Bonney Lake and Sumner Courier-Herald, May 16, 2012

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SEE INSIDE: Bonney Lake women cleans up city one step at a time, Page 3 . . . . Sumner city administrator resigns suddenly, Page 5 . . . Spring sports playoffs and tournaments get under way, Page 8

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Wednesday,May 16, 2012

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Utility rate changes on hold for public input

What’s Inside Classified ...................... Page 21 Views..................................Page 6 Sports ...............................Page 8 LifeWaves ........................Page 4 Feature............................ Page 11 Questions and answers just for women...

By Brian Beckley Staff Writer

teacher Karla Banks’s Navigation 101 advisement group. Navigation 101 is a statewide comprehensive guidance and counseling program intended to jumpstart students college preparation before they set foot in a high school. Community service is part of the program. “For deciding what project to take on, I left it up to a vote among my students,” Banks said. In the wake of snow and ice storms that had devastated the landscape, the students chose to

The Bonney Lake City Council this past week tabled a pair of ordinances related to utility rate changes in order to give the public an opportunity to comment on the measures. The council tabled the two ordinances May 8 because of a proposed change from their discussions at the prior week’s workshop meeting. Initially, the council was to discuss a reduction in the summer sprinkling rates, but at the May 2 workshop, Mayor Neil Johnson proposed a simple $5 reduction in the base water rate, which would provide everyone in the city with savings, not just those who wouldn’t be charged additional rates for watering their lawns during the summer. The council seemed to be on board with the mayor’s proposal, which would offset for most people a 10 percent increase in sewer rates necessary to bring the revenues for the utility inline with the operating costs. But city officials worried about the loss of guaranteed revenue in the form of base rates countered with a proposal that reduces the base rate by $2.69 and

See Garden, Page 5

See Rates, Page 13

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Weather

Today, Wednesday, should bring mostly sunny skies with temperatures in the mid-60s, dropping into the high 40s overnight. Clouds begin to roll in Thursday with possible showers Friday and a mostly cloudy Saturday. But hang on for Sunday: Sunny and 70. For details go to: www.blscourierherald.com click on weather

Coming Up Sumner VFW Post 3070 will begin placing flags at the Sumner Cemetery May 24. Flags will be placed at the grave sites of veterans. Anyone interested in helping place the flags are welcome to attend. The annual Memorial Day ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. May 28.

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Nolan Acune, Simonne Shires and Emilee Brown prepare to cut the ribbon on the new garden surrounding the sign at Lakeridge Middle School as advisement class teacher Karla Banks looks on. Photo by Daniel Nash.

Dirty hands, pretty campus Lakeridge Middle School Advisement class cuts ribbon on new garden By Daniel Nash Staff Writer

Students at Lakeridge Middle School cut the ribbon Wednesday on new flora around the Bonney Lake campus’s welcome sign. The small ceremony of parents and administrators put a bow on five months of work by

Sumner gives Northstar 43 mitigation steps Environmental impact statements calls for chemical storage company to prepare for the worst Daniel Nash Staff Writer

The City of Sumner issued Northstar Chemical Inc. a list of 43 necessary steps to make the construction of a chemical storage facility amenable to the local government.

The steps—which will be required to be completed before the city issues building permits— were derived from the Final Environmental Impact Statement issued in April. Chapter three of the statement assessed site risks and potential worst case scenarios

originating at a chemical storage facility. One such scenario— deemed improbable in the report— described a tank containing 8,000 gallons of nitric acid rupturing, and its contents evaporating into the air. “The probability of such an accident occurring is extremely low (2 percent, or once every 50 years), based on Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration statistics for hazardous substance trans-

port, and may not occur within the life of the facility,” the report read. “Never the less (sic), this incident was evaluated.” The toxic radius of such a spill would be 0.2 miles, or approximately 1,000 feet from the origin of the rupture. Thus the steps include the submission of a spill containment plan and regular monitoring of

See Northstar, Page 5


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