Her directive was clear and specific.
“Work hard.”
“Be safe.”
“Have fun.”
And, with that, Bothell’s new police chief Carol Cummings stepped forward to take the oath of office Feb. 1. She will follow in the leadership footsteps of Forrest Conover, a veteran of the Bothell force for 27 years, the last nine of which were as chief.
Family, well wishers and fellow county and city officers packed Bothell’s municipal courtroom to welcome Chief Cummings, a veteran of the King County Sheriff’s Department. Her boss, Sheriff Sue Rahr, had to hold back tears, expressing how much Cummings’ friendship and service had meant to her and the command force in the county law-enforcement world. Most of the top leaders of the King County department attended to honor her.
We saw a very human side of Cummings. She praised her mother, Virginia, for instilling in Carol and her four siblings (she being the youngest) a sense of honesty in everything they did. She was raised in a family that moved around a great deal with her father’s Air Force deployment. She introduced every member of her family, blood-related and extended.
Bothell’s police attended, dressed in their finest, to observe Judge Michelle Gehlsen administer the oath, a fitting tradition, clearly meaningful to Conover and his department.
“First’s” lawmakers
Luis Moscoso, one of two new state representatives from our First Legislative District, introduces himself as the Washington State Legislature’s first Peruvian-American in the state House of Representatives. His primary committee interest is in transportation while his fellow freshman seatmate from the First, Derek Stanford, was appointed vice chair of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. State Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe continues as the chair of the State Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee.
Scholarship notes
An unprecedented number of applications came to the Northshore Scholarship Foundation for 79 scholarships valued at $164,350 for academic year 2011-12. The winners will learn of their good fortune by May 1. Those with renewable scholarship opportunities have until March 15 to apply.
One new scholarship is being offered this year, for a graduate at Bothell High whose service to community and school has been exemplary. The $1,500 scholarship is being awarded in memory of one-time Bothell Mayor and Mrs. Charles Kaysner. With the awarding of 2011 scholarships, the foundation and sponsoring service clubs will have awarded nearly 1,500 scholarships and $1,891,120 since it was established in 1984.
Math tutors
Woodinville High is undertaking a pilot project that, if successful, might be recommended for all secondary schools in the Northshore School District. Discovering that an unacceptably high percentage of incoming sophomores had failed math requirements, student leaders on leadership retreat last summer suggested that the school organize an after school peer-to-peer math tutoring program for those students with supporting parents who are serious about improving math skills.
Encouraged by a $5,000 grant from Brittany Park Retirement Community and the Woodinville Rotary Club, the project got under way in January and Principal Vicki Puckett promises an evaluation at the end of the school year. Twenty-four students are committed with nearly as many peer tutors participating.
In supporting the concept, Rotary president Erv DeSmet noted, “the need to improve student proficiency in the area of mathematics and science is a known national priority: if our youth, as well as our country, are going to succeed in our globalized competitive world.”
New here?
With the developing revitalization of downtown Bothell and possible annexation of 25,000 residents in the near future, it occurred to me that Bothell will be welcoming many new people to live and work in our city of probably 68,000.
Much is about to change in the next decade. Looking at the past decade, the city is likely to grow by more than the 9.3 percent since 2000. More than 19.3 percent of the workers will live in Bothell. Daytime work population will certainly exceed today’s 8,500.
It would be nice to have an unofficial citizen’s list of “must visit” or “must learn about” sites of interest and importance to guide a newcomer. In a much earlier day with population about 3,000, there once existed a program called Welcome Wagon supported by the town’s merchants.
I need some reader assistance coming up with just such a list of the top 10. Your nominees are welcome. We’ll start including them in future columns. Some that come to my mind — Ranch Drive-in, Molbak’s, Country Village and Log Boom Park. Send yours to jb.hughes@comcast.net.
John B. Hughes was owner-publisher of the Northshore Citizen from 1961 to 1988 and is active in local nonprofit organizations.
