REPORTER
COVINGTON | MAPLE VALLEY | BLACK DIAMOND
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IN CLASS | Kentlake welcomes two new assistant principals [page 3]
On the gridiron | Kentwood, Kentlake, and Tahoma are ready to battle it out on FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2013 the football field this season [9]
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City seeks part-time parks planner
Morrow ready to tackle challenges
BY KRIS HILL
BY KATHERINE SMITH
khill@covingtonreporter.com
ksmith@maplevalleyreporter.com
As the city of Covington works to fulfill the recreation needs and wants of its residents, the search is on for a parks planner. Scott Thomas, the city’s parks and recreation director, said that if Covington continues at its current rate of one new park every 16 years it will take quite a while to meet demand. “If we look at the city’s 16 year history we haven’t reached our park acquisition and development goals, we’re actually not even all that close,” Thomas said. “We have to COVINGTON figure out a way to pick up the pace.” To that end, Thomas said, he requested a half-time parks planner during
For Rob Morrow, accepting the position of school superintendent isn’t something he’d do just anywhere, in fact, Tahoma is the only place he would be willing to take the job. Morrow, the principal at Tahoma Junior High, was announced as the next superintendent for the Tahoma School District earlier this month, effective next June when current superintendent Mike Maryanski retires. Morrow, who grew up in Burien and has been with the district since the 1982-83 school MAPLE year, has been VALLEY principal at Tahoma Junior High since 1999. “I wouldn’t say specifically the superintendent position appeals
[ more PARKS page 12 ]
Carr, 5, colors a drawstring bag at the Kinderswimmer booth Aug. 24 at the Maple Bright, Bold Roisin Valley Farmers Market at Rock Creek Elementary. Carr was there with her dad and two sisters. The to early October from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday. Coloring marketTorunsviewfroma slidemid-June show go to www.maplevalleyreporter.com. KRIS HILL, The
Reporter
Teens get close look at poverty in Guatemala BY KRIS HILL khill@covingtonreporter.com
A quartet of teen parishioners from St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Covington got a close look this summer at life in a third world country when they visited Guatemala on a missions trip. Nichole Soepardi, a Black Diamond resident, along with Jalen Koon of Kent, Elizabeth Cranstoun of Maple Valley and Tatiana
Sigurdson of Covington spent 10 days of their summer break volunteering in Guatemala after planning for the trip for months. They were the second group of teens to go with the church to the country. Jim Tanasse was one of eight adults who went with the teens. He explained St. John’s got involved with a group of villages in Guatemala nearly two decades
ago. During the first few visits, Tanasse said, the church members observed the core issues of the people they served in Guatemala, what he called “daily quality of life issues.” “We built houses, put in stoves,” Tanasse said. “We’ve slowly through six trips started to get our arms around those things. You can bring adults, but, I am a firm believer that a teenager, any kid … they come at it with a pure thought and a positive attitude.” The four students, who will be high school juniors this fall at Kennedy Catholic, Kentlake, Bellarmine Prep and Kentwood
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[ more TEENS page 5]
[ more MORROW page 8 ]
Elizabeth Cranstoun, left, of Maple Valley, and Jalen Koon, right, of Kent, spent 10 days in Guatemala with a group from St. John the Baptist Church. Courtesy photo
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