Mary Stevens Decker | Redmond Reporter

Charles Grimmett

Redmond biz toning down the cost, waste of...

By Mary Stevens Decker • June 16, 2008 4:58 pm

These days, when we’re off to the supermarket, the shopping list might just as likely include “printer ink or toner” as milk, bread or toilet paper. Between reports for the office, kids’ homework projects or a volunteer newsletter, we’re always printing something.
All that ink and toner gets expensive — and dumping the empty cartridges is costly for the environment.
Rapid Refill, a new business in the Village at Redmond Ridge, is urging consumers to “rethink … reuse … recycle … re-ink.” The store collects empty inkjet and laser toner cartridges and re-manufactures them to keep them out of landfills.

Police plan to increase traffic enforcement

Police plan to increase traffic enforcement

By Mary Stevens Decker • June 16, 2008 4:57 pm

What’s so urgent that drivers in Redmond routinely run red lights, fail to yield to pedestrians or illegally cruise in and out of center (turn) lanes or onto the shoulder of the road to pass other cars stopped in traffic?

Anthony Krichevskiy preps ingredients for the Breakfast Omelet he made during the Lake Washington School District Kids Can Cook Culinary Competition at Redmond Junior High last Wednesday.

Lake Wash. schools’ culinary competition stirs healthy eating...

By Mary Stevens Decker • June 16, 2008 4:56 pm

Last Wednesday, the district hosted the first annual Kids Can Cook Elementary Culinary Competition at Redmond Junior High School. Twenty-one finalists from Redmond, Kirkland and Sammamish — all of whom were fourth or fifth graders — prepared “after-school snacks” that they created themselves or adapted from family favorites.

Peter Chee is the owner of Thinkspace

Sammamish man creates ‘space’ for home business owners

By Mary Stevens Decker • June 12, 2008 3:06 pm

Like many of his Sammamish neighbors, entrepreneur Peter Chee thought it would be wonderful to work at home. Instead, he felt isolated. He missed the atmosphere of being in an intellectual “think tank.”
Chee explained, “I liked being around other smart people — feeling the energy, getting charged up, networking.”
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Thinkspace. Located in downtown Redmond, just down the street from the city’s new transit center, Thinkspace offers 25,000 square feet of executive office space, for self-employed folks or small business owners who want to keep their overhead low but project a professional image and interact with like-minded peers.

Cat Whitaker

Redmond Library offers prizes for young readers

By Mary Stevens Decker • June 9, 2008 3:41 pm

One day, your kids are jumping for joy because school’s out for the summer.
The next day, they’re whining, “I’m bored.”
Before they get too “antsy,” sign them up for the King County Library System’s (KCLS) Summer Reading Program, titled “Catch the Reading Bug.”

Good time to buy — and sell

Good time to buy — and sell

By Mary Stevens Decker • June 7, 2008 10:00 am

The national news is full of doom and gloom about the housing market. Over and over, we see and hear that lenders aren’t approving mortgages, property values are plummeting and desperate people are foreclosing or selling their homes for peanuts.

Tom Johnston

Johnston takes ‘The Challenge’ and wins big

By Mary Stevens Decker • June 7, 2008 12:00 am

A client at Gold’s Gym in Redmond, Tom Johnston has won first place in his age group (60 and up) at both the local and national levels of an intense 12-week fitness contest called “The Challenge.”

Georgia Brudnicki

Snail mail helps bridge generation gap in Redmond

By Mary Stevens Decker • June 5, 2008 2:22 pm

Remember when the greeting “You’ve got mail!” came from a human letter carrier?
The simple pleasure of sending and receiving old-fashioned letters is becoming a novelty, in this age when e-mail and text messaging are dominant means of communication.
But a pen pals program between mature adults and fourth-grade students from Louisa May Alcott Elementary shows that kids are more receptive to quaint ways and older buddies than one might imagine.

Cheryl Dennis is the head counselor at Redmond High School.

The next step: Redmond High counselors offer real...

By Mary Stevens Decker • June 4, 2008 9:00 am

In a two-part series, we’ll share tips from counselors at Redmond High School (RHS) about leaving home for the first time and how to avoid common pitfalls. We’ll also explore why state universities are becoming more and more selective, and how next year’s high school seniors can better cope with the pressure to get that coveted acceptance letter.

ABOVE: Seniors line up to pick up their yearbooks in the cafeteria at Redmond High School last Wednesday. BELOW: Megan Dearden

Have a great summer! Redmond High yearbook hits...

By Mary Stevens Decker • June 2, 2008 3:43 pm

The cat is finally out of the bag.
Since last summer, staff members for the Redmond High School yearbook, the Revista, have had to zip their lips about the theme of the 2008 book.
On May 28, seniors got their hands on the book, with a cover reading “THE BRAVEST AND THE BOLD,” a phrase borrowed from the Mustang fight song.

Joanne White stands in her garden

Redmond’s Symphony of Gardens coming June 29

By Mary Stevens Decker • June 2, 2008 3:42 pm

Joanne White’s stunning garden is one of two Redmond properties to be featured in the eighth annual Symphony of Gardens tour, a benefit event for the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, June 29.
Garden enthusiasts can buy tickets ($25) to tour a total of five gardens in Redmond and Kirkland, including four that have never been open to the public.

Stephanie Chao poses with actor Patrick Dempsey of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Chao

Redmond parents to attend Relay for Life in...

By Mary Stevens Decker • June 2, 2008 3:40 pm

Redmond’s Stephanie Chao was one month away from her 16th birthday when she died in March 2007. She’d been diagnosed in July 2005, with a rare form of soft tissue cancer called synovial sarcoma.
Her family and friends will be back at the 2008 Redmond/Kirkland Relay for Life, June 7-8 at Redmond High School, because Stephanie would have wanted to be there, her mom Kathy Kahn told the Redmond Reporter.

A final farewell to RHS’ Cassidy

A final farewell to RHS’ Cassidy

By Mary Stevens Decker • May 31, 2008 12:00 am

In our last issue of the Redmond Reporter, we saluted Doug Kimball, one of two well-known teachers at Redmond High School who are retiring at the end of this school year. Now it’s Ray Cassidy’s turn to be recognized for his 36 years in the Lake Washington School District (LWSD), starting at Lake Washington High School and moving on to RHS, where he’s taught social studies and coached football and baseball during the past 26 years.

Jim DeJoy and the rest of The Evin Rudes will perform June 7 at the Relay for Life at Redmond High.

DeJoy to drum up some entertainment at Relay...

By Mary Stevens Decker • May 29, 2008 3:14 pm

The American Cancer Society’s Redmond/Kirkland Relay for Life happens June 7-8 from noon Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday at Redmond High School (RHS) Stadium, 17272 NE 104th St. Teams and individuals will walk the track in honor of a friend or family member who has cancer, is a cancer survivor or lost their life to cancer.

Plenty of plum jobs for teens at Redmond Town Center

Plenty of plum jobs for teens at Redmond...

By Mary Stevens Decker • May 29, 2008 3:13 pm

The school year will soon be history. Teens with time on their hands and empty wallets are in luck, because many merchants at Redmond Town Center (RTC) are hiring for this summer or year ‘round.

Shrimukta Kashyap

Learning new cultures

By Mary Stevens Decker • May 29, 2008 3:11 pm

Children at Redmond’s Faith Lutheran School went around the world in a day on May 28.

Aury Moore

Showing a passion for music

By Mary Stevens Decker • May 26, 2008 3:55 pm

Musicians and fans of all ages flocked to the Music Aid Northwest (MAN) concert at the Old Fire House Teen Center May 22.

Overlake students Richa Pardikar

Reasons to smile

By Mary Stevens Decker • May 26, 2008 3:54 pm

With a little help from the generous folks at Novelty Hill Family Dentistry, a group of students from The Overlake School gave kids at their sister school in Cambodia reasons to smile.

Samantha Podlucky

Sunrise students ready to test their history skills...

By Mary Stevens Decker • May 26, 2008 3:54 pm

Current and former students from Redmond’s Sunrise Elementary School will compete at the national level of National History Day, June 14-19 at the University of Maryland.

Doug Kimball has been teaching at Redmond High School since 1973.

Saying goodbye to Mr. Kimball

By Mary Stevens Decker • May 26, 2008 3:52 pm

Movies such as “To Sir, With Love,” “Dead Poet’s Society,” and “Mr. Holland’s Opus” have introduced us to the kind of teachers whose mottos, methods and care for their students echo in those young people’s minds for the rest of their lives.