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COMMUNITY | Former astronaut Dunbar discusses her career with seniors [9] CRIME ALERT | Redmond Police Blotter [3]
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014
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SPORTS | Redmond runners compete at local and national events [13]
Former Redmond police chief, teen die in car accident ANDY NYSTROM anystrom@redmond-reporter.com
Former Redmond Police Department chief Steven Harris shakes hands with a colleague in 2009. Reporter file photo
Former Redmond Police Department (RPD) chief Steven Harris, who spent 40-plus years in law enforcement, died in a head-on car crash at around 10 p.m. on Sunday night. Harris, 68, was driving a Ford Explorer, which collided with a pickup truck driven by a 16-yearold boy along Redmond-Fall City Road at 244th Avenue Northeast, according to a Washington State Patrol press memo. Both drivers died at the scene. The boy — identified by family
and friends as Taylor Griffith, an Eastlake High School student — was driving eastbound and struck Harris’ vehicle, which was traveling westbound. The pickup continued eastbound in the westbound lanes and struck a Mercedes and rolled over on its side in both lanes. Harris’ wife, Margaret, was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and is in critical condition. The 68-year-old driver of the Mercedes wasn’t injured. Redmond-Fall City Road near 244th was reopened at about 6 a.m. on Monday. The crash is under investigation. Harris retired from the RPD on
March 31, 2009 after 28 years of leading the department. At that time he was the third-longestserving police chief in the state of Washington, with his tenure beginning in 1981. “Police are always eager to go to work. I’m really proud of the department at all levels,” Harris told the Reporter prior to his retirement. Current RPD Chief Ron Gibson, who took over Harris’ position in April 2010, spoke to the Reporter on Monday morning in the police department lobby. “He was very supportive of me as coming into an agency he’d [ more HARRIS page 7 ]
Some residents concerned about 166th Ave. project
Cooling off with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
SAMANTHA PAK spak@redmond-reporter.com
Above, Kiersten Sprick, a pro-shop employee at The Golf Club at Redmond Ridge, participates in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on Wednesday. At left, a group of six men upped the ante and were doused with ice and water from a backhoe at the golf club. They are Bill Roberts, Mike Slobojan, Steve Barker, Keegan Bubar, Todd Mielke (second from right) and Greg Van Hollebeke (right). Barker held the event in honor of his brother, Mike, who died from ALS in 2009 at the age of 62. See more photos on page 11. ANDY NYSTROM, Redmond Reporter
The City of Redmond’s construction project on 166th Avenue Northeast has some residents concerned about whether the changes will actually improve things along the road. The project extends from about Northeast 85th Street to about Northeast 100th Street and consists of construction crews converting the road from four lanes to three lanes — one in each direction and a center leftturn lane. Additions to the road include bike lanes in each direction and pedestrian-activated rectangular rapid-flashing beacons and new crosswalks at Northeast 91st and 95th streets. Construction began July 14 and the main work is scheduled to be completed this weekend. “Our goal was to have it done before school starts,”
said City of Redmond construction project manager Patty Criddle, though she added that details such as installing signage and beacons will be complete in October.
TRAFFIC CONCERNS
Mike Collins, Jeani Risch and Mike Ma — residents who live on Northeast 87th Street off of 166th Avenue Northeast — all think converting the street from four to three lanes is a bad idea. They said right now, with two lanes in each direction, traffic can get backed up for blocks — and when a bus makes stops along the road, it gets even worse. “It stops the entire flow of traffic,” Ma said, adding that he has seen traffic backed up as much as 15 cars. Reducing the number of lanes would just make it worse, he and his neighbors said. Collins said there have [ more TRAFFIC page 6 ]