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FRIDAY, MAY 18, 2012
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
County approves plan to remove sandbags BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
The giant sandbags along the Green River in Kent, Auburn and Tukwila soon will be going, going, gone. Well, actually, it could be mid-summer before work starts
in Kent to remove the bags from along the Green River Trail. The King County Flood Control District’s Board of Supervisors approved Monday a $5.8 million plan to remove 26 miles of sandbags lining the river in the three cities. The flood control district will
pay approximately $4.4 million and the cities about $1.4 million under the plan, with the county funding 75 percent of the project. But the levees are too wet to handle the heavy equipment needed to get rid of the bags that weigh more than a ton. “The next move for us is to
determine when the ground is dry enough to get the heavy equipment on the levees so the sandbags can be removed safely,” Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke said in a phone interview Tuesday. “We should be able to start in midsummer. There’s a lot of moisture in the levees. They are not stable
enough.” Cooke said city staff found two city-owned properties to dump the sand that cut the costs of the sandbag removal in Kent from about $3 million to $1.6 million. The city will hire a contractor to [ more SANDBAGS page 2 ]
Panel passes ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, gardens BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com
The majority of the Kent City Council apparently wants to just say no to medical marijuana dispensaries and collective gardens. Despite pleas at a public hearing from more than two dozen people who want the two
collective garden businesses in Kent kept open, the council’s Economic and Community Development Committee voted 2-1 Monday night at a packed City Hall to ban medical marijuana dispensaries and collective gardens from the city. Council members Bill Boyce [ more BAN page 8 ]
‘Kent Has Talent’ Nathan Jacobsen plays ‘New York State of Mind’ for the judges, from left, Andrea Keikkala, executive director of the Kent Chamber of Commerce; Jamie Perry, Kent City Council member; and Suzanne Smith, commissioner of the Kent Arts Commission, last Saturday during auditions for the ‘Kent Has Talent’ competition. Story, page 10. CHARLES CORTES, Kent Reporter
REUNION AT LONG LAST Kent worker reunites with long-lost sisters BY SARAH KEHOE skehoe@kentreporter.com
Auburn resident Jerry Wooliver no longer feels alone.
Wooliver, 67, recently met three half-sisters he never knew he had for the first time at the South King County offices of Total Living Concept (TLC), a Kent social service organization where he works in the office. Wooliver thought he was the
only survivor of a family that had been estranged for many years. “I was shocked and happy to see them,” Wooliver said of the April 28 reunion. “They are all such beautiful people with loving hearts.” Wooliver was born with cerebral palsy, a group of disorders that affect the brain’s motor control centers and often impairs [ more REUNITE page 9 ]
INSIDE,
PAGES 17-20
Jerry Wooliver meets sisters Julie Martin, left, Karen Newman and Janis MacPherson for the first time. COURTESY PHOTO
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