Snoqualmie Valley Record, July 11, 2012

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Valley Record SNOQUALMIE

Wednesday, July 11, 2012 n Daily updates at www.valleyrecord.com n 75 cents

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Lost hiker found dead on Green Mt.

Lights of hope

Snoqualmie Valley Record • July 11, 2012 • 7

By Valley Record Staff

Saturday, July 14

Published as a supplement to the Snoqualmie Valley Record

A downtown’s worth of fun at North Bend Block Party Pages 7-14

Seth Truscott/Staff Photo

FOURTH

The Yoshitomi family, from left, Corey, Carmen, mom Sabrina, Hailey and dad Brad, light candles late Saturday, July 7, at Snoqualmie’s Centennial Fields. Honoring their aunt Joyce, who is fighting bone cancer, the five took part in the 2012 Valley Relay for Life, a two-day celebration and remembrance that raised more than $70,000 for the American Cancer Society. You can learn more about the Valley Relay on page 5.

Patriotic celebrations enliven Ridge, Carnation Page 3

Index Opinion 4 5 Letters 15 Calendar Classifieds 16-17 19 Obituaries On the Scanner 19

Vol. 99, No. 7

Getting looped Downtown merchants call for alternative tourism flow By Seth Truscott Editor

When it comes to her big idea, Wendy Thomas is eager to keep things positive. That explains the hula hoops. Thomas, as owner of Carmichael’s True Value Hardware Store, has been a presence in downtown Snoqualmie for 10 years. In that time, she’s watched the tourist traffic flowing through her neighborhood ebb with the times. She wants to reverse that with a new tourism traffic route linking down-

town, the Ridge and Snoqualmie Casino—a loop, hence the hoop, a prop for her route argument. The prop seems apt. Two years ago, Thomas broke out stop signs and hard hats in the spring of 2010, gathering downtown business owners for a “Stop in Snoqualmie” photo opp just prior to the Downtown Infrastructure Improvement Project that put new sidewalks and utilities in the downtown block. In the two years since, she’s pondered how else to promote her neighborhood. This spring, Thomas began calling for the city’s official tourist-attraction signs to be moved from Interstate 90’s Exit 25 to 27. See LOOP, 6

Seth Truscott/Staff Photo

Getting ‘loopy,’ Kim Ewing of The Black Dog cafe in Snoqualmie, and hardware store owner Wendy Thomas are among proponents of a new tourism loop through the Snoqualmie. Thomas says the idea, endorsed in an open letter by dozens of merchants, would improve business for the broader community.

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PARTY

North Bend, Wash.

A 50-year-old man missing since Friday, July 6, was found dead on Green Mountain near North Bend around 2 p.m. Monday. John Wright, of University Place, apparently fell several hundred feet off a cliff. Wright was reported missing Friday, when he didn’t return from a hike as planned. The King County Sheriff ’s Office began a search for him when they pinged his cell phone near the Cedar River Watershed. His car was parked near the trailhead. They narrowed their search to Green Mountain after a hiker who’d met Wright on Friday told deputies he was heading to that area. Helicopters searched over the weekend, and search and rescue personnel, using 4-by-4 and horses, travelled the trails on the mountain. They found footprints believed to be Wright’s. Just hours before finding Wright’s body, searchers were still optimistic. “His family is up here, and they said he’s a very experienced hiker,” said King County Sheriff ’s Sgt. Cindi West.


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