colin curtis
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CAUSE AND EFFECT | New mental health court on the Eastside aims to keep those needing help out of the jail system [3]
OUR NEW CHAMPION |Eastside Catholic wrestler takes gold and silver atnational titles [Sports 7]
REPORTERFRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
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BY KEVIN ENDEJAN
Quiet and unassum-ing, Colin Curtis sat in the visitor’s clubhouse last � ursday at Safeco Field.
Sandwiched between � ve-time All-Star catcher, Jorge Posada, and charis-matic relief pitcher Joba Chamberlain, Curtis laced up his cleats.
Two of the biggest names in the game — Alex Ro-
driguez and Derek Jeter — strolled past, both greeting the 25-year-old Issaquah native.
� e scene — a poten-tially overwhelming experi-ence for any young player — has quickly become commonplace for Curtis since he was called up to the New York Yankees on June 22.
“All the guys have been great so far,” he said. “� ey’ve kind of shown me
what to do and helped me out along the way.”
Curtis has played in 12 of 19 possible games for the Yankees since moving up from AAA Scranton. In 25 at-bats, the le� -handed out� elder has a .200 average — � ve hits, three of which were doubles. Additionally, he has four RBI, two walks and has scored one run.
It’s his � rst two at-bats, however, that he’ll never forget.
Making a pinch-hit appearance in his Yankee debut on June 21, against Arizona’s Rodrigo Lopez, Curtis � ew out to center-� eld. While the result was anticlimactic, the experi-ence was unparalleled.
“� ere was a lot of excite-ment walking up there the � rst time,” Curtis said. “I was trying to control the excitement. I’ve had a lot of at bats, but that was de� nitely di� erent.”
It didn’t take him long to adjust to the nerves.
In his second at-bat — another pinch-hit appear-ance on June 22 — Curtis earned his � rst hit. Facing Arizona reliever Chad Qualls, he drilled a 1-1 curveball to center� eld. � e ball soared over the head of Chris Young for a double, scoring runners from sec-ond and third.
Issaquah grad lives out dream with New York Yankees
BY JAKE LYNCH
Unusually high rainfall in June and the continued development of once natural areas in the Lake Sammamish watershed are being blamed for high water levels in the lake over the past month, which have inconvenienced homeowners and altered habitat conditions for � sh and animals.
According to data recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the water level of the lake hit a high point on June 12 and 13, when it reached 28.37 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD), a na-tional standard used for establishing eleva-tions. While this is far below the historic maximum of 33.44 feet recorded way back on Feb. 12, 1951, it does represent a signi� -cant departure from water level patterns over the past decade or more.
Looking as far back as 1996, which is when the USGS began recording water lev-els in Lake Sammamish using comparable NGVD measurements, never before has the lake hit 28 feet in any month between March and October, with high rainfalls only raising the level in the winter months.
� is year, however, the lake remained at or above 28 feet from June 4 to June 20. � is compares to a historical June average of about 26.56 feet.
Part of the reason is certainly a wet month. � e 2.49 inches that fell in June of 2010 was almost double the average, and
was more than 14 times that recorded in June last year at the National Weather Ser-vice site at Sea-Tac airport. In fact, it was signi� cantly more than any year since 1996, with the exception of 2001.
� e rising waters have not gone unno-ticed by waterfront homeowners.
Susan Sullivan, a board member of the South Cove Homeowners Association (SCHA) in Issaquah, said a number of waterfront home owners had never seen the water so high.
“Many of them were barely able to get their boats to their docks as the water has been so high,” she said. “I think most of them managed to do so just before July 4. Some of their docks were under water by 3 or 4 feet, which is typical, but not right up until the end of June.”
Water � ows into the lake from a myriad of sources, dozens of creeks and rivulets, but � ows out of the lake at just one point — the Sammamish River, which drains Lake Sammamish from the northwest corner, running north from Redmond to Wood-inville, then west through Bothell and Kenmore, into the northern reaches of Lake Washington. � is out� ow is controlled by a weir, which keeps the lake from drop-ping to very low levels in the summer but does not impede the out� ow of the higher waters.
Founder of Save Lake Sammamish (SLS), Joanna Buehler, who has received a number of local and county government awards for her e� orts to improve the ecology of the lake and its watershed, wrote on the SLS web site in June that the group was concerned about the unusually high lake level.
The rising tideThis week, eager 6, 7 and 8-year-olds learned what it takes to be a salmon at the summer Salmon Science Camp put on by Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery (FISH). From navigating by smell to evading predators, the kids developed their inner � sh with creative activities led by FISH Education Coordinator Celina Steiger. (Right) Lucas Costello tests his olfactory skills as he learns that salmon use their sense of smell to � nd their way to their home during spawning season. (Below) Grace Napolitan, left, feels what it’s like to be a salmon trying to escape the clutches of a shark, played by Eunice Cho, right. PHOTOS BY STACI BARSNESS, The Reporter
Sni� ng out the story of how our salmon do it
Spreading development hinders Lake Sammamish’s ability to cope with rainfall
[ more LAKE page 2 ]
Colin Curtis has played in 12 of 19 games for the Yankees since getting called up. BEN VANHOUTEN, Seattle Mariners
[ more CURTIS page 8 ]
SHOW ME THE MONEY |Energy e� ciency group works to save homeowners cash, and tackle the energy crisis [News 6]
By Jill Monster, naoMi Bryant, and taMMy Mcinnis
Dear Doctor - what vitamins and supplements should I be taking?
We hear this question every day. Based upon the latest scientific research and
clinical experience, our top picks are:
1. Vitamin D - North-west residents are notori-ously low in the “sunshine vitamin,” which the body produces naturally from sun exposure. Over 90 percent of our patients who do not take a vitamin
D supplement are found deficient. Vitamin D plays a role in building bones, preventing cancer, main-taining heart health, fight-ing infection and elevating mood. Foods like cows milk are fortified with vitamin D, but only in small amounts. Higher doses may be neces-sary to maintain adequate levels, particularly during the winter months.
2. Probiotics - These are foods that contain friendly bacteria which are essential for good digestion and for developing a strong im-mune system. Foods like
yogurt contain probiot-ics, but in relatively small quantities compared to supplements.
3. Fish Oil - Omega-3’s are found in oily fish like tuna, cod, mackerel and our local salmon. These oils play a key role in the func-tion of your heart, brain, eyes, nervous system, kid-neys and liver. Studies show fish oil prevents against heart disease, arthritis, and depression.
4. Bioflavonoids - Fruits and vegetables are not only
looking for the right vitamins to keep you in good health?
JULY 16, 2010[8] www.issaquah-reporter.com • www.sammamish-reporter.com
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“Seeing the ball drop ... it was kind of like a little bit of weight lifted off,” Curtis said. “I finally got it and it was exciting.”
The thrill was shared by his parents Jed and Janet, who after receiving a call late on Father’s Day, im-mediately left their home in Issaquah and flew to Phoenix.
Jed said he’ll always remember watching Colin come back to the dugout after his first hit, where he received congratulations from Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez.
“Colin was 9 when Alex played (in Seattle),” Jed said. “If you would have told me that some day he’d be play-ing on the same team and
that team was the Yankees, I would have just laughed. It can’t be described, there’s been a lot of pinch-me mo-ments.”
tHe startColin didn’t begin any
differently than most young baseball players.
“He was like every other little kid,” Jed said. “He started out by playing T-ball, he was that kid.”
There was one obvious difference with Colin early on, however — he abso-lutely loved the game.
Every day when Jed got off from work he would come home and play catch with Colin, no matter the season.
“We did it every day — in the summer, in the fall, in the winter, in the spring,”
Jed said.Steve Sanelli, who lived
in the same neighbor-hood as the Curtis fam-ily, helped coach Colin on an 11-12-year-old Little League All-Star team.
He said he’s not at all sur-prised by Colin’s success.
“As a Little Leaguer he was really, really easy to coach,” Sanelli said. “He could pretty much do any-thing on the baseball field. And, then he had the best attitude to go with it.”
oVercoMinG An obvious talent, Colin
earned a starting position on the Issaquah High base-ball roster as a freshman.
In his first high school game against Bothell, he hit a home run.
But it was soon after his impressive start that he was hit with a devastating diag-nosis of testicular cancer.
“He was diagnosed one day and he had surgery the next,” Jed said.
Fortunately, doctors re-moved all traces of cancer, eliminating the disease before it could reach the vascular system.
Within a few weeks of the surgery Colin was back on the field where he played a
key role in IHS history. As a starting center fielder, he helped the baseball pro-gram to its first-ever state championship in 2000.
“He could do every-thing,” high school coach Rob Reese said. “More than that it’s the way he played the game. He always had a big smile on his face, he made the players around him better.”
Colin went on to earn numerous league awards in his four-year career, helping Issaquah to a third-place finish his senior season in 2003.
tHe JoUrneyColin continued his
career at Arizona State University where he played through his junior sea-son in 2006. The Yankees selected him that year in the fourth round of the amateur draft as the 134th overall pick.
Since signing a profes-sional contract, Colin’s spent the last three and a half years playing minor league baseball in Staten Island, N.Y., Tampa Bay, Fla., Trenton, N.J., and Scranton, Pa.
“It’s a tough life bussing around,” he said. “You’re just trying to prove yourself and keep being successful and moving up. I loved it, every moment of it was fun.”
That said, don’t think for a second he wants to return anytime soon. Every day he’s fighting to keep his ros-ter spot with the defending MLB champions.
“This was always my goal,” Colin said. “(Base-ball) is what I love to do. I figured if I could keep playing and finally do it for a living, that would be a dream come true.”
[ cUrtis from page 1]
issaquah High head coach rob reese, assistant Fred Caponigro, Colin Curtis and assistant Steve Sanelli pose Monday at the Brandy Pugh Memorial tournament. Photo CourteSy oF Steve Sanelli
colin curtis checks his swing last Friday in a game agains the Seattle Mariners. the former issaquah high player ended the series 1-for-8. Ben vanhouten, Seattle Mariners
[ more VitaMins page 9 ]