Uninvited guest
July 30, 2008
Bear appears in residents’ yard
Scott Owen headed into his kitchen at about 6:30 a.m. July 14, ready to start his day. That’s Read more
Parks bond on ballot
July 30, 2008
$19 million measure is city’s first park initiative
When Sammamish homeowners head to the polls this fall they will vote for more than a new United States president – they will also have the chance to tax themselves to provide financial support for parks and recreation facilities.
The Sammamish City Council will place two parks measures on the Nov. 4 ballot.
The first asks homeowners to pay 14 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation per year for capital construction.
The bond would raise about $19 million, $18 million for the construction plus $1 million in bond fees.
The construction fee would last 20 Read more
Board approves sewer rate hike
July 30, 2008
More than 50,000 people in parts of Sammamish, Issaquah and unincorporated King County will soon pay more for water and sewer service.
The Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District, which is one of two sewer authorities serving the city, has raised its service rates by 9 percent and increased its connection fees fo Read more
Swedish wins another legal round, Overlake appeals
July 30, 2008
In the ongoing legal tug-of-war between the Swedish and Overlake healthcare organizations over which one should build a new hospital in Issaquah, Swedish has seen crucial decisions go its way. The streak continued July 3, when Swedish won another favorable Read more
Review editorial
July 30, 2008
Death with Dignity initiative promotes humane choice
Last month, Initiative 1000, Death with Dignity, was submitted to the state for inclusion on the state ballot. I-1000 didn’t just get the necessary signatures, its volunteers gathered 320,000 signatures, 50 percent more than was necessary.
Gail Sorenson is a good example of why. Family members like Gail, who have watched their loved ones suffer through their ending days in severe pain – and no other real options – are now the volunteers behind Washington State’s Death with Dignity campaign.
We hope voters will be, too. It’s not about right to life, it’s about the right to a semblance of quality of life.
No one, like Gail’s mother, should have to consciously choose to starve to death to get out from under the pain of an illness whose prognosis is death. Without having walked in Gail’s shoes, readers can certainly imagine how hard that must be for both the patient and the family members who must bear witness to a slow, agonizing death.
If the majority of voters say yes, I-1000 will apply only to mentally competent patients who are capable of making their own decision and self administering the oral medication necessary to help them die a few months earlier than they would have otherwise. A medical professional has to ascertain that they have six months or less to live, the decision must be made in writing and witnessed, and then there are two waiting periods built in to allow the patient to change his/her mind.
The Washington initiative is based on the Oregon model that was approved there more than a decade ago.
Opponents of the Right to Life movement should be in favor of this death option. Whereas a fetus has no choice, this law would allow the dying patient to make his/her own choice about how to exit. Some will argue that can only be God’s choice. Proponents see it as God helping those who help themselves.
Some opponents of I-1000 will refer to the life-death option as assisted suicide, but this has no resemblance to suicide. It is a humane end to a life that is already ending.
Sammamish Forum
July 30, 2008
Check priorities
I think the people of Sammamish better take notice right now of the plans being made for Sammamish Landing, which I see mentioned in the July 23 issue of the Sammamish Review.
Do we need a waterfront development where people Read more
Local foundation gives scholarships to needy
July 30, 2008
It has disbursed almost $64 million in scholarship awards, helped more than 4,600 underprivileged students attend college, and is funded by Bill and Melinda Gates, Costco and others.
Nestled in an office building on Sammamish Road just past Read more
Police suspect turns informant, thwarts a burglary
July 30, 2008
Craig Walker is grateful for the fine police work practiced in Sammamish. Acting on a tip from the interrogation of a petty, neighborhood criminal, Walker was able to protect his computer repair shop from a planned break-in targeting his high tech electronics.
“When you get a tip like this, it’s not Read more
Broadhurst petitions to enter LWSD schools
July 30, 2008
Redmond resident Blythe Manson has begun a petition drive that could end up sending new students to Sammamish area schools, specifically Alcott Elementary and Eastlake High School.
Manson’s neighborhood, Broadhurst, currently sends its children to the Snoqualmie Valley School District. The boundaries for that district were drawn in 1944, long before there were at least 11 Lake Washington schools closer to her neighborhood than any Snoqualmie Valley school, she said.
So, Manson and about 185 other Broadhurst Read more
Freed House to be cut, reassembled
July 30, 2008
The city will slice an old pioneer farmhouse from the 1890s in half in order to preserve it.
The City Council will pay BOLA Architecture and Planning up to $25,000 to cut the city-owned Freed House in half and then move and re-connect it. The company Read more
