Snoqualmie Valley Record, January 13, 2016

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Valley Record SNOQUALMIE

1021 S YEAR

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016 n DAILY UPDATES AT WWW.VALLEYRECORD.COM n 75 CENTS

House race Essie Hicks to challenge Jay Rodne for 5th District House seat By EVAN PAPPAS

NEWS

Staff Reporter

Singer supports Fire Fund with new song downloads Page 5

Democrat Essie Hicks announced on Tuesday, Jan. 5, that she will run for Position 1 State Representative in Washington’s 5th Legislative District, covering Black Diamond, Carnation, Issaquah, Maple Valley, North Bend and Snoqualmie. Hicks, on the Issaquah Development Commission and treasurer of the Northwest Progressive Institute, will run against Republican Jay Rodne, who has held the seat since 2004. “I want to be a voice of transparency, change and stability,” Hicks

ESSIE HICKS

JAY RODNE

said. “I’m someone who would represent (the district) a lot better than what they’ve had for the last decade.” Formerly a small business owner, Hicks has been involved with communities in Yelm, Maple Valley and Issaquah. Hicks has been on the Maple Valley Planning Commission and helped establish the Maple Valley Farmers Market. In 2011, she moved to Issaquah and became the legislative liaison for the Issaquah

School District Elementary PTA and volunteered with the Issaquah School District. “I helped pass bonds and levies for our schools in Issaquah,” Hicks said. “As parent and someone who is very involved in the community I know how important that is to families. They need to be able to have solid schools for our children.” Hicks said she decided to run again after a strong showing against Rodne in 2014.

“In 2014 Jay Rodne took the floor against marriage equality. I was looking for the person running against him and I found there was no one. I feel like that doesn’t provide the public with a Democratic option,” Hicks said. “So I reached out to local leaders, gaining endorsements and fundraising. The people called on me to do this, parents, teachers, people who live in the district.” After the Nov. 13, 2015, terrorist attacks on Paris, Hicks’ opponent Jay Rodne generated controversy over statements he made about Muslims on Facebook. His comments included “Obama wants to import 1.5 million muslims into the U.S. This is absolute madness! Islam is incompatible with western civilization! How anyone (sic) people need to die? In the interim, Amicans (sic), arm yourselves!!!!!” The comments have since been taken down and Rodne has stated that those comments were taken out of context. SEE RACE, 3

LOCAL

Snoqualmie Valley Riding club at risk of closing By EVAN PAPPAS

Rotary Snoqualmie Valley raises funds to fight hunger Page 12

Staff Reporter

INDEX Blotter Opinion Classifieds Calendar Puzzles

3 4 8-10 11 12

Vol. 102, No. 34 Courtesy Photo

A photo from the Snoqualmie Valley Riding Club’s website highlights the beautiful setting of the arena.

After operating for 68 years, the Snoqualmie Valley Riding Club could be in danger of shutting down completely due to low membership. The club was started back in 1947 to have a place to host horseback riding and riding education events. The club bought the property in North Bend and built it into a place for the community to ride their horses. In 2007, the club suffered a big decline in membership due to the economic downturn of that year. Since then the club has had to work extremely hard to keep the property maintained and make sure the bills are paid. Now the club is looking for new members and volunteers to join and serve on the club board. Linzie Walker, president of the Snoqualmie Valley Riding Club, became a member in 2012 and became the president in 2014. She said before the 2007 decline they had about 50 members, when she joined there were only 10 members left. Now there are even fewer. “We are really in need of membership. Normally clubs like ours, if you have enough members, membership fees alone can pay for bills or funds to

pay for equipment,” Walker said. “Now, we really depend on the functions we have put on throughout the past couple years.” In her role as president, Walker and vice president Kasaundra McNeilly have worked on several fundraising events. Each year they manage to raise enough money for another year of operations. “(We) have been working really hard and trying to make money for the club, we are stuck in this pattern of only making enough for one more year,” Walker said. “We had to make a decision and draw a line because something has to change.” Walker is planning to step down from the role of president because of the large workload of maintaining the club. In her place, former member Diana Wirt will be assuming the office to keep the club up and running. Wirt and her husband, Walker said, “have been members for a long time in North Bend and do all the maintenance on the ground. So she doesn’t want to see it lost,” Walker said. Walker will still be an active member of the club and will continue to help the club host the fundraising events which have been part of the SEE CLUB, 2

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