Sammamish Forum
November 25, 2008
Parkway must stop
Who in the city of Sammamish is benefiting by forcing through the East Lake Sammamish Parkway? A project that citizens have not only protested but brought evidence to bear that it is ill conceived.
Is it the City Council? Or is it the City Manager Ben Yazici? At the open house Michael O’Connell said, “This meeting is a sham. Your input has no bearing.” Read more
Review editorial
November 25, 2008
Share your bounty with a donation to the food bank
Last weekend’s Harvest Dance at Pickering Barn may well have been the first big fundraiser ever held with the sole purpose of benefiting the Issaquah Food Bank. Read more
School counseling could get a boost from Sween House
November 25, 2008
Ron Thiele, associate superintendent for the Issaquah School District, told the Sammamish City Council that school counselors have a trying workload.
The Sween House, near City Hall, will be used as a counseling center. Photo by J.B. Wogan
The good news is that the city plans to help.
The two public bodies met at City Hall Nov. 17, sharing progress reports and preparing each other for possible funding issues in the coming year.
Thiele described a troubling scenario in which counselors, funded by the districts rather than the state, have trouble effectively dealing with everyone’s problems.
The ratio, he said, was about 450 students per one counselor. Counselors are trained to deal with a range of issues including academic troubles, emotional problems, as well as drug and alcohol addiction. Read more
New Issaquah School Board member answers questions
November 25, 2008
Chad Magendanz was sworn in as an Issaquah School Board member Nov. 12 and hit the ground running by attending the Washington State School Director’s Association conference Nov. 18-22.
Chad Magendanz
Despite his hectic conference schedule, he took time to answer some questions from the Review.
Q: Why are you passionate about education?
A: I believe the strength of the United States is not the gold at Fort Knox or our weapons of mass destruction, but the total of the education and character of our people.
Q: What educational issue do you wish to tackle as a board member?
A: I believe the most critical issue is the impending education-funding crisis, which will be exacerbated in Issaquah because of our lower per-student funding and lower levy lid compared to neighboring districts. Some tough decisions will need to be made Read more
Group reaches out to African orphans
November 25, 2008
Beryl Pearson, of Issaquah, and Sammamish residents John Farrar and Braden Ahlemeyer Contributed
Members of the community gathered at a home in Sammamish Nov. 16 for the first Seeds of Hope open house.
The event brought Sammamish residents and members of the Missio Lux church together to make Christmas cards for the 34 Sudanese children whose housing and education the church supports.
Along with the card-making event, participants helped raise more then $1,200 to provide shoes and other needs for the sponsored children. Sudanese Lost Boy John Kher also attended, said Seeds of Hope organizer Angie Ahlemeyer. Read more
Fire agencies get clean audits
November 25, 2008
State finds no problems at EFR for a decade
In an exercise that has become almost routine, the State Auditor’s Office once again has found no financial problems with either Eastside Fire & Rescue or King County Fire District 10. Read more
Sammamish City Council adds $86,400 to proposed budget
November 25, 2008
Due to some unexpected funding from a recovered parks grant, City Council approved adding $86,400 to its proposed $112 million two-year budget. Read more
Police suspect flasher is gone
November 25, 2008
In late September, Redmond police were looking for a man who flashed several women on the East Lake Sammamish Trail.
Dancing wolves win
November 25, 2008
Contributed
The Eastlake Dance Team placed first in both the dance category and the pom category on Nov. 8 at the Lake Washington High School Dance and Drill competition at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland.
‘A multipurpose, walking community lifesaver’
November 25, 2008
Donna Belin to retire after 30 years of helping area families cope with the legal system
Donna Belin has made helping troubled children her life’s work. Now, after 30 years of finding support for children and families and shepherding them through the court system, she’s retiring.
Although the programs she’s pioneered will continue, many familiar with her work say she will be nearly impossible to replace.
“She is a multipurpose, walking community lifesaver,” said Deborah Akerstrom, president of the board that oversees Belin’s programs. “She’s one of the hardest working people I know and completely dedicated to helping families.”
Belin’s career started modestly. She and her husband Rick moved from Wisconsin to Sahalee — where she still lives — about 30 years ago. S
he began by volunteering at King County’s probation office.
She worked her way up and eventually found herself involved in, and in charge of, the Court Mentor Program.
The program takes young adults, typically from age 18 to their early 20s, and pairs them with an adult who can help them navigate the judicial system.
The young adults had been convicted of a crime and often had other problems, such as emotional or chemical dependency issues.
Mentors would help them comply with court orders and also help teach them life skills, like cooking or how to figure out the bus system.
Perhaps more importantly, Belin said, the program allows people to meet someone who would care about them. The mentors were dedicated, staying on the program an average of seven years.
“Our mentors were just incredible people,” she said.
In spite of the program working to reduce repeat offenses, the county still cut funding last year, dropping its budget from $60,000 annually to $6,000 — effectively killing the program.
However, another program is still going strong. Project Smart Turn, around for 15 years, reaches out to children ages 6-18, who are often having problems, particularly with behavior issues in school.
Most often, Belin finds that the families who need help most don’t know where to get it.
So, in this program, she does in-depth interviews with both parents and child. She then can refer them to a program she thinks can help them.
“They walk out of there with a plan of action,” she said. “I would say that 99.99 percent of the kids walk out of my office very positive.”
The program is a favorite in the Lake Washington School District, and she gets many referrals from the district.
One person who she works with, School Resource Officer Stan Chapin, said he, too, would be sad to see her go.
Chapin points out that Sammamish families have children with these sorts of problem, too, and that her work has been invaluable.
“Her care and concern for the community, it’s way up there,” he said, adding that he was impressed by the way Belin was always willing to take on a new client, no matter how many she already had.
“She always makes you feel you’re the sole case and you’ve got her full attention,” he said.
The programs are so popular that she is helping a new group take on the responsibilities, and will act as a volunteer consultant until new counselors get comfortable.
Her retirement will be anything but restful.
She plans to finish work on the Ph.D. she started about nine years ago when her husband died.
And she might have more time to spend with her two adult daughters and granddaughter.
She is continuing as executive director of King County’s Kids Court.
The program she pioneered, a model now recommended by the U.S. Depart-ment of Justice, helps children who are about to testify in court learn how it works.
Such youngsters are often going to be called in cases where they were abused, sometimes by their own parents.
The idea is to let them get comfortable in a courtroom, sit in a witness chair and meet a judge and a prosecutor before the difficult task of appearing in court.
It is that level of commitment that her peers will miss, Chapin said.
“The job’s not getting any easier and the funding’s not getting any better,” he said. “With the economy going the way it is, I bet there’s going to be the need for a couple of Donna Belins.”
Editor Ari Cetron can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 233 or samrev@isspress.com. To comment on this or any other story, visit www.sammamishreview.com.
