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LOCAL| Tahoma School District unveils its Future Ready vision [page 3]
Kicking Off | The SPSL 4A football season begins with non-division matchups that FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014 change the postseason perspective [9]
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Little chief leaves lasting impression BY ERIC MANDEL emandel@covingtonreporter.com
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BY ERIC MANDEL emandel@covingtonreporter.com
“Cancer Ninja” Howie Koch, of Black Diamond, is held by Mitchell Neary prior to receiving an honorary badge during the Chief for a Day ceremony at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Center. ERIC MANDEL, The Reporter
Raising funds to help people they can’t forget Maple Valley and Renton women are teaming up to raise funds for construction of a school in Haiti BY KATHERINE SMITH ksmith@maplevalleyreporter.com
When Kelly Apperson and Linet Madeja go on their third trip to Haiti together later this year they hope to go with a sizable donation.
Apperson, who graduated from Tahoma High in 2009, and Madeja, who graduated from Renton High the same year, met their sophomore year at Seattle Pacific University when they were assigned to the same missions team that was bound for Haiti.
“I’ve always had a desire to serve abroad, especially medically based, and the opportunity came about and Haiti was one that struck me,” Apperson said. “Ever since going, my heart’s been stuck there. Can’t shake it.” On that first trip, the two women joined a group of their classmates who served with Foundation for Peace, a nonprofit based in New Jersey that does work in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. “That was my first choice of places to go because of the recent earthquake,” Madeja said, referencing the 2010 earthquake that [ more HELP page 7 ]
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Fastrup sentenced to 45 years for murder
Black Diamond’s ‘Cancer Ninja’ enjoys the Chief for a Day festivities oward “Howie” Koch’s head settled on a comfortable shoulder as each of his fellow new police chiefs were ceremonially pinned with golden badges. He was practically sleeping on the job. Though, it was also hard to blame him — lunch hadn’t yet been served and it had already been an eventful day. Koch and 33 other King County youngsters were anointed Chief for the Day on Aug. 21, with emotional ceremonies and law enforcement related activities for hundreds of the little chiefs’ friends, BLACK families and DIAMOND officers from around the county. The event outfits children suffering from chronic or terminal illnesses with mini, hand-tailored uniforms, a certificate, badge and, most importantly, a day of blissful distraction. Doctors diagnosed Koch with stage four neuroblastoma in Dec. 2013, at the age of 2. Koch
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Seattle Pacific University students work at the site of the school in Haiti in 2011, passing buckets of rock for the school’s foundation. Courtesy photo
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The two parties responsible for the murder of a 39-year-old Kent woman, who was found in the trunk of her burned car near Black Diamond, have been sentenced to prison. Kent residents, and co-defendants, Kennon Fastrup, 32, and Michelle Backstrom, 37, were sentenced Friday, with Fastrup receiving 45 1/2 years in prison and Backstrom sentenced to 12 1/2 years. A jury convicted Fastrup last month on charges of first-degree murder, seconddegree arson, attempting to elude and violation of a no-contact order. Backstrom pled guilty in March to a charge of seconddegree murder. According to the King County prosecutors, the pair murdered Denise Grigsby, 39, in May of 2012 after an argument. Backstrom agreed to plead
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