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Sports | Kentwood alum Mike Karney looks forward to new career options [10]
Friday, FEBRUARY 1, 2013
City might use B&O tax to help pay for 256th St. project By Steve Hunter shunter@kentreporter.com
Kent city officials are considering using $1 million from the new business and occupation (B&O) tax to help pay for the $7 million upgrade and widening of South-
east 256th Street on the East Hill. Crews will upgrade an old, sub-standard section of Southeast 256th Street from the âYâ intersection at Kent-Kangley Road to 116th Avenue Southeast. The changes will improve traffic flow, access to businesses and
homes and safety for vehicles and pedestrians by adding a center turn lane to form a three-lane road; adding bicycle lanes and sidewalks; installing street lights; and improving traffic efficiency by rebuilding intersections and retiming traffic signals, according
to city staff reports. City officials also are forming a Local Improvement District (LID) to charge fees to property owners who benefit from the project to raise a total of about $2 million. The rush is on by city staff to get the project funded because
Kent teen rocks out
a $2 million grant awarded six years ago to the city from the state Transportation Improvement Board will be taken back and given to another jurisdiction if the city isnât ready to start construction by July 1. [ more PROJECT page 16 ]
Man who struck, killed Kent teacher sentenced to 8½ years in prison By ROBERT WHALE
By MICHELLE CONERLY mconerly@kentreporter.com
rwhale@auburn-reporter.com
Amanda Hardy is your average 16-year-old girl with an above average dream. âI just really wanted to play music out in front of people,â said the aspiring singer from Kent. Since her debut at Seattleâs Showbox Market when she was just 13, Hardy has accomplished goals it takes others years to achieve. As the lead vocalist for her selftitled hard rock band, Hardy estimates she has played nearly 100 shows in the past three years. She and her bandmates have played the Showbox four times, opened for Styx and QueensrĂżche, and have attracted fans throughout the world from India to England. Hardy, who carries a soft, powerful, deep voice, eventually wants to strike it big commercially. Hardy and lead guitarist Michael Arms have been performing and cowriting music for about a year. Arms describes their style as âvery listener
Samuel Cruz was driving home from work on July 19 when his car drifted to the side of a residential street in Auburn and struck Stacy Ankerfelt as she stood next to her car. Ankerfelt, 28, who had just finished her first year teaching fifth grade at Scenic Hills Elementary School in Kent, never regained consciousness. She died of her massive injuries one month later in a Seattle hospital. Last Friday afternoon, following the recommendation of prosecutor Amy Freedheim, Judge LeRoy McCullough sentenced Cruz to the maximum 102 months â 8½ years â in prison. Cruz, 25, who had been under the influence of a prescription drug to help Ankerfelt his withdrawal from Oxycontin at the time of the crash, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide (DUI) Jan. 2. At Cruzâ sentencing, people with vivid memories of a young woman who should still have been living but wasnât, poured out their grief and anger in McCulloughâs courtroom at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. Ashley Bonus remembered her big sister as a woman who was âchanging the world with every life she touched,â who âput her whole heart and soul into
[ more Rock star page 16 ]
Friends turned filmmakers: Daniel Husser, left, and Erik Franklin bring their love of movie making to Kent. MARK KLAAS, Kent Reporter
Exploring technology About 5,700 people attended the seventh annual Kent School District Tech Expo on Jan. 24 at the ShoWare Center. From the use of SMART boards to the KSD FIRST Robotics Club demonstrations, children were constantly engaged in learning activities. Michelle Conerly, Kent Reporter
[ more Ankerfelt page 4 ]
Kent filmmakers create feature movie BY MARK KLAAS mklaas@kentreporter.com
As childhood friends who grew up in Kent, they shared the love of visual arts and wonder of adventurous movies. Now aspiring filmmakers in the industry, Erik Franklin and Daniel Husser are embarking on their first full-length feature movie.
Their independently-produced project, âRevenge of the Lostâ, is well under way, with scenes shot locally and starring a Seattlearea cast, including familiar lead actors Ivey Bronwen and Eli Bradford. Franklin, writer and director, has joined Husser, director of photography, in co-producing a science-fiction adventure/action
movie depicting the survival of mankind as dinosaurs reappear on Earth. Four survivors must make their way through the dinosaur apocalypse to a military base, the last safe place on Earth. Once there, they come across a plot thatâs more terrifying than the dinosaurs themselves. [ more Movie page 4 ]