Here’s a month-by-month look at 2012 and some of the more memorable moments in Issaquah and Sammamish.
JANUARY
The 8th Congressional District completely let go of Bellevue and took on all of Auburn Jan. 9.
With 70,000 people, Auburn is now the largest city in the district. The district also includes Issaquah, Sammamish, North Bend, Wenatchee and Ellensburg.
Even though Issaquah residents tend to be more liberal, like their Eastside neighbors, the change won’t affect them much, because their congressman, Dave Reichert, a former police officer, remains in office. Reichert was opposed by Issaquah resident Karen Porterfield in the November general election.
Garry Anderson shared his love for local Issaquah history with his aunt, who was a direct descendent from the Bush family for whom the city’s street is named.
When his aunt was near death, she gave him the fiddle of a man named Tom Cherry, who followed the Bush family from South Carolina, along the Oregon Trail and north to Issaquah.
A talented fiddler, Cherry and his violin were likely one of the few sources of live music or entertainment for the rural town, said Erica Maniez, an Issaquah historian.
Aside from having the most prominent gravestone in Issaquah, little is known of Cherry, but stories say he was orphaned, raised by a black family in the South, and never had a family.
Anderson had the violin for several years, in its original purple lined case, when he decided it would get better care in the hands of the museum.
In the five years since Julie Hunter has been the museum’s collections manager, it’s the most significant artifact she’s received.
The year started off on a sad note for students in Sammamish with the news that school resource officer Stan Chapin unexpectedly died while preparing for a day of monitoring the Inglewood Junior High and Eastlake High School campuses.
Hundreds showed up after school Jan. 31 to remember their friend. Students brought flowers, pictures and other items, gathering in front of the campus at the exact spot officer Chapin would greet them each morning.
FEBRUARY
Claire Thompson, a 20-year-old Sammamish native was fatally shot early Sunday, Feb. 12, in Redmond.
A bullet pierced a nearby wall and struck Thompson in the neck as she talked to her friend Mikaela Boyd, at a house party in the Education Hill area.
Cornelius J. De Jong IV, a 21-year-old Redmond resident, faced first-degree manslaughter charges in connection with the fatal shooting. Police say De Jong acted recklessly when he fired what he thought was an unloaded gun, according to King County Prosecutor’s Office charging documents. The charging papers said De Jong appeared drunk after the incident and refused a breath test.
The witness who called to report the shooting told dispatchers, “My best friend shot a girl in the house, he was drunk,” the charging documents said.
De Jong had a concealed-weapons permit, which was issued by the Redmond Police.
De Jong pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 27 months in prison by Judge Theresa Doyle Sept 17.
MARCH
Rep. Dave Reichert moved his office to Issaquah after Congressional redistricting pushed him from Mercer Island and Bellevue. The Republican and six of his staff members use the space on Southeast 56th Street at the Sammamish View office building.
APRIL
The Sammamish City Council passed a new soliciting ordinance, requiring anyone going door-to-door to obtain a license from the city. The ordinance also requires criminal background checks, limits hours of door-to-door solicitation and requires vendors to obey signs that clearly display “no soliciting.”
Since its inception, numerous cases of people soliciting without a license have been reported to the Sammamish Police Department.
An elderly Sammamish couple were scammed out of $90,000 when a caller, claiming to be their grandson, said he’d been in a DUI car accident and needed money for bail. The couple said the man sounded exactly like their grandson and they didn’t hesitate to send the money. The scam has reoccured numerous times throughout the year with several other Sammamish residents making similar reports.
After 11 years of work, the Washington Trails Association connected its High Point trailhead, which is just East of Issaquah, to Duthie Hill Park on the Plateau.
Mike Owens, chief crew leader for the project, led volunteers up the trail four days a week a few months of the year. WTA estimated that its volunteers put in about 40,000 hours on the trail.
Much of the Grand Ridge Trail was built from scratch, allowing King County to construct a stronger route with better drainage.
The bulk of the route swirls around the Issaquah Highlands, before jutting up to the popular mountain bike park.
Seventy percent of voters supported a $219 million bond for the Issaquah School District.
The district needed a supermajority vote, 60 percent, to win. The bond focused on replacing aging schools. In the past two decades the district has gone through extensive growth. As a result, the bonds were focused on new schools to accommodate all the new students.
Issaquah Middle School will switch campuses with Clark Elementary, and they’ll both be rebuilt. Sunny Hills Elementary in Sammamish, which relies on 11 portables, will get a completely new space.
The bond also puts in $12 million for remodeling and adding covered stadiums at all three high schools.
Five weeks after the state began accepting online bids for its liquor stores, the Sammamish and Issaquah locations were sold for a combined $451,000.
The Sammamish store, located at 510 228th Ave. NE, was claimed by local resident Jin Kim with a bid of $200,100, while Leon Capelouto of Seattle won the Issaquah store, at 1175 NW Gilman Blvd., with a bid of $251,000. Capelouto also bought the West Seattle store.
The Washington State Liquor Control Board began auctioning its stores March 15 to meet the requirements of voter-approved initiative 1183, which required the state to get out of the liquor business.
The WSLCB awarded 121 bidders license application rights for the 167 state-run stores.
The Sammamish Police Department equipped 17 officers with Automatic External Defibrillators. AEDs are portable electronic devices that help manage life-threatening cardiac complications.
In a partnership with King County Emergency Services, the King County Sheriff’s Office distributed 53 of the devices between all its offices at the beginning of the year.
Sammamish received two of those AEDs through a grant and has since purchased 15 more at $940 each. The city, which approved funds for the devices in its budget, recently ordered five more. By the end of June all of Sammamish’s 22 commissioned staff had AEDs.
MAY
Sammamish resident Iva Johnson celebrated her 105th birthday on May 6. When asked her secret to longevity, Johnson replied, “I don’t know how I’ve come that far, to get this old. I don’t have a secret.”
Eastlake senior Monisha Gulabani was selected as the lone female Presidential Scholar from Washington state. Most impressively, the 4.0 student, was the second in her family to achieve the distinction. Her sister, Anisha, won the award in 2008.
JUNE
Sammamish’s 115-year-old Reard-Freed House was moved to at Southeast Eighth Street Park. The historic building was hauled to its new permanent location in the wee hours of the morning June 3 by a large flatbed semi truck. The building is currently undergoing renovation and there are hopes it can serve as a meeting hall and serve other community needs.
The King County Sheriff’s Office officially opened its new Eastside precinct June 8 on the top floor of Sammamish City Hall. The office was a consolidation of its Maple Valley and Kenmore offices, expected to save the county $400,000 a year. Sammamish is leasing the top floor to the county for $104,000 a year.
After 19 months of work, 6,000 volunteer hours and 50,000 pieces of stained glass, Sammamish’s Good Samaritan Episcopal Church unveiled its 200-square-foot mosaic. The piece of artwork was placed on the reredos — Latin for “wall behind the altar.”
JULY
A 52-year-old Issaquah woman accidentally drove through the front window of the Pine Lake Starbucks when her foot, which was in a protective boot, slipped off the brake pedal and inadvertently hit the accelerator. Three people sustained minor injuries. The driver also received a minor burn from the airbag deployment.
Longtime community leader Maureen McCarry died from Lou Gehrig’s disease July 4, just 18 months after stepping down from Issaquah City Council. She was 62.
McCarry was known for her work conserving land and preventing the controversial southeast bypass project. Her last vote on City Council was to conserve Park Point, a complicated deal she spearheaded. A few months later, she won the city’s prestigious Ruth Kees award for her work with the environment.
McCarry was first appointed to council in 1998, where she chaired the commission that oversaw the Highlands and Talus development agreements. She didn’t run for an election until 2005, and won a second term in 2009.
Much to the chagrin of some members of the Washington State Republican party, retired Sen. Cheryl Pflug, endorsed Democrat Mark Mullet for her seat, and criticized the decision to name Dino Rossi as the position’s caretaker through the election.
Pflug quit her re-election campaign the day after candidate filings closed, giving little opportunity for a strong Republican to take her seat. She retired to take a position with the State Growth Management Hearings board, an appointment from Gov. Christine Gregoire.
AUGUST
Sammamish residents living on the north end of town had to deal with a stinky situation when Waste Management drivers went on strike, delaying pick up for nearly a month. The strike finally ended in early August.
SEPTEMBER
For the first time in the Lake Washington School District’s 68-year history, the district shifted to four-year high schools, middle schools and kindergarten through fifth grade elementary schools. With the temporary housing of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math School, Eastlake High School had 2,000 students on its campus to start the year — up from 1,250 the previous year.
After nearly two years of waiting, the Sammamish Muslim Association received approval from the City of Sammamish to go ahead with the conversion of a 2,900-foot home into a prayer center with 44 parking spaces just north of Pine Lake.
Students at Skyline High School were asked to stay home from school Sept. 20 after an anonymous Internet threat was made. A boy, who would eventually be identified as a 16-year-old former Skyline student living in Edmonds, said he would enter the commons area and open fire with a submachine gun until he ran out of ammo or was killed by police. The suspect was arrested nearly two weeks after he made the threats based on tips from students.
NOVEMBER
Sammamish voters approved an advisory measure to move forward with a $30 million community and aquatic center, with 53.65 percent in favor and 46.35 percent against. The City Council has yet to vote on the project, in which the city would contribute $25 million and the YMCA would contribute $5 million and operate the facility.
Lake Sammamish kokanee salmon returned to local streams in full force, sporting some of their largest numbers in decades. Wally Pereyra, whose lived along Ebright Creek, said it was the biggest run he’s ever seen, by far. Members of King County’s Department of Natural Resources credit the strong run to the Issaquah Hatchery’s supplementation program.
Issaquah business owner, Democrat Mark Mullet, declared victory over his opponent Brad Toft, after a contentious race for the District 5 Senate seat, formerly occupied by Republican Cheryl Pflug, who endorsed Mullet.
Republican Chad Magendanz, former Issaquah School Board President, prevailed over his opponent, David Spring, for the Position 2 in the District 5 house race.
In District 45, Roger Goodman prevailed over Joel Hussey for Position 1 in the house race, and Larry Springer beat Jim Thatcher for Position 2.
DECEMBER
After five years of meetings, contemplation and reflection, the Central Issaquah Plan will be moving forward.
The CIP is a long-term (30 year) plan to turn what is now a collection of impervious surfaces and strip malls into a vibrant urban area that will include housing, businesses that will bring jobs, and rapid transit.
The area of the CIP is the 1,100 acre commercial core, excluding Front Street, that surrounds Interstate 90. The area includes about 90 percent of the city’s commercially zoned land.
The plan limits building height to 125-feet. The entire area will be encircled with what has been tagged the “green” or “emerald necklace,” a series of bike and pedestrian trails starting at Lake Sammamish State Park, extending around the CIP back to the lake, with connections to trails on Cougar, Squak and Tiger Mountains.
Lakeside Development, which owns 120 acres adjacent to the Issaquah Highlands, got the green light from the Issaquah City Council for the zoning to be changed from mineral resources to urban village at the Dec. 17 city council meeting.
The Lee family has operated a family-owned mining business on the property for 58 years.
Lakeside’s property is also a transfer of development rights receiving site, one of the largest in the greater Seattle area. As it stands, 700 residential units are possible for the site, but using the TDR, an additional 500 units could be added for a total of 1,200 units.
The parcel will be divided into seven different neighborhoods, each required to have some sort of community space.
The City of Sammamish renamed the new entrance to Eastlake High School, at the intersection of Northeast Eighth Street and 233rd Ave. N.E., “Stan Chapin Way,” in honor of the the long-time resource officer who passed away in January. Nearly 200 community members showed up to the dedication ceremony Dec. 18, including Stan’s wife Sue and three children, Ryan, Scott and Bethany.
From left, Sammamish Mayor Tom Odell, King County Sheriff Steve Strachan, King County Executive Dow Constantine and King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, officially open the new Sammamish Station in June.
The historic Reard-Freed House was moved in the wee hours of the morning June 3 to its new location at Southeast Eighth Street Park.
A 52-year-old Issaquah woman crashed her SUV into the Pine Lake Starbucks after the protective boot on her foot slipped off the break and hit the accelerator.
Sammamish artist Cheryl Smith, left, and Rev. Dr. Suzi Robertson, stand in front the new mosaic reredos at Good Samaritan Episcopal Church.
Sue Chapin hugs Sammamish Mayor Tom Odell after unveiling the new sign dedicated to her husband Stan, a longtime school resource officer for Eastlake High School and Inglewood Middle School. Her son Chris applauds.
