East Pierce Fire and Rescue Deputy Chief John McDonald has seen the fire department grow from a small city fire department to the largest fire district in the county. And now, after 18 years of working with East Pierce, McDonald will be retiring at the start of March. “I set a goal for myself to do 30 years and retire while I was still young enough,” McDonald said. “As I got into my career, I thought that was a good goal I set when I started.”
In order to stay on top of their duties, East Pierce Fire and Rescue firefighters constantly practice and train to work equipment, fight fires and navigate hazardous environments. Recently, Firefighters Jeffery Collins and Adam Lathrop lead a construction project for a new training roof for the department, and received Certificates of Commendation during the Jan. 20 Board of Commissioners meeting for their efforts.
It’s been six years since Bonney Lake resident Melanie Roach competed in weightlifting at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, placing sixth. Last month, though, Roach came back into the spotlight by winning the American Open, a biannual national weightlifting competition. The competition was held last December in Washington D.C., where Roach placed first in the 53 kilogram (116.8 pounds) division.
The official vote for a ban on marijuana businesses in Bonney Lake brought about one of the largest City Council meetings of the year. Many citizens voiced their approval, or disapproval, of a recreational marijuana store in the city at the meeting. Although citizen comments appeared to split the room nearly in half over the issue, the City Council remained unswayed by residents who wanted a recreational marijuana store and voted 6–1 to approve Ordinance No. 1502 (D15-08A) on Jan. 13.
Patrons of the Sumner library can now be a part of a new pilot program that allows Pierce County Library members to check out laptops for a day. The program, which started on Jan. 5, gave the library 15 Chromebook laptops for public use.
As Bonney Lake’s year long moratorium on legal marijuana businesses nears its end, city residents should expect to shop elsewhere for their marijuana.During the Jan. 6 City Council meeting, an unofficial poll showed the majority of council members in favor of an outright ban of all marijuana growers, processors and retail shops from the city.
From flat-screens to freezers, gym lockers to rusty lawnmowers, many Bonney Lake residents took advantage of the high school’s electronics recycling event last Saturday by bringing their unused and broken electronics and recyclables to the school to be recycled and scrapped.
Mireia Pinies is a fairly typical high schooler. She enjoys classes that her friends are in, competes on the Spartan swim team and while we talk, her cell phone buzzes and rings as her friends try to get a hold of her. What makes Mireia different from most teenagers is she decided to spend a year going to school in a completely different country – America.
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East Pierce Fire and Rescue will no longer be laying off seven employees at the end of January. Amid strong complaints from the public, East Pierce commissioners voted unanimously to accept a new memorandum of understanding between the fire department and the department’s union, Local 3520.
East Pierce Fire and Rescue and the department’s labor union, Local 3520, failed to reach an agreement last week to mitigate a $1 million deficit in East Pierce’s 2015 budget. In order to address the shortfall, East Pierce’s Fire Commissioners voted 5-2 to lay off four firefighters, as well as two temporary firefighters, one receptionist, and reduce one information technology staff member to part-time status.
Despite East Pierce Fire and Rescue successfully submitting their budget to the Pierce County Council on Dec. 5, the fire department and its labor union remain locked in discussion over how to mitigate a $1 million shortfall in the budget.
Bonney Lake high school student Tabitha Reynolds, 16, raised more than $450 for the American Stroke Association during her Stroke Awareness event at the school.