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FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2015
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Classes canceled, walkout in session Teachers participated in one-day walkout over state education funding, COLA
SAMANTHA PAK spak@redmond-reporter.com
With the year almost halfway through, Redmond City Council is getting geared up for a number of things to finish out 2015.
ANDY NYSTROM anystrom@redmond-reporter.com
Redmond-area teachers and other instructors in the Lake Washington School District (LWSD) were out in full force on Wednesday and walked the pavement of their cities, waving signs of disapproval that the Legislature isn’t properly funding education. During the one-day Lake Washington Education Association (LWEA) walkout — during which district classes were canceled — some teachers also held signs emblazoned with messages like, “Support education. Our children are our future” and “I do my ‘job’ = No COLA.” The latter sign refers to teachers asking for a cost-of-living adjustment, which they haven’t received for six years. At the corner of Avondale Road Northeast and Northeast 116th Street on Wednesday morning, Eric Peterson, an Evergreen Middle School music teacher and coach, said he and other teachers love their jobs and are “busting our butt to do what we need to do,” but many of them can’t afford to make ends meet. [ more WALKOUT page 8 ]
Levies, comp plan and more on council’s docket CURRENT AND ONGOING ITEMS
Redmond-area teachers wave to horn-honking drivers on Wednesday morning at the corner of Avondale Road Northeast and Northeast 116th Street during a one-day walkout. ANDY NYSTROM, Redmond Reporter
One of the main items on the docket for the year has been a pair of levies — which in April, council voted unanimously to put on the Aug. 4 ballot. One levy will address public safety and infrastructure, while the other one will address the city’s parks. Council president Hank Margeson said the levies are a big deal. “It takes a lot to get one on (the ballot),” he said. Margeson said council talked a lot about the levies during their annual retreat earlier this year and said they believe they have laid out a good plan for the city. They hope voters agree, he said. “That’s been the main driver of some of our attention,” Margeson said about the levies. Now that council has voted to put the two levies on the August ballot, he said groups have been formed to write pieces in favor of and against the measures for the voter’s pamphlet. “That should be coming out by the 12th (of this month),” Margeson said about the pamphlet, adding that council does not appoint the members of the pamphlet-writing group. [ more COUNCIL page 7 ]
Seligman preparing for her Climb to Cure Crohn’s & Colitis next month When Trina Seligman was 15, she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a chronic, inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation in the diges-
tive tract. The Redmond resident said with this chronic disease — as well as Crohn’s disease — the immune system attacks a person’s bowels. Crohn’s disease affects any part of the gastrointestinal tract, but for
ulcerative colitis patients, like Seligman, it is only the large intestine, or colon, that is affected. As a result, patients with these diseases live uncomfortable lives. For Seligman, having the disease meant undergoing
surgery to have her large intestine removed when was 18. While this helped her, Seligman said it has also caused her to need to use the restroom often. Currently, there are no cures for ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, though
Seligman said there are medications people can take.
CLIMBING FOR A CAUSE
To do her part in raising awareness about the diseases, as well as funds toward finding a cure,
Seligman will be climbing the Leaning Tower in Yosemite National Park in California. Her Climb to Cure Crohn’s & Colitis — which is scheduled for June 2-4 (weather permitting) — is a third-party [ more CLIMB page 8 ] 1305085
SAMANTHA PAK spak@redmond-reporter.com