NO JAIL | Kenmore mother sentenced for “torturing” children [5]
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Murder | Bothell detective reveals process to catch killer [8-9]
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2015
Kenmore officials seek Senior center celebrates a decade with open house awareness, safety for roads BY DEANNA ISAACS
T
he city of Kenmore has noticed that the month of March seems to pose more of a threat to pedestrian and bicycle safety than others. That’s why they’re spending millions of dollars on sidewalks, new traffic safety devices, and awareness campaigns that will hopefully keep everyone in Kenmore safe. “If a driver messes up they have the potential of hurting other people, if a pedestrian messes up... it’s usually just themselves they’re hurting,” said Kenmore City Manager Rob Karlinsey. “We really want to get to drivers and have drivers see the importance of slowing down or watching for the ped crossing signs, and educating them that bikes and peds have the right of way and you gotta watch out for them.” The city hopes that the Target Zero Initiative will help spread the word that pedestrian and bicycle safety are a real concern; their goal is zero fatalities among these groups by the year 2025. Not only are there new sidewalks coming to Kenmore, but scores of new road projects to improve safety. The West-A project on 522 will have wider bus lanes, landscaped medians, improved transit stops, and more, will begin construction later this year. However, those aren’t the only improvement. A new traffic engineer position with the city will help develop and implement a slew of safety improvements, along with responding to citizen concerns, analyzing accident reports, and ensuring consistent compliance with regulations.
Well before hiring the engineer, Kenmore is already working on educating everyone on how to be safe. Signs can be seen around town, informing pedestrians and bicyclists about awareness – “See and be seen” – whereas driver awareness billboards are coming soon along with partnering with other cities. “The accidents we’ve had, a lot of the drivers are not from Kenmore,” Karlinsey said. “So how do you reach them? How do you educate drivers that don’t live in our city?” Three people were killed in either pedestrian or bicycle and car accidents during the past two years. The city has tips for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers, such as cars and bikes sharing the road equally, drivers not engaging in distracting activities, and stop, look and listen for pedestrians at crossings. “We’ve applied for a grant from the state through the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission and coincidentally enough it’s called Target Zero and it’s going to be aimed at pedestrian safety and getting the word out,” Karlinsey said. “If we get the grant we’d be able to get billboard signs on Bothell Way and bus advertisements on the side of buses and other marketing materials. It’ll also pay for enforcement and special police emphasis.” A portion of the city budget already has a smaller amount for education and enforcement. However, it will be harder to connect to drivers until the grant is garnered. “I just find that so frustrating. How do you drive that message home, that you’re driving a lethal weapon and need to pay attention to what you’re doing?” said Kenmore Mayor David Baker.
The Kenmore Senior Center celebrated its 10th year open at the house in Rhododendron Park and the services it has been providing to seniors for a decade on Jan. 11.
Back in 1998, the city of Kenmore received Rhododendron Park from King County, which came with an old house and its annex. Then, in 2004, the city council granted the building to the Kenmore Senior Center (group) which had been
bouncing from place to place for meetings. “It’s wonderful it really is, I’m into my eighth year here as the program manager and I love it,” said Garreth Jeffers of the Kenmore Senior Center. “I just love what I do, otherwise I would have been
retired a long time ago, ‘cause I ain’t no spring chicken anymore!” The Senior Center is a welcoming place for seniors to come and chat while drinking coffee or tea, along with having a computer lab [ more CENTER page 3 ]
‘Fab 5’ looks for first state title Inglemoor girls basketball team seniors Sammi WIlliams, Jordana Price, Deja Strother, Alex Hagen and Hannah McCausland are nicknamed the “Fab 5”and are ranked No. 2 in the state. The team will attempt to capture a state title during the next two weeks. For the full story see page 6. SHANE MCMAHON, UW News Lab
Bothell detective pleads not guilty to sexual assault BY DEANNA ISAACS disaacs@bothell-reporter.com
A Bothell police officer has pled not guilty to having sex with a teenage girl she met four years ago while working at Bothell High School as the resource officer. Dione Thompson, 45, is charged with two counts of first degree sexual miscon-
duct with a minor according to court documents. Thompson has been with the department for 17 years and is now a detective, responsible for sex offender notifications. The documents state that Thompson had sexual contact with the then 17-year-old girl in a patrol car outside a fast food restaurant, in the parking lot
of the Bothell library and in an unmarked Bothell police car in Kenmore, among other locations, mainly in vehicles. The teen, who has since opted to change sex and become a male, moved in with the officer for a period of time, the documents continue. The victim had felt that it was “all his fault” until he was hired on to an advo-
cacy center and underwent training in abuse. He then realized that Thompson had abused her authority and power when the relationship went sexual at Thompson’s behest. “[The victim] said that it took a while for him to figure out what it was that [Thompson] did wrong because he knew that the [ more BPD page 9 ]
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BY DEANNA ISAACS Disaacs@bothell-reporter.com
Disaacs@bothell-reporter.com