Out of the Past: Snoqualmie prepares for ‘Peaksnuts’ from Japan; David Wardell is local current affairs champ

Published 7:30 am Friday, February 17, 2017

The following stories happened this week, 25 and 50 years ago, as reported in the Snoqualmie Valley Record. From the Record’s archives:

Thursday, Feb. 13, 1992:

• To dig or not to dig wells, that’s one of several questions the city of North Bend faces as it weighs the pros and cons of exploring a potential underground reservoir a scientific report says could provide 20 to 40 million gallons of water a day. Anticipated demand, new federal regulations and state health requirements will soon force the city to make a decision on the future of its water supply.

• The television show that made the Valley famous in 1990 has spawned a new wave of “Twin Peaks” mania from a distant shore. Busloads of fans from Japan, where the show has a videotape cult following, will spend February and March days in North Bend and Snoqualmie, touring such cultish sites as the Mar-T Cafe (Double R Diner), the railroad yard, Weyerhaeuser mill and Snoqualmie Falls. Japan Travel Bureau International is coordinating the “Peaksnuts” tour, which includes an overnight stay at the Salish Lodge in Snoqualmie.

• Division winners at the Seamount League wrestling meet last month were Snoqualmie Middle School’s Tyler Mills and Stuart Welborn.

•Friends and relatives of Mary Edith Brown Briggs are invited to a celebration in honor of her 100th birthday at the Snoqualmie United Methodist Church Feb. 22. One hundred years ago, when Benjamin Harrison was President of the U.S., Mary Edith was born to Henry Clay and Edith Brown on Feb. 24, 1892, in Southwick Idaho.

Thursday, Feb. 23, 1967

• The Silver Beaver award for distinguished service to boyhood was presented to Jack W. Ferrell, Scoutmaster, North Bend, at the 51st annual Scouter Recognition banquet at Seattle Center, Feb. 7. Ferrell was one of 10 Seattle-area Boy Scout leaders to receive the coveted Silver Beaver award this year.

• Charles Travis of North Bend was injured seriously Saturday morning when he went to sleep at the wheel of his pickup and struck an oncoming tanker truck head-on. According to his wife, Nancy, he has severe jaw and ankle injuries and a severed finger which the doctors are trying to save. He was taken by North Bend Fire Department ambulance to Nelems Memorial Hospital and then transferred to Overlake Hospital.

• David Wardell, Mount Si student, has been named the local winner in TIME’s 31st annual Current Affairs Contest. Other high-scoring students include Greg Hauser, Jim Tobacco and Karen Kephart. The test, given this year to more than 3 million college and high school students in the U.S. and Canada, consists of 100 questions on national and foreign affairs.