INSIDE | Art show benefits museum [11]
.com
REPORTER REPORTER NEWSLINE
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
FRIDAY DEC 9/11
A U B U R N˜
High school basketball | Pretz’s youth program plants seeds of success for the Ravens [18]
253.833.0218
Aging high school needs replacement Bond, levy packages head for mid-February vote
School looks to be in good shape. From outside, that is. But the black smoke that streamed out of a malfunctioning, ancient boiler last week, forcing students out, hints at the grim reality beneath the surface. Peel the building’s skin back, district officials say, and you’ll find
BY ROBERT WHALE rwhale@auburn-reporter.com
For a 61-year-old school built in haste after the 1949 earthquake flattened its predecessor, Auburn High
infrastructure long past its prime, leaking roofs and outdated fire suppression systems, and archaic heating, cooling and ventilation systems dating to the Truman administration. The upshot – students all too often left to shiver in cold
A modernization and reconstruction bond would fund critical improvements to Auburn High School. COURTESY RENDERING, NAC Architecture
[ more SCHOOL page 4 ]
Teacher conducts tuneful career said. “It started in the third grade.” Born in the Southern Dale Johnson’s reaction to Idaho farming community of learning that he had been seBurley, Johnson was first exlected to the Washingposed to music while ton Music Educator’s attending a “country” Hall of Fame was elementary school. classic. “One day this little “I jokingly said that German guy came to the hall of fame was for school and offered to old guys named Grover teach kids the violin,” or Duke or Willy,” said Johnson said. Johnson, 66, the AuJohnson jumped Johnson burn High School and at the opportunity, Rainier Middle School setting his feet on a symphony director. “But it’s path he would travel the rest really a great honor.” of his life. For Johnson, it’s an honor He enrolled at Brigham almost 60 years in the makYoung University, intending ing. “It’s been a journey,” he [ more JOHNSON page 3 ] BY SHAWN SKAGER
sskager@auburn-reporter.com
Jeremiah Mushen, Auburn’s long-distance triathlete and a Valley Regional Fire Authority firefighter, survived the trials of the 112-mile bike segment during his first Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. COURTESY PHOTO
GOING THE DISTANCE VRFA’s Mushen conquers grueling Ironman Hawaii BY MARK KLAAS mklaas@auburn-reporter.com
Hawaii maybe paradise, but it can certainly be purgatory. Jeremiah Mushen knows as much.
The Valley Regional Fire Authority firefighter recently survived the thrill – and the agony – of his first Ironman World Championship experience on the Big Island in Kailua-Kona. Mushen overcame dehydration and fatigue in the tropical October heat to complete the grueling endurance test – the Super Bowl of triathlons. “You put in hundreds of
hours of training. You go into it prepared … but come away surprised,” said the 35-year-old Mushen, who has competed professionally in triathlons and marathons, here and abroad, for more than 10 years. “There were thoughts of not finishing, points in the race where I didn’t think I would finish. … But I did not [ more MUSHEN page 6 ]
Civic leaders urge removal of “eyesore” BY ROBERT WHALE rwhale@auburn-reporter.com
Formally, it’s known as the empty building at 30 West Main. On the street, however, the old Liquidation Outlet south of Auburn City Hall has garnered a rather blunt
Submit your favorite recipes for the Dec. 16th Holiday
adjective – uuggllyy. Not only has the building itself seen better days, detractors say, but last year’s razing of the adjacent Charlie Wong building left the east wall of the Liquidation Outlet plastered with eye-grieving bits of the longshuttered, burned-out bar. None of which has escaped the attention of the downtown [ more BUILDING page 6 ]
Recipes feature!
E-mail: khenry@auburn-reporter.com Fax: 253-833-0254 or mail to: 3702 West Valley Hwy. N #112, Auburn, WA 98001 Attn: Holiday Recipes Must be submitted by Monday, December 12. Recipes subject to space and submission date.
559050