By CLAYTON PARK

You know what they say about the squeaky wheel getting the grease.

In Fremont, the community that calls itself the "Center of the Universe," if something needs publicizing, chances are good that the folks at Muir Public Relations are the ones doing the squeaking.

It was, in fact, the campaign that resulted in Fremont's gaining recognition as the "Center of the Universe" in June 1994 that launched Jeanne Muir's career as a publicist.

Fremont, and the rest of the universe, has never been the same since.

Muir, who was a semi-employed speech-writer at the time, was recruited by a contingent of Fremont rabble-rousers - Peter Bevis, John Hegeman, Suzie Burke, Charlotte Buchanan, and Maque Davis - to orchestrate a tongue-in-cheek PR campaign declaring Fremont's "independence" from the City of Seattle.

"This was in response to Mayor Rice's Urban Village Plan," explained Muir, who said she was "roped" into becoming the volunteer organizer of the campaign because "Fremont identified me as an unemployed person."

Muir took on the task with relish, sending out press releases to the media and contacting attorneys to find out exactly what it would take to secede from the city. The group playfully suggested that "we pointed the Rocket (the sculpture mounted on the corner of the building that houses Ah Nuts!) toward downtown Seattle" in an act of defiance and even faxed a letter to the United Nations requesting sovereign status. "They didn't reply, funny thing!" Muir jokes.

While the group learned that the procedure for attempting to secede from the city would be far too complicated and costly to accomplish, they succeeded in achieving their true goal: promoting the image of Fremont as a colorful and wildly creative neighborhood. "The press gobbled it up," said Muir, who said news of the campaign was covered by all the local TV stations, major newspapers, and several local radio stations.

Best of all, the group received a call from County Councilwoman Cynthia Sullivan who offered her assistance in writing a Declaration of Independence for the neighborhood. Sullivan even got the County Council to official declare Fremont as the "Center of the Universe."

"From that experience, I knew I wanted to do this for a living," said Muir, who promptly changed the name of her business from Muir Consulting to Muir Public Relations.

Shortly thereafter, Muir landed her first major paid client, Redhook Ale Brewery, which hired her to promote the opening of the company's brewery in Woodinville.

Over the years, Fremont-based Muir Public Relations has done work for a number of businesses, both large and small, as well as continuing to donate a portion of its time to publicizing various neighborhood causes.

One notable campaign was publicizing the then-fledgling Fremont Art Walk series. "We needed something to happen to bring attention to it," recalls Muir. "That's when Lenin dropped into our lap," she added, referring to the 16-1/2 foot tall statue from the former Soviet Union that now graces the sidewalk in front of Taco Del Mar. "Somebody approached (Fremont Fine Arts Foundry owner) Peter Bevis to melt it down, and he couldn't bear the thought," said Muir. Upon hearing Bevis's dilemma, she suggested that the Art Walk organizers arrange to have the statue put on public display in Fremont.

Their efforts resulted in national publicity, thanks to a glowing write-up in the New York Times.

In January 1998, Muir's growing workload prompted her to take on a partner, Peg Marckworth, a longtime friend.

Marckworth notes: "Jeanne and I have been friends since we were both 17." The two met as freshmen at Whitman College in Walla Walla, where they were dorm-mates.

The two both graduated from Whitman with degrees in psychology, but then their lives took different paths.

Muir became a truck driver and later a foreman for a harvest crew in Eastern Washington. She eventually returned to school to earn an MBA from Washington State University, followed by a 12 year management career at Paccar Inc., the Bellevue-based Fortune 200 truck manufacturing company. She left the company to pursue work as an independent consultant after refusing to accept a transfer to Chicago.

Marckworth, in the meantime, landed a job immediately after college selling designer clothes at a boutique in Seattle, before she returned to school to earn her Masters from the University of Washington. She then embarked on a career journey that included positions as a family therapist, human services manager, fund-raiser, press liaison, a lobbyist in Olympia, and eventually a public relations executive working for Bob Royer, the former deputy mayor who served in the adminstration of his brother, Mayor Charles Royer.

It is an irony that both ended up in PR, given the divergent career paths they initially took.

What isn't an irony is the fact that the two finally hooked up as business partners. "For years, Jeanne and I had talked about going into business together," says Marckworth, who added, "We had one scheme after another," including starting a catering service and running a plant nursery. For various reasons, their plans never materialized until last year.

In becoming partners, Muir and Marckworth pledged to make one of their business goals be "to have fun."

"We've just always enjoyed each other's company," says Muir, who notes that the two bring different, complementary skills to the job. "Jeanne's good at bring in business," says Marckworth, while Muir adds: "Peg is good at managing the business side. I've got an MBA but I don't like to balance my checkbook!"

The two recently expanded their firm yet again by adding their first employee, Chris McDowall, who joined the firm in November, after having spent 19 years working in broadcasting for radio stations in Canada. The firm also employs interns from time to time.

Neither Muir nor Marckworth initially set out to be PR professionals, but now that they've both discovered it, they found the work, for the most part, to be thoroughly enjoyable. "It's a wonderful business," says Muir. "What you get to do is learn a new business (with each new client) and became an enthusiast about it. We try to understand who a business is and who is their community."

It's sort of like treating each client as if they're the center of their respective universes.