In honor of Veterans Day, the Snohomish County Council has adopted a platoon of Marines in Iraq.
There’s a local connection. One platoon member, Lance Cpl. Kyle Freemantle, is the son of council analyst Sharie Freemantle. His platoon, part of P Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Marines, left for Iraq at the end of August.
The council passed a resolution honoring the platoon on Wednesday.
Councilman Gary Nelson said the council’s thoughts are with America’s military members in Iraq and elsewhere.
“We have deployed military personnel throughout the world,” he said. “And we’ve forgotten those that are still serving us in Bosnia – those that are serving us in many remote locations of this earth … and in areas where their service to this country is to maintain the peace.
“I can only say thanks to all of those people,” Nelson said. “I hope that God looks over them.”
Born to be wild: No more. The County Council may reign in the unregulated world of motor-scooter riders in unincorporated Snohomish County.
The council will hold a public hearing in December on new rules that would restrict the scooters. More than half of the county’s cities already have passed rules on motorized scooters.
The county regulations would make it unlawful for anyone under age 16 to ride the scooters. Motorized scooters also would be banned from county parks, and couldn’t be driven on bicycle and hiking trails, or on public roads with speed limits of more than 25 mph. Also verboten: Riding with a passenger and driving at night or without a helmet.
And so it begins: The first donations have been reported for County Executive Aaron Reardon’s 2007 re-election campaign.
Through Wednesday, Reardon had collected $6,400. All but $625 came from out-of-county donors, according to records on file with the state Public Disclosure Commission.
Get a grip: The county is looking for people who want to help Mother Nature this holiday season.
Volunteers are needed to pull up invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed and Himalayan blackberry at Lundeen Park in Lake Stevens and plant evergreen conifers near Lundeen Creek on Dec. 4.
Interested? Call Scott Moore at 425-388-6462.
Claim of the week: A Mill Creek man seeks $87 from the county after he caught the right sleeve of his sports jacket on the temporary fence that surrounds the county campus construction project. The money would cover the cost of a Haggar sports coat the man bought as a replacement at JC Penney.
Next week: County planners and representatives from north county cities and tribes will gather for a workshop devoted to growth and land-use policies in Marysville.
The meeting will help update the county’s comprehensive plan, the document that will guide the next wave of population growth in the county. Representatives will discuss transportation, economic development and built-from-scratch cities called fully contained communities.
How you can get involved: The meeting will be 6:30-8:30 p.m., Thursday at Cedarcrest School, 6400 88th St. NE, Marysville.
Reporter Brian Kelly covers county government for the Herald. He can be reached at 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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