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.

Sumner residents recently received a notice announcing that Northstar Chemical Inc. has applied for a permit to demolish the 95-year-old Fleischmann’s Yeast Plant.

It’s separate from the original permit application, which included demolition and construction of a chemical tank farm on the property. The chemical farm project is about to undergo an environmental impact analysis, and city officials must now decide if the demolition also requires such a process.

Residents are being informed of the application because city code states that a completed application is the first public notice residents are sent.

The former yeast plant was built in 1912 and is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s currently on the 2007 Most Endangered Historic Properties list put out by the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation.

City officials say the historic significance of the property will be considered when deciding what action to take with the demolition application.

Sumner resident Sara Hoime wants other concerned residents like herself to speak up. The demolition is one more step leading toward the construction of the chemical farm, and Hoime doesn’t want that to happen, she said.

Written comments will be accepted regarding the demolition application until Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 5 p.m. Mail them to: City of Sumner, Attn: Ryan Windish, 1104 Maple Street, Suite 250, Sumner, WA 98390.

A fire destroyed one house and damaged another Sunday night at Sumner Viewpoint, according to East Pierce Fire and Rescue Assistant Fire Chief Dave Wakefield.

Sumner Viewpoint is a housing development currently under construction in the south end of Sumner. No one was injured in the fire.

The president of the company building the project, Gary Meath of Benum Enterprises, said it was likely not an accident, but declined to give further details.

The damage is estimated at $150,000 to $250,000, Wakefield said. East Pierce Fire and Rescue is not ready to release any other information. The incident is under investigation by the Pierce County Fire Marshal.

This week, Sumner is going ahead with improvements to an alley parking lot behind Berryland Cafe on Sumner’s Main Street

Earlier in the year, the city finished initial improvements to the alley - a new water main tie, fire hydrant, additional storm lines and the relocation of power and utility poles.

Paving work should be completed by the end of this week, but the schedule is dependent upon the weather. Until it’s done, access to the alleyway and the parking lot is closed, including overnight parking.

The parking lot east of Ryan Avenue and the lot in front of the former Red Apple lot will be available for employees and patrons.

Updates are available on Sumner’s Web site: www.ci.sumner.wa.us

Two Sumner High School juniors are hosting a Murder Mystery Dinner Jan. 5, 2008, to raise money for the Sumner-Bonney Lake Education Foundation. The original date of Nov. 10 was postponed.

Catered dinner is included in the $25 per-person fee, and everyone who signs up will receive a kit with a character description and costume ideas. The money is due by Dec. 14.

The event is 1920s themed, so characters will probably include gangsters and flappers. Participants are encouraged to mingle and interview each other during the dinner in order to find out whodunnit.

No acting skills required - just have fun. Anyone can sign up.

Interested? Mail or deliver a check (or cash) to Sumner High School, located at 1707 Main Street, Sumner, WA 98390. Make checks out to Sumner High School DECA. Enclose name, address, phone number and/or e-mail address with your payment so that you can be informed when your kit is ready to be picked up.

More details to come.

Sumner police and neighboring jurisdictions acted quickly Friday morning after shots were fired in a parking lot behind Sumner High School.

Three men were arrested on suspicion of shooting a parked car with a pellet gun. Police arrested the juveniles within 40 minutes.

Fortunately, no students or staff were nearby and no one was hurt.

In a lockdown, exterior and interior doors and windows are shut and locked, lights are turned off and students are told to stay away from windows, keep low and stay quiet. Parents should not come to the school because they will not be allowed inside.

The Sumner School District’s Web site offers more information on emergency situations: www.sumner.wednet.edu/studentfamilyservices/ERPreparedness/index.html

The opponents of the Stepping Stones development can heave a sigh of relief.

Applicant Ray Armstrong withdrew his application for the 12-lot housing development a little more than a week after the quasi-judicial hearing that the council voted to postpone.

The housing development would’ve been able to contain smaller lots if a nearby side street was turned into an alley. However, the Sumner Municipal Code states that an alley can only afford secondary access - not true for the businesses along that road.

Armstrong’s attorney requested extra time to respond to that new information, and had until last Thursday to submit a response. Neither he nor Armstrong were immediately available for comment this morning.

Appellant Julie Nordyke-Moltke said she didn’t feel victorious - that wasn’t the point.

“I’m hoping they come back with something just a little more fitting” for Sumner, she said Tuesday.

Council will formally close the appeal at its next regular meeting on Oct. 15.

Council chambers were packed Monday night. The topic: a quasi-judicial hearing regarding a resident’s appeal of a proposed housing development.

Stepping Stones would cover 2.12 acres near Gault Street and have 12 lots for single-family residences, many under the 6,000 square feet minimum. The project might get away with the smaller lot sizes by using a nearby side street as an alley to provide secondary access to the houses.

The resident who made the appeal, Julie Nordyke-Moltke, argued that the road in question should not be turned into an alley because it affords primary access to a preschool and day care. Plus, all the extra traffic would harm those businesses.

Her argument against the alley may stand, as one council member pointed out that there is a definition of an alley in the Sumner Municipal Code that states it can only provide secondary access.

That definition is different from the one that both parties had used until that point, so the attorney of applicant Ray Armstrong requested time to respond to it. He has until Sept. 27 and Nordyke-Moltke has until Oct. 8 to rebut his statement.

Armstrong, who didn’t attend the hearing, was reached by phone Tuesday. He said he and his brother own the land and jointly decided to get housing put up. City officials talked them through the process and Armstrong said he was under the impression they were doing everything correctly.

“We thought it would go in the community,” Armstrong said. “We just did what everyone told us to do.”