Off the Press
May 15, 2012
Tragedy yields changed perspectives
Warren Kagarise Press reporter
Memories from the afternoon remain fresh months after the last gunshots echoed across the Clark Elementary School campus, even as the incident recedes deeper into the past.
Downtown Issaquah transformed into a crime scene Sept. 24, as a gunman menaced residents and later died in a police shootout.
The incident receded into memory for most people not long afterward. Still, the investigation continued and throughout the process, the events from Sept. 24 remained close to me.
A stack of documents from the King County Sheriff’s Office investigation sits on my desk. Photos from the incident still flicker across my computer screen. I speak to sources about the investigation at least once each week.
The inquest into the incident starts May 21 at the King County Courthouse. I plan to report from the official inquiry into the event, too.
Off the Press
May 8, 2012
Friends care enough to say don’t drink and drive
Greg Farrar Press photographer
You young people who are now high school seniors were newborn babies when I started working here at The Press, so there’s obviously the implication that I’ve taken pictures of a lot of you throughout your 12 years of classroom activities here in the Issaquah School District.
You might remember those times, and in fact your parents might have saved the clippings! You’ve been one of the great pleasures of my job.
In just about a month, you’ll be graduating from Skyline, Issaquah, Liberty and Tiger Mountain Community high schools. I expect to see you at Safeco Field or the Tiger Mountain campus for your commencement. Congratulations to all of you!
The important thing is that you all live long and happy lives afterward, so if you’ll read along for a minute, I’d like to talk about that Liberty High School DUI demonstration that ran in the paper last week.
Off the Press
May 1, 2012
Finally, a Hallmark holiday I can support
David Hayes Press reporter
I have long used this space to spout off against contrived occasions (Valentine’s Day, I’m talking about you).
However, when it comes to Mother’s Day, I think this is one deserving observance that the country got right.
Think about it — take any athlete, growing up, playing catch with Dad, being taught how to throw a curve ball or that perfect spiral. After successfully navigating all the levels of sports, from amateur to professional, and as that television camera pans over to him, what’s the first words that come out of his mouth?
“Hi, Mom.”
Although I never made it into professional sports, it was with my own mom that I first got behind the wheel of the family car and attempted to navigate city streets. I do believe that’s also where I first observed that anxiety really does cause white knuckles.
Off the Press
April 24, 2012
Christina lords Press reporter
Long and winding road comes to a sad end
I’m seated in the waiting room of Issaquah’s Midas Muffler and Brake Shop as Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” drifts through speakers overhead, but I don’t have to wait long.
The Midas man steps in through the door holding a section of rusty muffler from my 1995 Kia Sephia.
Before he even gets a word out, I know. Our 10-year run together is over.
Midas man, bless his heart, lets me down easy. It’ll cost $600 to $900 to fix, more than the car is worth.
I’ll explain my situation. I’ve been scrimping and saving for a down payment — $50 dollars here, $25 there — for a new car for nearly two years. I have $2,000 saved. Paying to fix the Kia (affectionately pronounced by her pet name “ki-uh” for years) now just doesn’t make financial sense.
Off the Press
April 17, 2012
Kathleen Merrill Press managing editor
It seems to me that fewer people on the planet have learned anything about manners these days. Or maybe they just aren’t using them.
I was at Amante restaurant downtown recently to catch the awesome band Creme Tangerine. There was a group of people who were having a private party and they would not sit down. Now this wouldn’t have been a problem except they made up a huge wall between the band and the rest of the people in the restaurant, who came to see the band.
In fact, they were so rude that they wouldn’t even sit down after the lead singer of the band politely asked them to. (And I won’t repeat what some of them shouted back. This is a family newspaper, after all.)
And no, for the most part, until right near the end, these people weren’t dancing and having a good time. They were talking, drinking and sometimes swearing. Loudly.
Off the Press
April 10, 2012
Warren Kagarise Press reporter
A century after disaster, Titanic still captivates
Long before “Titanic” the film — and long before every member of my generation and I thronged to the multiplex for repeated screenings — at age 6, I discovered a book in my school library about the disaster.
Captivated, I sought out everything I could about the doomed ocean liner — a morbid fascination for a first-grader, for sure. Other disasters piqued my interest — Hindenburg, Lusitania, et al — but only the Titanic remained a full-blown obsession.
I leafed through oceanographer Robert Ballard’s “The Discovery of the Titanic” so often the spine started to disintegrate. I used more care to handle the National Geographic issue about the discovery — December 1985, pilfered from my grandparents’ meticulously curated collection.
In Don Lynch, a pre-eminent Titanic historian based in Los Angeles, I found a kindred spirit.
Off the Press
April 3, 2012
Greg Farrar Press photographer
EFR has new tools against disasters
P ower tools are so awesome! Your obedient correspondent loves to fix, build and clean messes with — among other tools — his table saw, drill, sander, chain saw and motorized plumbing snake. As Tim the Toolman Taylor would say, “Grunt, grunt, grunt!”
That’s why visiting Eastside Fire & Rescue’s Structural Collapse Rescue Training Exercise on March 27 was like being a kid in a candy shop.
Hydraulic concrete drills! Petrogen cutting torches! Water-cooled, hydraulic-driven concrete chain saws!
Donning a hardhat and earplugs, I shot photos as firefighters used the opportunity to become familiar with the new tools, received from a federal Department of Homeland Security Urban Area Security Initiative grant.
EFR Capt. Pete Brummel, as a member of a regional committee, was able to coordinate the distribution of tools to fire departments serving Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Tukwila, South King County and EFR, which received $100,000 in equipment.
Off the Press
March 27, 2012
What’s for dinner may cause loss of appetite
Tom Corrigan Press reporter
If recent news about “pink slime” in beef has given you indigestion, you might want to skip this.
Then again, you might lose a few pounds if you pay close attention.
For those not in the know, “pink slime” is the derisive name given to what’s technically called “finely textured beef.” It’s basically made from the parts of the cow that aren’t normally eaten by humans and are traditionally used for dog food. According to various sources, the stuff is created when beefy leftovers are boiled and thrown into a centrifuge to separate the “meat” from the bones and fat.
When the process is complete, in the pictures I’ve seen, the stuff looks like bright pink toothpaste and appears to have about the same consistency. The goop comes from the parts of the cow more susceptible to E. coli, salmonella and other nice bacteria, so the meat makers treat it with ammonia. You know, the stuff used to clean floors?
Off the Press
March 20, 2012
Grilling season comes sooner every year
I was thinking, with the universally acknowledged unofficial start to the barbecue season — Memorial Day weekend — still two months away, now would be the perfect time to air my grievances regarding the uniquely American pastime.Like Valentine’s Day, I can’t seem to go along with just getting along when it comes to artificial contrivances. Barbecue season seems to be one of those occasions.
For starters, Old Man Winter hasn’t even released his cold grip on the frigid weather around here and my wife is already planning her first pug meetup group’s themed get-together — a Southern barbecue.
I suppose a true grill master would tell me he barbecues year ’round, rain or shine, snow or hail, fish or pork, the charcoal stays fired up. Well, I’m also a fair-weather golfer, so my grilling tools, like my golf clubs, get put up for the winter, to be dusted off come late spring.
Off the Press
March 13, 2012
Luck be an ashtray tonight
Christina Lords Press reporter
As I rolled over and brushed the sleep from my eyes Sunday morning, I had a powerful first thought to the day.
“Good God,” I thought, wrinkling my nose in disgust. “What is that smell?”
To my own horror, it struck me. The smell wasn’t originating from the garbage can in my apartment. It wasn’t wafting in from outside. It was emanating from me — à la Eau de Parfum Cigarettebutt.
Joining a friend, I ventured out the night before to check out the Snoqualmie Casino. With an ever-present affinity for Las Vegas, I thought it an excellent opportunity to try out some actual gambling tactics that require more than pushing shiny buttons on a slot machine without the expensive plane ride to Nevada.
A woman on a mission, I wanted to learn table games — especially the ways of the wheel in roulette. (Craps, as it turns out, still remains a mystery to me.)
