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NEWS | Senior affordable-housing complex slated to open in fall of 2016 [2] CRIME ALERT | Redmond Police Blotter [3]
SPORTS | Redmond High’s cross-country teams are in this week’s spotlight. [16]
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2015
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Task Force on Homelessness releases report SAMANTHA PAK spak@redmond-reporter.com
The City of Redmond’s citizen Task Force on Homelessness recently released a report with recommendations on how to address visible homelessness throughout the city. The 14-member group was formed following a community meeting in March that brought together residents, business owners, members
of local advocacy groups and faith communities and more. The meeting began the community’s conversation on how to address local homelessness. That conversation continued with the task force as members examined the issue and worked to come up with possible solutions.
THE TASK FORCE
According to a city press
release, task force members represented many sectors, including business and property owners, agencies that provide services to homeless individuals, the faith community, the King County Library, residents and members of the Redmond Human Services Commission and the Public Safety Advisory Committee. The task force met six times from April to August and
presented its final report to Redmond City Council on Sept. 22. The final report details the activities of the task force and includes a slate of recommended action steps. Carolyn Mansfield, a member of the task force and the city’s human services commission, said the recommendations they offered fell under six areas of concerns. [ more HOMELESS page 8 ]
Redmond Mayor John Marchione and challenger Steve Fields will meet in a debate at 7 p.m. Oct. 14 at Emerald Heights Retirement Community, 10901 176th Circle N.E. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and shuttle service will begin at 6:15 p.m. from Redmond High School, 17272 N.E. 104th St. Members of the League of Women Voters will moderate the event and will gather questions on city issues from attendees at the door. King County Elections will mail ballots Oct. 13 and election day is Nov. 3.
Lake Washington School District board candidates forum set for Oct. 15
Gracie’s great pumpkin Gracie Venters, 9, of Redmond won the junior division of the Super Pumpkin Weigh-In at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup. Her pumpkin tipped the scales at 445.5 pounds. The first-place prize awards the winner $1 for every pound, and Venters will receive a check for $445. She plans to put her winnings into a savings account. Venters started her pumpkin seed at the end of May at Faith Farm on Union Hill. It was her first time growing a competitive pumpkin, which was lifted into the back of the family truck with a tractor and driven to the fair. She is planning on going to another pumpkin weighoff this year as she has another pumpkin that looks to be bigger than the first one, said her father, Josh. Courtesy of the Washington State Fair
Marchione, Fields to meet in Oct. 14 mayoral candidates debate
Lake Washington School District board candidates will participate in a forum from 7-8:30 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Redmond High School Performing Arts Center. Three seats on the board are up for election in November: • District 1 — Eric Laliberte and Jackie Pendergrass (unable to attend, and a PTA volunteer will present prepared responses) • District 2 — Chris Carlson and Rob Tepper • District 3 — Siri Bliesner Moderator will be Jane Dulski, Region 2 director of the Washington State PTA. Lake Washington PTSA Council and Emily Dickinson PTSA are sponsoring the forum so the community can get to know the candidates better before the voting deadline. This is a neutral event to which all candidates have been invited.
Former con artist discusses fraud and identity theft at event SAMANTHA PAK spak@redmond-reporter.com
If someone were to tell Frank Abagnale that present-day technology would make the things he got up to in the 1960s much easier, he wouldn’t have believed them. The 67-year-old — whose early life as a con artist is chronicled in Steven Spielberg’s film “Catch Me If You Can” — said he would have thought technology would have advanced to protect people better from such crimes. But nowadays, Abagnale said, it is 4,000 times easier to do what he did. “Technology breeds crime,” Abagnale said. “Always has, always will.” Between the ages of 16 and 21,
Abagnale lied, assumed fake identities and did what he could to survive following his running away from home after learning about his parents’ divorce. From pretending to be a pilot for Pan Am Airways and traveling the world, to impersonating a pediatrician in a Georgia hospital, to posing as an attorney after passing the bar exam in Louisiana, he evaded capture from the FBI for five years. Eventually, at age 21, Abagnale was caught and served prison sentences in France, Sweden and the United States. He was released after five years on the condition of teaching and assisting federal law enforcement agencies. Since then, Abagnale has not left and has been with the FBI for 40 years — 32 years longer than what
he was court ordered. “I owe my country 800 times more than I can ever repay it,” he said. On Wednesday, Abagnale shared his story at an AARP Fraud Watch Network event at the Microsoft Corp. campus in Redmond. And following his talk, Doug Shadel with AARP expressed a sentiment many in the room probably shared. “I am really glad you are on our side,” Shadel said as audience members laughed along.
GIVING CRIMINALS THE OPPORTUNITY
During his talk, Abagnale said security information breaches occur [ more FRAUD page 8 ]
Frank Abagnale speaks at the AARP Fraud Watch Network event on Wednesday at Microsoft Corp. SAMANTHA PAK, Redmond Reporter