February 2010 Minutes Posted

The Town Council Public Meeting approved minutes for Feb. 2010 have been posted to the site. You may access them by clicking here.

Thanks to Lisa for sending them to us !!

Sorry for the delay on posting. Brain was asleep.

Another accident on US 2

For those wondering about the traffic last night in the town, it was a re-route (obviously).

It appears that Katherine Hughes (local resident) was headed East on HWY 2 and she overcorrected for some reason. She hit a guardrail and then a power pole, then the vehicle came to rest on its side. Katherine was airlifted to Harborview.

If anybody reading this knows of her condition, please let us know.

Thanks.

UPDATE 2:37PM 03.06.10

Update on Katherine from our earlier News as It Happens today:

From a reliable source (MW)…verbatim :

Sat, March 6, 1:40 p.m. serious, BUT STABLE, condition. Per hospital policy & request, family members must be contacted first for visitation authorization, at this time. No other information can be released for the blog at this time per HIPAA and hospital policy.

Thanks MW for reporting.

Ed

Note: It would be nice to have the Sheriff in town on a re-route. Semi’s were doing at least 40mph through town and some cars were going even faster. Speed bumps mean nothing to angry drivers in a hurry to get to their destination.

From Bob Foster: More on Earthquakes

Howdy All,
Yep, here I go again, I’m ringin’ that bell!
(Almost) None of us have escaped hearing about the recent seismic events on the South American Continent, Chile and the surrounding areas.

Please read the following short article and please understand that this is not about fear, it is about readiness (preparedness) and that alone can take some time.
Please, take the time to have the conversation with others about being prepared and help others get ready if you can.  This is not to say that we will have the ‘big one’ today, but we are against the clock.
Bob Foster-Index Washington
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February 28, 2010, 6:29 pm
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
I’m dealing with a disaster of microscopic dimensions, being among the 200,000 households in the Northeast still lacking electricity, heat and flushing toilets three days after an astonishing  dump of snow (with several more days to go, supposedly).  But I’m able to get online long enough to reflect on the message sent to the Pacific Northwest from the great earthquake in the southern hemisphere.
…………………That message is a clear “get ready.”

The Pacific “ring of fire” doesn’t stop at the equator.  While my print story and post on quake threats last week focused on the seismic peril facing millions of poor people living in fast-growing cities in quake zones, there are plenty of prosperous places that have not adequately responded to their exposure to enormous, and inevitable, earthquake risk. A prime case in point is Oregon.

After the destruction of  hundreds of poorly built schools in China’s Sichuan province, I wrote repeatedly here and in print about similar vulnerability identified by engineers  and seismologists in that state, despite the clear record of devastating quakes and tsunamis generated by the Cascadia fault beneath the sea bed off the Northwest coast.  Read this recent warning from Patrick Corcoran, a hazards outreach specialist  with the Oregon Sea Grant program at Oregon State University:

…“The release of pressure between two overlapping tectonic plates along the subduction zone regularly generates massive 9.0 magnitude earthquakes –- including five over the last 1,400 years. The last ‘Big One’ was 309 years ago.  We are in a geologic time when we can expect another ‘Big One,’ either in  our lives or those of our children. Prudence dictates that we overcome our  human tendencies to ignore this inevitability.”…

The good news is that the state has recognized the problem and has found some  money to move forward with a plan to retrofit public schools and other important
public buildings (thanks to Yumei Wang from the state’s geohazards group for the alert on this). The bad news, of course, is that the seismic clock is ticking.
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Click Photo for Full Size View

Community Garden Project

The Community Garden project is starting up again for spring with a meeting at the Fire Hall on Monday March 8 at 7 p.m. for anyone interested in having a plot this year.

Sign-up for a plot and be prepared to pay the $15 fee to reimburse the town for our water hookup. The garden has received its second grant of free packets from Seed Savers Exchange and is encouraging gardeners old and new to experiment with saving heirloom (non-hybrid) varieties to share and preserve.

Beginning gardeners will be matched up with more experienced ones if help and advice are needed. Contact David Cameron for further information.

HeraldNet – County interested in taking control of Reiter Foothills

By Andy Rathbun
Herald Writer

GOLD BAR — Snohomish County officials have their eye on a sprawling piece of troubled land.

County Executive Aaron Reardon voiced his full support on Wednesday to take over the Reiter Foothills — a 10,000-acre spot that is popular among off-road-vehicle riders but now closed to them.

Read the rest of the story HERE – http://tinyurl.com/yek2×35

HeraldNet: Latest U.S. 2 fatality inspires action in Sultan

By Andy Rathbun
Herald Writer
SULTAN — The year’s first fatal collision on U.S. 2 has locals again talking about the need to fix the deadly highway.

On Monday night, 56 people attended the U.S. 2 Safety Coalition meeting — about four times the usual number, coalition members said.

Read the story here:  HeraldNet: Latest U.S. 2 fatality inspires action in Sultan.

HeraldNet: Neighbors, target shooters at odds over Sultan gun range

By Andy Rathbun
Herald Writer

SULTAN — A controversial shooting range might wind up in the line of fire on Wednesday.The Snohomish County Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing to discuss turning an east county gravel pit into a no-shooting area at the request of neighbors.

Read the complete story via HeraldNet: Neighbors, target shooters at odds over Sultan gun range.

Also check out the comments from other readers!

Upcoming Wellington Program

This just in from David Cameron. Thanks David!
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1. Thursday Feb. 18: Monroe Public Library, 7:00 p.m. Martin Burwash, author of the new novel Vis Major (Act of God), will be speaking and reading from his account, which focuses on real individuals trying to keep the railroad line open through the 10-day storm and its impact. It’s an excellent novel, one I’ve just finished, and concentrates men of the rotary snow plow crews, as well as Superintendent James O’Neill.

2. Wednesday Feb. 24: Lynnwood Public Library, 7:00 p.m. Sponsored by the League of Snohomish County Heritage Organizations, Martin Burwash will be the featured speaker, with background and photos from the collection of Bob Kelly, the acknowledged authority of all things Wellington. I will be doing background.

3. Saturday Feb. 28: Snohomish School, 1:00 p.m. This one brings together all the heavy hitters: Bob Kelly live, Martin Burwash, and Gary Krist, author of the best historical account of the disaster, White Cascade. In addition there will be photos, artifacts, and exhibits, all sponsored by the Skykomish Historical Society.

4. Sunday Feb. 29: Everett Public Library auditorium, 2:00 p.m. Gary Krist will speak, a return engagement sponsored by Historic Everett.

Both Krist and Burwash will have their books for sale at the above events. All of these speakers and materials compliment each other and provide the best chance ever to learn about the nation’s worst avalanche disaster here in our own area, which occurred at approximately 1:42 a.m. on the 1st and swept two snowbound Great Northern trains off the tracks and down into the gully, along with men and equipment trying to deal with the crisis.
There is discussion of having a gathering at the Wellington site next July. I will let you know as we hear more about it.

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION.

More on The Water Situation in Index TODAY

This just in:

When the water service is returned in the Town, we have been advised to run the water for 5-10 minutes and then boil the water you intend to use over the next 24 hours.

Personally, our running water is far from a septic system and we personally think that just running the water to get the dirt and stones out will be fine without the worry of boiling.

Thanks Dana for the information.

Major Waterline Break in Town

Sorry we are late with this. We were grocery shopping and just got back.

From Lisa S., Town Clerk:
————
There’s a major water line break and we are dipping into emergency repairs; no idea how long it will take, but there’s no water to the town.