INSIDE | After 30 years Dick Scobee Elementary still honors shuttle crew [9]
.com
REPORTER
NEWSLINE 253-833-0218
A U B U R N˜
Sports | Tyler Pray develops all-around game for Trojans [12]
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2016
Car tab fee proposal tabled, for now City reports fewer BY ROBERT WHALE rwhale@auburn-reporter.com
One Lea Hill resident urged the Transportation Benefit District Board (TBD) on Monday not to impose a $20 vehicle license fee on Auburn residents because, he said, even that amount would create a hardship for people who are already
struggling to make ends meet. While the TBD did not say no to enacting the car tab fee, it did put off a vote on the issue until City staff can present to it more information about all of the district’s street needs, all the possible transportation projects that could be funded, project time lines, distinctions between
street classifications. And until members have had a chance to study and digest the information. “I would like to see a little more information about the mix between collectors and major arterials,” said board member Rich Wagner, noting the types of street maintenance [ more FEE page 8 ]
Mel Lindbloom, Green River College’s first president, left and Chelsea Fletcher, a former Green River student who had a vision for a new student union building, cut a ribbon in front of the Mel Lindbloom Student Union on Monday, as Dani Chang, the college’s dean of student life, watches. HEIDI SANDERS, Reporter
FROM VISION TO REALITY Former student sees completion of Green River College’s new student union building
BY HEIDI SANDERS hsanders@kentreporter.com
As a student at Green River College, Chelsea Fletcher wanted a space on campus for students to gather outside of the classroom. Ten years later, her vision is a reality. Fletcher took part in a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Mel Lindbloom Student Union on Monday at the college’s main campus in Auburn.
“Nearly a decade ago, I had a vision of a place where every student had a place to collaborate and connect with each other, a place that fostered a great sense of campus community and allowed learning, creativity and personal growth to really take root and thrive,” Fletcher said during the ceremony. “It’s here. It’s today. It’s now, and this is truly your space.” [ more LINDBLOOM page 6 ]
homeless; county’s One Night tally grows BY ROBERT WHALE rwhale@auburn-reporter.com
Five volunteer teams in Auburn counted 110 homeless people last Friday, 13 of them men, three who were women, 94 gender unknown and none who were younger than 18 years old. Under the guidance of the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, more
[ more HOMELESS page 7 ]
Auburn’s Chris Little overcame homelessness and family hardship to graduate from high school and college. He plans to apply to medical school. MARK KLAAS, Auburn Reporter
Finding help and means to a promising new life BY MARK KLAAS mklaas@auburn-reporter.com
A troubled teen, Chris Little was living without hope. Drug abuse had broken his family. A father shot and killed over a drug deal gone wrong when Little was 1 year old. A mother who almost overdosed, caught in the snare of drug addiction. And three rudderless
Riders in the Sky | Feb. 6, 3 pm | $20/$18 | Auburn Perf. Arts Ctr. Tickets: www.auburnwa.gov/arts | 253-931-3043 Belle Star | Feb. 13, 7:30 pm | $20/18 | Auburn Ave. Theater A Valentines with Sinatra & Friends | Feb. 14, 2 pm | $20/18 | Auburn Ave. Theater 1521089
than 1,000 volunteers spread throughout King County to see and count how many people were living unsheltered at the time of the annual One Night Count on Jan. 29. Volunteers estimate that 4,505 people in King County were without shelter as of
boys who had to survive the streets of Auburn. A family that languished for years as mom bounced from one drug house to another, kicked from this place and that, her sons in tow, sleeping wherever they could find a bit of floor. Little recalls those dark days. [ more LITTLE page 10 ]