I have two exciting events to report in the last month since I have been working at the Reporter. First…
Some tough decisions lie ahead for the Kent School Board. Specifically, where to trim the budget if the district’s state…
A few weeks ago, my wife and I were watching the DVD of Titanic, when she suddenly – WAIT A…
A few weeks ago, my wife and I were home watching the movie Titanic when she suddenly hit the pause…
Friday was a new day for me. I began the day as the new editor of the Maple Valley and…
Voters here and in the rest of King County are a few days away from completing the change to putting an elected director in charge of the county elections department. Those advocating the switch – including the 56 percent “yes” from voters countywide in last November’s election in favor of revamping the job from a bureaucratic appointee to an elected official – want the position to, as much as possible, be free of partisanship and any related specter of possible political influences in the conduct of elections. Sherril Huff doesn’t seem to get that.
In case you don’t recognize her name, it’s Sherril Huff who is running the King County elections department. Her charge? Make sure elections are run fairly and mistake-free.
Ex-Reporter Newspapers writer was at inauguration
I so appreciated Mike West’s column (Jan. 9, “Selfish cell yakkers take advantage of wimpy law”) about people not thinking they need to obey the rule about use of cell phones while driving. How hard can it be to wait five minutes until you are out of your car?
The King County Council recently adopted the 2009 budget. It was the toughest budget in recent memory. A $93 million hole was filled by making tough choices, but the worst is yet to come. On top of these historic cuts, the county executive estimates that 2010 will bring another very large deficit.
Editor’s Note/Pat Jenkins
By PAT JENKINS A lot of positive things happened in 2008 in and around Covington, Maple Valley and Black Diamond….
By JOHN CARLSON At year’s end, an intriguing political irony has emerged: The Democrats won the national and local elections,…
As a mother-owned business, I know what a new, warm pair of pajamas can mean to any child during winter. But for a foster child who may be in a brand new situation during the holiday season, with none of his or her own belongings, it means tremendously more.
Some end-of-the-year, start-of-the-new-one column items:
Girl Scouts Troop 2321 would like to take this opportunity to thank the many volunteers and vendors who helped our Make a Difference Day project come to fruition.
My partner and I saw a report a couple of days ago on the impact of the Green River Bridge closure at Black Diamond on the Krain Corner Inn on the corner of Southeast 400th Street and Black Diamond-Enumclaw Road in the outskirts of Enumclaw. KING 5 TV reported that Krain Corner Inn is struggling to survive, as their customers have dropped to a quarter of normal. We live in Maple Valley and had the idea for our community to put together a morning “Save the Inn” breakfast adventure to Krain Corner Inn. Twenty-five people from our community caravanned over the Black Diamond detour (a beautiful drive going past Flaming Geyser Park) and had a wonderful time socializing and enjoying the wonderful breakfasts at the Inn. We will make it a regular outing now and would like to suggest to the people of Covington and Maple Valley that the detours set up to go around the bridge outtage take you right past the Inn, and it is a great way to help save the Inn.
Pat Jenkins, publisher/editor
The first annual Covington Hollydaze holiday festival Dec. 5-6 came and went with a frenzy of events and activities that left the citizens of Covington looking forward to next year.
The students of Kentwood High School are used to setting lofty goals and then taking the steps necessary to meet them. In the case of this year’s annual food drive, the trend continued.
