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Anyone who’s driven past Snoqualmie Falls on a weekend knows the kind of tourist-pulling power that our natural wonder possesses. The Falls draws 2 million visitors every year, and its parking lots and plazas throng with people on a nice day. People are drawn to the Falls and other places in our Valley to experience a sense of wonder and beauty that transcends the mundane and petty.
My supervisor had left me, I was on my own, and the apple bin was getting dangerously low.
But with a few hints and a point in the right direction from fellow volunteers, the bins were filled and the whirl of service continued at the Mount Si Helping Hand Food Bank.
In today’s Valley Record, we’re asking you, our readers, to tell us what you want from your local newspaper.
I may not know very much about camera technology or terminology. But I do know about perseverance, and I know what I like. And I liked a lot of what I saw in the e-mails that poured in over the last few weeks during our fourth annual Valley Record Scenic Photo Contest.
Two dozen parents, teachers, church and youth group leaders arrived at Snoqualmie Middle School’s SafeTALK session the other night as individuals concerned about suicide in our community.
For the resident who can’t make every committee meeting and doesn’t have a hotline to City Hall, the legals act as an up-to-date, official window in the affairs of local government and opportunities for public comment. In sum, if you want to know what your cities, fire departments, local taxing districts and tribes are up to, you look in the legals.
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since 2007 and 2008, when Snoqualmie Valley School District came tantalizingly close to passing bonds—one $209 million, the other $189 million—that would have built a second high school. Those votes failed, but the students kept coming—and the high school, despite small fixes and additions, hasn’t gotten much bigger.
We can’t put off this replacement anymore. It’s time for the community to step up and take care of what’s most important—its safety. City and district residents should support Proposition 1 for a modern North Bend fire station.
A week ago, I held the opinion that we were in for a mild winter—that Mother Nature and La Niña weren’t all they were cracked up to be.
But, one flood later—one ‘minor’ or ‘major’ depending on whether you live in its path—and I’m inclined to change my mind.
Suppose you were put in charge of your city’s finances. What would you do? Save a job, or fix the roads? Or pay for police protection? Or support the food bank?
In a humble attempt to take the respective readership of this column’s minds off our current lousy weather, and the ensuing forecasts that call for utterly miserable weather to follow this winter, I would like to submit the following for your consideration:
In your mind, picture next spring and summer. The flowers are beginning to bloom, the air is filled with the promise of a lovely season, birds are singing, bees are busily going from flower to flower, and the breeze is soft and sweet. You have done your spring planting and now all that awaits are the warm days of summer to stimulate your garden efforts.
When I was a cub reporter, the world of sports was an alien thing.
One look at my thick glasses and you can tell I never played high school sports. I was drawn to books and writing, and my career as a journalist was a natural outgrowth. I was a news reporter. Sports coverage was for the sports guys. I dwelt in a different universe.
But one of my first weekly assignments was coverage of a small town high school football game. Camera in hand, I crossed the browning grass of the exterior stadiums into a whole new environment.
Between the martial, thumping pep-band music, or the chill of the autumn wind creeping through my jacket, the smell of the homemade burgers on the grill, the roar of the crowd or the thrill of being on the sidelines in a real contest, I was hooked. From then on, I volunteered to shoot high school games.
It was only gradually that I came to understand why all those people were there.