REPORTER
COVINGTON | MAPLE VALLEY | BLACK DIAMOND
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LIFE OUTDOORS | Campgrounds roundup [page 2]
FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 2015
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
AT THE TOP | Kentlake, Kentwood and Tahoma athletes at state tournaments
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maplevalleyreporter.com or covingtonreporter.com
Tahoma Bears best in state BY SARAH WEHMANN Reporter
Saturday a team of girls completed a journey many start and only one finishes as No. 1. That No. 1 is the Tahoma Bears fastpitch team. The Bears hoisted the 4A state fastpitch championship trophy at Merkel Sports Complex in Spokane after going on a four-game winning tear through the tournament. “The coaching staff is extremely proud of the hard work, dedica-
tion and performances of the team’s play throughout the season,” coach Tom Milligan said. The team came into the tournament after a perfect South Puget Sound League North Conference season. The Bears lost its first game during the South Puget Sound League 4A tournament, but the loss didn’t deter the team’s quest for a state title. Tahoma entered the district tournament as the No. 4 seed from the SPSL tournament. After winning three and losing one during districts, the Bears
entered the state tourney as the No. 3 seed. Once at state, the Bears found the championship formula and went on 4-0 run for the crown. Tahoma won its first game Friday against Moses Lake 7-4. Then later that day the girls beat Snohomish 7-6. That win advanced the Bears to the state semifinals were the team faced off against Camas. The Bears won 3-2. The championship game was Saturday evening and the Bears took on Richland. The Bears won its 27th game of the season, 9-1. That win crowned the Bears as
The Tahoma Bears won the 2015 4A state fastpitch title Saturday beating Richland 9-1 at the Merkel Sports Complex in Spokane. COURTESY PHOTO the 4A state champions. “The ladies all contributed during our four-game experience in
Community activities added to city program
Three city councils look at the road ahead BY REBECCA GOURLEY
School district ends Tahoma Learning Community programs
Reporter
BY REBECCA GOURLEY Reporter
After about 20 years of offering various recreational and extracurricular activities to the community, the Tahoma School District is eliminating the Tahoma Learning Community program. The program was established before the city was incorporated and before any of these opportunities existed, said Kevin Patterson, director of communication for the district. After an overall review of the district’s programs, district officials sent a letter to the TLC participants last fall explaining the closure. Some of the activities, however, will continue with the help of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. About nine of the 30 individual programs from TLC will be taken over by the city. They range from [ more PROGRAM page 6 ]
Spokane,” Milligan said. “(They) represented THS and the greater Maple Valley area very well.”
Good as Gold
Kentwood’s Brittany Woke won a gold medal in the long jump at the 4A state track and field meet Saturday at Mount Tahoma High School. She also took the bronze in the triple jump. See page 15 for the meet results and page 22 for more photos from the three day meet. RACHEL CIAMPI, The Reporter
The city councils from Covington, Maple Valley and Black Diamond met last week at their eighth annual joint council COVINGTON meeting May 27. After an update from King MAPLE County CounVALLEY cilman Reagan Dunn, the city mangers for BLACK Covington and DIAMOND Maple Valley and Mayor Carol Benson from Black Diamond gave an update about current and future projects. For Covington, Regan Bolli presented a summary of the current and potential future projects within the city. That list included Covington Town Center, a park to be known as SoCo (south Covington) Park, and the possibility for a movie theater. David Johnston, city manager for Maple Valley, told those in [ more AHEAD page 8 ]