Community Focus

County wants feedback on vital senior services

In keeping with requirements of the federal Older Americans Act, Snohomish County’s Aging Services is conducting a community survey to help develop a multi-year community plan for persons age 60 and older and adults with disabilities.

Seniors and their families are being urged to fill out the community surveys, which are available postage-paid at area senior centers. The surveys also are available by visiting www.snocare.org and clicking on “Aging Services Community Survey.”

For more information about the 2008-2011 planning process, community forums and the area Aging Services Summit on April 21, contact Susan Starrfield at s.starrfield@co.snohomish.wa.us or 425-388-7218.

Customers, employees help poor pay PUD

Snohomish County PUD customers and employees gave nearly $100,000 last year to help people pay their utility bills. The contributions, collected through two community programs, helped about 1,000 customers in 2006.

Project PRIDE is a program funded through voluntary donations from PUD rate payers and contributions to the Red Cross of Snohomish County, which administers the program. The Helping Hands program receives donations from PUD employees through payroll deductions, a holiday bazaar fundraiser; coffee funds, book fairs and other events. It is administered by Snohomish County Human Services.

‘End of Suburbia’ film at Edmonds church

A free showing of the film “The End Of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream” will be at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 3, at Edmonds Christian Church, 23010 84th Ave. W. in Edmonds. Donations are accepted.

A discussion will follow the film, which poses questions about “the end of the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply.”

For more information contact Roy Smith at 206-849-1065 or roysmith@speakeasy.net.

May 5 date of Master Gardener plant sale

The Snohomish County Master Gardener Plant Sale will be from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, May 5, at the WSU Extension Snohomish County Extension service, 600 128th St. SE in Everett.

The popular annual sale will feature thousands of vegetable and tomato plants, perennials, fuchsias, trees, shrubs, ground cover and herbs. Also available will be garden art and specialty nursery items.

For more information call 425-357-6010.

Police ask help with missing woman, 41

Lynnwood Police Department detectives seek the public’s help in finding Cynthia Devries, who was last seen in May when she left her dog and some of her belongings at a friend’s house in Lynnwood and left for an appointment.

Not long before this, Devries mother, who lives in Texas, told Devries her brother was seriously ill. Upset about her brother, Devries had told her mother she was going to visit him in the Marblemount area of Skagit County. She never arrived there.

Devries hasn’t stayed in contact with family and friends for varying periods of time in the past, so her absence wasn’t immediately suspicious.

Detectives talked with some of Devries close friends and learned they too hadn’t seen her since May 2006. This was much longer than she’d ever been away in the past, and she hadn’t returned for her dog, which was also highly unusual.

Devries is described as small, white, with blonde hair. She is 5-feet 2-inches tall and weighs about 110 pounds. She has a tattoo on her right shoulder and left leg.

Anyone who knows Devries or any information on her whereabouts should call Lynnwood Police Det. Beth Post at 425-744-6921.

Terrace officer is award nominee

Mountlake Terrace Police officer Brian Osborn has been nominated for a Snohomish County DUI Task Force Award based on the number of his 2006 DUI arrests.

Osborn set a personal goal for 2006 to make at least 100 DUI arrests. His hard work and dedication to the task resulted in the arrest and removal of 103 alcohol and drug impaired drivers from our streets for the year.

Osborn’s efforts accounted for more than 66 percent of department DUI arrests. The arrests were in addition to his regular patrol duties, arrests, and responses to daily incidents.

Assistant Police Chief Pete Caw remarked, “Needless to say, the department is extremely proud of Office Osborn, and we commend him for a meaningful contribution to keeping our community safe.”