Russell Holl of Fall City has had a back-breaking week. His schedule so far has been as follows: Sunday, save a woman from drowning in a rafting accident; Monday, rush to hospital with a heart attack; Tuesday, more hospital; Wednesday, come home from the hospital with a new stent in chest.

“It was a little more excitement than I planned on,” said the 45 year-old Thursday, after admitting he was still a little woozy from the past week.

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Filing into the meeting room at the Mount Si Senior Center, the group of athletes whispered and giggled, clinked and jingled. The whispers and giggles were from the excitement of being honored by the North Bend City Council. The clinking and jingling were from the medals they earned to achieve that recognition.

Members of the Panther Pride unicycle team went to the North American Unicycle Championships and Convention in Madison, Wisc., July 23 to 30, and returned with 50-some medals, and an invitation to bring their first-place Club Artistic Freestyle performance, the top award of the championships, to Italy next year for world competition.

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Dr. Mike Barratt is one of an elite group in the United States. Only about 60 men and women in the U.S. have similar skill sets, and none of them, he says, are out of jobs.
“That’s such a misconception!” Barratt announced on a recent trip to Fall City to visit family. “The idea that human space flight is over is preposterous.”

Barratt is an astronaut, one of 60 currently on staff at NASA. He is the brother-in-law of Fall City martial arts instructor Johann Sasynuik; his wife Michelle is Johann’s sister. He grew up in Camas, Wash., now lives in Houston, but is a regular Valley visitor.

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After months of negotiations, including a marathon session that began Monday, Aug. 22, and ended some time after 5 a.m. Tuesday, Snoqualmie Valley teachers still have no contract. School starts Tuesday, Aug. 30 in the district, and the teachers’ current contract expires Aug. 31. As a result, the Snoqualmie Valley Education Association (SVEA) is expected to boycott the district’s Technology Kick-off Day Thursday, Aug. 25. Teacher representatives from all 10 schools in the district authorized the boycott last week, if the SVEA did not have a new contract by then.

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Six times through the bouncy tunnel, and 3-year-old Owen Weller showed no signs of tiring. Over at the dunk tank, Olivia the dog was running in circles trying to catch the spray from a huge squirt gun. Across the street, a couple danced in the hot afternoon sun to “Down the Road,” and in the arts pavilion, John Mullen coached kids on how to chant and drum. The Clan Gordon Pipe Band shook the walls and floor of Smokey Joe’s Tavern with “Amazing Grace” and then cracked jokes about bagpipes and accordions while they posed for photos.

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The Sno-Valley Senior Center is on the move. With the receipt of a $280,000 federal grant, the center has accumulated the funding needed for the early phases of a multi-year remodel project on its building at 4610 Stephens Ave., Carnation.

During the first phase of the $600,000 remodel—the addition of storage, program space and restrooms to the second floor, replacement of the center’s heat pump, and installation of a building-wide sprinkler system—the center will be based at Camp Don Bosco, two miles south of Carnation. Center staff are currently packing up everything they’ll need for the four to six months they expect to be displaced.

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The synergy of Dave and Kathy Battey is apparent, and adorable, within minutes of meeting the Snoqualmie couple. Dave schedules things, and Kathy checks his schedule. Dave loves telling stories, and Kathy reminds him of any details he might have forgotten. Dave is always ready to volunteer, and often ends up in a leadership position, while Kathy chooses a supporting role. They finish each other’s sentences, add emphasis to each other’s stories, and each has to laud the other’s work in the community, since they won’t do it themselves. In short, they are classic Valley stock.

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