Four Corners to host Hometown Holidays again

The second annual Hometown Holidays event will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 1 at Four Corners. Last year the event was changed from Lake Wilderness Lodge for the first time, and moved to Four Corners for better accessibility.

Mayor Sean P. Kelly will start off the festivities with a public welcome and the official tree lighting ceremony will begin at 6:30 p.m. followed by activities featured throughout the area.

Santa Claus will be at Fire Station 80 for the children to visit. Activity booths will be available for children throughout the event. Holiday sales and specials will continue throughout the season with participating merchants throughout Maple Valley.

Please bring canned food or an unwrapped toy to help support the Maple Valley Food Bank and foster families

Maple Valley, Covington receive funds for flood

The King County Flood Control District approved funds for two key flood mitigation projects.

The Little Soos Creek Culvert Replacement Project in Covington will receive $200,000.

The project plan is to replace twin concrete pipes and fix the culvert that lacks adequate structural integrity. Along with replacing and fixing those items, the project would also design a fish passable replacement for the culvert. That part of the project would help alleviate localized upstream flooding issues.

The projects would help prevent future flooding along SE 256th and keep the roads dry and safe for residents.

In Maple Valley, the King County Flood Reduction Grant Program will award the city $295,000 for the Witte Road Project.

The project includes constructing a new replacement culvert under SE 256th Street, which would alleviate a known flooding problem and it would eliminate a fish passage barrier.

There were $3.3 million grants awarded in 2016 and were awarded on a competitive basis by the Flood Control District.

Deadline for mail-in voter registration approaching

Oct. 10 is the deadline for mail-in voter registration which happens to land on a federal holiday. This could be a problem for some people since the post office will not process or postmark that day or the 9th since that is a Sunday.

That means the functional deadline would be Oct. 8 but that would violate the National Voter Registration Act provision that says no state may have mail-in voter registration deadline longer than 30 days. Oct. 8 would be 31 days before Election Day.

The only solution to this problem is for all county auditors and the King County Elections director honor an Oct. 11 postmark.

Online registration and in person registration is also an option for those not wanting to use the mail-in method.

New trail system winds through Black Diamond

King County Parks and Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance are celebration the completion of nearly 8 miles of bike trails along with a new trailhead at Black Diamond Open Space.

A newly built trail has access through a newly built parking lot and trailhead, off of state Route 169 near Black Diamond. The parking lot was made possible by the voter-approved 2014-19 King County Parks, Trails and Open Space Replacement Levy.

About $80,000 was contributed to this project by King County Parks through its Youth Sports Facilities Grant and Community Partnerships and Grants programs, while EMBA provided more than 2,000 volunteer work hours to build and improve the trails, with help from a $10,000 grant from REI.

Located just north of Black Diamond, the Black Diamond Open Space is comprised of multiple sites totaling 1,100 acres owned by King County Parks and another 80 acres in conservation easement.

19th annual Model Train Show Oct. 15-16

The Maple Valley operating Model Train Show will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 16 at the Gracie Hansen Community Center, 27132 SE Ravensdale Way, Ravensdale.

There is a suggested donation of $5 for adults and $2 for children ages 3-11.

There will be featured operating layout in many popular gauges and hands-on train operations for children.

The show is sponsored by the Greater Maple Valley Area Council and Rock Creek Sports.

There will be door prizes and giveaways.

For more details go to the website: www.greatermaplevalleyareacounci.org/events.html.