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Theater season blazes ‘Trails’ 

Issaquah High School NJROTC offers a final salute to program

High school baseball teams swing into action for spring Sports,

Community,

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THE ISSAQUAH P RESS Q

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‘Hot Mess’ exposes pageant life

www.issaquahpress.com

Wednesday, March 14, 2012 • Vol. 113, No. 11

Locally owned since 1900 • 75 Cents

See Page B8

Former Issaquah insurance agent gets 75 months in prison

By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter

By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter State Rep. Deb Eddy, a Kirkland Democrat representing Issaquah neighborhoods along Lake Sammamish, has announced plans to retire from the House of Representatives. In a statement issued March 7, the former Kirkland mayor said she does not intend to run for reelection to the 48th Legislative District seat. The district is poised to lose Issaquah due to redistricting. See RETIREMENT, Page A5

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lowest bidder for the restoration project. The council authorized $744,700 for the trolley project in a November decision. The most recent contract calls for Gomaco Trolley Co. to rehabilitate the aging trolley car. In the initial restoration phase, Lakebay-based Coast Rail reconditioned the railroad track from the historic Issaquah Train Depot to the East Fork of Issaquah Creek. If funds permit after the car is rehabilitated, plans call for track restoration from the creek to Northwest Gilman Boulevard.

The fasteners connecting pieces in each Boeing and Airbus jetliner — a component left unseen by passengers for the most part — originate at a small Issaquah manufacturer. The manufacturer, Marketing Masters, creates inserts and fasteners from Torlon — a substance cheaper, lighter and more resistant to corrosion than the titanium used in earlier-generation aircraft

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By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter

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Legislator announces retirement

another company to restore the trolley car. The trolley project inherited a pair of 1920s trolley cars from Aspen, Colo., in the early 2000s. The vehicles once ran on streets in Lisbon, Portugal, and came to Issaquah after Aspen voters rejected a 2002 ballot measure to support a trolley project. The unused trolleys awaited restoration for years in downtown Issaquah. Organizers also needed the city to sign on as the certified acceptance agency, or administrator, for federal grants for the project. In March 2011, City Council members awarded the restoration contract to Mukilteo-based Advanced Construction, but the company later defaulted on the contract. The city then negotiated a settlement to release Advanced Construction and select the next-

Manufacturer supplies key components for Boeing, Airbus

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The historic trolley car on display at the Issaquah Train Depot departed the station March 12, as the long-planned effort to restore and run the car in downtown Issaquah inched ahead. The 87-year-old Lisbon No. 519 trolley car left for Ida Grove, Iowa, and the Gomaco Trolley Co. — a trolley car manufacturer and restorer. If the restoration plan unfolds as scheduled, the trolley should return to Issaquah in September. Organizers plan to operate the trolley on weekends and during special events, such as ArtWalk and holiday celebrations. The nonprofit Issaquah Valley Trolley Project is spearheading the $744,700 restoration. The city oversees and administers

the grant dollars used to fund the trolley project. Issaquah also owns the downtown railroad corridor. In 2001 and 2002, trolley group organizers leased a trolley from a Yakima organization, and ferried passengers in a successful test. “We are so excited to see the project moving forward,” said Barbara Justice, Issaquah Valley Trolley Project organizer and trolley operator. “More than 6,000 riders came aboard in 2001, when we operated using a car leased from the Yakima Valley Trolley. We can’t wait to start up again — this time using our own streetcar.” Delays related to funds and restoration kept a schedule for the trolley project in limbo for a decade. The departure for Iowa came a year after leaders authorized

Marketing Masters ascends to aerospace stratosphere LIG

By Warren Kagarise Issaquah Press reporter

The nonprofit Issaquah Valley Trolley Project is a volunteer operation. The organization needs streetcar operators, conductors, mechanics, volunteer coordinators, website managers, fundraisers, event planners and more. Call 391-8186 or email trolley@issaquahhistory.org to learn more.

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Historic trolley car departs for restoration in Iowa

HOW TO HELP

See SENTENCED, Page A5

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By greg farrar

Don McWhirter, with the Issaquah Valley Trolley Project, lops overgrown brambles at the railroad track beside the Darigold plant so the trolley could be moved March 12 onto a tractor-trailer for the trip to Iowa for restoration.

A former Issaquah insurance agent convicted of swindling more than $1 million from elderly clients is headed to prison for up to 75 months. Jasmine Jamrus-Kassim pleaded guilty in October to 10 counts of first-degree theft in King County Superior Court. Prosecutors reduced the number of charges from 21 as part of a plea deal. The sentencing March 9 in King County Superior Court came after months of delays and after Jamrus-Kassim requested a different attorney. Prosecutors said she stole at least $1,052,088 between late 2007 and late 2009. The seniors made out checks to JamrusKassim. The clients thought she intended to reinvest the money for them. Instead, she funneled the money

into a personal account for clothes, jewelry, online psychic advisers and a trip to Mexico. The bill for a psychic website reached $20,000 after a single month, court documents state. “This rogue agent shamelessly took advantage of vulnerable clients,” state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said in a statement. “In some cases, she stripped people of their life’s savings.” State insurance investigators and Washington State Patrol troopers arrested Jamrus-Kassim in March 2011. Investigators initially attempted to arrest her at her former Issaquah residence. Jasmine Jamrus-Kassim was arrested after an investigation by the state insurance commissioner’s Special Investigations Unit found Jamrus-Kassim had taken

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fasteners. The fasteners hold together pieces in the behemoth Airbus A380 — the largest passenger jetliner in service — and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a next-generation plane assembled mostly from composite materials. See INNOVATION, Page A5

Warren Kagarise: 392-6434, ext. 234, or wkagarise@isspress.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.

Bond includes dollars for relocating, rebuilding schools By Tom Corrigan Issaquah Press reporter Of the total $219 million bond package proposed by the Issaquah School District, four projects account for roughly half of those dollars. If district voters approve the issue in a special election April 17, plans call for rebuilding the district’s three oldest schools, Clark and Sunny Hills elementary schools, along with Issaquah Middle School. Total cost: $109.1 million. Intertwined with the plans to rebuild Clark and IMS is the plan to rebuild Tiger Mountain

Community High School on part of what is now the IMS campus. Cost of that project is estimated at $3.9 million.

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The overall plan The buildings involved are old and largely past their useful life spans. A bond feasibility and development committee developed the original capital improvement program during planning sessions held roughly a year ago. One long debate was whether to propose rebuilding the oldest schools or to push for dollars to repair and maintain those buildings.

PART 2 OF 4 THE PLAN TO REBUILD SCHOOLS

By greg farrar

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INSIDE THE PRESS A&E ................. Classifieds ........ Community ...... Obituaries ........

DECONSTRUCTING

“If someone from the audience goes home and repeats a line that one of the girls has written and is like, ‘Oh, that was a good joke,’ then we’ve totally won. That’s all you can ask for.”

— Kiki Abba ‘Hot Mess’ director discussing the writers for the KIDSTAGE production. (See story on Page B8.)

Jacques Gauron sets out a pile of Clip Nuts on an aircraft floor panel sample at Marketing Masters in Issaquah.

SOCIAL MEDIA Connect with The Issaquah Press on social media at www.twitter.com/issaquahpress and www.facebook.com/issaquahpress. Scan the QR code to go to www.issaquahpress.com.


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