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Dieringer PTA preserves art By Daniel Nash Staff Writer
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In an age when arts education in public schools can find itself on the chopping block, parents in the Dieringer School District are making sure their program never runs out of Monet. Students of Dieringer Heights and Lake Tapps elementary schools recently collected their paintings into two hallway spanning murals. Each student’s square is an emulation of Wassily Kandinsky’s “Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles.” Lake Tapps principal Connie GeRoy points out the unique personal flair lent to each design. On one painting, a student formed the circles out of a checkerboard pattern. On another, a single circle emanates a sunburst of dots forming concentric rings. Other students eschewed entirely the concept of
Party patrol busts underage drinkers By Daniel Nash Staff Writer
like the mural were made possible by the hundreds of hours put in by Art Docent program leader
Twenty-four underage drinkers at a Locust Avenue birthday party were arrested April 7 during an interagency bust that included Bonney Lake and Sumner police. The operation was part of a Party Intervention Patrol, coordinated by Tacoma Pierce County DUI and Traffic Safety Task Force and supervised by Sumner police Sgt. Matthew Kurle. “With a beer pong table set up on the kitchen table and party favors consisting of Everclear (alcohol), orange juice and marijuana, it appears we shut this party down before anyone really got hurt,” Kurle said in a statement in a Task Force press release. Shortly before midnight April 6, residents of an apartment complex on the 8400 block of Locust
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Connie GeRoy, principal of Lake Tapps Elementary, points at the student mural. Photo by Daniel Nash each circle being a single solid color, creating interlocking semi- or quarter-circles. Different versions of the same core design were
the point of Kandinsky’s famous 1913 painting. In the halls of these two schools, the idea is merely crowd sourced. GeRoy said projects
First mile of new Fennel Creek Trail under construction By Theresa De Lay Staff Writer
A rainy, windy day in Bonney Lake served as the backdrop for a long-anticipated groundbreaking ceremony at Fennel Creek Trail. “It was blustery out there, but we tried not to let it dampen our spirits,” Gary Leaf said, facilities and special projects manager. “I’m sure if we had better weather, we would have seen a larger group but even so, there were about 30 of us and
our spirits were high.” It all began in 1997, when the idea was added to Bonney Lake’s Comprehensive Plan. Since then, many experts and organizations have been involved in the trail’s development. In 2007, the Foothills Rails-to-Trails Coalition and the Fennel Creek Preservation Group both participated in creating the Fennel Creek Trail master plan, which was then adopted by council. It wasn’t until Saturday, April 13 that the dream finally became a
reality. To call out the slow progression isn’t an exaggeration. “It’s a long process,” Leaf said. “Funding plays a role in that, but the biggest reason is the environmentally sensitive area.” The first mile of trail is funded by a combination of federal, state and local funds. As of now, there is no dedicated funding for the remaining four miles, according to Leaf. Fennel Creek Trail’s commencement is a two-for-one, as it also
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marks the last mile of the Safe Routes to Schools Project — which is why the majority of current funding for the trail comes from WSDOT. The trail will be accessible for both recreational and non-motorized transportation purposes, providing safe access to shopping and schools. It will also serve as a link to Pierce County’s Foothills Trail. Standards developed by
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