KIRKLAND .com
REPORTER
NEWSLINE: 425.822.9166
FINKBEINER | Former Kirkland state representative and senator running for lieutenant governor [6]
’Sentinels’ | DOT shows designs for new 520 FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 bridge, includes lighted bridge supports [10]
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Mock Trial | Two teams of International Community School students qualified for state [8]
More than 20 Kirkland locations may sell hard liquor Three state-run liquor stores on auction block in Kirkland BY MATT PHELPS mphelps@kirklandreporter.com
T
he list of stores selling spirits, or hard liquor, after June 1 is growing in Kirkland. Prior to the passage of Initiative 1183 last November, which privatized the sale of spirits in Washington State, the City of Kirkland had just three state-run liquor stores.
According to the State Liquor Control Board, more than 20 locations in Kirkland could be selling spirits after June 1 if the State Supreme Court rejects an appeal by opponents of the initiative. “We are at 1,220 (new spirit licenses),” said Washington State Liquor Control Board spokesman Brian Smith on March 22. “We are working a lot of
overtime and weekends. It begins as a master business license and is basically a brand new license.” The new spirit license fee is $166 annually. The new law allows businesses with at least 10,000 square feet of enclosed space to sell spirits. If the business is smaller than 10,000 square feet and is located in a trade area with no other possible outlets, the state can make
exceptions. Some of the large retailers in Kirkland that have applied for a spirits liquor license during the past month are the Metropolitan Market, Bartell Drugs, Walgreens and Red Apple Market. Albertsons, Costco, Fred Meyer, QFC, Rite Aid and Safeway previously submitted applications for spirit licenses. The state also launched its online auction of 167 [ more LIQUOR page 3 ]
The Totem Lake Liquor and Wine store is one of three in Kirkland to be placed on the auction block by the state. The Totem Lake store has six bids and is more than $2,000. MATT PHELPS, Kirkland Reporter
Woman awakes in her crawl space after SUV crash SUV crashes into Kirkland home, bursts into flames
Man arrested in Kirkland for 2006 murder Husband charged with Lynnwood woman’s murder
BY MATT PHELPS AND CARRIE WOOD Kirkland Reporter
BY CARRIE WOOD
Kirkland resident Carol Miller and her three dogs retired to her bedroom the night of March 21 to watch American Idol and fell asleep. When she awoke around 10 p.m. her dogs were gone and she was in the crawl space of her house. “I heard a big boom and all of a sudden I saw sky,” said Miller on March 22 at her Kirkland home in the 12300 block of 105th Place N.E. “I thought lightning had hit my house. It was such a loud noise you would not believe it.” Miller saw a fire and thought the lightning caught a tree in her backyard on fire. But she soon discovered that a yellow Hummer H2 had crashed into the corner of her Kirkland home where her bedroom was and it had caught on fire. As a result of the crash, part of the floor under her bed collapsed, sending her and her mattress into the crawl space of her house, essentially protecting
cwood@kirklandreporter.com
Carol Miller and her dog, Gunney, pose in their Kirkland backyard amidst debris on March 22. An SUV, right, veered off of N.E. 124th St. the night before and plowed into her bedroom where she and her three dogs were asleep. MATT PHELPS, Kirkland Reporter her from life-threatening injuries. The SUV came to a stop near a cherry tree in her backyard and she heard the couple inside the vehicle yelling for help as the inside of the vehicle filled with smoke and flames. “I couldn’t get her out
of the driver’s side,” said Miller, who had a sore back and neck the next morning. “I had my (pajamas) on and no shoes. In a matter of seconds people were everywhere.” Miller was so lucky that she didn’t even step on any [ more CRASH page 3 ]
A Lynnwood man was arrested outside of his workplace at the Chase Bank branch in Kirkland on March 21 and was charged in connection with his wife’s slaying in 2006. Detectives with the King County Sheriff ’s Office Major Crimes Unit arrested Martin David Pietz, 34, for the murder of his wife, Nicole Theresa Pietz, of Lynnwood. He was arrested outside of his work place in the 200 block of Kirkland Ave. Nicole was reported missing to the Snohomish County Sheriff ’s Office on Jan. 29, 2006. Her body was recovered in a wooded area near 1010 South 144th St. in the City of Burien in February 2006. The victim’s car that had been missing was recovered in a parking lot in the area of 936 NE 42nd St. in Seattle on Feb. 22, 2006. Detectives encourage anyone with information about this case to call the King County Sheriff ’s Office Major Crimes Unit at 206296-7530.