William Wood is all for being annexed into Bothell. Brynn Westman’s not sure yet.

As he admired his well-groomed, large front yard/garden on 86th Avenue Northeast in unincorporated King County last week, Wood, 85, noted: “I like that … It makes us part of the (city). We’re floating here between Kenmore, it’s just two blocks away, and two blocks away is the city limits of Bothell. It’s no sense of it just staying this way when taxes can go to a city instead of the county.”

Wood has lived at the house for 16 years with his wife, Margery, who teams up with William to handle the yard work.

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Charlie Barringer remembers when he was 5 or so, playing baseball in the back yard with his dad. It was special moments like those that kept the Bothell boy active and kickstarted his athletic career.

Today, the 14-year-old is a star runner for Canyon Park Junior High and competed at the USA Track and Field National Youth Cross Country Championships last December on the 2.5-mile Veterans Park course in Hoover, Ala.

Barringer is no longer a baseball guy, but he’s a “pretty busy athlete,” he says about playing basketball almost year round and running cross country and track.

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Karan Brar smiles wide as he races to the front door of his family’s Bothell home, hair flopping slightly above his eyes, extending his right hand for a strong shake.

He may be only 12 years old, stand only 4-foot-4 ½ inches tall and have a playful demeanor, but he also resembles a little man who means business.

Brar’s latest project is “Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules” (he also appears in the first installment), which opened at No. 1 at the box office the weekend of March 25-27. He plays Chirag Gupta in the movies based on Jeff Kinney’s popular books focusing on main character Greg Heffley’s tough, but also victorious middle-school experiences.

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Michael Christopher first points at his Toyota RAV 4 sport utility vehicle, and then swivels his body around and faces the gas pump. The price for regular unleaded — $3.61 a gallon at his normal Kenmore fill-up spot last week — causes him to cringe.

“I’m in the process of negotiating a Prius for that reason (soaring gas prices) … a Prius has great gas mileage. I used to have one, I’ve got a Toyota RAV 4 for work,” said the Kenmore resident.

As the fuel pours into his vehicle, Christopher notes that he usually spends about $170-$180 per month on gas to reach the office of his Seattle-based home-decor business and perform deliveries, as well. He added that with a Prius, he’ll cut the cost down to about $120 per month.

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Mr. Yuk has a crucial message for kids, and so does Kenmore’s Shelby Cole.

With her catchy slogan — “Don’t be a fool … Follow Mr. Yuk’s rules!” — and drawing of the green poison-safety mascot, the Arrowhead Elementary sixth-grader recently snagged top honors in the Washington Poison Center’s annual Poison Prevention Week poster contest.

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As she looks at a framed photo of her dog Max, a Rottweiler/Labrador mix, Anna Neumann gently touches the glass and speaks softly, as if she’s communicating with him.

“He lost the use of his back legs. At first, he was doing OK. We had surgery on him, he was very wobbly in the back,” said Neumann a former Bothell resident who now lives in Lynnwood, noting that Max also had open sores and a bladder infection. “Eventually, with Dr. Tina’s advice, we put him in one of those wheel carts and he spent seven years in that cart — he was as happy as a clam.”

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Roxanne Hamilton is a proud member of Team Pineapple and an even bigger devotee of longtime friend Cara Chamberlin, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in October of 2008.

“She was so supportive of my daughter, who had colon cancer. Cara walked in all the events to support cancer research,” said Kenmore’s Hamilton, whose daughter, Alexa, passed away at age 34 two-and-a-half years ago. “She’s a giver. She thinks of herself last always, and doesn’t want to let MS keep her from doing that.”

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At about 7:20 on a recent morning, the Kenmore Junior High cafeteria was nearly empty and as eerily silent as study hall. A few students spread out across the large room sat at tables, poring over their schoolbooks and notepads, leaving plenty of space for whatever activity was in store. Nicole Donovan flitted around the room, taping student homeroom lists to the tables, eyeing the empty boxes to the side and making sure everything was in order.

“Pretty soon, this room will be full of teenagers,” said a smiling Donovan, parent of two Kenmore Junior High students and social-services director of the school’s PTSA (Parents, Students, Teachers Association).

And then came the onslaught of students as the half-hour mark hit.

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As a youngster, Jon Bader felt that his calling in life was to be a Naval rescue swimmer, said his mom, Mary Jo.

The Bothell Cedar Park Christian 2007 graduate is helping with the relief efforts related to the recent 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan. Jon is stationed at the Atsugi Naval Air Station, which is south of Tokyo.

The massive quake hit the Pacific Ocean nearby northeastern Japan at around 2:46 p.m. March 11 (Japan standard time), triggering a tsunami.

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Darian MacRae spoke through tears Sunday evening, “She was a strong woman, an amazing person. I’m honored to be her daughter.”

The teenager was talking about Tina, or TMac as she was known around Inglemoor High, who passed away Feb. 27 at the age of 41. Darian was one of 11 speakers at her mom’s memorial attended by about 1,500 people in the school gymnasium.

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Richard Ito first met Stacy Murphy in 2003 at a Northshore School District administrative retreat. He was beginning his term as principal at Crystal Springs Elementary and she was starting out as principal at Westhill Elementary.

“She had a bright personality and was very upbeat,” said Ito, noting that over the years as her colleague, he found her to be “extremely conscientious, enthusiastic, and you could tell she loved children and she loved children’s literature.”

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