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These five stories comprise my entry in the Newswriter of the Year category.
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By EMILy GARLAND
Downtown Renton is back in business — mostly. It’s been barely a week since a five-alarm fire lit up a 90-year-old build-ing on Wells Avenue South, but most of the damaged businesses are now back to business as usual, or getting there.
With help from loyal custom-ers, most of the five businesses hit hardest by Thursday night’s fire were either open for busi-ness Wednesday or had plans to open soon, either in their origi-nal shops or in new locations.
The two businesses most heavily devastated by the flames, smoke and water used to douse Thursday night’s fire were the shops just below one of the 10 boarding rooms where the fire started.
Those two businesses are The Comic Den and A-1 Vacuum and Locksmith.
The building was uninsured.“We lost everything,” Comic
Den owner Howard Wheatley said. “Hundreds of titles ... Bat-man, Flash, Superman ... also personal memento type stuff.”
Wheatley and his wife Tonya own The Comic Den.
Most of the lost comics were in the two back rooms of the shop. Just one of those rooms held more than 50,000 comics.
Fortunately, the newer comics for sale in the front of the shop were better protected, as were a lot of the shop’s vintage reads, from the 1950s through the ‘70s.
Many of these books are now for sale in the new Comic Den on South Third Street, just steps away from the burned-out Wells building.
The South Third Street build-ing had been vacant for about 12 years. Both buildings are owned by Robert Delancey.
The Comic Den reopened in its new digs Wednesday with a fresh shipment of comics.
Locksmith Tom Swanson of A-1 Vacuum and Locksmith hopes to follow his former neighbor’s example and reopen in a storefront farther down South Third Street.
But transforming that South Third Street storefront from storage space for Naan -N- Curry into a new shop for A-1 Vacuum and Locksmith will
require electrical work, building permits and money.
And money is something Swanson doesn’t have a lot of, especially after the fire. Aside from his key blanks, which help him make keys for customers, and his truck, another vital part of his business, Tom lost every-thing in the flames and water.
His brother Bud, who runs the vacuum side of things, also lost everything, aside from a couple bags and belts.
Still, Tom is hoping money
from a U.S. Bank fund one of his customers set up will help him get back to business in that South Third Street shop with his locks and his brother’s vacuums.
Aside from CK Nails, the three businesses just around the corner from the burned-out Wells Avenue building have fared better than their neigh-bors.
“Yes! We’re open!” Those words are spelled out in bubbly letters on a window at Common Ground Coffee & Cupcakes. The store suffered smoke damage in the fire, but still managed to fill a wedding order for 120 cup-cakes by the next afternoon. The bride was so happy she cried.
OFF-Leash DOg park | RUFF needs some help this weekend [3]
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Local | Take an historic ride on a miniature railroad with Jim and Sandy Arlint in the Highlands.[3]
Preps | It was quite a successful year for high schools sports teams in Renton. [21]
Getting back to business after fire
By DEAN A. RADFORD
The 10 boarding rooms de-stroyed in a five-alarm fire last Thursday night in downtown Renton each had smoke alarms, but the nearly 90-year-old build-ing had no sprinklers or a fire-alarm system.
Typically, buildings of that age, and even newer, don’t have such modern fire-suppression systems and warnings, which weren’t required by building codes when the buildings were constructed.
The heavily damaged two-story building at 232 Wells Ave. S. was built in 1921, according to King County property re-cords. The building is owned by Robert Delancey and is valued for property-tax purposes in 2009 at $435,500, including the land, according to King County.
The building was not insured; according to building manager Roy Beeler, it’s going to be torn down. Remodeling would require that the building be brought up to modern fire and building codes.
Room 9, where the fire started, had a working alarm when the tenant moved in six years ago, Beeler said. But, Beeler said he didn’t hear the alarm when he briefly went inside the room to in-vestigate why smoke was coming
Boardingrooms haddetectors,no alarm
[ more DETECTORS page 4 ]
Five-alarm firedestroys 90-year-old building, but not spirit of business to recover
videoS onlinerentonreporter.com
rich nesbitt, left, and Howard Wheatley unpack the week’s shipment of new comics at The Comic Den Wednesday. Wheatley is owner of The Comic Den and Nesbitt is a longtime employee. Along with new comics, the shop has a new location at 822 S. Third St. The Comic Den’s previous spot on Wells Avenue South was destroyed in the five-alarm fire on June 11. emIly gARlAND, Renton Reporter
FyI CAUSE, PHOTOS, PAGE 18
[ more BUSINESS page 19]
June 19, 2009[4] www.rentonreporter.com
under the front door.The tenant was at dinner when the fire
started, caused by overheated electrical outlets.
But an escape route, not smoke alarms that brought fire inspectors to the building just a few hours before the fire was called in to 911 at about 7 p.m. Thursday, June 11.
The rooming house is entered through a stairway off Wells Avenue; there is an interior stairway in the back of the building that acts as a secondary way to access the second floor. It also served as an escape route in a fire.
City of Renton fire officials have been concerned because the escape route leads to the front door of A-1 Vacuum and Lock-
smith and eventually Wells Avenue.However, the front door was secured
with multiple locks, according to the city’s lead fire inspector, Ted Hickey. The owners agreed to install a manual thumb screw lock on the door that someone simply turns to open the door, without needing a key.
The inspectors were there before the fire Thursday to make sure that tenants could get out of the building using the back stair-way in case of fire.
“They complied with everything the city asked them to do,” said Hickey of the build-ing owner.
That escape route wasn’t needed. The tenants in the building at the time escaped through the main front entrance, except for
[ DETECTOR from page 1]
[ more DETECTOR page 5 ]
Escape route concerned city
The June 11 fire gutted nearly all the 10 boarding rooms on the second floor of the building; the fire started in the back of the building, sparing some rooms closer to Wells Avenue South from extensive damage, unlike this one. deAn A. rAdford, Renton Reporter
[5]June 19, 2009www.rentonreporter.com
one who was rescued by ladder from one of the front windows by arriving Renton fire crews.
According to Beeler, the rooms weren’t inspected for smoke alarms on Thursday, which wasn’t the pur-pose of the city’s visit. It’s the tenant’s responsibility to maintain the smoke alarms, including installing fresh batteries, he said.
Beeler said tenants are not allowed to smoke in their rooms. And, he said, if they do smoke, they will sometimes remove the batteries from the smoke alarm.
Hickey said Renton isn’t alone in dealing with aging buildings that don’t meet modern safety standards.
“They are as safe as they can be,” he said of the buildings. “We can’t make them (the owners) comply with every regulation.”
A secondary exit and a smoke alarm is required, however.
The seven tenants will move into a building Delancey owns just around the corner at 824 S. Third St. that has 22 rooms on the second floor and retail space on the street level that has been vacant for more than a decade.
This building is valued at just over $1 million, including land, for property-tax purposes, according to King County. It was built in 1910, according to the county.
One of the businesses in the Wells Avenue building, the Comic Den, moved into half of the vacant retail space this week.
There’s an indication that Delancey plans to insure his building on Third Street, according to Beeler.
The Third Street building has a fire-alarm system, with a battery backup, according to Beeler. It has an exterior fire escape on the outside of the building, next to Wells Avenue.
The fire escape will undergo a routine inspection, done every five years, in the next few weeks, according to city fire officials.
[ DETECTOR from page 4]
Boarders to move nearby
Renton fire inspectors determined that overloaded outlets and power strips, like the one at the bottom of this photo, in Room 9 caused the fire. dean a. RadfoRd, Renton Reporter
www.rentonreporter.com [3]February 26, 2010
LOCAL
RE
NT
ON
By DEAN A. [email protected]
She sat there, a coun-selor standing at her side, in tears, worried about her gravely ill grandchild in the emergency room at Valley Medical Center.
It was an emotional time for Judy Findlay, the grand-mother of four, all seven or younger. She clutched a small stuffed cat.
But the “child” she touched on the bed in front of her was a doll. Still, if she needed motivation she only need think of her real grandkids in such a life-threatening situation.
Findlay of Kent was one of 10 actors hired by the designers of the hospital’s new seven-story Emergen-cy Services Tower to make 32 emergencies as real as possible for the emergency room’s staff.
The simulations were done for eight days before the opening of the hospital’s new emergency room early Thursday morning. About 100 volunteers also partici-pated in supporting roles, such as family members.
“I am very proud of them,” Findlay said of the staff. “This is a very difficult job.”
The simulations were scripted by NBBJ, which designed the recent major expansion of Valley Medical Center, including the $115 million South Tower which houses the Emergency Department.
“This is not about testing the staff ’s competence,” said Lynne Shira, an NBBJ prin-cipal. “This is about getting them comfortable with their new environment.”
And it was about testing the performance of the new building in order to do fine-tuning before it actually opened, said Jacob
Simons, an NBBJ designer, camera around his neck, who watched closely as the scenarios unfolded.
The building, Simons said, is performing “won-derfully.”
This is also the first time that NBBJ has done a full simulation with profes-sional actors, as an effort to make the exercise “as real as possible,” Shira said.
The emergency room
staff, about 150 strong, participated in the simula-tions. The staff includes technicians, nurses and doctors, crisis counselors, security, maintenance and housekeeping.
Some of the actors “ar-rived” by medic unit, staffed by Renton fire crews, in the covered ambulance bay vis-ible from South 43rd Street.
Actor Ben Gonia got a plum role as a belligerent drunk. He laid quietly in the medic unit while he was checked over. That changed when he got inside the ER.
His friend, played by Nick Edwards, became a test for security when he tried to get Gonia off the stretcher. Gonia’s belliger-ence kicked in.
It took several guards and ER staff to get Gonia under control in an isolation
room. He was placed in restraints. “This is to keep you safe,” a nurse told him, and everyone else.
Edwards sat next door in the Family Room talking to a counselor.
A nurse used her cell phone to call a doctor.
One of they key tests of the scenarios is to get staff used to communicating with something other than their voices. There was just one nurses station in the old ER, so everyone worked in close quarters.
But the new ER has four nurses stations spread out over the length of the facil-ity, so technology will help keep staff connected.
Keeping a close eye on the simulations was Scott Alleman, the hospital’s senior vice president for patient-care services.
“I am looking at every-thing,” he said. He starts thinking about the patients and their families the min-ute they enter the hospital’s campus.
The simulations were de-signed to test the assump-tions about how the new ER would work.
“You have to find out whether what you thought would work really works,” he said.
The hospital has done simulations in the past, just not with actors, he said. The actors added realism. “It was a shock the first day,” he said.
The simulations help staff become “emotionally girded” for the first day, he said.
Because of the nature of their jobs, the ER staff is trained to deal with uncer-tainty. They already know how to keep the adrenaline rush under control.
“We are ready,” Alleman said. “Just bring it on.”
After ER simulation, ‘ just bring it on’
Valley Medical opens new eMergency rooM
The new emergency room at Valley Medical Center is open.
The hospital began redirecting emergency patients to the state-
of-the-art Emergency Department in the new South Tower at about
5:30 a.m. Thursday.Patients already in the emergency
room when the switch was made remained there until their emergency care was completed.
Access to the emergency room has changed dramatically. Visitors and patients must access the new emergency room from South 43rd
Street. Entrances are marked. Westbound traffic on 43rd Street
will turn into the new marked entrance at the South Tower.
Eastbound traffic will take an immediate right on Davis Avenue from 43rd Street after going over State Route 167 to an access road
that goes under 43rd Street and to the tower and its parking garage.
The driveway to the existing emergency room is no longer
accessible and does not provide access to the new emergency
room in the tower next to it.There is valet parking and
short-term parking spaces at the southeast corner of the waiting
room on the surface level of the new emergency room. The parking garage is below, with elevators to the upper floors,
including the emergency room.
Actress Judy Findlay, sitting, portrayed a grandmother caring for her 4-month-old granddaughter (a doll) who was suffering from pneumonia and was brought to the Valley Medical Center emergency room. Actors spent eight days at the ER in simulation exercises with ER staff to help them get used to the routine and new layout in the new ER, which opens Feb. 25. The ER staff caring for her and the baby were counselor Salina Batt in the sweater at left, Dr. Russell Spies in the background, and registered nurse Crystal Olmstead, at right. DEAn A. RADFORD, Renton Reporter
Security officers and emergency room staff control actor Ben Gonia in a simulation at Valley Medical Center. DEAn A. RADFORD, Renton Reporter
Read us online 24/7 with regular updates
By DEAN A. RADFORD
The trustees of Renton Technical Col-lege on a 3-1 vote just after 6 p.m. Tuesday fired Don Bressler as the college’s presi-dent.
Tuesday was Bressler’s 69th birthday.Bressler’s termination
is effective on Aug. 21; he will remain on the job until then. Today, the trustees will begin the process of finding a replacement.
The vote came after numerous community leaders, including former
college trustees, spoke in support of Bressler, saying his loss would damage the college and the community.
Mayor Denis Law, who attended the trustees’ meeting but didn’t speak, sent a letter to the board Monday in which he wrote he hoped the board and Bressler
could resolve their issues in a way that avoided damage to the reputation of RTC, Bressler and the board.
“I want to make sure you are aware of how important this college is to the Renton community, and – more impor-tantly – how critical it is that the current
collaborative relationship Dr. Bressler has fostered
and led since his arrival here continues into the future,” Law wrote.
The board cited a provision in Bressler’s contract that allows for “termination for convenience” as the reason for its decision.
The board’s decision was met with anger and disbelief from those watching the proceedings.
Trustee Rich Zwicker, twice a RTC grad-uate, resigned his position immediately after casting the lone no vote and left the meeting, to extended applause from the
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Trustees fire Renton Technical president
For updates…rentonreporter.com
Members of the Renton Technical College Board of Trustees, from left, Frank Irigon, Ronnie Behnke and Ira Sengupta, leave their meeting after voting to fire Don Bressler as the college’s president. Minutes earlier, trustee Rich Zwicker resigned from the board; he had cast the lone no vote to fire Bressler. GARy PAlMER, For the Renton Reporter
Don Bressler
By CELESTE GRACEy
Cozy chairs, free Wi-Fi and a river-rock fireplace welcome parents to the new Coal Creek Young Men’s Christian Associa-tion (YMCA) branch.
The lounge, which overlooks the pool, and family changing rooms are just a few ways the branch is helping parents.
“This facility will allow us to serve all of those families better,” said Michele Petitti, the YMCA’s Eastside director of development.
When Coal Creek opened its doors Aug. 7, it became the clos-
est YMCA to Renton.“One of the reasons we were
going to move to Renton was be-cause this was going to open,” said Renton’s Andrea Dombroski,
Coal Creek yMCA opens; it’s ready to serve Renton
Renton’s Andrea Dombroski holds her daughter Avie Dombroski at the Coal Creek yMCA. The new branch opened Aug. 7, making it the closest to Renton. CElESTE GRACEy, Renton Reporter
FyI
HOURS: 5 a.m.-10 p.m., Monday through Friday and 8 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday
LOCATION: 13750 Newcastle Golf Club Road, Newcastle
CONTACT: 425-282-1500, coalcreekymca.org
Coal CreekyMCA
[ more yMCA page 8 ]
[ more BRESSLER page 14 ]
August 14, 2009[14] www.rentonreporter.com
audience.Zwicker had moved that the trustees
honor Bressler’s contract through 2011 and, in essence, accept an “amicable resolu-tion” proposed by Bressler during the open meeting. Zwicker’s motion died for lack of a second.
The fifth member of the board, Tyler Page, is recovering from injuries suffered in an accident and did not attend the meeting. Trustees are appointed by the governor.
During the meeting Bressler, who sat in the audience, addressed the board before public comment. He read from a letter dated Aug. 7 to the board in which he pro-posed hiring an organizational psychologist or a team-building consultant “to assist board members and himself in understand-ing and working in their respective roles.”
The letter was in response to a July 31 executive session in which the board told Bressler it was reviewing his future as col-lege president, which could include termi-nation. The board gave Bressler a week to decide whether he would leave the college on his own.
“I can state to you today that I cannot resign,” Bressler told the board, before read-ing in public the Aug. 7 letter to the board.
After the meeting, Bressler, who has been RTC president for nine years and has completed the first year of a three-year con-tract extension, declined to comment until he has a chance to speak with his lawyer. Bressler was considering retirement when the board extended his contract.
Under the termination provisions of his contract, Bressler will be paid a full year’s salary, or $148,000.
After the meeting, trustee chairwoman Ronnie Behnke read the following state-ment:
“The board and president want to take the college in different directions. The majority of the board felt it was in the best interest of the college for the board and president to part ways. We want to thank Dr. Bressler for his years of service to the college.”
Behnke, along with trustees Frank Irigon and Ira Sengupta, voted to fire Bressler.
Earlier in the meeting, the board had dis-cussed forming subcommittees that would oversee such key matters at the college as budget, financing, community relations and personnel. The board decided to continue discussing those committees at a board retreat later.
The board will meet at 4 p.m. today to hold an executive session, then hire an interim president and begin the process of replacing Bressler.
The board met in a roughly 60-minute executive session after hearing from a num-ber of speakers in the large audience.
Asked after the meeting what effect audi-ence comment had on the board’s decision, Behnke said that everyone has a right to comment. “The board listened to their comments,” she said.
Lee Wheeler, a former Renton fire chief and former member of the Renton Techni-cal College Foundation board, said he has been a financial contributor to the college for years and wants to continue to do so.
Bressler, he said, “has done an outstand-ing job.”
“This gentleman has our full support,” he said.
Support also came from Jim Medzegian,
a former RTC trustee who helped initially hire Bressler.
“He looked like a perfect fit,” Medzegian said. He had heard the discussion about the possible new committees the board was considering and commented that it seemed like the board was trying to take over college operations. Board member Irigon interjected that that wasn’t the case.
Typically, operations of such institutions are left to who in essence is the CEO, in this case the RTC president. The governing board provides policy direction.
Bill Taylor, president of the Renton Chamber of Commerce, spoke of a com-munity partnership – a “five-legged stool” – that can take credit for a number of civic advances in Renton for the last 20 years or
so.That partnership includes Renton
Technical College, Valley Medical Center, the Renton Chamber of Commerce, the Renton School District and the City of Renton.
Taylor said the Renton Small Business Development Center wouldn’t exist without Bressler’s leadership.
A 17-year member of the college faculty, Brian Thompson, spoke out against the management of the college, including Bressler. Thompson’s last day was Thursday; he is one of about two dozen RTC employ-ees who are losing their jobs because of budget cuts.
He told the trustees that the reason for the layoffs has nothing to do with money.
“It’s been a failure of management,” he said.
Community member Ben Johnson, his son in his arms, asked for an explanation of the board’s reasoning.
“If there’s a need for change, please ex-plain it to us,” he said.
After the meeting, Johnson walked up to the board and admonished it for its deci-sion. A security guard stood nearby.
In an interview, Greg Taylor, a member of the Renton City Council, questioned the process leading up to the trustees’ decision. He said it didn’t seem like there was enough “transparency” to make the decision to fire the president of a college “that has been run successfully.”
“Don Bressler is a good fit,” he said.
Bressler to receive one-year severance of $148,000
Don Bressler checks his watch after the Renton Technical College Board of Trustees announces the first of two 25-minute extensions of its executive session to discuss the fate of the college’s president. Standing next to Bressler is Don Jacobson, a former RTC trustee and president of the Valley Medical Center Board of Commissioners, who joined other community leaders in speaking to the trustees in support of Bressler. Dean a. RaDfoRD, Renton Reporter
[ Bressler from page 1]
I have sought legal counsel and on Au-gust 7, 2009, a letter was sent to the Board of Trustees proposing what I think is an amicable resolution. I quote directly from that letter:
“Dr. Bressler is perfectly willing to serve the remainder of his contract term. He proposes that during that period the Board and he engage an organizational/in-dustrial psychologist or organization team building consultant to assist Board mem-bers and himself in understanding and working in their respective roles. He also proposes a commitment to better com-munications between both the Board, as an entity, and himself, and between Board members. Finally, Dr. Bressler is ready, willing and able to work with the Board on policy creation and implementation.”
It is my expectation that the Board will
consider this proposal in Executive Ses-sion and that it will vote to accept or reject this proposal in open session today.
During this past year, RTC has survived these tough financial times. We also are dealing with difficult operating and policy issues. Despite a poor economy and re-duced state funding, we are serving more students and we are serving them well. All I ask today is that we move forward in what I believe should be the best interest of the college, the community and our stu-dents. We need to set aside our differences and move forward together to ensure that RTC maintains its status as one of the greatest assets in our greater Renton com-munity. I am more than willing and able to do that. I know that I am not perfect and that I can improve; I pledge to do that. Thank you!
Don Bressler’s ‘amicable solution’
Don Bressler, president of Renton Technical College, reads a prepared statement to trustees Tuesday night. Dean a. RaDfoRD, Renton Reporter
By DEAN A. RADFORD
When the final bell is rung on this season’s Renton Farmers Market Tuesday, 10s of thousands of shop-pers will have strolled the Piazza downtown looking for flowers or a good deal on local fruits and veg-etables.
And on much much more.The market added some new choices this year,
including the basics like eggs and meat.Something new and good weather were a big boost
to the crowds, even though recession-weary shoppers weren’t spending quite as much as in past years.
Stefeny Anderson, the market’s coordinator, estimates the number of visits at the market over its
summer-long run at somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000.
That number places the Farm-ers Market among some of the larger markets in the Seattle area.
“This has been a great great
year,” she said. “We tried to create a greater variety of vendors.”
Tuesday, as is traditional, the market will put on a feast for the vendors and recognize them with special awards.
One vendor who will come back next year is Jim McCaslin of Maple Valley, owner of McSweet Pickled Gourmet. This is his first year at the market.
The market has provided much-needed exposure for his pickled goods that he sells in markets.
“They wouldn’t have tried it if it had been sitting on a grocery shelf,” he said.
A market favorite is Darrell Westover, who’s hard to miss in his farmer duds. He has seen his business drop about 15 percent and he’s not seeing some of his regulars.
But he plans to come back next year.
SchoolS | For the latest on the Kent teachers strike [rentonreporter.com]
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Fill your backpack | Renton groups come together to help outfit students with backpacks and school supplies [9]
Time to swim | Renton swim team has talented new swimmers to add excitement [17]
Tuesday is last day for market By CELESTE GRACEy
The Renton School District is preparing for the H1N1 virus, after President Barack Obama’s health task force predicted about 50 per-cent of Americans could get swing flu this year.
“As a precautionary measure, we’re asking parents to send their kids to school with hand sanitizer with their school supplies,” said dis-trict spokesman Randy Matheson.
The virus is commonly spread through hand-to-hand contact, but the district can’t afford to buy and maintain large containers of sani-tizer and extra tissues, so the district added them to the supply list.
“We’re going to push really hard that every student wash their hands,” Matheson said.
The district plans on distribut-ing information about the illness to parents in English and Spanish, encouraging them to keep their children home if they’re ill.
“Our concern stems from the information we’re getting from the health department ... which is saying that this is going to be a really bad flu season,” Matheson said.
Last May, about 400 Lindbergh High School students, more than a third of the school’s population, stayed home with flu symptoms, causing an H1N1 scare, though most had the mild flu or allergies.
“We’re not looking to close schools. We’re trying to get families to monitor their own children and keep them home when they’re sick,” Matheson said.
The district is working closely with Public Health - Seattle and King County, offering up their school campuses as vaccination
Schools preparing for flu season; wash hands
Jim McCaslin, owner of McSweet Pickled Gourmet, hands out his goodies Tuesday at the Renton Farmers Market. The market’s last day is Tuesday. Dean a. RaDFoRD, Renton Reporter.
By DEAN A. RADFORD
A wild shootout on Main Avenue early Saturday morning sent five people to hospi-tals, including one man whose life was saved
by a tourniquet around his leg.The gunfire erupted outside Pounders
Bar and Grill, whose owner is now thinking about changing the type of music he plays inside his bar, a popular place to dance.
The owner, Andrew Boe, who was bar-
tending the night of the shooting, says his bar isn’t a magnet for such troublemakers. He’s owned the bar, along with his mother, for about seven years.
A wild shootout on Main Avenue
[ more SHOOTOUT page 5 ]
[ more FLU page 20 ]
FYI The laST DaY
Tuesday is the last day for this season’s Renton Farmers Market. Market hours are 3 p.m.- 7 p.m. at the Piazza at South Third Street and Burnett avenue. The Red house will do the chef demonstration at 4:30 p.m. and the Rain City Breakers will provide entertainment at 5:30 p.m.
Farmers Market
[5]September 11, 2009www.rentonreporter.com
“That would hold water if we had those problems every Saturday night,” Boe said. “We just don’t have that.”
Before the shooting, he said he refused to allow one of the men inside his bar who was later involved in the exchange of gunfire.
The shooting happened at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday outside the bar at 221 Main Ave. S.
Two Des Moines men – who are brothers in law – were being held at the county jail in Kent this week on $200,000 bail each following the downtown shooting that left a bystander critically injured.
The two men are being held for investigation of assault; charges were expected to be filed by Thursday. The two ap-peared Monday in court at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
The Renton Reporter will name the two men when they are charged. They live in the same house in Des Moines.
The critically injured man was shot several times in the leg; a tourniquet kept him from bleeding to death, according to a court document. His condi-tion at Harborview Medical Center was upgraded to satisfac-tory.
Three other shooting victims also were hos-pitalized; their condi-tions weren’t available.
Renton Police investigators found 40 9 mm shell casings in the roadway and sidewalk area in front of Pounders. They determined the bul-lets were fired by three guns. One handgun was recovered.
The investigation is continuing.A Renton Police officer heard loud arguing outside Pound-
ers Bar as he drove by at about 1:30 a.m. When he looked back at the area, he heard the sounds of rapid-fire gunshots.
Boe described to police what led up to the shooting.Boe told officers two groups of patrons were at the bar, one
primarily Samoan and one mostly darker-skinned Asians, according to a court document. They argued just inside the door, then walked outside.
Sensing trouble, Boe, joined by the bar’s bouncer, walked outside. The two groups were fighting in the middle of Main. As Boe and the bouncer tried to separate the two groups, at least three people, some from each group, pulled out hand-guns and started firing at each other, according to a court document.
Boe took cover behind a trash can. He saw an Asian male firing shots from the parking lot across Main from Pounders. Boe ran inside to call 911.
Another witness told investigators about seeing the 29-year-old suspect waiting on Main outside the bar with a woman.
According to the witness, the woman with him asked the suspect whether he still had “it,” and the suspect repeatedly told her, “Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about it. I’m out of ammo. I’m going to get more.” The witness pointed out the suspect to an officer as he disappeared around the corner.
The suspect was about to leave in a GMC Yukon when he was stopped by a Renton officer. A cocked semi-automatic pistol was laying on the pavement where the Yukon had been parked.
Another witness identified the 29-year-old as one of the shooters.
The second suspect, a 27-year-old man, was tracked by a K9 unit to the Cedar River near Interstate 405 after he had fled the scene.
He denied that he was in the bar that night, according to the court document. He claimed he had just walked to the Maple Valley Highway from his girlfriend’s house in the Highlands. But, despite the rainstorm overnight, he was dry. Officers found cocaine and a single loaded 9 mm round in his pocket after he was arrested.
According to the court document, the suspect admitted to generally carrying a 9 mm handgun. One of the bar’s em-ployees recognized the suspect as being in the bar but couldn’t positively identity him as one of the shooters, according to the court document.
Renton Police Chief Kevin Milosevich said part of the investigation will determine what role, if any, the bar played in the shooting. It’s possible police could contact the Washington state Liquor Control Board, which issues liquor licenses.
The Police Department is working with all taverns and bars downtown on a number of issues, Milosevich said.
Pounders was cited by the liquor control board for serving alcohol to a minor on May 22, the only violation in two years. It must pay a $300 fine by Monday.
The violation occurred during a sting throughout Renton, Boe said. He said an employee made a mistake.
Prior to that, a complaint was filed about under-age service, but an actual violation didn’t occur.
A 19-year-old man was shot and killed and another man wounded in a shooting outside Pounders at about 2 a.m. on Nov. 5, 2006. William Adam Gray was charged with second-degree murder in that case. He was also charged with first-degree assault.
Gray wasn’t allowed inside the bar that night, Boe said in an interview.
Boe described in an interview aggressive groups of bar-goers who are “looking for a place to land.” It’s those types of groups, he said, that he “hates.”
“They are not going to put down roots here,” he said.Since the shooting, he has been thinking about what he can
do to attract an “upscale” crowd.One is to soften the dance music, which would include
some “bubblegum” tunes. Right now, he features dance rock, RB and some country. He plans to focus more on sports and has just changed his menu.
“We are going to do our best to upscale the crowd,” he said.
A shootout outside Pounders Bar and Grill on Main Avenue South in downtown Renton early Saturday morning left five people injured, including one critically. Some of the shots were fired from a parking lot across Main Avenue from Pounders. DeAn A. RADfoRD, Renton Reporter
fYIThe investigation in the Saturday night
shooting on Main Avenue is ongoing and detectives are interested in contacting anyone who might have been in the area at the time of the shooting and witnessed either the argument or the actual shooting. Anyone with information about this incident can contact the Renton Police Department at 425-430-7500.
Investigation continues
Two suspects held on $200,000 bail[ SHOOTOUT from page 1]
BUSINESS | Tea Palace a ‘rising star’ [12]
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Hospital expansion | The ribbon was cut Monday on Valley Medical Center’s new Emergency Services Tower [3]
A new attitude | The Seahawks welcome new head coach Pete Carroll [15]
By CELESTE GRACEy
If Renton doesn’t annex its library to the King County Library System Feb. 9, it could be several years before the struggling library sees improvements.
Although City Council members could get a levy on the ballot as early as November to pay for upgrades, the economy may not be healthy enough to support a new tax.
“It’s not likely in my estimation to take place in short term,” said council member King Parker of a library levy.
Others are more optimistic.“If it happens that we don’t join
King County, I think I would...immediately get it scheduled as a Committee of the Whole topic,” said council member Randy Corman.
While the Renton library has a clear vision of what it would do with more money, KCLS could satisfy much of that vision in a few months.
Changes could start the day the election is certified, said KCLS direc-tor Bill Ptacek. “I think they would see a difference in their library im-mediately.”
About 25 percent of KCLS’s checkouts consist of holds that are shipped from 44 libraries throughout the system. Patrons would be able to order from KCLS’s extensive col-lection immediately, he said
“We have a very well-developed delivery system,” he said. “I think it’s a model that’s working really really well.”
While KCLS orders a wide spectrum of materials,
KCLS offers hugecollection; Renton has personal touch
By DEAN A. RADFORD
Let’s get a couple things cleared up first thing.
Shambo didn’t lose her tribe’s fishing gear nor did she set free the tribe’s chickens, an important source of protein when food was scarce.
Shambo is Shannon Waters of Renton. She became a national sensation for the fans of “Survivor,” the CBS reality show that strands Castaways somewhere warm where they spend the next 39 days trying go outwit, outlast and outplay each other.
Waters made it to Day 36, quite an achievement in a game where even the most secure players get blind-sided at a tribal council and are sent packing.
“That’s unbelievable,” she said of her final place in the game – fifth out of 20 players.
Her chances for the ultimate prize seemed to take a hit when she was pinned with the fishing gear and chicken loss. But this is “reality” TV when storyline sometimes trumps the reality.
She and a lot of her friends and fans cried foul. She simply didn’t lose the fishing gear and a quip about chickens flying was taken out of context in the show’s final editing.
“They did a great job of making me look stupid,” said Waters.
Two stuffed chickens sit on the ends of her fireplace mantle, a gift from neighbors.
Shambo – who got the name as a Marine playing softball more than 20 years ago in a bandana like
“Rambo’s” – didn’t win the $1 mil-lion prize, but she achieved her goal. She secured a seat on the jury that picked the eventual winner.
In the “Survivor” season finale just before Christmas, Natalie White won the money and villain Russell Hantz, one of Waters’ key allies, won $100,000 as the Player of the Game. Shambo came in second behind Hantz.
She has said goodbye to “Survi-
vor” and doesn’t plan to ever return.What did she miss during the
more than 39 days she was away from her Highlands home? Easy. Chocolate and her two beloved dogs, Kalie the black labrador and Brucie the golden retriever.
Beyond the comforts of home, the real prize is the chance with her newfound fame to become a moti-
‘Survivor’ star’s easy answer: Kalie, Brucie and chocolate
What did Shambo miss?
Shannon ‘Shambo’ Waters relaxes at her Highlands home with her beloved dogs, Brucie the golden retriever, and Kalie the black labrador. Behind her is the Shambo Wall of Fame, signatures and notes from children and others who have shared stories and their own signatures. dEan a. radFord, Renton Reporter
The renton reporter today continues a series of articles explaining the issues behind annexing the City of renton to the King County Library System. Today, we compare the two library systems.
RENtoN REpoRtERSpEcIal REpoRt
“It would be really difficult to imagine that an independent library serving about 80,000 could match the resources of the library that serves 1.2 million people.” Bill Ptacek, director, King County library System
[ more SHAMBO page 9 ] [ more LIBRARy page 4 ]
www.rentonreporter.com[8] January 15, 2010
Shannon Waters has given numer-ous interviews and answered hun-dreds of questions from fans in the weeks since “Survivor” ended.
A toilet?There was no portable toilet.
Instead, the players used a stretch of sand about 150 yards from camp, sloping toward the ocean. “Honest to God, there was no toilet paper, she said. There were, she said, “a lot of soft leafs.”
Was the chicken good?Waters got into a huge argument
with Dave, another player, over how she was preparing a chicken by boiling it for a couple hours. Waters was making chicken soup. Never answered was how the chicken tasted. “It was fabulous,” she said.
How much weight did she lose? She lost about 30 pounds in 36
days, dropping from 169 pounds to 140 pounds, including “a lot of muscle.”
“We were told it was the worst conditions in the history of the show,” she said. There were 15 days of rain, making it hard to boil water. Many of the Castaways suffered from dysen-
tery.What did she eat?Typically, the show’s producers
provide the Castaways with rice and maybe beans. Not this time, because there was an abundance of coconuts.
But a steady diet of coconuts just added to the stomach distress, Waters said. The Pacific Ocean provided some protein, including fish and crabs.
– Dean A. Radford
Shannon Waters, also known as Shambo on the CBS reality show ‘Survivor,” stands in Highlands home in front her her Shambo Wall of Fame. dean a. RadFoRd, Renton Reporter
Waters brought home some mementoes from her stay on Samoa. There are tassles, letters from home and shells and coral she collected with natalie and Brett on the last two days of her competition. dean a. RadFoRd, Renton Reporter
Brucie watches as Waters models the skirt she wore in Samoa, made from the bag that carried the Castaways’ swimming suits. dean a. RadFoRd, Renton Reporter
Waters holds the shirt she wore in Samoa. It has been washed many times to clean it of its odors. dean a. RadFoRd, Renton Reporter
Next up for Shambo: Her job, work with kids
no toilet, little to eat and way too much coconut
www.rentonreporter.com [9]January 15, 2010
tivational speaker to help lift up the lives of others, especially kids. She’s already giving her positive speeches and more are planned.
Her “Survivor” experience began in the South Pacific last summer on the island of Samoa. She was assigned to the Galu tribe. The tribe wore purple buffs, her favorite color.
Things went well, sort of, on Galu. Waters said there was a “pronounced 90210” attitude going on with the younger members of the Galu tribe. “90210” was the Fox TV show about California teens who had everything, except a strong work ethic. They were into yoga.
“I was on the outside of that click,” she said.
But, she didn’t confront them.“I chose my battles wisely,” she said.For the first days, she kept pretty quiet,
working diligently to gather firewood and then start and tend to the fire. “I was the first one up and the last one to bed,” she said.
She also was sent – twice – to the camp of the other tribe, Foa Foa, where she spent about half of the first 12 days on Samoa.
The reception there was different and she bonded. “I loved those guys,” she said of Foa Foa. “There was no one who didn’t care about the people around them.”
The alliance she made with Foa Foa members helped get her deep into the game, even though some accused her of turning her back on Galu.
She got a lot of air time, much of it with
Hantz. To get a sense of Hantz, just realize that he’s one of the nine villains on the next season of “Survivor,” called “Heroes vs. Vil-lains,” premiering in February.
Was she taken in by Russell, who would stop at almost nothing, including burn-ing one player’s socks, to advance himself? “Not by a long shot,” she said. “We were using each other.”
Hantz confided in Waters, telling her at one point that the other contestants were
going to hate him after the game ended.
To his credit, Hanzt was “a very strong provider of nourishment,” Waters said. But, on the other hand, he “went too far” with some of
his tactics.“That makes me sad,” she said.And from what jury members said at
tribal council it’s probably what cost the Texas oilman the $1 million.
Waters said Hantz “begged” her to go on another CBS reality show, “The Amazing Race.” No way, was her answer. She’s done with reality TV.
Was she blindsided at the tribal council by her alliance’s vote that forced her to the jury?
“I so didn’t get blindsided,” she said. Her face seemed to show surprise, maybe betrayal. But the look was one of relief, she said. She was exhausted. She was in pain.
Little known is that within the first two weeks of the show, she suffered a neck injury. It threatened to force her from the
game. But, in typical Shambo style, she persevered.
“Russ was my biggest ally in pain man-agement,” she said, along with Brett, giving her neck massages.
She doesn’t think she would have won anyway, especially if she had one up against the likable Brett, whom she described as “a beautiful young Christian man.”
And then she waited, along with the rest of the shows’ fans, for about five months to find out who won the $1 million. She returned to work in sales with Bargreen El-lingson, a food-services supply and design company celebrating its 50th anniversary this year,
Waters thanks Bargreen Ellingson, where she has worked for 11 years, for giving her 52 days off to appear on the show.
She always intended to return to her job and her customers, many of whom are in the Renton area. She’s working hard in developing ways to ease the cost of paper supplies for them.
“Even if I had won the million, I never once foresaw myself leaving my job,” she said. “My customers are people I love.”
Her employer threw an “astronomical” premiere night party for her attended by about 150 people.
Thursday nights were spent watching the show with family and friends or attending “Survivor” viewing parties at local night-spots. One of those parties was at Doofer’s tavern in Renton.
It was a chance to watch the show with Jamie Perry of Renton whose life she undoubtedly saved nearly three years ago on Burnett Avenue. He was working on
a downtown construction project. As she drove by, she saw the man collapsed on the ground. She stopped. She had extensive first-aid training as a swim coach and as a U.S. Marine.
Shaking, she did CPR. He was taken away by medics. Through persistent effort, she was able to find the man at the Valley Medical Center. They met but didn’t see each other again until that night recently at Doofer’s.
He was with his wife and their newborn son Keston.
“I got to meet and hold his 3-week-old baby,” she said. “That was the best thing about that night.”
Perry paid a lot closer attention to “Sur-vivor” this year.
“I wish she would have won or at least won the fan favorite,” he said. “She’s a great person. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her.”
Besides work, Waters is focusing her ef-forts on her motivational speaking and her Shambo Wall of Fame, which is growing above her fireplace.
“I want to lift up people around me,” she said.
She has handed out dozens of signatures. With kids, she’ll ask for their autograph, a promise to her they will lift up people, too, and help those in need.
“That’s what your signature means to me,” she tells the kids. She wants to turn her “Survivor” experience into an endeavor that will help kids.
“I can’t think of a better legacy,” she said.Dean A. Radford can be reached at 425-255-3484, ext. 5050.
Shambo had an alliance, friendship with the villain Russell[ SHAMBO from page 1]
“I so didn’t get blindsided.” Shannon ‘Shambo’ Waters on the tribal council vote that sent her to the ‘Survivor’ jury
