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WEBSITE | Check the website for breaking REGIONAL WRESTLING | Kentwood’s Cassidy Meyers wins regional title, Tahoma news, sports and weather stories. maplevalleyreporter.com or covingtonreporter.com FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2013 takes home boys team title [10]
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New classes help create a sense of community
Tahoma High in donut hole not viable
BY KATHERINE SMITH
BY KRIS HILL
ksmith@covingtonreporter.com
khill@maplevalleyreporter.com
The city of Covington has partnered with the continuing education department at Green River Community College to offer a variety of classes for residents. The partnership came about in response to a desire from the community and as part of the city’s long term vision, Derek Matheson, city manager of Covington, said. “In our first dozen years or so we focused on building a tax base,” Matheson said. “Around ‘03 the City Council decided it wanted to spend the next dozen or so years creating a sense of place.” As part of the town center plan that was adopted by the council there is a vision for an increased education presence, with a 2 or 4 year college present in the town
Tahoma School District officials are on the hunt again for a place to build a new Tahoma High School after efforts to buy property in the donut hole from King County fell through earlier this month. The decision was made to discontinue negotiations Feb. 1, according to Tahoma Superintendent Mike Maryanski. “The difference between what we’re willing to pay and the county’s needs for that property is too great,” Maryanski said. “It was a complicated process because it’s not a surplus piece of property.” The donut hole is 156 acres of county-owned property located off Southeast Kent-Kangley Road and 228th Street Southeast — and is designated rural and unincorporated yet is wholly surrounded
KRIS HILL, The Reporter
Tahoma High students work to be waste free BY KATHERINE SMITH ksmith@maplevalleyreporter.com
The Tahoma School District launched a Waste Free Wednesday program Feb. 6 led by each school’s sustainability ambassadors. Waste Free Wednesdays are a district-wide effort to eliminate waste from lunch by encouraging students to bring their lunch in reusable containers instead of plastic bags and by recycling and
composting. Tahoma High started a composting program during the last school year to help keep waste out of local landfills. “We’ve been doing a lot of outreach to inform, especially with the composting,” Cassandra Houghton, a senior at Tahoma High and president of the sustainability ambassadors, said. “In doing the outreach we thought we should do a day, a couple of
We’re Celebrating the New Year
2013
schools were already doing it and we decided to have a district-wide day.” The ambassadors will promote the program and each month will hold a raffle with prizes that will include gift cards to local restaurants and stores, Houghton said. The kick off included games during lunches where students competed against one another to see who could sort a pile of typical lunchtime trash into the appropriate categories – compost, recycling or garbage – and a booth to inform students about the benefits of going waste free. “We’re trying to keep as much [ more WASTE page 5 ]
[ more TAHOMA page 6 ]
Cassandra Houghton, president of THS’ sustainability ambassadors, explains the new Waste Free Wednesday program to a fellow student. KATHERINE SMITH, The Reporter
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Jordan Hays performs with the school’s drumline after the boys basketball team Drumming Up Tahoma’s played Curtis in the South Puget Sound League championship game Feb. 7 at ShoWare Center in Kent. The drumline performed before the game as well as during halftime. To at ShoWare view a slide show go to www.maplevalleyreporter.com