Local News

An activist group that failed in January to collect enough signatures to put Seattle’s plastic bag ban on the ballot, and then announced in March it was taking on a similar ban in Issaquah, is now taking the fight to Shoreline.

Save Our Choice, founded by West Seattle resident Craig Keller, announced Monday night it was joining with a group of Shoreline residents to collect signatures for a referendum petition.

The city passed its ban last week; it takes effect next February.

“We are a band of volunteer citizens dedicated to fiercely defending consumer and merchant choice and to questioning the authority of utopians,” Keller wrote in a news release.

Shoreline resident Tom Jamieson, who is co-organizing the petition drive, added that Ordinance No. 653 “unjustifiably restrains trade, punishes customers, provides no provable benefit to the environment, and includes no method for measuring reductions in waste or litter.”

The petition, posted on the Save Our Choice website, quotes Thomas Jefferson at one point: “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.”

The group said they have until May 29 to collect the signatures.

Issaquah police said a 56-year-old homeowner shot and wounded an intruder just before 1 this afternoon.

The intruder, a man in his mid-20s, had broken into the home in the 18500 block of Northwest Montreux Drive. He was taken to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center with a wound to the shoulder, said police.

Police said the homeowner was inside his home when he heard somebody ringing the doorbell. He looked outside, and, because he did not recognize the man at the door, ignored the doorbell.

Police said that a few moments later, the suspect threw an object through a glass front door to enter the home. The homeowner heard a loud crash and saw that the suspect had come inside.

The men struggled, said police, and the homeowner fired two shots from his handgun, striking the suspect once.

A delivery truck driver observed the scuffle, heard the shot and made the initial 911 call.

Police said the homeowner was treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Montreux is a 260-acre master planned community located on the northern slopes of Cougar Mountain.

An 82-year-old Issaquah woman, who was driving without headlights when her Chrysler crossed the centerline and crashed head-on into a truck Monday evening, has died.

After the collision happened in the 22800 block of Southeast 43rd Way around 6:45 p.m., Issaquah police say medics rushed Angela Guyot of Issaquah to Harborview Medical Center. She eventually died at Harborview Wednesday, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The driver of the Ford truck, a 31-year-old Renton man, escaped the accident with a minor wrist injury.

Public health officials have confirmed a second case of the measles in a King County resident who was exposed to a contagious traveler at Sea-Tac Airport on Jan. 18.

Officials said that before that person was diagnosed, he or she may have passed the disease onto others at the following locations:

QFC, 4570 Klahanie Dr. S., Issaquah

• Jan. 23rd between 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
• Jan. 24th between 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
• Jan. 25th between 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
• Jan. 29th between 12:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Starbucks, 4566 Klahanie Dr SE, Issaquah

• Jan. 26th between 9:00am –11:30 am

Those who may have contracted the virus from this second person with the measles diagnosis could see symptoms –  fever, unexplained rash, cough, runny nose, watery eyes — anytime between now and Feb. 19, according to a Public Health - Seattle & King County news release. 

Because the virus is extremely contagious, anyone who sees symptoms should notify his healthcare provider immediately and stay at home to avoid exposing others to the disease. If a visit to a healthcare facility is necessary, officials recommended calling ahead to make sure arrangements are made to keep other patients from contracting measles.

The measles virus is  highly contagious. It is spread mainly through the air after a person with measles coughs or sneezes, according to Public Health - Seattle & King County. Because most people in King County have immunity to measles through vaccination, the public-health department said, the risk of the disease spreading more to the general public is low.

People who know they were in the areas indicated above should, however, check to see to see if they have been vaccinated or had measles before.

The first measles case in King County this year was confirmed on Jan. 25 by a traveler who made a stop at Sea-Tac Airport on Jan. 18 between 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. More information on where travelers could have contracted the virus then is available on the Public Health – Seattle & King County website.

A man who led police on a high-speed chase was arrested in heavy woods near Tiger Mountain after being spotted by the King County Sheriff’s Office Guardian 1 helicopter.

A sheriff’s deputy on patrol in a residential neighborhood Thursday spotted a suspect who appeared to be attempting to burglarize a house in the 19500 block of Maxwell Road. The man jumped into his car and tried to run over the deputy as he sped away said Sgt. Cindi West, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office.

The deputy pursued the suspect on Highway 19 toward Interstate 90. Near mile post 27 the suspect fled into the woods on foot. Guardian 1 searched from the air. A pilot, using an infrared scope, spotted a ‘hot spot’ that wasn’t visible to the naked eye. The pilot directed deputies on the ground to the location where they found the suspect hiding in heavy brush.

The 27-year-old Issaquah man was arrested and booked into the King County Jail.

The Associated Press

ISSAQUAH –  Black bear sightings aren’t unusual in east Seattle suburbs such as Issaquah but the sight of an adult bear and three cubs rambling across the campus of an elementary school prompted a brief lockdown.

Officials at Issaquah Valley Elementary School alerted police and the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife when they saw the bears Wednesday morning.

KOMO-TV reports that the lockdown was lifted around noon after wildlife officers confirmed the bears were no longer nearby.

Fish and Wildlife Officer Bruce Richards says the bears likely left the woods for a nearby creek in search of salmon. He suggests people just leave the bears alone.

King County Metro Transit has announced a plan to fix some of the most severe crowding caused by last week’s huge service change.

The Route 218, from the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel to Issaquah Highlands, was so full that last Monday, a driver waved riders aboard without paying to avoid delaying buses and trains behind. Later a clump of about 10 riders were bypassed twice, waiting more than 30 minutes for a bus that had room. Crowding continued all week.

So starting Monday, Oct. 15, the afternoon 218 buses will skip Eastgate Freeway Station on their way out to Issaquah. This will force Eastgate riders out of the Seattle tunnel and up to Second Avenue to catch Eastgate-bound route 212, 216, or 554 – instead of sharing the 218 and displacing Issaquah riders as happened last week.  Metro initially thought it could improve service by reducing bus frequency on 218 and adding buses to the busier 212, but the strategy backfired.

Over in West Seattle, Metro just added two buses to the new RapidRide C Line in the morning and two in afternoon to provide frequency every eight or nine minutes.  There was ample room Monday on the 8:26 bus, and the 8:31 bus leaving Alaska Junction was only one-third full, but the Columbus Day holiday may have kept some commuters home. Riders told West Seattle Blog an 8:05 bus became packed and skipped riders downstream.

Metro says transit ridership has grown compared to counts just a few months ago. On the other hand, some West Seattle buses no longer go all the way downtown, as Metro funnels its lines, customers and dollars into RapidRide.

Seattle isn’t the only place law enforcement is cracking down on marijuana collectives:  King County Sheriff’s detectives say they seized a portion of 536 marijuana plants and about 65 pounds of processed marijuana they found at the Issaquah home of a registered felon today.

Detectives serving a search warrant on the 12700 block of 195 Place Southeast at about 10 a.m. discovered the home allegedly had a “collective grow” of medical marijuana, according to a King County Sheriff’s Office release. In addition to expired paperwork for growing the medical marijuana, detectives said they also found the registered felon illegally possessed a handgun.

“Due to compliance issues,” according to the release, detectives were able to seize only 401 of the 536 plants and 50 of the 65 pounds of the processed marijuana. The handgun and cash found at the house were also seized.

None of the house’s occupants were arrested, however. Detectives have forwarded the case to the King County Prosecutor’s Office for review.

Maureen McCarry, an Issaquah City Councilmember from 1998 to 2000 and from 2006 to 2010, died Wednesday, The Issaquah Press reports.

McCarry resigned from the council in December 2010, after she was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. A 40-acre woodland on Squak Mountain, acquired by the city at her urging, was named McCarry Woods in her honor.

The Issaquah Press obituary can be found at http://www.issaquahpress.com/2012/07/05/former-councilwoman-maureen-mccarry-dies/#more-74775

Issaquah has become the sixth Washington city to approve a ban on grocery-store carry-out plastic bags.

The Issaquah City Council voted 5-2 Monday night in favor of the ban after a lengthy hearing, said City Councilman Mark Mullet, who backed the ban.   It will take effect March 1 next year.

Other Washington cities that have voted to ban plastic bags are Seattle, Bellingham, Edmonds, Mukilteo and Bainbridge Island.

Seattle’s measure takes effect July 1.  It bans plastic carry-out grocery sacks, but does not prohibit plastic bags used for produce and bulk food.  It will also include a 5-cent charge on grocery-store paper sacks.

Robb Krehbiel of Environment Washington said several other cities are considering bans, and a statewide ban will be proposed to the Legislature.

Plastic bags can harm whales, seals and salmon, Krehbiel said.  In 2010, a beached grey whale in West Seattle was found with 20 plastic bags in its stomach.