REPORTER
COVINGTON | MAPLE VALLEY | BLACK DIAMOND
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
NEWSLINE 425-432-1209
RESCUE | Teen rescued from Lake Wilderness Tuesday afternoon [page 5]
FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2015
Maple Valley Farmers Market kicks off seventh season Covington looks at alternative funding BY SARAH WEHMANN
Reporter
The Maple Valley Farmers Market opened Saturday at Rock Creek Elementary for its seventh season. This year’s farmers market is the first year under new directors. Along with new directors there are some new vendors. This year, Market Manager Linda Kowalsky said the new vendors include Breaking Bread, Happy Roots Farm and a gluten free bakery among many others. There will be more than 50 vendors participating in this year’s market. Kowalsky said that number is up from last year. She said there will be a food saver program to help educate the public on food preservation. The market will also hold a canning demonstration and a fresh pie bake off this year. Every week, Kowalsky said, there will be a local musician performing. On July 11 the market will host Kids Day, Kowalsky said. The Maple Valley Farmers Market will also be accepting state provided vouchers. Kowalsky and her husband prior to becoming directors of the market were vendors for the past 10 years. She said her husband does vinegar and oil and she does a pasta stand. Aside from running the Maple Valley Farmers Market, the couple also operates a farmers market in Arizona. In Washington, they participate in a number of area farmers markets Zariah Zosel, 10, picks out fresh apricots at the Maple Valley Farmers Market last Saturday. The market runs through Sept. 26. including Kent, Issaquah, Mercer The hours of the market are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday, except July 4, at Rock Creek Elementary. See more photos on page 2. [ more MARKET page 2 ] DENNIS BOX, The Reporter
BY REBECCA GOURLEY Reporter
The residents of Covington have spoken, or at least 2,665 of them have. The Covington Transportation Benefit District’s Proposition 1 failed on the April 28 ballot, with 48 percent in favor. The district was planning to have Proposition 1, a proposed 0.002 sales tax increase, be the funding mechanism for street maintenance needs for the next 10 years. The increase would have equated to an additional $0.20 for every $100 in taxable purchased and would have generated $750,000 per year in revenue for the city’s road and sidewalk maintenance. The city’s current means of keeping up with street maintenance is through a $250,000 annual subsidy from the general fund to the road fund. That method, City Manager Regan Bolli said, can only keep up for two more years before it becomes not sustainable. Since Prop 1 failed, city officials are now asking themselves, “Now what?” In the next few months, several [ more FUNDING page 15 ]
Tahoma team raises money by collecting clothes Water polo girls collected clothing, shoes and household textiles and raised about $1,600 for team BY SARAH WEHMANN Reporter
The Tahoma girls water polo team joined with Clothes for the Cause from June 12-14 to raise money for the team. Clothes for the Cause is a fundraising company who collects clothes in exchange for cash. The team accepted clothing and shoes in any condition and gave the collected items to Clothes for the Cause. The water polo team was then given the total for
its collected items measured in dollars per pound. The Tahoma water polo booster club president Erika Hanger said this was the second time since March that the team held a fundraiser with Clothes for the Cause. Coach Amanda Saunders said June’s fundraiser didn’t see many walk ups because the team had been collecting donations for the past few months. In the three days the team held its fundraiser, the girls collected nearly four tons of clothing, shoes and household textiles, Marketing Director for Clothes for the Cause Monica Stamper wrote in an email the team raised close to $1,600 to help fund its inaugural year. “(This was) such a great way to help people get rid of things they don’t want or need to in turn give a school team the cash they need to invest in our local youth,” Stamper said.
The Tahoma girls water polo team collected almost four tons of clothing and textiles for Clothes for a Cause. COURTESY PHOTO