By Warren KagariseIssaquah Press reporter

Beloved cougar cubs Keira, Miksa and Tika turn 1 on May 20 and to celebrate the milestone, Cougar Mountain Zoo is — please,

pardon the pun — planning a wild party.

The party doubles as a fun-draiser for the zoo, a nonprofit organization, and The Beat, The Issaquah Press’ section by, for and about teenagers. Zoogoers can watch as the curious cubs tear open gifts and dig into special birthday cakes made from meat.

“Cougar cubs love to destroy things, so we are creating special birthday boxes for them to do just that!” zoo General Curator Robyn Barfoot said.

In the months since the cubs arrived at the zoo, Keira, Miksa and Tika grew from tiny tufts of spotted fur into regal big cats.

In addition to supporting the popular cougar exhibit at the zoo, a percentage of all ticket sales benefits The Beat, to help pay for the section’s pages in

The Press.“We’re excited about this

event,” said Kathleen R. Merrill, managing editor of The Issaquah Press and The Beat. “The staff and I were talking about it on Sunday and they are looking forward to meeting everyone who comes to the zoo.”

The Beat debuted in Decem-ber 2009. The monthly section is by teens, for teens and about teens. Team members come from Issaquah, Liberty, Skyline and Eastside Catholic high schools.

“We’re always looking for ways to raise money, so not only will this help us keep our project going, but it will be a fun and educational event for everyone,” Merrill said.

Zoogoers can meet The Beat’s staff at the cougar cubs’ birthday bash. Members plan to greet at-tendees, do some face-painting and birthday card making, and serve birthday cake to attendees. Zoogoers can also earn zoo-cen-tric prizes in raffles.

In June 2011, months after iconic cougar Nashi died, keep-ers unveiled Keira, Miksa and

Tika. The cubs joined the public displays at the zoo a month later.

Barfoot and Senior Keeper Sa-sha Puskar picked up the then-2-pound cubs at a Wisconsin zoo.

The cubs succeeded Nashi, a longtime denizen at the nonprofit zoo. Nashi died in February 2011 at age 17 — old for a cougar in captivity. Keepers started the search for cougar cubs soon after.

Merlin, another cougar at the zoo, died in 2008 at age 16. Mer-lin, perched in a boulder-strewn enclosure just inside the zoo gates, acted as the zoo’s ambas-sadors for years. The much-pho-tographed cougar awed camera-toting guests and appeared on zoo promotional materials.

The zoo, established in 1972, is also celebrating 40 years in 2012. The latest milestone caps a big year for the cubs.

In August 2011, Tika un-derwent successful surgery to correct a congenital defect. The problem, a vascular ring anomaly or defect, prevented the cub from eating solid foods. Tika experi-enced a complete recovery after surgery at a Kirkland clinic.

The zoo lacked a namesake big cat in the months after Nashi’s death. The cubs’ arrival carried special significance, because the cougar is a native species, hence the names of the mountain and the zoo.

The big cat collection at the hillside zoo includes rare Bengal tigers — Taj, Almos, Bagheera and Vitez. Conservationists es-timate fewer than 3,000 Bengal tigers remain in the wild.

Other species at the facility in-clude alpaca, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, parrots and rein-

deer. The zoo is also in the midst of a fundraising campaign to add a cheetah exhibit.

In addition to the cougars and rare tigers, a conservation mes-sage is carried throughout zoo exhibits. The facility maintains the alpaca herd to teach zoogoers about the vicuña, a similar spe-cies at risk from habitat loss and poaching.

Warren Kagarise: 392-6434, ext. 234, or wkagarise@isspress.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.

By Tom Corrigan

John Mullen, a member of the Sno-qualmie Tribe, has been a carver and sort of spokesman and educator for the tribe for about 11 years.

In addition to spreading and teaching the Snoqualmie tradition of carving, Mul-len also carries on the tribe’s tradition of singing and drumming.

On April 16, he was at Issaquah’s nonprofit Providence Marianwood skilled nursing facility, with his handmade tools, one of his handmade dugout canoes and plenty of stories to share.

Mullen’s visit was part of Marianwood’s marking of April 16, formally Mother Jo-seph Pariseau Day in Washington.

A member of the Catholic order of the Sisters of Providence, Mother Joseph is credited with building 29 hospitals, schools, orphanages and shelters for the aged or mentally ill in the late 1800s in Washington and surrounding states.

Her influence can be felt as far north as Canada, said Providence Marianwood’s Andrea Abercrombie, who told residents at least part of the story of the Sisters of Providence and Mother Joseph in Wash-ington.

Some 155 years ago, the Sisters of Providence founded what became Provi-dence Health Services, which operates Marianwood. The organization maintains ties to the Catholic order to this day, according to Arlene Carter, executive director of the Providence Marianwood

Foundation.Because Mother Joseph was dedicated

to helping others, each year Providence Marianwood commemorates Mother Joseph Day with some kind of charitable drive. This year, residents, staff mem-bers and visitors collected several tables full of school supplies for donation to the Snoqualmie Tribe. Mullen was on hand to accept the donation.

During his talk, he showed off his hand-made carving tools, some of which are specially designed for a lack of mobility he has in his right hand. And all of his tools are handmade. He even has a carved block of wood with a handle that he uses as a hammer.

While the carving tools are clearly im-portant, the tops of dugout canoes, at least when they are made of cedar, eventually

are steamed open. The bottoms of the canoes are filled with water. Extremely hot rocks are placed in the water to cre-ate steam, which in turn spreads out the wood, making the canoe opening larger. The task can take three days to accom-plish.

Mullen also had with him several kinds of handmade canoe paddles, including one that early Snoqualmie

COMMUNITYs s

The Issaquah Press

�Section

B WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2012

By Tom Corrigan

After meeting with some friends, Issaquah’s Dave Patter-son decided to do something that probably wouldn’t occur to many people.

He decided to start a Christian church.

The result of the efforts of Pat-terson and others is the Pillars Temple, a fledgling nondenomi-national, evangelical church that held its first services in October. The recent Easter holiday was somewhat of a coming out for the church, sort of a formal launch.

“Just to announce we are com-mitted,” Patterson said.

For now, the smallish congrega-tion meets for Sunday services in the Holiday Inn Issaquah. As one of the elders of the new church, Patterson has no problem with the congregation staying small and isn’t worried about a bricks-and-mortar church just yet.

“The fall of many churches is the focus on a building,” he said.

For Patterson, the keys to a suc-cessful church community don’t include big attendance numbers and a mortgage. Instead, Pat-terson said the guidelines for the Pillars Temple came from a Bible study group of which he was part.

“We were learning new things about what churches are,” he said.

The name “Pillars Temple” comes straight out of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, Pat-terson added.

Those “pillars” are not surpris-ing, ideals such as studying and following the Bible. The focus is supposed to be on the message, said another church elder, who identified himself only as “Paul” and declined to give his last name. He said church leaders had agreed in advance that Patterson would give his full name, but oth-ers would not to avoid putting any undue focus on individuals.

Even the church’s still-new website lists only “Paul” as a lead teacher for Pillars Temple.

Paul said he has been involved in beginning churches, or church plants, previously. Too many churches become institutions and don’t focus on what a church should be, which is an extended family, he said. Like Patterson, he’s not too worried about atten-dance at this point.

“It’s not about numbers,” he said.

While Patterson and Paul said they believe the Bible contains just about everything needed to operate a church, they have created by-laws and guidelines for Pillars Temple. Patterson mentioned that church does not have to be dry and in that spirit Pillars Temple threw a Christmas celebration complete with a big band. More than 100 attended. Patterson said prior to the recent Easter holiday that he just didn’t know how many people might show up for the Easter service. He predicted anywhere from 25 to 100.

“You just never know,” Patter-son said.

They ended up with 24 people, roughly double their usual atten-dance, Patterson said, adding he

Send your veterans photos for memorial section

Memorial Day seems a long way off, but it will be here before you know it. This year, The Issaquah Press will print its third annual veterans section — Lest We For-get.

We want your photos and infor-mation, veterans. If someone in your family was a veteran, but he or she has passed away, we still want to include him or her. It is important for us to honor and re-member all local veterans, living or deceased.

If you have already sent your photo and information to us, you don’t need to do so again. We keep them on file.

Fill out your form at www.issa-quahpress.com and email your photo to editor@isspress.com.

See CHURCH, Page B3

New church returns

to ‘Biblical basics’

B1

Providence Marianwood celebrates Snoqualmie heritage

Wayne Greaka, who learned the art of carving from John Mullen, spoke briefly about the year or so he spent creating the beaver mask seen here. Greaka’s hands are resting one of Mullen’s handmade canoes.

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

Cougar Mountain Zoo’s cougar cubs Miksa, Keira and Tika (above) grew from tiny tufts of fur in May 2011 into regal big cats (above left) and a centerpiece at the zoo.

WILD PARTYWILD PARTY Cougars’ birthday benefits

Cougar Mountain Zoo, The BeatIF YOU GO

Cougar Cubs First Birthday CelebrationCougar Mountain Zoo is hosting a

birthday party for 1-year-old cougar cubs Keira, Miksa and Tika to benefit the zoo’s cougar exhibit and The Beat, The Issaquah Press’ monthly section by, for and about teens. 42:30-5 p.m. May 204Cougar Mountain Zoo

419525 S.E. 54th St.(The party is in the upper zoo; the rest

of the zoo is closed for the event.)Tickets cost $10 in advance and $12 at the gate. The event is free for children younger than 2.

Purchase advance tickets at The Press, 45 Front St. S., Monday through Friday during regular business hours.4www.cougarmountainzoo.org and www.facebook.com/cougarmountainzoo

PHOTOS BY TOM CORRIGAN

John Mullen, during his presentation at Marianwood in Issaquah, said one of the tradi-tional Snoqualmie songs he sang was thought to be 800 years old.

John Mullen shares tribal customs during Mother Joseph Pariseau Day

See HERITAGE, Page B3

“Cougar cubs love to destroy things, so we are creating special birthday boxes for them to do just that!” — Robyn BarfootCougar Mountain Zoo general curator