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Elizabeth Smart ‘s harrowing tale helps YES raise $520,000 for kids BY GABRIELLE NOMURA Bellevue Reporter
Two at a time
Excavators armed with concrete munchers demolished the old Evergreen Point Road overpass above SR 520 during the weekend closure of March 9-12. Story, photo on page 3. COURTESY PHOTO, WSDOT
Judge rules against Kemper Freeman in light-rail case A Kittitas County Superior Court Judge issued a summary judgment March 9 in the lawsuit by Kemper Freeman seeking to stop the East Link light-rail project. The ruling confirms the legality of the work now under way to extend light-rail across the I-90 center lanes to serve to Mercer Island, Bellevue and Redmond. With Sound Transit funding, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is nearing completion of the second of three phases to prepare for light-rail construction by adding new HOV lanes, ramps, and safety improvements across Lake Washington on I-90. Before the reversible center lanes are closed for light-rail, these new lanes will provide 24-hour capacity for carpools and buses both eastbound and
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westbound, maintaining the current number of general purpose and HOV lanes and remedying the current lack of HOV capacity in the off-peak direction. The court held that WSDOT had the authority to lease the I-90 center lanes to Sound Transit for light-rail, rejecting the argument that the lease violates the 18th Amendment of the Washington State Constitution because Sound Transit is paying adequate compensation for the lanes. The court affirmed that the East Link light-rail project, approved by voters in 2008, is consistent with plans and agreements that have been in place since before the bridge was built. The ruling cites the 1978 federal action approving construction of the I-90 floating bridge, which contained an express condition that “public transportation shall permanently have first priority in the use of the center lanes.” In 1976, a memorandum of agreement for I-90 was signed by the cities of Seattle, Bellevue and Mercer Island, King County Metro Transit and the State Highway Commission. It directed that bridge design and construction accommodate future conversion to rail and committed the two-lane center roadway for that purpose. Freeman filed the lawsuit in Kittitas County following a Washington State Supreme Court ruling against him in 2011.
Elizabeth Smart will never forget her mother’s wise words. Smart was kidnapped as a 14-year-old from her Salt Lake City home in 2002 and, throughout the course of almost a year, was repeatedly raped and tortured. When she was found and returned home, her mother’s advice helped her heal from all that her captor had done. “You gave him nine months of your life. Don’t give him another day.” And with that, Smart never looked back at the hell she was forced to endure. Instead, she’s put the darkest period in her life to good use. As a keynote speaker, Smart, 24, helped draw 1,000 people who donated more Elizabeth Smart than $520,000 to Youth Eastside Services at Meydenbauer Center on Tuesday morning. Last year, this same benefit, the YES Invest in Youth breakfast, brought in 800 people and $455,000. The nationally renowned survivor, activist and founder of a child advocacy foundation told the story of her abduction and the abuse she suffered at the hands of her captors, which helped attract newcomers to the YES breakfast. “Whatever pain we’ve experienced, we can move forward and be happy,” Smart said. “It doesn’t have to control our lives.” Smart remembers that night, June 5, 2002, well. Before she went to bed, her older brother, Charles, was teasing his sister about wanting to go to small-town Beaver Utah with a friend for their eighth-grade graduation. Giving her a sass, he asked why on Earth would anyone want to do there? “Charles, what if those are the last words you ever say to me?” she said. But after that night, Charles and the rest of the Smart SEE YES, 8