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BURGLAR CHASE | Kirkland homeowner chases two burglars out of his home; police nab one suspect [9]
Halloween | Send us your most creative FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012 Halloween costume photos [12]
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Best bagger | Kirkland man to compete for state title [6]
48th, 45th District candidates tackle budget, education funding BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@kirklandreporter.com
E
ight legislative candidates participated in a voters’ forum for the 45th and 48th Districts on Monday at the Woodmark Hotel with debate on their paramount duty – how to adequately fund education during the next biennium. About 50 attendees watched as incumbent Rep. Roger Goodman (D-Kirkland) and Republican Joel
Hussey of Redmond for Position 1, and incumbent Rep. Larry Springer (D-Kirkland) and Republican Jim Thatcher of Redmond for Position 2 debated on their stance for state representatives in the 45th District. Incumbent Rep. Ross Hunter (D-Medina) and Republican Bill Hirt of Bellevue for Position 1, and Democrat Cyrus Habib of Kirkland and Republican Hank Myers of Redmond for Position 2 also
tackled the issues facing the 48th District. Candidates asked questions about their opponents’ campaign strategies. Hot topics included false political advertising, who campaign donors are and clarifications on past rhetoric. But many touched on a subject that’s rocked Washington for more than 20 years, but was heavily emphasized during the Washington Supreme Court’s
McCleary v. State decision last January – to fully fund public education. “It is our paramount duty to fund education first. Government is larger than we can currently afford,” Thatcher said. “Once we’ve funded schools, then we can take money to fund other programs.” Currently, the Legislature is looking at an additional $4.1 billion that Randy Dorn, [ more FORUM page 11 ]
45th and 48th District candidates show their support or opposition for same-sex marriage during a forum on Monday. (From left) Rep. Roger Goodman, Joel Hussey, Rep. Larry Springer, Jim Thatcher, Rep. Ross Hunter and Bill Hirt (also not pictured is Hank Meyers and Cyrus Habib, who were in favor of the measure). RAECHEL DAWSON, Kirkland Reporter
Author recalls Great Depression in first book
Bridle Trails Tully’s closes BY CARRIE RODRIGUEZ crodriguez@kirklandreporter.com
BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@kirklandreporter.com
During the Great Depression, it is said the motto was: “Someday.” “Someday I’ll get a job, someday I’ll have food for tomorrow. Someday I won’t have to worry.” Kirkland author Billee L. Escott’s “someday,” when she was 7 years old, entailed having shoes and going to school. Escott’s first book at age 87 was recently published on Amazon. And at 7 p.m. Oct. 23 at Parkplace Books she will speak with readers about her life during the Great Depression in a nearly 600 page book, “Someday I’m Gonna.” “I’m not so much concerned with selling books,” Escott said. “I had an 11-year-old girl give a review and she was engrossed.” Escott hopes to provide a glimpse of history that resonates with readers. She said that many people today have little knowledge of how bad it could be. She says those memories have affected the way she runs her life. “You can’t put it to bed and forget about it, no,” she said. “Tomorrow, things may not be better.”
Kirkland author Billee Escott, 87, recalls her life growing up during the Great Depression in her first book that was recently published, “Someday I’m Gonna.” She will discuss her book during an event at Parkplace Books on Oct. 23. RAECHEL DAWSON, Kirkland Reporter Better in the way of knowing if you’ll eat or if you’ll have shelter during bad weather. It took Escott years to finish her book but when she sat down at her computer, memories flooded to 1932, age 7 and essentially being homeless. “There were no jobs, nothing. Hadn’t been for some time after the 1929 crash,” she said. So when the cherry picking season ended in her Michigan hometown, her father built a tent-trailer and her family of eight began to
travel across the country in saplings and Escott and her search of warmer weather, brother were taught how to chasing jobs along the way. catch crabs, which brought “My mother had a 5th in 25 cents a dozen - good grade education, money at the my father had “There were time. none. So with no But as winter no jobs, education, my approached, the nothing. father thought the family of eight’s United States was Hadn’t been poverty forced all like Michigan them to live in and he knew it was for some time a migrant camp warm down south,” after the 1929 with about 50 she said. other people on crash.” Living from crop an army base in Billee L. Escott Houston. The to crop didn’t bode well. Her father camp was riddled sold chairs and with disease. other furniture out of tree There were no toilets. Many
families had a lot of children, six at minimum she said, and many newborns died. “Right next to us, there was a couple that had 12 children. They had always lived there and had all their children there. Nobody had been to school,” she said. “There were families there who knew nothing more than living in a tent.” Eventually Escott’s family was told to go back to Michigan just as cherry season had started back again. Six weeks later, they had enough gas to [ more AUTHOR page 3 ]
Tully’s Coffee announced last week it would close its Kirkland Bridle Trails Shopping Center location last Sunday, along with several other underperforming Puget Sound stores in the chain. The company, which filed for bankruptcy protection Oct. 10 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Seattle, also shuttered nine locations last weekend. The chain also closed eight other stores recently. The decision is part of the chain’s goal of moving the company towards a more profitable future, Tully’s officials said. “After careful consideration, our Board of Directors and Leadership Team believe that restructuring under the protection of Chapter 11 is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of the company,” said Scott Pearson, president and CEO of TC Global, Inc. in a news release. The Bridle Trails Tully’s, located at 13102 N.E. 70th Place, has been there since 1998. The other Kirkland store, located at 104 Lake St. South, No. 100, will remain open.