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COMMUNITY | Saturday Market starts 37th season tomorrow [8] Local | County to build Novelty Hill Road wildlife crossing [10]
FRIDAY, May 4, 2012
SPORTS | RHS grad helps train young basketball players as she waits for another shot at playing pro overseas [16]
COMMUNITY | Redmond couple’s winery blends digital age with age-old industry [9]
RHS GRADUATE GUYTON GOES TO NFL Overlake mediation meeting unsuccessful Sustainable Redmond, city, Group Health can’t come to an agreement; litigation next BILL CHRISTIANSON bchristianson@redmond-reporter.com
Trevor Guyton (left), a University of California-Berkeley defensive lineman, became the first Redmond High School (RHS) graduate to be drafted in the NFL after the Minnesota Vikings selected the 2008 RHS graduate in the seventh round of last Saturday’s NFL Draft. See story, PAGE 16. Photo courtesy of Michael Pimentel, GoldenBearSports.com
New police program helps crime victims Redmond Police Department volunteers provide valuable services during crime aftermath Samantha Pak spak@redmond-reporter.com
The Redmond Police Department (RPD) is taking another proactive step in its community outreach efforts with its new Victim Assistance Team (VAT). VAT was initiated by the Redmond Police Volunteer Program and has been designed to help crime victims deal with the aftermath of a traumatic event. “Volunteers can help guide them through the (legal) process,” said RPD volunteer
program coordinator Nicole Rogers. property crime or fraud as there are The program currently has three volunpeople and programs in place for more teers working three days a week who will serious crimes. contact victims within 24-48 hours after a VAT volunteers, who made their first crime has been commitcalls last week, are also “(VAT) is just another example trained to pay special attented and basically take over of providing good, quality after responding police tion to victims 60 and older, service. Hopefully crime officers leave the scene. In Rogers said, adding that this victims in Redmond don’t feel is the first program in the addition to helping victims like they’re just a number .” RPD to focus on older citinavigate the judicial system, RPD Chief Ron Gibson VAT volunteers can help zens, although their services people work with insurance are available to everyone. companies, refer them to “Everyone reacts to a crivarious local services and offer tips on how sis differently,” Rogers said, acknowledging to not to become a victim again — among that not everyone they contact will need other things. or want their assistance. “It’s just someRogers said VAT primarily deals with thing extra that we can provide.” cases related to smaller crimes such as [ more VAT page 5 ]
A recent mediation meeting with representatives from a grassroots advocacy organization, the City of Redmond and Group Health Cooperative resulted in continued disagreement over an approved plan to cut down more than 1,000 trees to make way for a 28-acre, mixed-use development in Overlake. Now it’s up to a court of law to decide this one. Local organization Sustainable Redmond, which filed a land-use petition in King County Superior Court in January seeking to block the plans, invited representatives from the property owner, Group Health, and the City of Redmond to a mediation process last week, hoping to come up with a settlement before taking the issue to court. That didn’t happen, according to a Monday press release by Sustainable Redmond. “We were hoping for something to happen,” Robert Berg, co-chair of Sustainable Redmond told the Reporter on Monday. “It didn’t come to an agreement. We would like the Overlake Village neighborhood to have a legacy of valuing the trees that are there. There’s value in an urban forest.” The parties met for nine hours April 23 during a meeting mediated by the Washington State Bar Association’s Land Use and Environmental Mediation Committee, according to the press release. Berg said he, along with all the parties at the mediation, could not comment on what was said at the meeting. But he did say court action is Sustainable Redmond’s “only option right now” in its efforts to save at least some of the 1,050 “significant” trees from being cut down as part of the Redmond City Council-approved plans for the Group Health Overlake Village development. Significant trees are defined by the city as having a diameter of six inches or more at the height of four and a half feet above ground. [ more OVERLAKE VILLAGE page 3 ]