Did you miss your news last week? 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 www.heraldnet.com.
Sunday, Oct. 29
Measure could limit land-use laws: Barbara Thom wants Snohomish County to give back the wetlands on her sheep pasture east of Snohomish.
Then she could build and sell a few houses on the property so she can retire.
“I want them to take their darn wetland stakes out of my property and let me enjoy it,” she said.
She is a staunch supporter of Initiative 933, the sweeping property rights measure promoted by the Washington Farm Bureau, a trade group representing many of the state’s farmers.
Jeff Switzer and Lukas Velush
Monday, Oct. 30
Schools sue over funding: Superintendents from 12 school districts, including Everett and Northshore, are to step into an Olympia courtroom today, two years after suing the state over special education funding.
At the heart of the lawsuit is more money. Schools say they aren’t getting enough, and they offer up costly special education services as proof that the state isn’t fully funding education as its constitution requires.
They put the shortfall this year at $134 million. Across Snohomish County, the purported gap for 2004-05 would total $14.9 million, using the districts’ calculations.
Melissa Slager
Tuesday, Oct. 31
Everett ranks low on safety: You are safer on the streets of Los Angeles and New York City than walking along Hewitt Avenue or Evergreen Way, according to a study released Monday nationwide.
Everett landed in the bottom quarter of the list of safest cities, ranking 283rd out of 371.
“I don’t think so,” Everett Police Chief Jim Scharf said. “I don’t think the majority of our citizens think so. I’d be more than happy to invite these people to spend a week here and a week in Los Angeles and then tell me Everett is more dangerous.”
According to the list, Everett is more crime-ridden than Seattle; Spokane; Portland, Ore.; Los Angeles; and New York City. The annual crime comparison is compiled by Morgan Quitno Press, a private research and publishing company located in Kansas.
Diana Hefley
Wednesday, Nov. 1
Monroe councilman fined $20,000: A veteran Monroe city councilman agreed Tuesday to pay one of the largest campaign-related fines in state history to settle allegations he concealed his identity as a contributor in city elections in 2001 and 2003.
Councilman Ken Berger will pay $20,000 in fines and fees under an agreement reached with the Public Disclosure Commission, which enforces state campaign finance laws.
The commission approved the deal in a special meeting Tuesday morning.
Jerry Cornfield
Thursday, Nov. 2
Initiative votes may not be close: A new statewide poll released Wednesday shows that initiatives to enhance private property rights and repeal Washington’s estate tax are trailing by wide margins while a measure pushing alternative energy is leading.
While most voters are making up their minds on the complex initiatives, many cannot decide on a choice in a contested race for the state Supreme Court.
Supreme Court Justice Susan Owens leads challenger Stephen Johnson by 7 percentage points with 31 percent still undecided.
The phone survey of 700 registered voters was conducted Oct. 25-31 by the Washington Poll, a nonpartisan academic research project of the University of Washington’s Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race &Sexuality. The margin of error is 3.7 percent.
In the race for U.S. Senate, Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell leads Republican challenger Mike McGavick 53 percent to 41 percent. It is a greater margin than two other polls released this week.
Jerry Cornfield
Friday, Nov. 3
Lawsuit filed in gun rampage: An avowed racist illegally purchased a pistol at an Everett pawnshop that he used seven years ago in a Southern California shooting rampage that injured six and killed one, a federal court lawsuit filed Thursday alleges.
The suit also alleges that someone at the Loaner Too pawnshop on Evergreen Way later falsified and backdated a federal firearms reporting form to hide the illegal transaction.
The suit is filed in U.S. District Court against the Loaner Too, which is now out of business.
Three young children, a teenage girl and an adult at a Jewish community day care were shot and wounded, and later a Filipino-born postal carrier was shot nine times and killed.
The white supremacist, Buford Furrow, now 44, was convicted and is serving a life prison term in a federal prison.
Jim Haley
Saturday, Nov. 4
Suspect in kidnapping locked up: Police on Friday identified a man who they believe carjacked a woman’s minivan last month with her two young children still inside.
The man, 38, has been in the Snohomish County Jail since Sunday. He was arrested by Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies on suspicion of second-degree burglary and two outstanding warrants, one for violating conditions of his parole.
Now he’s also under investigation for three counts of kidnapping and one count of first-degree burglary, Arlington Police Chief John Gray said.
Scott Pesznecker
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