REPORTER
COVINGTON | MAPLE VALLEY | BLACK DIAMOND
NEWSLINE 425-432-1209
GOING GREEN | Care for your Christmas tree [page 10]
PREVIEWS | A look ahead at the 2015 boys, girls basketball season [9]
WEBSITE | Check the website for breaking news, sports and weather stories. maplevalleyreporter.com or covingtonreporter.com
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2015
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Food bank safe stolen during break-in More than $2,500 in
Senior living community planned Project is expected to be built 16 months after plans approved
gift cards for Christmas taken in theft
BY SARAH BRENDEN Reporter
A new senior community in Maple Valley is planning to break ground in early 2016. In early November, Curtis Lang Custom Homes announced plans to develop a luxury senior living residence. According to a press release, the senior living community will MAPLE be on a 12-acre VALLEY piece of land in Maple Valley. The main senior living community building will be three stories and house 130 apartments. The community will include independent living, assisted and memory care for those with dementia. Senior Housing Consultant Stephen Wright said the entire property is more than 30 acres [ more SENIOR page 2 ]
BY ANA KAREN PEREZ-GUZMAN Reporter
Serving up the stuffing
Tahoma High junior Alana Golding, left, and Nikki Westover serve up a plate of Thanksgiving favorites during the Black Diamond/Maple Valley Kiwanis seventh annual community dinner Sunday at Black Diamond Elementary. DENNIS BOX, The Reporter
The Maple Valley Food Bank and Emergency Services provided more than 6,000 individuals with food and nearly 3,000 with emergency services between 2013 and 2014. This year will be no exception in the amount of food and other services it provides, but there have been some setbacks in the past six months. The food bank was broken into and gasoline was siphoned from its vehicles on numerous occasions. The most recent break-in was the most devastating, Lila Henderson said, executive director of the Maple Valley food bank. In the early hours of the morning on Nov. 18, the food bank’s safe was stolen. Keys to the whole [ more STOLEN page 3 ]
Maple Valley Christmas tree lighting moves to Four Corners Ceremony name changed to Maple Valley Hometown Holidays BY ANA KAREN PEREZ-GUZMAN Reporter
As the city of Maple Valley has grown, so have the crowds during special events. For the past 12 years, the tree lighting ceremony has been at the Lake Wilderness Lodge. As the years have gone by, the event has attracted more people and has exceeded the space capacity at the lodge. The event will now be staged at the Maple Valley Town Square at Four Corners, Allison Scott said, recreational specialist. “The ceremony will be the same as previous years, but on a much larger scale,” Scott said. The tree lighting was also given a new
name, Maple Valley Hometown Holidays. the site and will be decorated every year. As The name was decided on by the participat- with previous years, there will be vendors ing merchants, Recreational Manager Mark handing out snacks and warm drinks, the Ratcliffe said. tree lighting ceremony, a welcome speech When looking into new locations for the by the mayor and other small activities for event, the accessibility and space of the lochildren and adults. cation were the main factors, Ratcliffe said. While the feedback from changing locaThe expense of putting on the “The ceremony tions has been mostly positive, event at the lodge was getting will be the same as some vendors questioned the too high for the percentage choice of moving the event previous years, but on of residents who attended the since it had been in the same event. Putting the event on in a much larger scale.” location for many years. But a larger, more accessible loca- Allison Scott when the vendors found out the tion would mean more people reason and that they could still could attend without the space participate, most were on board limitation. and are participating. One of the major differences between the “We are trying to be as inclusive as poslocations from the lodge to Four Corners is sible so nobody feels left out, especially the tree being decorated. In previous years, people who have helped out for years,” the outside of the lodge and surrounding Scott said. trees were decorated. This year the city As a way to encourage the public to bought a live tree, which will be planted at shop local and include merchants, the
recreational staff developed the Merry Merchant Game, Ratcliffe said. Merchants who wanted to be part of the game signed up and were assigned a unique game code they will post in their shop. Community members can print off a game piece to see which merchants are participating (available Nov. 30 at any participating merchant or the Maple Valley website) and as they shop around in Maple Valley, they can write down the game codes of the participating merchants on their game pieces. Once the game piece is filled out, they can turn it in by 7 p.m. on Dec. 6 at Johnson’s Home and Garden. The Parks and Recreation staff expect between 2-3,000 but many factors including weather, could affect the number of people who end up showing up, Scott said. The tree lighting event will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 3.