Top local stories for 2008 mostly about the economy

Big money is involved in the top three local news stories of 2008, but for very different reasons.

They involve failing businesses, worried financiers, a massive public works project that could cost billions and two 94-year-old women who left behind a legacy that will touch the lives of young men and women for generations to come.

1. CENTRAL WASHINGTON'S FALTERING ECONOMY: Although the Yakima Valley hasn't suffered the wallop of a deepening national recession as severely as many other areas have, we haven't avoided its impact, which could spread as we head into 2009.

The financial crisis led to the collapse of Washington Mutual, which was bought by JP Morgan Chase. However, smaller community banks and credit unions -- the more stable local institutions that avoided getting dragged into the subprime mortgage mess that triggered the economic meltdown -- were weathering the storm. Several have even reported increases in deposits and loan volumes in recent months.

But the tanking economy has taken a toll locally, as the unemployment rate has been rising -- up to 7.7 percent in Yakima County in November -- and developers have put the brakes on some planned projects.

Most notably, Riverpointe Landing, an estimated $160 million retail development at North 16th Avenue and U.S. Highway 12, is in limbo until the economy starts turning around. Home Depot, an anchor tenant for Riverpointe, has decided to hold off on building a new store for now.

Also, several used car dealerships have gone out of business in recent weeks.

One bright spot for the coming year is $23 million in government spending on local infrastructure projects, mostly for road improvements in Yakima. Much of the city's capital budget next year comes from an infusion of state and federal grants that were locked in before the national economic meltdown.

2. PHILANTHROPISTS: Speaking of millions of dollars, two women who died in recent months left a combined total of more than $34 million in their wills for philanthropic purposes.

The women themselves were quite different from each other. Helen Jewett, who was 94 when she died in October, was well known for her generous support over the years for a host of community programs and organizations, including the Yakima Arboretum, Heritage University, the Yakima Symphony Orchestra and the Capitol Theatre, to name a few.

In her will, Jewett left another $14 million to be spread among Yakima Valley charitable organizations and nonprofit groups.

Mary Monroe Davis, who was also 94 when she died in November, was a very private person but no less generous with her wealth. She left more than $20 million in her will to establish the largest college scholarship fund in the Yakima Valley.

Davis was the wife of a Kittitas County cattle rancher, and she had inherited much of the fortune her parents accumulated in the lumber and orchard businesses.

Although local Rotary Club members had known for years that a substantial sum would go to a scholarship fund to be administered by the Yakima Rotary Trust, Davis' identity as the benefactor was a closely held secret until her death.

3. BLACK ROCK: After a five-year study that cost $18 million, the proposed Black Rock reservoir got a thumbs down from the federal Bureau of Reclamation.

Building a massive dam to create a 1.6 million acre-foot reservoir east of Yakima likely would have cost more than $7 billion, and annual operating costs would run about $60 million.

The bureau's final environmental impact statement issued in December concluded the return on that investment to provide greater water storage for the drought-prone region would be too low, only about 13 cents on the dollar.

Although the Yakima Basin Storage Alliance, a key group supporting Black Rock, held out hope the project could remain viable, the Bureau of Reclamation said it is shifting its plans to work with the state on a mix of smaller, less expensive solutions to meet irrigation, fishery and municipal water supply needs.

4. DIRTY WATER: What a lot of Lower Valley residents have needed but had been without for years is safe drinking water from their wells.

That may be changing.

Recently, the federal Environmental Protection Agency brought together local, state and federal agencies to address the longstanding problem of groundwater contamination in the rural area. A special three-part series, "Hidden Wells, Dirty Water" published in the Yakima Herald-Republic in October, examined how nitrate contamination of groundwater has been largely ignored.

Nitrate contamination can result from overuse of commercial farm fertilizer and even from failing septic systems, but in the Lower Valley situation, the focus has been on dairy and livestock operations. The area has 72 dairies with 74,000 cows, the densest concentration in the state.

At an EPA-led meeting in December, residents called for a variety of measures including stricter regulation of the dairy industry's manure management practices and fines on polluters to pay for cleanup and construction of public water systems. They also asked for comprehensive well testing and extensive community outreach for Spanish-speaking households who may not be aware of the water contamination.

One thing the initial gathering made clear is that the process of bringing together a variety of agencies and stakeholders to find solutions to the area's water problem is likely to be lengthy, complicated and costly.

5. THE 2008 ELECTIONS: The buzz of this historic election season began early in the year, when more Democrats than Republicans turned out to participate in February's presidential caucuses and primaries.

In the fall, the Yakima area witnessed a vigorous campaign by a Democrat trying to break Republicans' long domination in 14th District House races. In the end, Republican Norm Johnson won a close race against well-funded Democrat Vickie Ybarra to succeed Mary Skinner, who decided to retire from the Legislature after 14 years.

Local Democrats, while disappointed that their most viable candidate in years was unable to win running against a non-incumbent Republican, were nonetheless encouraged by Ybarra's strong showing.

Also on the November ballot was Initiative 1000, strongly opposed by the Catholic Diocese of Yakima because it would legalize physician-assisted suicide. Despite the Catholic opposition, the measure was approved by state voters, although a majority in Yakima County opposed it.

6. MARIJUANA SEIZED: The new twist in this summer's marijuana eradication efforts in the Yakima Valley was where so much of that pot was growing -- in vineyards.

By August, drug agents had uprooted nine major marijuana grows totaling an estimated 142,570 plants worth more than $140 million. To put that in some perspective, the state's 2007 harvest of all grapes was valued at about $144 million.

Yakima County accounted for nearly half of the state's record-setting total of more than 400,000 marijuana plants found this year.

One bust, which uncovered more than 18,000 plants, came about after a farmer south of Sunnyside approached two men in a neighboring vineyard who were using his irrigation water.

In another case, a farmer who wasn't looking to sell his land accepted more than $260,000 he was offered for his 27 acres, which was later turned into a marijuana plantation.

Authorities arrested more than two dozen people in connection with the county's marijuana-growing operations.

7. MEDICAL SCHOOL OPENS: Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences opened in Terrace Heights in July.

The school welcomed its first class of 75 students studying to become osteopathic physicians.

The $20 million College of Osteopathic Medicine is the first building, but the university plans to expand and offer more programs on its 42-acre campus.

The institution plans to pursue accreditation for a College of Allied Health Sciences, which would include physical and occupational therapy, and a College of Biomedical Sciences.

The university, which may enroll as many as 400 students in its various colleges by 2012, will have a profound economic impact on the Yakima area.

8. THE VINEYARDS STALLS: An ambitious project that was called a tipping point for the region's future wine industry at a September groundbreaking ceremony has tipped over into bankruptcy proceedings.

Developers of The Vineyards Resort -- envisioned as a $500 million wine-themed destination golf resort in the Rattlesnake Hills northwest of Zillah -- filed for bankruptcy protection in November to reorganize and avoid a sale of the 500-acre property.

The bankruptcy filing came the day before a planned foreclosure of the property for failure to maintain payments on a $12.9 million bridge loan obtained from a hedge fund in 2006 to get the project off the ground.

The developers and other project backers blamed the nationwide financial meltdown and frozen credit markets for the bankruptcy filing.

The Vineyards has about 30 people who made $250,000 financial commitments for some of the resort's 230 housing lots.

The developers of the struggling project asked a bankruptcy judge this month to order the return of $3 million in deposits paid to two firms that helped in arranging financing for The Vineyards.

9. GANG FLAREUPS ON RISE: From the streets of Yakima through the towns of the Lower Valley, the year saw a spike in gang violence. That led to a number of residents, angered by the gang activity in their communities, deciding to take action.

Nine of 18 homicide victims in Yakima County in 2008 were teenagers, and most of those deaths were gang-related. That included an 18-year-old who was shot in Sunnyside in November after someone threw rocks at a vehicle.

A Friday night football game at Grandview High School in September was disrupted by a drive-by shooting across the street from the stadium. That prompted dozens of students to gather before classes the following Monday morning for an anti-gang rally in front of the school.

That shooting also led to a march sponsored by Communities Uniting for Peace. Marchers protesting gang activity started from Sunnyside and Grandview and met midway between the towns for a rally.

Earlier in May, the Gangs in Schools Task Force created by the Legislature held one of a series of statewide community forums in Yakima.

10. (TIE) WESTERN RV SHUTS DOWN: Reportedly strapped for cash and struggling in a down market, longtime recreational vehicle manufacturer Western RV closed in April.

About 220 employees were affected by the closure of the Union Gap firm, which had laid off 47 workers in March in a move company officials said was made to align production with market demand.

The shutdown was connected to the national economic downturn, which has created tough times in the RV industry. As housing values dropped, many potential buyers lost the equity in their homes they had used in the past to purchase big-ticket items such as Western RV's motor homes, which sold for $250,000 to $500,000.

Two days after Western RV closed, there was an announcement that offered the possibility of employment for some of the workers who lost their jobs. Adventurer Manufacturing LP, a company based in British Columbia that makes pickup campers, travel trailers and smaller motor homes, said it would open a manufacturing facility in Yakima.

That facility opened in August and the first camper rolled off the line in October at a location near the former Western RV site, with a staff of 25 manufacturing employees.

10. (TIE) SHAYLA DIES FROM CANCER: When 17-year-old Shayla Holwegner came back to Yakima in August after a year and a half undergoing cancer treatments in Seattle, she wrote about her journey and explained her decision to come home in an online journal.

"I'm not giving up. I'm choosing to finish my life not only where I started it, but where my heart has been this whole time," she wrote.

She was surprised by the huge response her writings generated. There were tens of thousands of hits on the Web site, and hundreds of e-mails came in from all over the country, many from people saying what an inspiration Shayla was.

Although the former volleyball player returned to classes at Eisenhower High School and had hoped to graduate with her class in June, she died Dec. 11 of the bone cancer that was discovered after she suffered a broken leg during a volleyball match.

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