Covington/Maple Valley Reporter, May 16, 2014

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REPORTER

COVINGTON | MAPLE VALLEY | BLACK DIAMOND

NEWSLINE 425-432-1209

LOCAL | Access road could help ease event traffic in Maple Valley [page 3]

Eyes On State | Three Tahoma seniors are ready to leave their mark at state FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2014 championship meet [12]

A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING

Coal mining expected to restart soon near city

Half-mile of river closed after mudslide

BY ERIC MANDEL

BY ERIC MANDEL

emandel@covingtonreporter.com

emandel@covingtonreporter.com

An environmental group has made its pitch to keep Black Diamond from blasting back to its coal mining roots next month. Whether it worked remains to be seen. The Pacific Coal Company notified residents within a half mile of the John Henry Mine with letters on April 2 saying the company would resume mining of pits 1 and 2 of the mine, which hasn’t produced coal since 1999. A blasting notice informed residents of Pacific Coal’s intention to detonate explosives on approximately 160 acres of land during the mining operation. The notice covers blasting up until June 30, 2015. The company plans to mine 740,000 tons over a six year period, followed by a oneyear period of “reclamation-only

Tons of earth cascaded down towards multiple Maple Valley area homes and property during a mudslide Saturday that was estimated to be about 300 feet high and 300 feet across at the base. And state geologists said the land is not yet done sliding. Firefighters of Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety were dispatched the 21300 block of 221 Avenue Southeast just after 10:00 a.m. They found the mudslide had completely blocked the flow of water in the Cedar River and had forced the river over its banks and through private property. Six homes and one additional property were affected in the semirural area. There were no reported injuries. Capt. Kyle Ohashi with the Kent Regional Fire Authority who

Carving Art

[ more COAL page 6 ]

Mike Bertsch, a Black Diamond wood-carver, displayed his art at the Spring Wine Walk Saturday in on Cole Street in Enumclaw. Bertch said he began carving about four years ago on refinished wooden water skis . DENNIS BOX, The Reporter

International crown next stop for Maple Valley teen BY KATHERINE SMITH ksmith@maplevalleyreporter.com

“Pink is my life,” 14-year-old Zoe Brown said in the enthusiastic yet matter-of-fact way of teenage girls as she stood in her room, the shockingly bright pink walls emphatically backing up her statement. On one wall shelves hold her collection of awards — crowns she has won competing in beauty pageants since she was nine. Along

with the crowns there are other prizes like scholarships and trips. And as she tells friends who like to give her a hard time and laugh about the TLC show “Toddlers and Tiaras,” “I don’t do glitz.” Brown competes in “natural” pageants. As she gets older some makeup like eye shadow or a touch of lip gloss is allowed, but at the younger age levels it is forbidden. In February Brown was named

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Miss Washington Junior Teen, a category open to 13-15 year olds in the local level of the International Junior Miss competitions. “I wasn’t thinking I was going to win,” Brown said. The pageant was held in Renton and nine other girls competed in the division. Each pageant consists of a variety of categories including formal and casual wear, talent, spokesmodel and interview to name a few. For her talent at International Junior Miss she performed a contemporary jazz dance routine. The interview portion consists of 90 seconds each with three to seven judges where the contes[ more CROWN page 7 ]

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[ more MUDSLIDE page 2 ]

Zoe Brown performs her dance routine during the talent portion of the local International Junior Miss competition. Photo courtesy of Jerry & Lois Photography

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