Enumclaw Courier-Herald, July 29, 2015

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Fireworks ban talks in Bonney Lake

What’s Inside

Blotter.................................Page 5 Views..................................Page 6 Classified...........................Page 14 Obituaries.........................Page 18

This Week...

By Ray Still

• National Night Out

Reporter

is Tuesday, August 4, throughout many cities in the area. - Bonney Lake 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at Allan Yorke Park. Residents will be joined by East Pierce Fire and Rescue and the Bonney Lake Police Department for the annual “Touch a Truck” event. The movie “Big Hero 6” will begin playing at dusk. - Enumclaw, Buckley & Black Diamond There will be no downtown events in Enumclaw, Buckley or Black Diamond this year. Contact the Rainier Foothills Wellness Foundation to receive National Night Out information and invitation post cards to host your own neighborhood event.

Weather The forecast calls for sunny skies on Wednesday with a high to 85 and a low to 51. Thursday and Friday the highs will reach 89 and 53 at night. The weekend forecast calls for a high of 86 on Saturday and 90 on Sunday with a low of 59.

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Street Fair

Lily Steger, 3, checks out a potter at the Enumclaw Rotary Street Fair Saturday. John the Magic Guy preformed tricks and musicians played in various sites on the street. Photos by Kevin Hanson and Dennis Box

The fuse is lit and the countdown begins, and many Bonney Lake residents will be nervously watching whether the city’s proposed firework ban will be a boom or a bust. The council decided last Tuesday to schedule a town hall meeting, tentatively set for 6:30 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Justice and Municipal Center, for residents to voice their opinions for or against a total ban and to discuss any ideas in-between. According to Bonney Lake Mayor Neil Johnson and Police Chief Dana Powers, discussions about firework bans have been brought up at city council meetings since the early 2000s, but they both say something is different this time around.

SEE FIREWORKS, PAGE 13

City Council halts discussion of Thomas Farm land Citizens remind council that rural efforts are alive and well on the Plateau By Kevin Hanson Senior Writer

Agriculture is alive and well on the Enumclaw Plateau according to three citizens who recently took the city’s elected leaders to task for their efforts surrounding one local farm. The city has spent time and energy looking at options for the Thomas Farm, which stretches between state Route 410

and Battersby Avenue on Enumclaw’s busy east side. Former owners of the property entered into an agreement with King County in which they accepted more than $1 million but agreed the acreage would never be developed. The land has been passed down a generation and still operates as a farm. For years, many at Enumclaw City Hall have

coveted the land for its commercial potential. Discussions about ways to get around the “development rights” issue have swirled and culminated recently with a City Council workshop on the matter. Three citizens stepped to the podium during the council ’s July 13 session, criticizing city efforts and comments by individual council members. “What I saw was disturbing,” said Denise Swafford, referring to the

council workshop. While noting that she loves Enumclaw and shops locally, she believes she is considered irrelevant because she lives outside the city limits. Swafford challenged the council to worked cooperatively with the region’s agriculture community and provide a “welcoming environment” for all. “Dair y farming in Enumclaw and Washington state is alive and well,” said Leeann Krainick, who, along

with her husband, farms approximately 1,000 in the Enumclaw area. According to her calculations, the dairy industry has an economic impact of roughly $18 million annually in the region, she said. If the city is looking to gain revenue, she concluded, “it’s not turning farmland into industrial property.” Liz Clark petitioned for the city to join the King County Conser vation

SEE FARM, PAGE 4

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