REPORTER
COVINGTON | MAPLE VALLEY | BLACK DIAMOND
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LOCAL | Maple Valley eyeing parks projects [page 3]
Conks on a Roll | Kentwood’s soccer team has even surprised itself with an FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2014 undefeated start to the season. [9]
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Department of Licensing investigates Bill Allison
Park group preparing to break ground
BY ERIC MANDEL BY KATHERINE SMITH
emandel@covingtoniowa.com
ksmith@maplevalleyreporter.com
[ more PARK page 10 ]
Building It With Bricks
Killian Keays, 9, works on constructing a battery powered Lego car during a Bricks4Kidz workshop at the Maple Valley Library during spring break last week. The workshop showed the group of mostly 8 and 9 year olds how to build everything from horses to dragsters. KATHERINE SMITH, The Reporter To view a slide show go to www.maplevalleyreporter.com.
Bringing it to Ghana Real Life Church teams up with students and the community for missions trip to West Africa BY KATHERINE SMITH ksmith@maplevalleyreporter.com
The communities of Covington and Maple Valley are bringing it. To Ghana that is. “Bring it Ghana” is the slogan a group of community members from the two cities adopted as they prepared to go on a trip to
serve in the West African country this spring break. The group, which is made up of students from area schools including Kentlake and Tahoma High as well as adult community members, will be on the ground in country for 10 days. Some team members attend Real Life Church, some attend a
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Though Maple Valley Mayor Bill Allison was not charged with inappropriate communication with an underage female, his future as a driving school instructor remains in question as allegations against him are being investigated by the Washington State Department of Licensing. Allison, who’s Linkedin profile previously listed him as founder of the I-5 Driving School in Maple Valley, no longer works at I-5, according to principal owner and founder of the school, Ryan Ryals. Ryals declined to go into further detail on the matter. He previously told The Reporter that Allison was on administrative leave while the allegations were being investigated. Multiple messages to Allison seeking comment were not returned. The King County Prosecuting [ more Allison page 6 ]
Catholic parish, some aren’t affiliated with a local church, some are members of the Maple Valley or Covington business community, and some are parents going on the trip with their student. In total, 16 people are on the team. The trip has been more than a year in the making. In the fall of 2012 Real Life Church Senior Pastor Steve Murray and Kevin Holland, associate and missions pastor, were looking for a project to go beyond the walls of the church and include the entire community. “We were trying not to make it [ more GHANA page 5 ]
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Real Life Church brought together 16 community members to travel to Ghana this spring to participate in humanitarian projects. Courtesy Graphic
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The city of Maple Valley sold $2 million in bonds on March 31 and will cut a check to King County for the city’s contribution to Ravensdale Park as soon as all the final formal steps are finished. The city and the county agreed to an interlocal agreement where both invest $2 million toward the $6 million phase two projects of Ravensdale Park and also outlined field use hours for the city. Maple Valley City Manager David Johnston said he received and signed the agreement late last Friday and that the last step is getting a signature from Executive Dow Constantine. After that, Johnston said, the city will send the county a check for $2 million. Johnston said that the city’s contribution to the park is being paid for by an increase of the excise tax on cable TV service in