Arlington Girl Scouts receive Silver Award

Girl Scout Troop 1556 of Arlington recently received recognition for service work that earned the girls the Girl Scout Silver Award.

Each girl worked more than 60 hours cleaning, organizing, repairing, labeling and making a checkout system for camping equipment that had been donated to the regional Girl Scouts Totem Council.

Because of the work the girls accomplished, Scout leaders in the region may now check out camping and backpacking equipment for their troops.

Troop 1556 also logged more than 30 hours in the Stanwood community and worked on projects such jewelry-making, theater and bicycling.

The silver recipients are Kasandra Dengate, Courtney Bunnell and Justine Doggett. Their leader is Holly Bunnell and the project adviser was Terri Hall from Girl Scouts Totem Council office.

Stanwood teen serves as legislative page

Cassandra “Cassie” Walsh, 15, of Stanwood served recently as a page in the state House of Representatives. She was sponsored by Rep. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor.

Pages have duties that vary from ceremonial tasks, such as presenting the flags, to operational chores such as distributing amendments during legislative sessions. Pages spend a week in Olympia and often stay with host families.

A 10th-grade student, Cassie is home-schooled. She is the daughter of Keith and Lisa Walsh of Stanwood.

Marysville student is page for McCoy

Tessa Parker, an eighth-grader at Marysville Junior High School, is serving as a page in the state House of Representatives.

Sponsored by state Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, Tessa is a daughter of Barbara Parker and Terry Parker Jr. of Tulalip.

Tessa and other youths in the page program are responsible for a variety of tasks.

Some of their duties involve administrative assignments on the House or Senate floor such as distributing bills and amendments to legislative members. Some jobs are ceremonial, such as presenting the flags before the legislative session.

Monroe Garden Club notes 50-year member

Marilyn Olson recently was honored for her 50-year membership in the Monroe Garden Club.

A member since 1956, she remembers when the club sponsored flower shows, flower arrangement competitions and horticulture events in the old Ben Franklin store in Monroe.

Olson still gardens on several acres, raising vegetables as well as flowers and fruits of many kinds. She has a greenhouse and a few raised beds she covers for early germination of plants.

She passed her love of gardening on to her son, who works for the city of Monroe, maintaining the parks, boulevards and gardens.

Birds of Prey dance team announced

Dance team director, choreographer and former SeaGal Rachel Kerr recently introduced the 2007 Everett Hawks Birds of Prey dance team.

Members are Jessica Walker, Sara Chung, Athena Nazarian, Brittany DeYoung, Rebecca Chung, Amy Coffey, Eriana Kong and Kristin Plumlee, all currently working on a volunteer basis and all from the region. During the football season, the dance team will earn a stipend.

“These young ladies bring professionalism, athleticism, enthusiasm and a love for the game,” said Kerr. “We are privileged to have them representing the Hawks.”

Work for the dance team has already begun. To schedule an appearances for nonprofit organizations, or for more information on the Birds of Prey, call Mary Butler at the Everett Hawks management office, 425-252-4874.

County’s Red Cross rates tops regionally

The Snohomish County Chapter of the American Red Cross has received a “highly performing chapter” rating from the organization’s 10-state western region headquarters in Las Vegas. The rating is the highest designation under the Red Cross chapter performance standard system.

Red Cross chapters are evaluated annually in 47 performance standard categories. Results are used to measure Red Cross performance in areas such as service delivery, internal management, volunteer satisfaction and community awareness.

The Snohomish County Chapter has nine paid employees and more than 250 trained and ready volunteers.

Its programs include disaster relief services, health and safety training and community services such as Project Pride, which assists those in need of assistance in paying utility bills. The latter is administered in cooperation with Snohomish County PUD.

The American Red Cross is a nonprofit organization, not a part of the federal government. Its primary mission is to help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. The Snohomish County Chapter was chartered in 1916.

Basketball tourney keeps kids busy

The Boys &Girls Clubs of Snohomish County kept hundreds of kids from throughout the county busy during holiday vacations. The club’s sixth annual holiday basketball tournament hosted 80 area teams in nine gymnasiums around the county.

Winning teams from the tournament included:

The Hot Shots, fourth-graders from Lake Stevens coached by Ray and Kim Toler; the Hurricanes, sixth-graders from Lake Stevens coached by Jason Thompson and Lyh Elton; the Wildcats, fourth-graders from Alderwood coached by Bill Hunnewell and Jim Schrader.

Also, the Panthers, fifth-graders from Snohomish coached by Todd Lipke and Doug Plucker; the Blackhawks, sixth-graders from Alderwood coached by Lynn Russell and Dean Lotz; the Lady Knights, seventh- and eighth-graders from Mukilteo coached by James Glenn and Robin Bence.

Also the Magic, ninth- and 10th-graders from Lynnwood coached by Chip Murray and Allan Arayata; the Hoops Blue, seventh-graders from Everett, coached by Todd Sphung, Tom Cobb and Jack Henry; the Stunners, eighth-graders from Lynnwood coached by Eric Esparza and Elgin Lambert Sr.; and the Fuzzy Bunnies, eighth-graders from Snohomish coached by Shawn Osborne and Wayne Cope Sr.