The Puyallup Herald Blog

East Main Vision is hosting a parking lot and yard sale for Jaimie’s Heart Foundation from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 31.
The foundation provides assistance to children diagnosed with congenital heart disease.
East Main Vision is located at 2732 East Main Avenue, Suite 200 in Puyallup.
For more information about the foundation, go to www.jamiesheart.org.

Do you spend hours tending your roses, make sure your yard is perfectly edged or find yourself flipping though gardening books when it’s too cold to be outside? In other words, are you a green thumb?
Beginning May 1, The Herald will have a new feature highlighting the local gardeners in our communities. Each week, The Herald’s newsest columnist, Nancy Draper, will profile an East Pierce County gardener.
If you want to show off your hard work, send information about your garden, a way to get in touch with you and photos of your yard to editor@puyallupherald.com.

The 25th District Republican Club will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, April 14 in the Puyallup Public Library. The guest speaker will be State Representative Joyce McDonald, candidate for the Pierce County Council. The public is invited. For more information, call Bob Neilson at 253-845-0038.

City of Puyallup officials have closed Bradley Lake Park today as a precautionary measure after a juvenile black bear was sited in the park.
The park will remain closed over the weekend while officers from the State Department of Fish and Wildlife try to track, tranquilize and remove the bear from the park. The Puyallup Police Department is assisting.
An attempt to apprehend the bear occurred yesterday, April 3, but Fish and Wildlife officers were unable to trap and tranquilize the bear before dark.
Park-goers spotted the bear a few days ago and a confirmed sighting from Metro Animal Services happened yesterday.
It is important to note the closure is a precautionary measure, said Puyallup Spokewoman Glenda Carino.
“It’s really important that people know that the bear has caused no harm,” she said. “The bear hasn’t been chasing any people. People have been chasing the bear.”
One concern is that often times when there is a juvenile bear around an adult bear is close by, Carino said. No adult has been spotted, but every precaution is being taken.
There have been no reports of the bear digging through garbage for food, Carino said, which is good.
“Once it becomes a garbage bear then it becomes a problem,” she said.
People are encouraged to stay away from the park until the bear is captured.
The park will reopen once the bear is removed.

Sumner city officials sent a letter to Bonney Lake officials today to inform them that after approximately 30 days, Sumner will no longer provide Bonney Lake’s police communication services, said Sumner Communications Director Carmen Palmer.

Sumner officials reached the decision after determining staff levels in the communications center are practical for one city, Palmer said. There are six full-time communications officers hired at the Sumner Communications Center. No layoffs are predicted, but shift configurations may be altered.
It also appeared that Bonney Lake was leaning toward a partnership with Puyallup, she said.

The formal contract that Bonney Lake had with Sumner for dispatching service expired last fall, but it was renewed on an informal basis until this July, Palmer said.

The total cost of the communications center is approximately $900,000 per year. With the contract, signed in 2003, Bonney Lake pays an estimated $304,000 and Sumner pays roughly $600,000. Before 2003, each city had its own dispatch center.

Bonney Lake reporter Susan Schell will relocate to the Peninsula Gateway beginning Monday, Feb. 4.

Anyone wishing to suggest story ideas, please contact The Herald at 253-841-2481 - Heather Meier (editor) - ext. 310; Chris Albert, ext. 313 or Roxanne Cooke, ext. 314

The Puyallup City Council named Acting City Manager Gary McLean as the official city manager in a 4-3 decision at the Jan. 31 special workshop in council chambers.
“It was more timely this time to get it done,” said Mayor Don Malloy, who voted for McLean.
Deputy Mayor George Dill opposed naming McLean city manager, because he felt McLean has only been the acting city manager for three months and the council needed more time to gauge is abilities.
“Why were we rushing into this,” he said. “The city’s not falling apart and I would have liked to taken more time.”
However, McLean has been doing a great job since he took over for departing City Manager Jim Bacon, Dill said.
“It’s just too soon,” he said.
Before filling the position of acting city manager, McLean was the city’s attorney for six years.
His knowledge of the issues in Puyallup is one of his strengths, Malloy said.
“I have personal knowledge of his skills and what he brings to the city,” he said. “I feel the city is on the right track on working on a lot of issues.
“He’s (McLean) had a hand in all of that for the past six years and I want that to continue.”
The city won’t have to deal with a transitional period that an outside hire would need, because of his experience in the city, McLean said.
“I never came to Puyallup hoping to get the job,” McLean said. “I am humbled that they asked me to do it.”
Dill said, he’s been pleased with the work McLean has done and is behind him.
Councilmembers Kathy Turner, Mike Deal and Tami Brouillet also voted for McLean as the city manager. Councilmembers John Knutsen and Rick Hansen opposed the decision.
It is important for the city to show full support for their top executive, Malloy said, it brings stability to staff and certainty of council support.
As for the close decision, he said, in any campaign it would be considered a landslide.
“We haven’t had a president in years who’s gotten four out of seven and given the opportunity I think he’s going to do fine,” Malloy said.
McLean said, he hopes the council’s decision is taken by city staff as a reflection of the hard work they have been doing for the past several months.
The city staff has been short staffed and is still in the process of hiring a human resources director, as well as a financial director.
“There are a lot of things happening and people have been very busy getting things done,” he said. “They are doing a great job.”

Are you an avid photographer on Christmas, snapping a photo of every present opened? Are you making the holiday dinner for the first time? Or maybe you’re decorating your tree at the last minute.

Either way, the Herald would like to see your holiday photos for publication in an upcoming issue.

Please e-mail all photos with caption information (your name, who and what is in the photo) by noon on Friday, Dec. 28, to editor@puyallupherald.com.

The Herald is looking for East Pierce County neighborhoods that shoot for the stars with holiday decorating.

Maybe there’s a home that stands out every year during the Christmas season in your neighborhood? It could be an icicle wonderland or adorned with more lights than Qwest Field.

Either way we want to hear about it. Send us a picture at editor@puyallupherald.com, by mail at P.O. Box 517, Puyallup, WA 98372 or come by the office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 822 E. Main in Puyallup.

To contact a reporter about your neighborhood’s holiday cheer contact Chris Albert at 253-841-2481 ext. 313 or by e-mail at chris.albert@puyallupherald.com.

John Galle was selected Tuesday evening as Sumner’s new police chief.

The former lieutenant has served in Sumner for 10 years, most recently as the acting chief of police.

Galle replaces former chief Colleen Wilson, who accepted the job of police chief for the Port of Seattle in August.

Other candidates for Sumner’s police chief position included Kent Curry from Renton, Carl Cole from King County and Sumner Lt. Mark Mears.