Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, April 11, 2014
www.issaquahreporter.com
Issaquah, Sammamish near deal on Klahanie Interlocal agreement complete, pending votes
Dawn and her husband, John, in Vietnam during a trip in February 2008. One of the people in their travel group organized a helmet delivery, since a new law prohibited motorcycle travel without helmets. His company donated helmets for all the kids seen here. Without them, the kids wouldn’t be able to get to school.
BY KELLY MONTGOMERY ISSAQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER
COURTESY PHOTO.
A NEW LIFE
Couple to spend three years in Vietnam BY KELLY MONTGOMERY ISSAQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER
Dawn Sanders, volunteer coordinator for the city of Sammamish and recent SAMMI Award winner, is packing up her Sammamish household and moving to Vietnam, where she plans to stay for approximately three years. Her husband, John, was offered a job with Peace Winds America, but for her, the move fulfills a lifelong dream of living in a foreign country. While it was very difficult saying yes to such a big change, Dawn said it just seemed like the right time in their lives to take it on. “Everything has fallen into place for us, and it is the right time,” she said. Both Dawn and John are on the board of directors for Kids Without Borders, an organization that is very involved in Vietnam. John will be working as a project manager for Peace Winds America and leading its Vietnam initiative based out of
“She’s done so many generous things for Sammamish” – Tim Larson
Dawn interacting with children in Vietnam, February 2008. COURTESY PHOTO.
Haiphong. “I will be working with the public and private sector, along with the local government, on all facets of disaster preparedness, response and recovery planning and training, with a strong
emphasis on business resilience,” he said. The Sanders will be living in North Vietnam in the port city of Haiphong. John will leave in the next couple of weeks, and Dawn in mid-July. She plans on spend-
ing a month locally with her parents, and then another month in Idaho with her grandchildren before she heads off to Vietnam. As far as her plans for Vietnam, she has no doubt she’ll find something to keep her busy. “We have a daughter who lives in Bali that we haven’t been able to visit with yet,” Dawn said. “A visit to her and a quickly growing SEE VIETNAM, 5
The cities of Issaquah and Sammamish have tenatively reached an agreement regarding the annexation of Klahanie. “After months of negotiations, we have finally reached an agreement,” Sammamish City Manager Ben Yazici said. In an interlocal agreement created by both parties, Issaquah is agreeing to support the annexation of Klahanie to Sammamish and will help with grant efforts regarding the Issaquah-Fall City Road project and construction that will need to follow the annexation. In return, Sammamish has agreed to support the Central Issaquah Plan and pay Issaquah $30,000 for its Klahanie annexation study. Also, if the Klahanie annexation area is transferred to Sammamish, the city has agreed that it will not impose or accept any retail sales tax credit. “Nobody got everything that they wanted,” Yazici said. “This was back and forth negotiations.” The agreement states that within one year of annexation, Sammamish will set aside $3 SEE KLAHANIE, 5