Spring Home 2014
May 2, 2014
B & E Meats and Seafood to host free weekend barbecue
May 1, 2014
NEW — 12:30 p.m. May 1, 2014
By Christina Corrales-Toy
B & E Meats and Seafood owner Jeff Green prepares samples at the store’s grand opening in October.
Residents are invited to sample all that B & E Meats and Seafood has to offer at a special barbecue May 2-3. Read more
Newcastle teen takes control of spiraling life
May 1, 2014
By Christina Corrales-Toy
Terrence Neese talks at Renton’s Secondary Learning Center about the benefits of the Washington Youth Academy.
Newcastle teen Terrence Neese should have worn a cap and gown on June 13, 2013.
He was supposed to embrace his parents as he emerged from the Kent ShoWare Center with a Hazen High School diploma.
Terrence was there to watch his classmates that day, but with insufficient credits to graduate, he was sitting in the stands, not on the floor.
Neighbors voice concerns about Energize Eastside
May 1, 2014
UPDATED — 9:45 p.m. May 1, 2014
*This story has been updated to reflect the following change: The initial version, and the one seen in the May 2 print edition, stated that Larry Johnson and the Olympus Homeowners Association would get a chance to give their own presentation about Energize Eastside at the May 6 Newcastle City Council. That has now been rescheduled for a later date to be determined*
Upgrades to infrastructure needed
When Newcastle neighbors Larry Johnson and Dave Edmonds peer into the backyards of their Olympus homes, transmission lines and power poles greet them.
It’s not the best view, but residents have learned to live with the 60-foot beams that carry 115 kilovolt power lines. The infrastructure has been there since long before the city was incorporated 20 years ago.
Those poles could get a lot taller, with lines that carry even more power, if Puget Sound Energy upgrades that corridor as part of its Energize Eastside project.
Courtesy Puget Sound Energy
At left, a growing Eastside, especially the area west of Lake Sammamish, is putting a strain on the region’s electric system, as seen in this future growth map. Above, PSE’s solution to the region’s growing power demand is to build about 18 miles of 230 kilovolt transmission lines from Redmond to Renton.
Little Rhody Park comes to fruition
May 1, 2014
The first person to officially climb the stairs of Little Rhody Park’s new playground was, surprisingly, not a child.
It was Corin Carper, one of the neighbors who volunteered his time to help build the community’s new slide and play structure at an April 12 work party.
By Christina Corrales-Toy
Neighborhood volunteers and city staff construct the new Little Rhody Park playground April 12.
Carper has children that will benefit from the new playground, but they will never get to say they were the first ones on it.
Notes from Newcastle
May 1, 2014
For once, I’m not the only one at meeting
I’m used to being the only one at Newcastle City Council meetings.
I sit there, alone, as the council conducts its business in front of an audience of one.
Christina Corrales-Toy
It can get lonely, I’ll admit, watching council members deliberate as I sit surrounded by a sea of empty chairs.
Letters
May 1, 2014
New power line is bad for the community
Puget Sound Energy’s proposal to replace the current 115 kV overhead power line with 230 kV lines on taller poles does not consider the negative impact on our community. Overhead power lines do not belong in residential areas for the following reasons:
- Exposure to electromagnetic fields has been linked to increased rates of certain cancers, such as leukemia in children and cancers of the lymph and diseases of central nervous systems in adults.
- Inhaling charged particles/pollutants around power lines has been linked to an increase in free radicals and many adverse health effects, such as cancer.
- interference with implanted pacemakers and defibrillators.
- power line noise. Read more
Editorial: Teachers, Dems are at fault for waiver loss
May 1, 2014
The impacts of the state losing its No Child Left Behind waiver are unlikely to be profound locally, but they are still an embarrassment — an embarrassment that could easily have been avoided.
Washington, along with 42 other states, was operating under a waiver that allows the state to essentially ignore some portions of the federal law. But that waiver was revoked last week.
We are in this mess because the state teacher’s union and Democrat members of the Legislature were unwilling to allow test scores to be a factor in teacher evaluations.
A mighty wind
May 1, 2014
In September, we rented a large houseboat on Lake Roosevelt with my sister Susie and her husband. After taking possession, we cruised up the lake and found a perfect spot for the night: a protected little bay, embraced by wooded peninsulas. The Sainted One ran the boat on shore and we tied up.
That was the night the Seahawks game was delayed due to a freak windstorm, and to get to Qwest Field, it had to get across Eastern Washington — and Lake Roosevelt — first.
It was hot and still when we retired early, so I was pleased when a breeze blew through the open stateroom window until that breeze grew into something less appealing. Staggering out of our staterooms, we had to hold onto the walls to keep from hitting the deck. We turned on our phones and they began simultaneously ringing: High wind warning, the messages from the marina said. Batten down the hatches, because something wicked this way comes.
Annual town hall meeting is June 3
May 1, 2014
The city of Newcastle’s annual town hall meeting will be held in June this year, instead of October.
The date was changed so the City Council can get the benefit of citizen input earlier on in the budget process. Town hall meetings are a chance for residents to tell representatives what they’d like to see happen in their city.
Electronic polling devices will be used to gather opinions, and this year’s event will feature additional time for residents to speak. The town hall meeting is from 7-9 p.m. June 3 at The Golf Club at Newcastle, 15500 Six Penny Lane.
