By Jennifer Langston
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Irene Olson was walking her dog recently when she saw a man with binoculars and a camera in the park overlooking Naval Station Everett.
Before the terrorist attacks, it wouldn’t have crossed her mind that a man watching a pretty sunset over the water might be plotting something sinister.
"Now it triggers something," said the resident of the Grand Avenue neighborhood that’s been asked to keep a sharper eye on the Navy base. "You stop and think."
Everett police and Navy investigative agents asked residents along Grand Avenue almost two weeks ago to help boost security at the base by reporting anything suspicious.
But most residents, dog walkers and joggers who frequent the bluff that overlooks the base say they just haven’t seen anything that justifiably sets alarm bells ringing.
"I walk to Grand Avenue Park with my dog at least twice a day. I haven’t seen … or heard anything unusual," said resident Dan Anderson, retired deputy chief of Everett police.
Tab Lindell spends at least eight hours a day renovating a gargantuan yellow house on Grand Avenue. From the ladders and high porches, he’s got a perfect view of the Navy base.
"I sure have been looking out," he said. "I haven’t noticed anything different."
The neighborhood "eyes and ears" program has generated a few calls in the last two weeks, said Everett police Sgt. Boyd Bryant.
"We haven’t had anything major or heavy duty … from the reports from the neighborhood," he said. "None of them have been confirmed threats to the base."
Officials at Naval Station Everett refused to comment on reports of suspicious behavior, citing security reasons.
Betty Marshall, who lives in a house on 16th Street with a view of the base, said the plea for security help raised her awareness, although she’s usually too busy chasing her 20-month-old grandson to pay attention to anything else.
But it’s made her notice how often she sees people of Arab descent in the neighborhood. Mostly she feels bad for them, knowing people are looking at them twice.
She said that from an early age, people are programmed to view people from foreign countries as a sinister presence. She still remembers the dark-skinned, mustachioed villains in her childhood comic books.
The 30-year resident said she understood why police and the Navy were asking for help, but some part of her thinks there is already enough to be paranoid about.
"I really haven’t been looking. I don’t know what we could see anyway," she said. "If they wanted to do something to the Navy, wouldn’t they just send a package or something?"
You can call Herald Writer Jennifer Langston at 425-339-3452
or send e-mail to langston@heraldnet.com.
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