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COVINGTON | MAPLE VALLEY | BLACK DIAMOND
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HEALTHY LIVING | Cancer and kids: How to answer a child’s questions [page 7]
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2015
UNDEFEATED BEARS | The Tahoma girls soccer team beat Kentwood 3-0 Thursday. [9]
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Ravensdale Park to welcome new historical signs Volunteer spends more than 1,200 hours researching the history of Ravensdale BY REBECCA GOURLEY Reporter
Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety unveiled the new 9/11 memorial before a large gathering in a Saturday morning ceremony at Fire Station 81. DENNIS BOX, The Reporter More photos on page 2
Dedication ceremony for 9/11 memorial BY REBECCA GOURLEY Reporter
F
ourteen years and one day after tragedy struck New York City, Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety dedicated a new memorial to the first responders at the World Trade Center. On Saturday, Sept. 12, the 9/11 memorial was unveiled at Fire Station 81. The design of the memorial in-
cludes two columns representing the World Trade Center in Manhattan with a piece of steel suspended in between. The steel, which came from the rubble of the towers, was given to Maple Valley Firefighter Ryan Carpenter from the New York Fire Department in 2013 after he requested it. The only condition on the receipt of the piece of history was that it was to
be displayed publicly. The memorial was designed by Jennifer Szabo of Pacific Outdoor Living, an Issaquah based company. The total cost of the project was about $50,000. About $30,000 of that was covered through in-kind donations of volunteer labor and donated materials, said Deputy Chief David O’Brien.
Senior community set Church celebrates 35 years to open in summer 2017 of community service BY SARAH BRENDEN
BY REBECCA GOURLEY
Reporter
Reporter
The press release from Zenith Capital stated the expected cost is $23.5 milAn assisted living and lion. memory care community is On Aug. 28 the three acre coming to the city of Covarea of land was purchased ington. for the new development. Seniority, Inc. and According to the Zenith Capital anpress release, nounced Sept. 3 construction on COVINGTON their plan to build the community is the new commuexpected to being nity for seniors. in 2016 with the facilThe Covington Asity set to open in the sisted Living and Memory summer of 2017. Care Community will be This will be the first aslocated on SE Wax Road. sisted living and memory The 98 unit community care facility in Covington. will be spilt between 64 The release said the comassisted living units and the munity will be less than a remaining 34 for memory care. [ more SENIOR page 5 ]
On a quiet street in Covington sits the longest running Foursquare church in the area, run by one of the longest sitting pastors in the community. The Spirit and Truth Foursquare Church was formed 35 years ago this September. Steve and Darlene Martin held the first service in their home in Kent, with one other couple in attendance. Today, the small church bolsters about 100 members. In the early ‘90s, the Martins bought a plot of
land in what was then unincorporated Kent (now Covington), under the assumption from the county that they would be able to build their church there. After the land sale was final, Martin said they were told by the water and sewer district that there was a moratorium in the area on any new construction. After talking with county officials, the county made a one-month exception. For that month, building permits could be issued for the area for anyone ready to build, [ more CHURCH page 3 ]
A petrified clam is one of the last things you’d expect to find in Ravensdale. The town sits more than 100 miles off the coast, but 50 million years ago, this area was just feet from the salty shores of the Pacific Ocean. This and other tidbits about the history of Ravensdale are part of a new project at the Ravensdale Park. Michael Brathovde, with help from his wife, Donna, said he has logged more than 1,200 hours of volunteer research on the town of Ravensdale to curate content for 15 interpretive signs that will be installed along the walking trail in the park. The signs will be similar to the ones displayed around Lake Wilderness Park, about 3 feet by 2 feet and full of historical information. The project is a partnership between King County and Ravensdale Park Foundation. In order to fund the signs and the design work, grants were secured from 4Culture, the cultural services
agency for King County, the King County Community Partnership and Grants program and Ravensdale Park Foundation. Sandra Noel of Noel Design did the design work on the signs with information and photos from Brathovde’s research. Brathovde will be giving a presentation at 1 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 19 at the Maple Valley Fire Engine Museum. He will discuss the signs and summarize much of the content on them. The Ravensdale Park sign project comes on the heels of the 100th anniversary of the Ravensdale mine explosion that occurred Nov. 16, 1915. The explosion not only killed 31 miners and injured three others, it also economically leveled the then-bustling town of Ravensdale. Without the mine, the town would nearly cease to exist. As expected, a lot of the research dug up by Brathovde pertained to the coal mining industry in the area, but some also focused [ more SIGNS page 3 ]
Ravensdale Park will soon welcome 15 new interpretive signs along the new trail that leads walkers through the community meadow and into the active recreation part of the park. COURTESY MICHAEL BRATHOVDE