Week in Review
Published 10:18 pm Saturday, November 10, 2007
Here’s a selection of the week’s top news items from across Snohomish County as they appeared in The Herald. For the full stories, go to cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet.
Sunday, Nov. 4
Hospice group seeks 2.5-acre site in county: Providence Hospice of Snohomish County is looking for a 2.5-acre site in central Snohomish County, the first step in launching a $10 million project to build the county’s only inpatient hospice center.
The 20-bed facility would care for adults and children with terminal diseases who are too ill to be treated at home, said Joni Copeland, the hospital’s director of business development. The nonprofit organization hopes to open the center in two years.
Sharon Salyer
Monday, Nov. 5
Arlington fire chief’s vigilance has never wavered: For 30 years, Lon Langdon has backed his pickup truck into the garage at his Arlington Heights home. He leaves it pointed toward the street in case he needs to get away quickly in the middle of the night.
For the last 30 years, he’s served as fire chief for Snohomish County Fire District 21 in Arlington Heights. Until around five years ago, the position was volunteer. Langdon organized meetings, ran the department and responded to hundreds of calls a year without earning a salary.
Kaitlin Manry
Tuesday, Nov. 6
County’s headquarters renamed for longtime executive Bob Drewel: The former Snohomish County executive — four years out of office — thought he was about to make a budget pitch to the County Council.
He was quickly hit with a surprise: The council named the county’s eight-story, $41 million administration building in Drewel’s honor.
Jeff Switzer
Wednesday, Nov. 7
Roads and rails a no-go: The Puget Sound’s largest-ever road and light rail tax package was headed to a crashing defeat, dealing a major blow to political leaders’ efforts to ease traffic problems in the region.
Early returns showed Proposition 1 losing by wide margins in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties. The two-part measure proposed $17.8 billion worth of bridge, light rail and transit projects in the three counties to be paid for with increases in the sales tax and vehicle tab fees.
Jerry Cornfield
Thursday, Nov. 8
Bothell man positive even after hateful graffiti: Whoever spray-painted a racist message in big white letters across the brown fence of Charles Ray’s home early Wednesday must not know the 73-year-old great-grandfather.
He said they must not know about the 24 years he spent in the military. They must not know of his 14 grandchildren, his half dozen great-grandchildren or his career as a music teacher at Edmonds-Woodway High School and elsewhere in Washington.
Jackson Holtz
Friday, Nov. 9
Boeing’s Machinists get $3,000: On Thanksgiving, the Machinists who build Boeing aircraft will have about $67.5 million in their pockets collectively.
But that doesn’t mean the more than 22,000 Machinists who will receive a lump sum payment of $3,000 each will funnel that money back into the local economy anytime soon. Instead, most have been urged by the union to save the money to carry them through a strike next year if contract renegotiations break down.
Michelle Dunlop
Saturday, Nov. 10
Team’s perfect season erased: A season marked by grief came to a shocking end Friday for the unbeaten Archbishop Murphy High School football team.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association upheld a Cascade Conference and District 1 board ruling that required Murphy to forfeit its district playoff victory over Bellingham for using an ineligible player. Murphy defeated the Red Raiders 28-6 last Saturday.
John McDonald
