Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, September 28, 2012
www.issaquahreporter.com
Issaquah’s Farming Broker U-Pick pumpkins open Saturday in Issaquah
Skyline High students rally around mass shooting threat
BY CELESTE GRACEY CGRACEY@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
A
stock broker from Southern California, Glenn Dutro was looking for something a little bit different when he stumbled on the Trinity Tree Farm just south of Issaquah.
He could work anywhere with Internet and a phone. So they bought the home with its 40 acres of Christmas trees, and embraced the farmer’s work schedule. “The farm is enjoyable, because you get to see your progress everyday,” he said as he patted Sophie, a brown spotted farm dog with grass and dirt tangled in her Pumpkin Patch hair. He now works the markets in the morning and the tractor in the afternoon. While he’s sold the family Christmas tree experience – cut your own before huddling around a campfire – for about 17 years, Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., this will be his Sept. 29-Oct. 28 fourth that he’s Address: 14237 228th offering up Ave SE, Issaquah pumpkins. Phone: 425-391-8733 He opens Website: www.trinihis farm up tytreefarm.com Sept. 29, not just with a new fall season, but a new barn focused on hosting a number of festivities. Families are invited to take a short hayride down to the pumpkin patch, where a few remaining vines curl around pumpkins. Dutro cuts back a number of the plants to keep kids from tripping. Few farms have enough stock to keep the crowds happy, and so he regularly has to restock his field with fresh pumpkins. A few of the orange squash might have a bite mark. Deer and elk are fond of pumpkins. Sandwiched between Squak and Tiger mountains, Trinity has more than enough pass through to cause trouble.
‘Be nice’ BY CELESTE GRACEY CGRACEY@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
Glenn Dutro, owner of Trinity Tree Farms, and Geoff Wiley show off their selection of pumpkins at their U-Pick patch just south of Issaquah. Dutro, a stock broker in the morning, embraced the farming lifestyle 17 years ago. CELESTE GRACEY, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter Families are then invited to wheel-barrow their pumpkins to be weighed. A campfire, with large split timbers is a welcoming site on a cold day. He expects it will be well used during his busy season, mid-October. The barn allows him to continue selling kettle corn, hot dogs and hot chili for families who hope to linger. Activities include a motorized train, which loops through the farm, and inflatable bouncy house and slide. A log cabin, which is made from tim-
bers from the property, acts as a large gift shop. It’s filled with Halloween decorations. The small farm is expecting about 1,000 people to pass through its fields this fall.
As detectives are hitting dead ends in their pursuit of the person behind the Skyline shooting threat, students are beginning to unify around a response – “be nice.” The online post threatened to shoot up the Skyline High School student commons Sept. 20 saying the students were oppressive with their wealth and the jocks “act superior to others.” As a response, Skyline student Jake Barokas posted a video the day classes were canceled, talking about how important it is to be tolerant and kind. He told the story about how he once made friends with a new student, and how it helped her through the difficult transition. “If we all start small we can bring change on a larger scale,” he said in the video. “So students don’t feel the need to post threats like the one we encountered.” His video garnered about 600 “likes” about 1,400 “shares” on Facebook. Police patrolled the school heavily Friday, Sept. 21, when students returned to classes. It appeared that the same person had posted many similar threats to schools throughout the region over a several year period. There was never any SEE THREAT, 8
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