Cynthia Flash? The name rings a bell

Cynthia Flash created a lasting impression when she started her journalism career.

The Bellevue woman now owns a media-services business and recently pitched a story to KIRO television. The man at KIRO asked whether she was the same Cynthia Flash who had worked for a wire service in Boise.

Her name apparently became a byword in newsrooms when she worked for UPI (United Press International) in Idaho. It was 1985 and early in computer days. Wire services transmitted stories via Teletype machines. To alert editors that something really major — such as a war or assassination — had occurred, bells would ring when the word "flash" appeared.

So when she filed her stories — however mundane — Flash's byline set off bells around the world. She refused to change her last name, so the machines were supposed to be reprogrammed. Apparently that never happened.

"It totally made my day that Bruce VanBrocklin at KIRO remembered I set off bells," Flash said. "He told me that when the UPI bells rang, editors knew it was either a major story or something little out of Boise from Cynthia Flash."

Sticking around

The pogachas — a soft and chewy Croatian flat bread — are safe for a long time to come. Brad Cassidy, owner of the Pogacha Restaurant in Bellevue, said he gets asked a dozen times a day when and where they're moving.

The reason is a redevelopment sign. The shopping center between Main and Northeast Second streets, on 106th Avenue Northeast, has been purchased by developer John Su.

Cassidy expects it will be a couple of years before redevelopment plans are approved. When that happens, he's already been asked to move into a new building that Su will build in the center.

"The short answer is we're not going anywhere for a while," Cassidy said.

Pogacha has been a popular downtown fixture since 1986. Cassidy and his wife, Lisa, also own the Pogacha Cafe in the Puget Sound Energy center in Bellevue and a full-service Pogacha restaurant in Issaquah.

All three places serve the namesake bread.

Closing down

Folks at Par Dee Sales, the oldest lumber yard in Bellevue, celebrated their last holiday party. The 44-year-old lumber yard on Richards Road will close around the end of January.

But it's not the proverbial end cut on a 2-by-4 for longtime customers of the yard. In a deal worked by Vicki Pardee, daughter of founder Bob Pardee, the business will be absorbed by Dunn Lumber. Dunn gets the customers and accounts — call it a lock, stock and daughter trade. Vicki Pardee goes with the package to keep spoiling Par Dee regulars.

Bob Pardee opened the company 44 years ago. Although he retired five years ago he still checks in regularly and was the first to arrive for Friday's holiday event.

"My dad is 81 years old but he can outwalk me any day," Vicki said.

By the way, the Par Dee spelling came from a misprint on the first business license Bob Pardee got from the state. "He just left it like that," Vicki Pardee said.

Sherry Grindeland: 206-515-5633 or sgrindeland@seattletimes.com