Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, January 3, 2014
www.issaquahreporter.com
Support for Mr. Z not letting up
Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District general manager Jay Krauss stands near a retention pond in the Issaquah Highlands. Controversy errupted when the city of Issaquah sought a permit to inject stormwater from the Highlands into a infiltration field 600 feet from wells that serve 54,000 residents in Issaquah and Sammamish. The matter is still not resolved.
Eastside Catholic students and alumni keep the pressure on BY LINDA BALL LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
FILE PHOTO.
THE YEAR IN REVIEW The most influential stories of 2013 The video of Sammamish boy, Jonathan Carollo, drumming on the family washing machine went viral in January.
BY LINDA BALL LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
It was an eventful year in Issaquah and Sammamish, with a wide range of topics reported in these pages. Here is a look at what happened in Issaquah and Sammamish in 2013.
JANUARY
A different beat Jonathan Carollo, 11, of Sammamish, created a washing machine video that went viral, generating more than one million hits on YouTube. Carollo used everything from the lid to the stainless steel inside the drum of his family’s washing machine to create a percussion beat reminiscent of a one-man drum line. He made appearances on both “Good Morning America,” and “The Today Show.” Saving Tigers Cougar Mountain Zoo’s general curator, Robyn Barfoot, traveled to India to promote the conservation of tigers. Barfoot paid for the trip from her own pocket,
FILE PHOTO.
visiting several preserves and lecturing students in Bangladesh on what they could do to help. Ace gets the axe Ace Hardware in Sammamish is denied a proposal made by development group Kindar Ace to build a new 11,200-squarefoot store on a piece of property between Northeast Second and Northeast Fourth Streets. Store owner Tim Koch eventually had to close the popular store.
FEBRUARY
216 acres on Squak Mountain sold to timber company
Residents of Squak Mountain and the May Valley were alarmed to hear that pristine land near the top of Squak Mountain in the Issaquah Alps had been sold to logger Kurt Erickson. The land — five contiguous parcels that had been foreclosed on — if logged could result in further flooding in the May Valley and disturbance to wildlife that inhabit the area.
Sammamish City Council approves community center operating agreement The Sammamish YMCA and the city agreed that the yet-to-bebuilt community center will be leased to the YMCA at $1 per year for 25 years. The YMCA will manage the facility, provide programs and cover all operating expenses. The city will serve as the lead on design and construction. ‘Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park’ is born With state funding for parks decreasing, Issaquah citizens concerned about the ailing park formed “Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park.” The group will advocate and raise money for improvements to the park, which had not seen any major improvements in years. SEE REVIEW, 3
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Students came out Saturday Dec. 28 to once again show their support for Mark Zmuda, the vice-principal at Eastside Catholic School who lost his job when the school administration found out he had wed his gay partner last summer. It is still unclear to many whether it was a “forced resignation,” or if he was fired. Zmuda has kept out of the spotlight since the issue exploded onto multiple media outlets Dec. 19. However, he did allow one of the students at the school to interview him. A short clip from that interview, with Catrina Crittenden was aired on KING 5. Zmuda said “to set the record straight, I was terminated. I did not resign, I was let go.” When he asked why, he was told because he had violated Catholic teachings. He said he asked the administration if it was a breach of his contract, and they said no. He was terminated for marrying his partner. Sister Mary Tracy, president and CEO of the school made Zmuda an offer. She suggested he dissolve the marriage to save his job, an offer she said she wasn’t proud of but that SEE SUPPORT, 2