Articles by Carol Ladwig
Drug store for North Bend? Retail redevelopment considered on Bendigo
Drug store for North Bend? Retail redevelopment considered...
By Carol Ladwig • March 14, 2012 4:54 pm

No paperwork has been filed yet, but North Bend residents along Park Street and Bendigo Boulevard are speculating about what big-name retailer, Bartell’s or Walgreen’s, might be coming to their block by the end of this year.

Several lots along Bendigo and Park, in the 100 block of West Park Street may be included in a commercial redevelopment that attorney Tom Sroufe, partnering with land-owner James C. Borgen, has proposed.

Sroufe said he hoped to make an announcement on the project within the month.

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Annexed North Bend residents say sewer fees stink
Annexed North Bend residents say sewer fees stink
By Carol Ladwig • March 14, 2012 4:51 pm

The numbers are overwhelming. The city of North Bend has been working for five months on dividing $19.27 million worth of sewer project expenses among 403 properties, both commercial and residential, which are taxed at different rates, and assessed at even more widely varying rates.

The properties, absorbed in 2009 with the Tanner annexation, are “odd-shaped, different-zoned, in various states of development,” explained Public Works Director Ron Garrow, who oversaw the installation of sewer service throughout the annexed area.

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Snoqualmie Middle School teacher Jerry Hilburn spoke with verve about how much he hated to see the district so divided
Split Snoqualmie school board comes full circle on...
By Carol Ladwig • March 12, 2012 8:20 pm

A new bond, new middle school boundaries, and a new way of handling the ninth grade transition into high school are all becoming certainties for the Snoqualmie Valley School District. With a unanimous, if reluctant vote on some board members’ parts, the Snoqualmie Valley School Board, at nearly midnight Thursday, Feb. 8, ordered a bond issue for construction of a new middle school, in time for the February 2013 primary election.

That vote was immediately followed by a 3-2 decision to proceed with the district’s 2010 commitment to annex Snoqualmie Middle School into the Mount Si High School campus, and convert it to a freshman-only campus, called the Freshman Learning Center (FLC). Board president Dan Popp and members Marci Busby and Scott Hodgins voted in favor. Geoff Doy and Carolyn Simpson were opposed.

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Not an entirely traditional family
Marriage plans: As debate heads to voters, engaged...
By Carol Ladwig • March 6, 2012 11:44 am

When young Jacy from the Upper Valley called for a “family hug” on a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon last summer, she was just excited to see Jodi and Maddy, who’d fallen behind on the hike to the night’s campsite. She had no idea that Jodi, her mom, had deliberately dawdled on the trail, waiting for a private moment to ask Maddy to marry her.

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Half-time police contract likely for Carnation
Half-time police contract likely for Carnation
By Carol Ladwig • March 2, 2012 5:24 pm

Carnation is in the final stages of reducing its police services.

The city of 1,900 people, which buys police coverage from the city of Duvall, can no longer afford its present level of service, three full-time officers on a rotating schedule, and has been negotiating with Duvall on a contract change.

City Administrator Ken Carter presented an updated proposal for a two-year contract, negotiated with Duvall-Carnation Police Chief Glenn Merryman and Mayor Will Ibershof, to the council Feb. 21. The proposal limits the number of officers to 2.25, with another half-time position in administrative services, for $453,883, which is about $20,000 less than the council agreed to budget for police services in December.

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Responding to an early morning plane crash that killed three people
Investigation: Plane flew steady course before Mount Si...
By Carol Ladwig • March 1, 2012 8:50 pm

A preliminary report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board on the Feb. 15 crash of a small plane suggests the Cessna 172S, with three people aboard, flew directly into Mount Si. The impact tore the wings off the plane, which was found upside down after the crash. There were no survivors.

The plane originated from the Renton Municipal Airport around 1:35 a.m. Feb. 15, according to the report, heading northeast until it approached Snoqualmie Falls, when it turned southeast, and seemed to maintain that course.

“At impact they were going roughly southeast,” said NTSB investigator Wayne Pollack, who produced the report.

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Admiring a clay bowl made for the first-ever Mount Si Food Bank benefit night
Filling empty bowls: As Mount Si Food Bank...
By Carol Ladwig • February 23, 2012 5:15 pm

Isaiha Medford rubs his hands together and sits back to take a look at his work: three soon-to-be-finished clay sculptures made especially for Empty Bowls, an upcoming benefit dinner helping the Mount Si Food Bank.

“I’m going to make three, because I want to donate two and keep one,” the middle school student explains. “It’s helping the needy and the poor people to feed their children.”

With that understanding, Medford represents at least one goal accomplished by this food bank project: Raising awareness of hunger in the Valley.

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Mysteries remain in fatal Mount Si plane crash
Mysteries remain in fatal Mount Si plane crash
By Carol Ladwig • February 20, 2012 12:29 pm

Questions continue to surround the plane crash that awoke North Bend residents early Wednesday, Feb. 15.

The plane, a Cessna 172 with one pilot and two passengers, was destroyed when it crashed into Little Si, killing all three aboard.

The King County Medical Examiner did not release the victims’ names until Friday afternoon. The victims are Robert Hill, a 30 year-old male, Seth Dawson, a 31 year-old male, and Elizabeth Redling, a 29 year-old female.

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Memorial service is Sunday for Valerie Meyers, Mount Si High School’s much-loved athletic secretary
Memorial service is Sunday for Valerie Meyers, Mount...
By Carol Ladwig • February 16, 2012 7:20 pm

Mount Si students and staff gather this Sunday, Feb. 19, to honor and remember a woman known for putting the high school’s best foot forward.

“She was a huge presence here,” Principal John Belcher said of the late Valerie Meyers. “She is basically the reason why I think our front office has a reputation for being supportive and welcoming and helpful.”

Meyers worked in the Mount Si High School main office, acting as receptionist for visitors, and the school’s athletic secretary. She died Thursday, Feb. 9, of complications from a heart condition.

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Valley legislators split on same-sex marriage law
Valley legislators split on same-sex marriage law
By Carol Ladwig • February 13, 2012 2:38 pm

Same-sex couples may marry when new Washington law takes effect June 7By Carol LadwigStaff Reporter

Effective June 7 of this year, same-sex couples in Washington will have the one thing that’s eluded them since 1996 and beyond, marriage.

Washington Senators approved ESSB 6239, legalizing marriage for gay couples, on Feb. 1, by a vote of 28 to 21. The House voted one week later, Feb. 8, passing it by a vote of 55 to 43, and Governor Gregoire signed the bill into law at a news conference Monday morning, Feb. 13.

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Half-day save: Snoqualmie Valley school board drops plans to change kindergarten
Half-day save: Snoqualmie Valley school board drops plans...
By Carol Ladwig • February 13, 2012 12:26 pm

Kindergarten in the Snoqualmie Valley School District is safe, for now. In response to dozens of parents’ pleas, the Snoqualmie Valley School Board voted unanimously Thursday, Feb. 9, to no longer consider a Kindergarten format change for cost savings in the 2012-13 school year.

The decision was welcomed by the full house of parents at the meeting, but prompted warnings from Superintendent Joel Aune, and School Board President Dan Popp.

“I’m not seeing as a possibility, in April, to revisit this,” Aune told the board. Kindergarten registration is set for March 6, and parents will build their plans around the Kindergarten schedule they enroll in then.

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Long days ahead; Snoqualmie Valley Kindergarten change, proposed to save district budget, draws fire from parents
Long days ahead; Snoqualmie Valley Kindergarten change, proposed...
By Carol Ladwig • February 9, 2012 2:16 pm

Bleary-eyed and with a handful of tissues, Montessori preschool teacher Sarah Lenihan shook off her cold Tuesday, Feb. 7, to find out what Kindergarten will look like for 13 of her students next year.

She joined more than 60 parents who wanted to know more about a radical restructuring proposed for the Kindergarten schedule, from today’s half-day classes Monday through Friday, to full-day classes every other day, with alternating Fridays.

“The parents, they all just found out this week,” said Sue Erickson, a Montessori Kindergarten teacher attending the meeting with Lenihan. “They’re all still up in the air.”

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