1. Andie’s was an Auburn institution for more than 40 years, a mom-and-pop eatery of the kind one sees too seldom today—where everybody knows who you are, where you come from, where you’re at. Where customers banter with the cook, and when the restaurant opens each morning, the cook has plates of “the usual” waiting for the regulars, because he knows who’ll be there and what they’ll want. Where waitresses dish out good-natured guff to customers whom they’ve known for many years, and customers give it right back. Where you can get the latest gossip served up with a steaming cup of coffee.

It was natural, then, that sobs and tears flowed freely among the packing boxes and detritus last week during the restaurant’s final day of operation. For some, it was like a death in the family.

On Nov. 30, owner Sukcha (Sue) Perreira sold the restaurant to Hyung Kim for $600,000, according to King County records. Word around the restaurant was that Mr. Kim intends to open a Thai restaurant there sometime in the new year.

“I’ve had enough, I’m 73 years old,” said Perreira, a Hawaii native who has owned other restaurants in South King County.

Perreira and her husband, Steve, first bought Andie’s in 1979, added the bar, sold it in 1985, then bought it again in 2002. Mr. Perreira died on Thanksgiving Day, 2009.

And now she is looking forward to setting aside the sausages in exchange for a greener sort of links.

“I’m going to go golfing every day, that’s what I’m going to do,” Perreira said with a laugh. Auburn Reporter.

2. Black Diamond Councilwoman Pat Pepper held a community meeting late last week to address the recall charges brought against her earlier this year.

The meeting, held at the Black Diamond library, was a chance for voters to have “an opportunity to hear from both sides before they decide to sign,” the recall petition, Pepper wrote in an announcement for the meeting.

Five recall charges were submitted to King County by city resident Robbin Taylor in April, but only four were approved by the King County Superior Court. Pepper appealed the court’s decision, and the state Supreme Court approved of three of the four charges.

Beyond claiming the recall charges brought against her are false, one of Pepper’s biggest points at the meeting is that when a court approves a recall charge, that charge doesn’t have to be proven true.

“I was very interested to learn the courts do not have to have proof that the charges are true,” Pepper said. “This was something I could hardly imagine or believe, and it took me a while to recognize that statement. As allegations are made, the court does not have to prove that the charges are true.”

The three charges allege Pepper violated the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) by conducting meetings with other council members outside the public sphere, refused to attend meetings or approve minutes, and failed to enact a city budget.

Pepper denied that she violated the OPMA and said there were no “secret meetings” happening between council members. Maple Valley Reporter

3. When Mercer Island High School student Albert Lam decided to sell pencils to support the Red Cross and its Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, his goal was to raise $200. After an outpouring of donations, he upped it to $2,000. He ended up raising more than $16,000.

Lam said he had never organized a major fundraiser before, but he is no stranger to community service. He’s the vice president of the MIHS Key Club, the student branch of Kiwanis, and his father, Hao, is active in the Asian community in Seattle’s International District.

Lam said that Chinese and Vietnamese families come together every year to raise money for local organizations, including the Red Cross, and for different causes. He remembers attending the fundraiser for Haiti after an earthquake struck there in 2010.

Lam was inspired to do something for Hurricane Harvey when he overheard his mother speaking to a friend from Houston on the phone.

“She asked me if I could imagine something like that happening here, and I couldn’t,” Lam said.

It was just about time to go back to school, so Lam decided to start the pencil fundraiser. Lam’s parents funded the supplies, which allowed Lam to donate all of the proceeds to the relief fund.

The pencils, monogrammed with the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund name, were sold for $5 each, but Lam said people often wanted to donate more. The largest single donation his fund received was $2,000. Mercer Island Reporter

4. A King County Superior Court judge last week ordered the 365 Whole Foods store in Bellevue Square to open its doors.

The store, which opened in September 2016, had suddenly closed its doors in October. In the injunction, Judge Mary E. Roberts states that Whole Foods committed a breach of contract when it closed and that it must reopen within 14 days of the order.

The lease for the 34,000-square-foot space in Bellevue Square Mall, signed in the summer of 2015, states that Whole Foods must be open and operational for at least the first 10 years of the 20-year lease term. Although the contract allowed permitting assignment or sublease with written approval of Bellevue Square, Whole Foods did not request such action and instead notified customers and the mall of its plans in an email two days before it closed on Oct. 14.

“This is how Bellevue Square learned of the closure,” court documents state.

That notice came 15 minutes before the start of 365 Whole Foods’ “store closing” sale, in which the store “slashed its prices for what it held out to the public as its final days of operation,” the documents continue.

Whole Foods told the public, including some news outlets, that issues with the lease caused its decision to close up shop. However, a Whole Foods representative told the Bellevue Reporter that the decision came after “a careful evaluation of the store’s performance.”

Bellevue Square asserts the closure has negatively impacted the mall’s reputation, lease negotiations with other tenants, and its relationship with lenders, among other issues.

Whole Foods Market has appealed the ruling and is seeking review by Division 1 of the Court of Appeals. Bellevue Reporter

5. Sonia Joseph is protesting the inquest into the fatal shooting of her son by a Kent Police officer.

“It looks like I have been denied everything by this court,” Joseph said on Monday to King County District Court Judge Susan Mahoney at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. “I was denied my rights to legal counsel to represent me. It is unfair. I am protesting and boycotting this trial.”

As Mahoney started to warn Joseph about interrupting the proceedings and her possible removal from the courtroom, Joseph walked out with three others who came to support her.

Giovonn Joseph-McDade, 20, of Auburn, died June 24, from multiple gunshot wounds after he reportedly tried to use his vehicle to run over an officer after a short pursuit on the East Hill that ended on a residential cul-de-sac at 99th Avenue South and South 244th Street. Joseph-McDade is a former football player and student at Kent-Meridian High School.

Joseph said prior to the inquest that she and her attorney had asked Judge Mahoney for a continuance of the hearing last month because the attorney had a trial and could not be present this week. Mahoney denied a continuance.

“I am boycotting the inquest process because I refuse to take a seat in a process that has been organized by a system that has already failed my son, and now she’s denying me and my attorneys to do their job—where’s the justice?” Joseph said.

Mahoney told Joseph and her attorney last week that she didn’t want to move the inquest to another date because it could cause witnesses lined up for the Joseph-McDade inquest to have to change their schedules.

“It’s an inconvenience to the court to have to reschedule.” Joseph said. “My son’s murder is an inconvenience to this court.”

Mahoney further explained in court Monday that the inquest would have been moved to March if it had been continued. The judge said she balanced the desire of the family to have an attorney participate to the interests of the other parties.

“It would have pushed it out to March, witnesses have been scheduled. … The officer, city and public have interest in having it done,” Mahoney said. Kent Reporter ■