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LOCAL | Mayor Olness plans to veto Black Diamond 2014 budget [page 3]
FAMILIAR FACES | Kentlake’s new gymnastics co-coaches are familiar faces to FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2013 the team’s athletes [12]
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Water damage displaces six classes
YarrowBay breaks ground on The Villages
BY KATHERINE SMITH
BY DENNIS BOX
ksmith@maplevalleyreporter.com
dbox@maplevalleyreporter.com
Water gushed into classrooms from a broken sprinkler system pipe at Shadow Lake Elementary School on the morning of Dec. 8, flooding six classrooms. The unusually cold weather caused the pipe to freeze and a sprinkler head in one of the classrooms broke and fell from the ceiling, sending water pouring into a classroom in Unit C and spreading throughout that building. District Spokesman Kevin Patterson said that the school’s alarm system went off and the fire department responded. Patterson added that the ironic part is that the district’s maintenance staff had checked all of the buildings to make sure that the heat was on to try to avoid any problems, but sometimes things just happen.
Clearing and grading work began Dec. 10 on one of YarrowBay’s master planned developments in Black Diamond. Crews began work on The Villages Phase 1A, about a 93-acre area. The two master planned developments, The Villages and Lawson Hills, have been a focal point of contention and controversy in the city since 2009. In the November general election Dave Gordon won the mayor race with 68.55 percent of the vote defeating incumbent mayor Rebecca Olness. His platform was based on opposition to the YarrowBay development.
[ more WATER page 6]
Valley Police Chief Michelle Bennett points out the options to Logan Winegar, 8, Shopping With Maple during the annual Shop with a Cop event at Walmart in Covington. The event is sponsored by the Maple Valley Rotary and coordinated in partnership with the King County Sheriff ’s Office. The Chief To view a slide show go to www.maplevalleyreporter.com. DENNIS BOX, The Reporter
Nonprofits offer a bracelet as a promise of hope BY KRIS HILL khill@maplevalleyreporter.com
The purchase of a $10 bracelet could have a far reaching ripple effect. Kristi Blair, founder of Wings of Karen, partnered with Suzy Benson-Gillies, who founded African Promise Foundation, to create a bracelet which would benefit the work of both of their Maple Valley-based nonprofits. Benson-Gillies explained that D
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APF employs Ugandan women who were formerly refugees in the war torn region. The women make jewelry using recycled papers to create beads. The foundation employs 22 women currently. “The women make the jewelry and we bring the jewelry back to the US and we sell it at a much higher cost,” Benson-Gillies said. “We provide employment for thousands of women each year putting money in their pockets so they can take care of their own M
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First Months Dues
According to Brian Ross, managing partner of YarrowBay, this [ more VILLAGES page 6 ]
children.” Blair founded Wings of Karen to fight back after her mother, Karen, died from breast cancer which was followed by her own diagnosis. She works to raise money to donate directly 100 percent of all individual funds raised to the breast cancer research and clinical programs at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance as well as other organizations in the region. Benson-Gillies and Blair met through a mutual friend, Daina Crowell, a photographer who has done volunteer work for both organizations. Blair explained both organizations which have goals which dovetail. [ more PROMISE page 7 ]
A Ugandan woman shows off handmade beads used in the bracelet which will be sold to raise money for Wings of Karen and African Promise Foundation. Courtesy photo
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