Normandy Park Blog

Dennis Clark prepares to cut invasive weeds from Miller Creek. Photo Courtesy King Co. Parks.

Both Miller Creek and Walker Creek flow through the area, and both creeks are in need of your help.

An ad-hoc committee aimed at monitoring and studying both creeks is forming, and its inaugural workshop is scheduled for Wed., Sept. 24, from 7pm – 8:30pm at the Burien Community Center, Classroom 5, located at 425 S.W. 144th Street (map below).

At this workshop, participants will learn the answers to some of the following questions, and help provide answers to some other questions:

• How do we know about water quality, water quantity, and habitat conditions in Miller and Walker Creeks?
• What monitoring has been done in recent years?
• What monitoring is necessary to allow for analysis of trends?
• Can we better coordinate existing monitoring?
• What additional monitoring would we like to do in the future?
• And how are we going to use all the data that have been and will be collected? Five years from now, will monitoring give us the information we need to evaluate the health of these stream basins and make good decisions about future projects, programs, and policies?

Improving monitoring of water quality, water quantity, and habitat conditions is recommended in the Executive Proposed Miller and Walker Creeks Basin Plan. This workshop is intended to kick off an ad hoc committee effort to answer the questions listed above. Answering these questions will help everyone take better care of the land and water in the Miller and Walker Creek basins (basin boundary map).

The monitoring discussion is intended to produce recommendations on how local partners can conduct voluntary monitoring in the future. The outcome of this process will not affect the current monitoring for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as required by the Department of Ecology. The monitoring that has been and is being done by the Port of Seattle will be discussed, however, because it provides information on those portions of the creeks that flow through the airport property.

For more information, or to RSVP, please contact Dennis Clark, King County Public Outreach/Stewardship Coordinator, 206-296-1909.

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WHITE CENTER – The 16-year old boy who fatally shot a White Center man during a burglary attempt last fall plead guilty this morning to second-degree murder.

Jonathan Newman was originally charged with first-degree murder in juvenile court shortly after the slaying of Craig Hoffman, 46. But the case was remanded to adult court Monday after King County prosecutors agreed to charge the boy with second-degree murder in exchange for the guilty plea.

Sentencing was scheduled for June 13. Prosecutors plan to seek a sentence of up to 23 years in prison.

Andrea Mathison, Hoffman’s sister, was in court this morning when Newman pleaded guilty. She said she was pleased the teen’s plea meant the case would not go to trial.

“He admitted what he did was wrong,” said Hoffman, of Lakewood, Pierce County. “That part is very comforting.”

According to charging papers, Newman, who was 15 at time, and two other teens saw Hoffman drive away from his home the morning of Oct. 19. Newman entered the house through an open garage and then let the other two boys in through the front door. When Hoffman returned a short time later the boys raced out of the house with stolen items in hand, court documents said.

Deputy Prosecutor Amy Montgomery said Newman shot Hoffman as the homeowner was chasing the teens off his property.

The two other teens have pleaded guilty in juvenile court and had agreed to testify against Newman.

SOURCE:

• The Seattle Times

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