With the passing of Bothell High’s Homecoming and December almost here, the back-to-school rush has finally died down and students seem to have settled into a routine. However, for many seniors, the pressure is still on.
If you haven’t started your holiday shopping, you might want to hold on to your wallet. Gov. Chris Gregoire wants the state to dig deeper into your pocket to help bail-out the state budget.
I was thankful to go to sleep Nov. 8 knowing that Initiative 1183 had passed, successfully privatizing the sales of liquor in the state of Washington.
Stand up and be counted: and please sign your name.
Starting on Nov. 17, the Bothell-Kenmore Reporter will discontinue its current online-comments format — in which readers speak anonymously about stories — and implement a new comment-moderation policy through Facebook, where people will be identified by their real names.
Over the past 150 years, the University of Washington and the people of the state of Washington have worked together to create one of the most livable, innovative and vibrant areas of the nation.
The UW has provided world-class education to generations of leaders, thinkers and doers who have contributed to our state in countless ways. The UW, along with its alumni and friends, shares a concern with the citizens of our state for the well-being of people everywhere and of the planet we all share. That’s what drives our spirit of discovery and desire to keep searching for better, healthier ways to learn, live and work.
Election signs stolen, cut up and tossed away?
Teachers being harassed because of who they’re supporting?
That’s what I’ve heard over the last two weeks, and it doesn’t sit right with me.
Whatever happened to running a fair campaign and letting people decide for themselves — without others’ harsh judgement — who they want to vote for in the Nov. 8 general election?
The King County Council has worked very hard over the last four years to keep the county’s financial health from deteriorating during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. This year, we are facing a new reality. Even though revenues are starting to improve, they are not growing at rates that will sustain us. But a crisis can also be an opportunity.
The County Council continues to ensure that your tax dollars are used wisely within our balanced budget. We are working smarter, finding efficiencies and initiating reforms that have transformed King County government.
Jenny and Joel Madrazo cherished the moments whenever they heard their son’s voice over the phone. During those calls back home, Bothell native Lt. Nicholas Aaron Madrazo was stationed in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marine Corps.
Three years ago, on Sept. 9, 2008, the 25-year-old was in the mountains of Kapisa Province, Afghanistan, supporting combat operations when his Humvee hit an improvised explosive device. He was killed along with Capt. Jesse Melton, Navy Corpsman Eickmann Strickland and an Afghan interpreter.
As I poked around downtown Bothell last week, I peered through a fence over by the old Bothell Landing and noticed a flock of ducks cruising through the grass.
Who knows where they were headed, but in less than two years, cars are scheduled to be driving through that same area when State Route 522 is realigned. That’s just one change on tap for the 102-year-old city of Bothell, which recently received a 2011 Municipal Excellence Award for economic development on its downtown revitalization project.
I was stopped at a stop sign in Bothell recently when I noticed the person across from me was on their cell phone. It was her turn and everyone was waiting for her to move, but she was probably too busy telling her friend her favorite spaghetti recipe to notice.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m shocked by the number of people who continue to consciously break the law and use their handheld cell phones. I’ve seen them chatting away while driving down the freeway, trying to navigate through busy parking lots and on residential streets where they think no one will notice. And what really gets me is the driver who holds the phone on speaker a few inches from their face and acts like they’re not doing anything wrong.
Many of us can point to one of our school teachers who helped lead the way to our future endeavors. My parents, both former elementary and junior-high instructors, encouraged me to follow my own path and discover what was right for me instead of following the pack. I found writing was what suited me best, and a college instructor later gave me a jolt of support to take it more seriously than I had at the time and try and make a career of it.
When asked to highlight the life of the late Jeanne Edwards, the description of “ultimate civic volunteer” was my first and lasting thought.
I recall a life that spanned Campfire leadership all the way through a remarkable public life that included a number of years representing her community in the state Legislature. She was a champion for children, her community and her family.
As a sports writer for a local community newspaper, the busiest and most exciting time of the year is usually at the end of May, during state championship weekend for prep spring sports. This year was certainly no exception as a number of local teams did extremely well and deserve to be commended for their efforts on the diamond, track and soccer pitch.
On May 6, at Inglemoor High, a dramatic and frightful scene was reenacted as part of the annual DUI assembly. With the help from several student actors, medics, police officers and firefighters, an entire portrayal of a real accident was put on for the graduating class of 2011.
All the actors in the simulation were Inglemoor High seniors and none of them had practiced before the performance. It was all done on the spot.
Across the hood of a wrecked green sedan was the “corpse” of senior Leigh Douglas, who had been thrown through the windshield and killed on impact when a drunk driver hit the car she was riding in. For nearly the entire assembly, Douglas laid across the hood in the wind and rain, covered in masterfully applied fake blood.
Kelly Clark’s appreciation for those who help others is never-ending.
Three years ago yesterday, the Bothell resident was involved in a serious automobile accident. Almost a year later, she was out and about, visiting with family members, friends and an emergency medical service (EMS) first-responder at Sparta’s Pizza, thanking everyone for their support.
I was honored to be there that day, and was welcomed into the fold even though I was a stranger to most of the crowd. It was a celebration of life — and everyone can take part.
The Northshore Scholarship Foundation will award 79 scholarships this month with two of them at the record-breaking value of $7,500.
The recipients are Heidi Schauble and Mea Pen, both students at University of Washington, Bothell next fall, and who are graduates of the Secondary Academy for Success (SAS) and Woodinville High, respectively.
Eric Greenwood, foundation vice president, noted that the scholarships are renewable and are named “Make a Difference” grants intended to help students enter or continue in college whose financial circumstances might otherwise have precluded their pursuing higher education. Eric is also the chair for Literacy, Education and Scholarships for Woodinville Rotary Club, which funds both grants from proceeds of the club’s annual fall community auction.
Before Monday afternoon, the last time I visited Phyllis Hopkins at her nursery on 100th Avenue Northeast in Bothell was to interview her for a June 2005 story.
“We love being surrounded by this … it’s an extension of our lives. I don’t know what our lives would be like without this,” she told me then.
At the end of May, the nursery’s 86 years in Bothell will come to an end because developers who bought the land from the family have decided to start building houses on the 10-acre site.
We see it on the streets, on television commercials and sticking out from the magazine rack in the checkout line at the local grocery store. The message is plastered on the sides of buses, on the faces of billboards and on the covers of teen magazines. A message that screams — in all of its seemingly subtle ways — you, too, can be beautiful… if you are thin.
Society today has an expectation of what is considered attractive, and there are hardly any signs of this ideal changing. The old definition of beauty seems to have been swept under the bony underbelly of the beauty and fashion industry. In its place, is an idolatry of bony and paper-thin.
The current 30-year-old teacher and principal evaluation system is antiquated and must be rebuilt. Our educators need a modern-day roadmap that defines expected high standards and provides professional development opportunities to get there. An improved evaluation system will ensure every child has a high-quality teacher in their classroom.
“Awesome,” “marvelous,” “spectacular,” “wonderful,” “super duper” and “cool” are favorite expressions third-graders at Canyon Creek Elementary used in describing the…
