Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, October 25, 2013
www.issaquahreporter.com
IN THE CROSSHAIRS Issaquah High School custodian in disbelief over police confrontation
BY LINDA BALL LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
After 20 years as a custodian at Issaquah High School, you would think the administrators would recognize Allen Anderson. IHS is even his alma mater — he graduated in 1972. So when Anderson was facing two M4s and a host of other artillery Oct. 7 at the school, suffice it to say it was a shock. Anderson started his day like any other. He carries a large golf umbrella because he walks part of the way to work. His shift begins at 2:40 p.m. and he never knows what the weather is going to be like at the end. Like always, he got off the bus at Front Street and Second Avenue, then walked the rest of the way. He said he cut diagonally across the bus loop, entered the school and went to the staff lounge. Pat Miller and Paul Shockley – other custodians – came in the lounge, and a minute or two later the announcement came over the PA system. “We’re going into lockdown – this is not a drill.” Anderson turned on his radio and he could hear administrators talking about what to do – should they call other nearby schools? “At that point in time they were doing all their panicking,” Anderson said. “They said it was someone in camo carrying a rifle.” Anderson said he called assistant principal, Derek Heinz, who had seen Anderson in the same coat and clothes, and countless times with his umbrella, and told Heinz he had on everything matching the description of the “suspect.” Heinz said they had a reliable witness, which Miller and Shockley heard him say. Heinz said it was someone else. Procedure in a lockdown is to the pull the blinds and lock the door in all rooms, so the three men did just that. Anderson told Miller he was going to take his coat off in case the police came in and thought he was a shooter. “About 10 minutes later Derek came back on the radio and said the police wanted me to put back on whatever I was wearing and bring my umbrella to the front office,” Anderson said. He got up front to find it eerily deserted and quiet, so he proceeded to the entrance. “It’s really quiet and I’m standing there wondering where this police officer is that I’m supposed to talk to,” he said. From there, he said it was like his world went into slow motion. SEE CUSTODIAN, 9
Funding under microscope Issaquah Council examines Eastside Fire’s funding model BY LINDA BALL LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
There seems to be a consensus among the partners in Eastside Fire and Rescue that the funding model needs to be changed, but no one is really sure how to do it. At Monday’s Issaquah City Council meeting, EFR Deputy Chief, Greg Tyron, said decreasing property values in Districts 10 and 38 have revealed flaws in the funding model. Station 83, also known as the Klahanie Station, runs most of the calls, but roughly 50 percent of those calls go to Issaquah — yet Issaquah pays only six percent of the cost for that station, Tyron said. Sammamish, which owns station 83, has been unhappy with the funding model for sometime, because it is the only one of the partners paying into EFR based on assessed values, thereby getting the short end of the stick. In a meeting last week, representatives from Fire District 10, one of EFR’s partners, said they were open and interested in a funding model that may include a 75/25 split in the partnership, with funding coming from 75 percent of SEE EASTSIDE, 18
Allen Anderson in the clothing he had on Oct. 7, holding the umbrella that was mistaken for a rifle. LINDA BALL, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter