And this is why the coalition exists, because transporta-tion is a regional issue, and there’s power in numbers.
“The SEATS Coalition is trying to figure this all out rather than each city doing its own battle,” Snoey said. “At this exact moment I’m working on a simple trifold brochure… that outlines our key projects, our mission. This year we need to introduce our priorities and our mission (to key community groups and the legisla-ture). Going forward, if you don’t have coalitions… you are unlikely to get state or federal funding. We’ve been ignored in South County for too long. We’re going to be visible.”
Gerken said the coalition will also advocate for improving Metro’s service in Southeast King County particularly through a public relations campaign to increase ridership on Route 168 which is currently funded by a two year grant that increased headways from an hour to half an hour.
“Those are our three focuses, the two (state) highways and Metro,” Gerken said. “And at a lower level we’ll con-tinue to focus on the rail piece. You’ve got to have the team together and have the plans.... so when there’s an opportu-nity you can strike. That’s what we’re waiting for. So, we’ve
got the whole spectrum of funding opportunities covered.”Being creative while the economy slowly climbs out of
the downturn, Gerken said, will serve the coalition well later.
“I think eventually things will turn around,” he said. “There will be more opportunities downstream and we’ll be ready to roll.”
The coalition has been effective thus far, Snoey said, and can take examples from other ways the cities are working together to show what they can do as partners.
“It’s being good stewards of the public money,” he said. “We’re trying to be creative.”
Reach Kris Hill at [email protected] or 425-432-1209 ext. 5054.To comment on this story go to www.maplevalleyre-porter.com.
[ COALITION from page 5]
“Going forward if you don’t have coalitions... you are unlikely to get state or federal funding. We’ve been ignored in South County for too long. We’re going to be visible.” Wayne Snoey
SEATS
COALITION
[13]January 13 , 2012
SPORTS
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Tahoma’s Joey Palmer works to gain a better position against Kentlake’s Colton Marlowe in the 138 pound match during a double dual meet. Kentlake and Kent-Meridian traveled to Tahoma for the double dual on Jan. 4. Tahoma won both of its duals while Kentlake beat Kent-Meridian. KRIS HILL, The Reporter
Tahoma wrestlers lost just three matches combined against Kentlake and Kent-Merid-
ian in a double dual meet at home on Jan. 4.Th e Bears held off the Falcons, winning easily
66-6, as well as the Royals who were forced to forfeit three weight classes.
Joey Palmer picked up a pair of wins with a 13-8 defeat of Kentlake’s Colton Marlowe and a pin of K-M’s Josh Smith at the 4 minute, 51 second mark of the match.
At 113 pounds, Todd Link picked up a pair of wins by forfeit, while Jesse Vaughan tallied two victories as well including a pin in 37 seconds of Kentlake’s Mike Halvorson.
Garrett Autrey pinned Chad Jonnie of Kent-lake and Treyvon Wilson of Kent-Meridian at 170 pounds.
At 182, Th omas Kemp got a 6-3 win for the Royals over Tahoma’s Austin Perry.
Josh Beckler of Kentlake beat Brandon Scheiv-er of Tahoma 6-5 in the 183 pound match.
Scheiber picked up a win later in the evening, beating Alec Moss of K-M 4-3.
Nick Smith of Kentlake beat Colton Jackson of Tahoma at 106 pounds.
Jackson turned around in his next match and pinned Harmon Gill of Kent-Meridian with 16 seconds left in the fi rst period.
It was a much tighter dual between Kentlake and Kent-Meridian, but, the Falcons earned a 36-27 victory thanks to Marlowe’s pin of Josh Smith at 145 pounds in the second to last match of the night.
Gabe Carrilo followed that with a 5-0 win over K-M’s Charles Johnson at 152 pounds to seal the win for Kentlake.
Nick Smith pinned Harmon Gill of K-M in
2:46, picking up his second win of the night.Th e Royals dominated the rest of the lower
weight classes as Luis Gutierrez won at 126, Da-vid Watson won at 132, both by pins. Th en Moss beat Beckler 9-4 at 138.
Archie Blawogee pulled off a close win over Matt Nutting of Kentlake, escaping with the 4-3 victory for K-M at 160 pounds.
Johnnie bounced back aft er his loss to the Tahoma opponent to beat Wilson 7-5 at 170.
Th omas Kemp also picked up a win, getting a 7-0 decision for the Royals over the Falcons’ Hayden Lasher at 182.
Kentlake travels to Kentwood on Wednesday for the annual Cov-Town Th rowdown while Kentwood goes to Mount Rainier and Tahoma heads to Th omas Jeff erson.
On Th ursday, K-M has the night off , Tahoma heads to Kentwood while Kentlake hosts Au-burn. All matches start at 7:30 p.m.
In the tough South Puget Sound League North division, anyone can beat anyone in boys basketball, and last week was a prime example.
Kentridge did on Jan. 6 what Kentwood nearly pulled off a few days earlier: an upset of highly-touted Mount Rainier, winning 80-72, thanks to Jawan
Stepney’s game-high of 26 points.
Th e Chargers sopho-mores led the way against the Rams, with Danny Tor-lai adding 19 to Stepney’s output, along with junior John Okot-Okidi chipping in 17 points.
It was a back and forth fi rst half between Kentridge and Mount Rainier. Th e Rams took a one point lead into halft ime and the Char-
gers kept it close through the third quarter.
Th en Kentridge broke out in the fi nal period, outscor-ing Mount Rainier 27-19.
Th at win opened the door for Kent-Meridian to challenge for the division as it stood at 6-2 in league play, the same mark Mount Rainier was at following the loss to Kentridge, but the Royals lost early in the season to the Rams.
A rematch was scheduled for Tuesday night between the two teams aft er the Covington-Maple Valley Reporter’s deadline.
Meanwhile, Kentwood very nearly pulled off an
Wild week in prep boys basketball
Kentwood’s Taylor Jones passes the ball while Tahoma’s Jason Smith defends him in a game Jan. 6. DENNIS BOX, The Reporter[ more WILD page 15 ]
be the site of the second annual Valley Medical Center
Showcase, an event featuring seven high school basketball games, with some of the top
local teams involved on a day honoring Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.A pair of girls games and four
boys games are on the schedule starting with a 10 a.m. contest between the Auburn Riverside girls and Bellarmine Prep girls. Other matchups include a girls
game between Kentwood and Federal Way at 1 p.m. and boys games featuring
Cascade Christian and Auburn Mountainview at 11:30 a.m.
then Kennedy will go up against defending Class 2A
state champion Clover Park at 2:30 p.m. followed by seventh-
ranked Mount Rainier against Benson from Portland at 4 p.m.
The slate rounds out when Kent-Meridian takes on Kentridge at 6 p.m. and
Jeff erson facing Kentwood at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students with
ASB and seniors.
January 13, 2012[14]
Valley Medical Center Showcase
Monday, January 16
571881
REPORTER .com
K E N T
AT SHOWARE CENTER
BOYS GAMES11:30 a.m. Cascade Christian vs. Auburn-Mt. View2:30 p.m. Kennedy vs. Clover Park4:00 p.m. Mount Rainier vs. Benson6:00 p.m. Kent-Meridian vs. Kentridge7:30 p.m. Jefferson vs. Kentwood
GIRLS GAMES10:00 a.m. Auburn Riverside vs. Bellarmine Prep1:00 p.m. Kentwood vs. Federal Way
5:30 p.m. Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute
TICKETS (purchase at the door)
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Kentlake’s girls basketball team picked up its first South Puget Sound League North Division win of the season thanks to a put back by Alyssa Simonson Jan. 6.
It has been a rough season for Kentlake, which put together a 43-42 victory over Thomas Jefferson at home, as it tallied its second win overall — its first win came in a tournament in Wasilla, Alaska, in December.
Simonson had 13 points on the night while Stephanie Luce led the Falcons with 20.
The Falcons were down 35-33 at the start of the fourth quarter to the Raiders and with 2 minutes, 30 seconds left, trailed 41-35.
But Kentlake didn’t give up.Simonson made a free throw to make it 41-37 then Paige
Engeland drained a three ball to cut the lead to 41-40. Engeland finished with five points.
With 36.5 seconds left Luce made one of two free throws to tie it up.
A few seconds later Jefferson made the front end of a one and one to take the one point lead before Simonson’s hero-ics put Kentlake ahead for good as the Falcons outscored
the Raider 10-7 in the final period.On the other side of the division, Tahoma traveled
to Kentwood, where the Conks raced out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter over the Bears.
But Tahoma pulled within two at the half, 25-23, thanks to three pointers from Jordan Eberhardt
and Kymber Morrison as the Bears outscored the Conquerors 18-11 in the second period.The Conquerors seemed to make the necessary adjust-
ments at halftime to defend the hot shooters, holding the Bears to just four points in the third period.
Tahoma fought back in the fourth quarter, outscoring Kentwood 19-12, but it wasn’t enough and the Conks won 56-46.
Morrison led Tahoma with 16 points while Eberhardt
finished with 13.Maddison Rankin poured in 14 points, Alycea DeLong
tallied 11 and Jenny Johnson posted nine points for Kent-wood.
With the win, Kentwood improved to 7-2 in league, while Tahoma dropped to 4-4.
Mount Rainier has a hold on first place after beating Kentwood last week, as the Rams are still undefeated (8-0, 12-0), while the Conks are in third place behind Auburn Riverside in the North. The Ravens are the only other team the Conks have lost to in the division.
Tahoma is in fifth place behind Kentridge with 10 games left on the league schedule as of Monday.
This week, Kentlake heads to Kentwood, while Tahoma hosts Auburn on Tuesday. On Friday, Kentwood travels to Auburn, Tahoma hosts Mount Rainier and Kentlake has the night off.Reach Kris Hill at [email protected] or 425-432-1209 ext. 5054. To comment on this story go to www.covingtonreporter.com.
Kentwood holds off Tahoma, Kentlake has first league win
PREPS ON DECKFriday, Jan. 13BOYS BASKEBALL: Thomas Jefferson at Kent-Meridian; Mount Rainier at Tahoma; Auburn at Kentwood; Auburn Riverside at Kentridge. All games at 7:30 p.m.
GIRLS BASKETBALL: Kent-Meridian at Thomas Jefferson, Mount Rainier at Ta-homa (5:45 p.m.), Kentwood at Auburn, Kentridge at Auburn Riverside.
Wednesday, Jan. 18GYMNASTICS: Kentridge, Enumclaw, Puyallup at Todd Beamer; Tahoma, Auburn and Kentlake at Decatur; Kentwood and Mount Rainier at Auburn Riverside. All
meets start at 7:30 p.m.
WRESTLING: Tahoma, Mount Rainier at Auburn Riverside; Jefferson, Kentridge at Kentlake; Kent-Meridian, Auburn at Kentwood. All dual meets at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 17BOYS SWIM AND DIVE: Kentridge at Mount Rainier; Kent-Meridian at Tahoma; Kentlake at Auburn. All meets start at 3:30 p.m.
BOYS BASKETBALL: Kentlake at Auburn, 7:30 p.m.
GIRLS BASKETBALL: Thomas Jefferson at Kentwood; Kent-Meridian at Kentridge; Auburn at Kentlake. All games at 7:30 p.m.
GIRLSBASKETBALL
more photos online... covingtonreporter.com | maplevalleyreporter.com
[15]January 13 , 2012
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HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE FLU VACCINE?
Research has shown that the flu vaccine may not be as effective as people once believed. Although the vaccine does work, and people should still get vaccinated, more work is still needed to come up with a vaccine that will offer a much greater range of protection. If the vaccine isn’t as effective as once believed, why is it important to get vaccinated? Flu protection is important because the people who are most at risk for developing complications from the flu, such as the elderly and the very young, will be better protected if more people get the vaccine. Flu vaccine research continues making progress, however. Scientists are working toward a new and better vaccine for the near future.
The effectiveness of the flu vaccine depends upon the extent of the match between the virus strains used to prepare the vaccine and those viruses in actual circulation.
To schedule an appointment with Southlake Clinic, please call (253) 395-1972. We are a multi-specialty medical group with a clinic at 27005 168th Place SE in Covington. We are also open on Saturdays.
566190
KING COUNTY DEPT. OF DEVELOPMENT
& ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES (DDES)
900 Oakesdale Ave SW, Renton, WA 98057-5212
NOTICE OF PERMIT APPLICATIONS RECOMMENDATION & HEARING BUILDING AND FIRE SERVICES DIVISIONRequest: Formal SubdivisionFile # & Name: L11P0002 Sugarloaf Mountain Ranch EstatesApplicant: 9700 Partners LLCLocation: South side of SE Kent-Kangley Rd btwn 309th Ave SE & 320th Ave SE (approx.) RavensdaleProposal: Subdivide 290.43 acres zoned RA-5 into 52 lots for S/F detached residences & a private
access tract. Project Manager: Kim Claussen 206-296-7167Hearing Date and Time: February 9, 2012 @ 9:30 am “NEW” Location of Public Hearing: DDES Hearing Room “900” Oakesdale Ave SW Renton WA 98057-5212Dept. Recommendation to Hearing Examiner: Approve subject to conditions.COMMENT PROCEDURES: Comments on the above file arenow being accepted by King County DDES, Building and Fire Services Division, at the address listed above. Published in the Covington/ Maple Valley/Black DiamondReporter on January 13, 2012.#571511.
PUBLIC NOTICES
CITY OF COVINGTON NOTICES
ORDINANCE NO. 01-12
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COVINGTON, KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON AMENDING SECTIONS 18.20 TECHNICAL TERMS AND LAND USE DEFINITIONS; 18.25 PERMITTED USES; AND 18.31 DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN STANDARDS, OF THE COVINGTON MUNICIPAL CODE TO ADOPT REGULATIONS PERMITTING SHOOTING RANGES WITHIN THE GENERAL COMMERCIAL (GC) ZONE.
ORDINANCE NO. 02-12
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COVINGTON, KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON REINSTATING THE AUDIT COMMITTEE OF THE CITY COUNCIL.
Passed by the City Council of Covington, Washington, at the City Council meeting of January 10, 2012 to take effect five days after publication.
Published in the Covington/Maple Valley/Black Diamond Reporter on January 13, 2012. #572934.
upset of highly-touted Mount Rainier on Jan. 4, but squandered at 12 point third-quarter lead, as the Rams beat the Conks 64-62 at Kentwood.
With four minutes, 21 sec-onds left in the third quarter, the Conks had the double digit lead thanks to a Taylor Jones layin but the Rams chipped away at the lead the rest of the period.
In the fourth quarter, Kentwood went cold, going nearly four minutes between buckets while Mount Rainier went on a 10-3 run.
Jeremy Smith drained a three pointer with 6.7 seconds left to cut the Mount Rainier lead to one point, 62-61, but Kentwood just couldn’t get the game tied up or take back the lead.
Jones and Austin Benson were the leading scorers for the Conks with 18 points each.
Adrian Davis led the Rams
with 20.Tahoma had a 10 point
lead at halftime and hung onto the victory despite be-ing outscored by K-M in the second half.
Coleman Wooten had 16 points for the Bears while De’Shon Williams added 11.
Abu Kamara led the Roy-als with 15 while Mike Banks chipped in 13.
Kentwood bounced back in a match up against Ta-homa on Jan. 6. What started out as a close game in the first half with the Conquer-ors taking a one point lead into the locker room turned into a blowout in the second half as the Bears were held to single digit scoring in each of the final two quarters.
Benson tallied 19 points while Jones added 12, but, five other Kentwood players contributed four or five points apiece to create a bal-anced offensive effort.
Dominic Smith and Cole-man Wooten led Tahoma with 9 points each.
Finally, Kentlake put to-gether a pair of key victories last week against league rivals Kentridge and Thomas Jef-ferson.
Kentlake found a way to win after being down early at home to Kentridge, putting together a strong second half for the 64-59 victory.
At the end of the first quarter, the Falcons were down 22-11 to the Char-gers, as they struggled to get points in the paint.
At the 5:23 mark in the second quarter, Kentridge was up 29-13 thanks to a Roddy Hanson three ball, to which Kentlake responded with a 12-3 run to cut the lead to six at the half, 32-26.
Conner Crooks started the run with a pair of made free throws, followed by a Carson Stowell jumper who put in a three pointer less than a minute later, with Austin Pernell scoring the final four points for the Falcons when he made a pair of free throws with 1:12 on the clock followed by a drive to the bucket in transition with less than a minute left.
Kentlake outscored Kentridge the rest of way, 18-11 in the third quarter and 20-16 in the final period, with Ayanle Jama leading the Falcons with 19 points while Stepney tallied 19 to lead the Chargers.
On Jan. 6 Kentlake pulled
off a narrow victory over Jef-ferson on the road winning 74-72.
The Falcons had a five point lead after the first quarter, but, the Raiders out-scored them in the second and third quarters.
Kentlake managed to over-come a double digit deficit in the fourth quarter to get the win.
Heck led the Falcons in scoring with 25 while De-drian Miller tallied 17, Jama had 14 and Pernell added 13.
[ WILD from page 13]
forming the district, and the measure passed unanimously.To rescind the resolution, a member voting in the major-
ity for the resolution had to bring the motion forward, which was done by Saas.
After the three council members — Tamie Deady, Joe May and Ron Taylor — were sworn in, Goodwin requested an amendment to the agenda to discuss rescinding the resolution which approved the formation of the CFD.
Once the agenda was amended the members recessed into executive session to discuss potential litigation. Fol-lowing the executive session each member gave the reason for voting to rescind the resolution.
YarrowBay had requested formation of the community facilities district to fund 10 projects related to The Villages including improvements to Roberts Drive and the intersec-tion of Roberts Drive and state Route 169, a sanitary sewer lift station and storage facility. The total estimated cost rang up at about $26 million.
A CFD allows a developer the option to arrange long term financing for projects using municipal bonds that is paid for only by the property owners in the community facilities district, which in this case would be The Villages.
According to City Attorney Chris Bacha the city would not be responsible for repayment of the bond or at risk if the CFD failed for some reason. Bacha did note there is no way to state there is zero risk, but, he noted language in the resolution and supporting documentation protects the city
from legal risk as much as possible. Goodwin stated at the January meeting, “This is a very
complex issue. There are lots and lots of questions. In a very short period of time it is hard to cram all of that infor-mation in your brain.”
Goodwin said he did feel all questions raised were answered.
“If you don’t know what your are getting into how can you even have a clue how to proceed and ask the questions how to figure it out,” Goodwin said.
He stated his recommendation was to form a special committee of council members, staff and YarrowBay rep-resentatives to work through the questions concerning the formation of a CFD.
Goodwin said, “The purpose of this resolution (to rescind the CFD resolution) is not to add delay upon delay. It is quite the reverse. It is to create a structure so that this council can move forward deliberately.”
Saas said after the last council meeting when he voted for the CFD, “I went home that night and I really didn’t have a peace about the decision I made. Much of that stems from not being fully knowledgeable and educated on both sides as to what I was really going for.”
Taylor noted, “I want to make it clear I am not ultimately going to stand in the way of CFDs.”
He also raised the issue of the future homeowners in The Villages development paying for the projects.
“Sometime down the road we’ve got to look those citi-
zens in the eye and explain to them why your tax base is two or three times higher than anyone else’s,” Taylor said.
At the Dec. 27 meeting when the resolution authoriz-ing the CFD passed, Councilman Bill Boston, who retired from office at the close of 2011, raised the question, “Whether the formation of the CFD is in the best interest of the city, or the opposition to it is only to delay the proj-ect…. Possibly. There is a lot of security for the city (with a CFD). The city is not responsible for the bond, growth pays for growth, jobs will be created, projects benefit current residents who pay nothing for them. Infrastructure is built earlier. Infrastructure has always been an issue. With infra-structure in this state and a lot of cities it has to fail before anyone does anything.”
Following the vote Jan. 5 to rescind the resolution Colin Lund, director of development for YarrowBay, said he was disappointed with the vote.
“I think there is a lot of misinformation. I heard Mr. Taylor say a property owners in the CFD would have a tax rate two or three times that of anyone else in the city. That’s just not the case. Hopefully you read the information that was provided by the fiscal consultant that the city hired to review the CFD. If you didn’t I’m discouraged by that.”
Lund said YarrowBay answered all of Goodwin’s question.He stated, “We have to learn to work together. I’m not sure
why you’re not communicating with us…. I’m discouraged and I’m not sure where we’re headed with this, but we’ll figure it out in the next few weeks.”
[ DISTRICT from page 1]
Sign up now for Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety’s Annual CERT course which begins Feb. 1.
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)
is a disaster preparedness course designed to create awareness, teach critical skills for assessing a disaster situation and ensure partici-pants gain the confidence they need to react produc-
tively and responsibly in a disaster.
Classes are from 6-9:30 p.m.
Week 1: Feb. 1 - Disaster Preparedness
We will address local haz-ards and identify important steps participants and their families should take before, during and after a disaster.
Week 2: Feb. 9 – Disas-ter Medical – Part 1Par-ticipants practice diagnos-ing and treating airway obstruction, bleeding and shock. Learn the principles of triage and how to con-
duct triage evaluations.Week 3: Feb. 15 - Disas-
ter Medical – Part 2Learn how to evaluate a patient and perform a head-to-toe assessment.
Week 4: Feb. 23 – Tri-age Night. Participants will practice the principles of triage and basic first aid as learned in previous class.
Week 5: Feb. 29 – Disas-ter Psychology. Learn com-mon signs and symptoms experienced by the disaster victim and/or worker. Explore how to organize a CERT team including
management principles and the need for clear docu-mentation.
Week 6: March 8 – Light Search and Rescue. Participants learn about search and rescue planning, size-up, search techniques, rescue techniques and most importantly rescuer safety.
Week 7: March 8 - Fire Suppression. This class explains fire chemistry, hazardous materials, fire hazards and fire suppres-sion strategies. Learn how to use a fire extinguisher, when to use them and prac-
tice extinguishing a real fire.Week 8: March 22 -
Course Review and Disaster Simulation. Participants review their answers to a take-home exam.
Finally, participants will have the opportunity to practice the skills they’ve learned during a disaster simulation.
There are no pre-requi-sites.
There is a $35.00 class fee due prior to the start of class. For further informa-tion call 425 432-0200.
Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety offers CERT trainingJanuary 13, 2012[16]
Congratulations!We are proud to recognize the following people
for High Achievement in December 2011!
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Grace Christian FellowshipService Times – Sunday Bible Study 10am
Worship Service 11amWed. – Bible Study 7pm
All Are Welcome!19030 SE 168th St., Renton, 98058
Phone 425-226-0498Maple Valley Heights Area
www.gracechristianfellowship.org530320
FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH(DISCIPLES OF CHRIST)
“The Church on Top of the Hill”
Study Groups for all ages
Worship 10:00AM & 5:05PM
All are Welcome
11717 SE 240th53
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KENT FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (PCUSA)
9425 S. 248TH STREET, KENT 98031253-852-3370www.kentfirst.net
Children's Sunday School .. 10:30 to 11:45 a.m.Adult Christian Education....9:00 to 10:00 a.m.Worship Service.................................... 10:30 a.m.Children's Worship .............................. 10:45 a.m.Youth Group ............................ noon to 1:00 p.m.Monday Morning Prayers...... 7:00 to 8:00 a.m.
Carol Kirkpatrick, Pastor530317
530316
LAKE SAWYER CHRISTIAN CHURCH
31605 Lake Sawyer Rd SEBlack Diamond, WA 98030
Come and join us and feel the warmth, friendliness and sense of community present
at Lake Sawyer Christian Church!Sunday Services: 9 AM & 10:45 AM
Children’s Sunday School:
Home Groups:
Junior High Youth Group:
Senior High Youth Group:
To advertise call Brenda
425 432-1209 ext. 1550
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PLEASE JOIN US FOR OURSUNDAY AM SERVICE8am Contemplative Service
9:30am Traditional with Choir11am Godly Play Sunday School11:15am Contemporary Family
24219 Witte Rd SE 425-432-5481www.saintgeorgemv.org Vicar Bonnie Malone
in the newspaper and online atwww.covingtonreporter.com
www.maplevalleyreporter.comAll notices are subject to verifi cation.
DELIVERY TUBESAVAILABLE
The Covington/Maple Valley/ Black Diamond Reporteris published every Friday and deliverytubes are available FREE to our readerswho live in our distribution area.
Our newspaper tube can be installedon your property at no charge to you.Or the tube can be provided to you to install at your convenience next to your mailbox receptacle or at the end of your driveway.
Pick up your FREE tube at our Maple Valley offi ce, locatedat 22035 SE Wax Road, Suite 20 during regular business hours.(Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
FREE!
COVINGTON | MAPLE VALLEY | BLACK DIAMOND
REPORTER
Jan 13, 2012 [17]www.nw-ads.com www.covingtonreporter.com www.maplevalleyreporter.com
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Sound Publishing, Inc. has an immediate opening for an Advertising Sales Consultant at the Maple Valley/Covington Reporter. This position will be based out of our Maple Valley office.
The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong interpersonal skills, both written and oral, and excel in dealing with internal as well as external contacts on a day-to-day basis. Candidate will need to have an exceptional sales background and print media experience is a definite asset. Must be computer-proficient at Word, Excel, and utilizing the Internet. Position requires use of personal cell phone and vehicle, possession of valid WA State Driver’s License and proof of active vehicle insurance.
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[19]January 13 , 2012
Covington Water ChronicleProviding High Quality Drinking Water Since 1960
18631 SE 300th Place, Covington, WA 98042
57
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Water FactsYou can refi ll an 8-oz glass
of water approximately 15,000 times for the same cost as a six-pack of soda.
Studies show that bottled water is no purer than tap water, yet bottled water costs about 1,900% more. Community water supplies are tested every day – far more frequent testing than for bottled water.
Safe Drinking Water … Making It So
Safe Drinking Water – Doesn’t Just Happen NaturallyAhh… there’s nothing like drinking a glass of cold sparkling
water on a hot day. It’s crystal clear, it’s refreshing, it tastes good and it’s good for you. But how do you really know its qual-ity? The District puts forth a signifi cant effort and cost to assure that your drinking water is safe from source to tap.
Because each water source has unique characteristics, some form of treatment is often required. Well variables include the depth of well, geological formation and soil con-ditions at the site of the well, aqui-fer formation and stability, the en-vironment and land use activities within the aquifer’s water capture zones. Chemical and bacteriologi-cal characteristics of the water in the aquifer are heavily infl uenced by the above variations. The same is true for surface water sources.
The treatment and distribution of safe water is one of the greatest achievements of the twentieth century. Prior to the early 1900’s introduction of chlorine disinfection to US drinking water, water-borne cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, hepatitis A and other diseases sickened or killed thousands of Ameri-cans each year. Starting in the early 1970’s, public
health concerns shifted from waterborne illnesses caused by micro organisms to chemicals such as pesticide residues, in-dustrial sludge and other organic and inorganic compounds.
With the guiding principle that every person has a right to safe drinking water, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was enacted in 1974. The SDWA and subsequent legislation enhancing the SDWA created a multi-barrier approach that mandates requirements to protect drinking water from the source to the tap.
To meet today’s strin-gent federal, state and local drinking water re-quirements, Covington Water District samples, tests and closely moni-tors the water at each
source, throughout the distribution system, including storage reservoirs, and at the customer’s tap. The District’s wells are
routinely tested for bacteriological quality, over 80 chemicals, and other contaminants such as radon to assure that the water is free of contaminants.
The water quality in the distribution system is monitored dai-ly. Water quality parameters such as chlorine residual, pH and temperature are monitored continuously to assure treatment effectiveness and continuing compliance with water quality regulations. At least 50 samples per month are drawn from various locations throughout the distribution system and sent to an independent state certifi ed laboratory to test the bacterio-logical quality of the water.
Finally, the water is periodically tested at the customer’s tap for lead and copper. The federal Lead & Copper Rule requires all US water purveyors to test the water at select customer locations on an annual or tri-annual basis, depending upon test results. Analyses of the initial samples taken in the early 1990’s indicated that the District didn’t meet the federal limit of copper at the customer’s tap. As a result, a treatment plant to adjust the pH of the water was built at the District’s well-fi eld in the late 1990’s. Subsequent testing results have been well below the limit, which indicates that the treatment plant is meeting its goals.
The sampling, testing and monitoring procedures described are just a part, a very important part, of the procedures and pro-
cesses the District conducts to meet its responsibility to supply safe drinking water on a continuous basis.
PreparednessA little preparation now
can save a lot of discom-fort or expensive repairs later. Here are some things to consider:
❆ Store extra food, water and any neces-sary medications to be independent for at least 3 days.
❆ Plan for power outages. Have a way of lighting and heating your home that does not rely on electricity. Do not burn charcoal or use a generator indoors.
❆ Winterize your vehicle with anti-freeze.
❆ Winterize your house.
❆ Drain/blow out irrigation system, insulate exposed pipes and faucets to prevent freezing.
❆ Know where your Master Meter Shutoff Valve is located.
There are many resources available to as-sist you and your family in preparing for emer-gencies. The following websites: Three Days Three Ways at www.govlink.org/3days3ways or Take Winter by Storm at www.TakeWinter-ByStorm.org offer detailed information.
Water at each source may have different treatment requirements. Well and surface water sources can be hard or soft, alkaline or acidic, cool or cold, have high or low miner-al content, high or low conductivity, and high or low pH. It’s because of these differences that each source may be treated differently to achieve drinking water standards. The District has treatment plants at three sepa-rate sources and the water at these sites is treated for the following:
Wellfi eld pH Adjustment for Lead and Copper Control
The District’s wellfi eld requires pH adjustment to stop harmful lead and copper leaching from the pipes within our customer’s homes. High levels of lead and copper in drinking water is a serious health threat, especially to children. Water that has a pH lower than a neutral 7 is more acidic and corrosive than water that has a pH of 7 or higher. Low pH water causes the corrosion or leaching of the metals within metal piping systems.
Raw water at the Wellfi eld, which has a pH in the range of 6.6 – 6.8, is treated to a fi nished water pH that ranges from 7.6 – 7.8. The treated water effectively reduces lead and copper leaching to acceptable lev-els within a customer’s plumbing. Test results from samples taken at a representative number of residential taps continue to show that lead and copper levels are well within acceptable ranges, which confi rms the effectiveness of the treatment.
Iron and Manganese RemovalThe minerals iron and manganese, which commonly occur in well
water, are called secondary contaminants because they do not have a negative health impact but they do cause aesthetic concerns, such as discolored water and staining of plumbing fi xtures and/or laundry. The green sand fi ltration systems at the well sites almost completely strip these minerals out of the water and help minimize discolored water in customer’s homes.
Disinfection with ChlorineAll of the District’s sources are treated with chlorine to maintain an
optimal bacteriological water quality throughout the distribution sys-tem and to the customer’s tap. Maintaining chlorine residuals in the water system assures the destruction of harmful bacteria, viruses or pathogens that may have entered the water from the source or into the distribution system due to incidents such as main breaks.
Our job is not only about making sure that water is available to you in an abundant and consistent quantity, it’s also about making sure that the water is safe for you to drink and use. We take pride in our history of complying with federal and state safe drinking water regulations, but more im-portantly, we take comfort in knowing that we have done our utmost to protect your health by providing you safe drinking water.
