As 2012 comes to a close, the Courier-Herald staff is taking a look back over the previous year at the 10 stories that most affected our coverage area. From a new police chief to a state champsionship, several local council issues to an international incident that included a Lake Tapps resident and the deadliest summer on record on Lake Tapps, 2012 certainly kept all of us on our toes.
Here are numbers 8 through 5 on our list of the top stories of the year:
8. State Champs!
The Sumner High School Spartans girls soccer team capped off a perfect season with a 1-0 victory over Sehome to hoist the trophy as 2A state champions for the first time in the school’s history.
The Spartans finished the year 21-0 and most games were not even close. From an opening day 9-0 win over Decatur, the Spartans were off and running, allowing only two goals against all season.
Many games throughout the championship season were blowouts, with the Spartans scoring at least 9 goals on their opponents a total of nine times and racking up double-digit totals in four games.
Kaylie Rozell led the Spartans this season in goals and assists with 31 and 15, respectively. Ellie Degoede and Brooke Lancaster each finished with 18 goals. Katie Huff, who picked up the winning goal in the championship game, finished the years with 12 goals, followed by Sarah Carter at 11 and Murray at 10.
7. Supler leaves City of Sumner, police chief takes over
Sumner City Administrator Diane Supler abruptly left her position with the city government in mid-April, and Sumner Police Chief John Galle was promptly appointed as interim administrator. A letter sent to the city by William Michael Hanbey, a man identifying himself as Supler’s lawyer, alleged mistreatment by Mayor Dave Enslow. However, further inquiry revealed Supler terminated Hanbey’s services soon after the letter was sent and she reached an amicable mutual separation agreement under representation from another attorney.
Galle was officially appointed to the city administrator role by vote of the city council in a July emergency meeting. His appointment was opposed by councillors Nancy Dumas and Randy Hynek, and they sought to reopen discussion at the July 15 council meeting, citing inadequate public access to the decision-making process.
Mayor Enslow responded: “We had this discussion last week and voted 5-2 to make the contract. I don’t understand why this is coming up unless the council wants to pull the contract, which I’m not even sure it can do. Changing it now after there has been a vote on it seems strange to me. Seems like the people trying to do it are sore losers.”
As discussion shifted to heated accusations of Galle’s part in charging Hynek for vandalism in December 2011, the council was forced to recess and allow tensions to cool. The matter has not come up significantly in council debate since that night.
6. Cascadia reborn as Tehaleh
After laying quiet following a bankruptcy two years ago, the planned community formerly known as Cascadia roared back to life this year with a new owner and a new name.
Now called Tehaleh (pronounced Tay-HA-lay), homes were finally being built and sold on the 4,200-acre site designed nearly 20 years ago to be a fully functioning community with residents, retail and an employment center, with roads lined up with views of Mount Rainier and an intricate trail system utilizing the hundreds of acres of undisturbed forest on which it sits.
Cascadia was forced into bankruptcy in 2009 and purchased in early 2011 by Newland Homes. This year, Newland changed the community’s name, built a new community center near the circle in the center and began working with a group of local and national developers to build homes.
Newland officials said the property design is essentially the same as before, though there are subtle differences, such as scaling back from a planned 6,500 houses to a total of 5,900 (over 25 years) and making sure the community’s 10 miles of trails are all interconnected.
In September, Tehaleh ran a contest at its Grand Opening to give away a free home, which was won by Jay Bradley, who selected a two-story, five-bedroom home with an orange door.
In addition to the opening of the new welcome center, 38 homes were sold in the final two months of the year and an additional 21 spec homes were under construction.
5. Sumner’s City Council votes to sell municipal golf course
Since it opened in 1995, the city-owned Sumner Meadowlinks golf course hit its target revenues exactly once, in 1998.
The 1993 city council had dreamed of a self-sustaining recreational attraction when it commissioned the project. Nearly 20 years later, “dream” proved an accurate description. The course was never quite popular enough to achieve self-sustainability. A city contract with the national Billy Casper Golf management company improved gross revenues, promptly depleted by the expense of BCG’s services. Capital damage from the 2009 White River flood and a national economic downturn that quickened the sport’s decline exacerbated the damage. In a summer 2011 study session, the council discovered the course had ended 2010 with a net income loss of more than $100,000 after debt payments, and only $52 in its cash account. A state audit later that year noted the golf course’s ongoing bond debts as a significant source of concern.
By October 2012, enough was enough. The city council voted 6-1 to put the land up for sale.
