The Monroe Monitor & Valley News, Monroe, Washington, The Voice of the Sky Valley Since 1899

Much more inside!
Page 1: Bank robber floats alone: grabs cash, flees down river on inner tube / Fire takes four lives / Teens take top awards at fair
Page 2: Around The Valley / Flashback / News Briefs
Page 3: Catnapping thieves get wakeup call from judge / New business /
Page 4: Caldwell joins planning commission / Births / Find It Fast Directory
Page 5: Editor's Notebook: "The Write Stuff" / What's Going On? "Index Residents Angry Over Sutherland's Gag Order" / Obituaries / Police Reports
Page 6: THE VALLEY NEWS: Candidates talk economy, crime at Sultan forum / News Briefs / Gold Bar-B-Q wins big at Oregon State Fair, Alki Beach competitions / Libraries expand online homework help
Page 7: Fair results (con't from page 1) / Valley Church Directory / Professional Directory
Page 8: Turk Homecoming supporters
Page 9: Sports Roundup / My Take on the Game / Monroe QB injured in game against Stanwood / Claybreakers place 5th in meet / Turk volleyball / Classified ads / Legal notices
Page 10: A head in the game: QB thinks, trains way to top stats / Monroe and Sultan girls soccer

Winner of 24 Washington Newspaper
Publishers Association awards for 2007-8!

Fire ends the lives of two women and their children
The two sisters came to the United States seeking a life for themselves and their children that they could not have in Mexico; a life in which, if a widow and a young single woman worked hard, they could get ahead, maybe even own a home. For four days, the dream of that life seemed to have come true. For four days, Petra and Maria Montaño and Maria’s two daughters lived in a mobile home all their own, paid for with $4,000 earned waiting tables at many area Mexican restaurants supplemented with a loan from a doting brother.
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Teens take top awards at fair
Sky Valley kids and teens involved in FFA and 4-H turned out in high numbers at this year’s Evergreen State Fair; and took home high numbers of awards. Here are the winners and their awards from this year’s fair. In order to have room to include every category, we only noted the winner’s hometown if it was other than Monroe. Read story

Bank robber grabs cash, flees down river
The man who robbed an armored car outside the Monroe Bank of America last Tuesday and made his getaway by inner tube has not been caught. “It’s like a movie,” said Monroe police spokeswoman Debbie Willis last week. “I believe this was very well planned.” Read story

Quarterback thinks, trains his way to top stats
Bryan Sonneveldt has always been a quarterback, but not because he could throw. It was because he could think, he said. He started playing quarterback at the age of eight, when he joined a newly created midget football team in Sultan called the Pirates, after Sonneveldt's dad's college football team, the Orange County Pirates. Read story