Public works crew answered the call
Published 10:59 am Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Sheriff’s Lt. Rodney Rochon recognizes an emergency response when he sees it and wants to make sure good work doesn’t go unnoticed.
Last week, SnoPac got a call about a missing manhole cover on a street in south Everett.
Rochon was among those at the scene.
“I could see a manhole cover was missing,” Rochon wrote in an e-mail praising the response by the county’s Public Works crew. “I saw a three-person road crew sprinting down the street towards the intersection with one member pulling a replacement manhole cover.”
Rochon says they replaced the cover with the speed and precision of a NASCAR pit crew.
“Their observation and speed of response made that intersection safer for all and saved the county one heck of a liability claim(s),” he wrote.
Public Works Director Steven Thomsen says it was an example of crews going beyond the call of duty in the interest of public safety.
It turned out the missing manhole was owned by Alderwood Water and Sewer. The county got a call from Snopac and Al Smith and Dennis Konopinski, both road maintenance supervisors, knew there was a county crew working just up the road on a sidewalk.
The crew remembered there was a similar-size manhole lid sitting on a sidewalk nearby.
Rather than wait for Alderwood Water, the crew barricaded off the sidewalk manhole for safety. They towed the heavy lid down the street to use as a replacement to prevent an accident in the roadway.
Rochon says he learned two things:
1. “I did not know that a manhole cover drag was part of the public works hiring process.”
2. “I did not know a person could run that fast while dragging a manhole cover.”
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They were hungry for rhubarb in Mountlake Terrace.
About 300 folks attended a ribbon cutting Thursday to officially open a Mountlake Terrace Farmer’s Market.
There were 18 vendors selling farm fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, honey and other local farm products.
The market will be open from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays on 58th Avenue between the corner of 232nd Street SW and the entrance to the Mountlake Terrace Civic Campus.
Mountlake Terrace Business Association members donated about $6,000 for the market. Association president Don Andrews is chairman of the Farmers Market Committee, which created the community market. Premera Blue Cross, the city’s largest employer, donated $5,000.
Grant Davidson, a market manager who operates farmers markets in Lake Forest Park, Crossroads and Woodinville, will manage the Mountlake Terrace Farmers Market.
Watch the city’s website at www.cityofmlt.com for more information on special events and news about the market.
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Does anyone know the family of Margaret May Billings?
Norma Rae Pilkenton says the Snohomish County Central Memorial Committee would like to honor Billings, who graduated from Everett High School in 1928. They want to dedicate the service to her.
Pilkenton says Billings, a nurse, was killed in World War II. Pilkenton has called all the Billingses in this area and can’t find her family.
Billings was born in Lowell, April 16,1910.
“There is a plaque at Lowell Park honoring her,” Pilkenton said.
If you have any information about the family, please call 425-258-4201.
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.
