It was like I’d hit some kind of lottery,” laughed Rebecca Martinez, a mother and former nurse at the Regency Care Center of Arlington.
In spite of the comparison, they’re the sort of unlikely odds that no one wants to get. Martinez had no history of cancer in her family, and when she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in August of last year, she was told that only 4 percent of people younger than 65 ever get it.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen wanted his senior constituents to know that he hears their concerns about health care.
MARYSVILLE — “I’m still cold now,” said Daniel Anderson, the day after he was rescued from an expedition into the wilderness gone awry.
Anderson, a Marysville resident and Washington State Patrol trooper, was off-duty when he and a few friends ventured east of Darrington, first by biking 11 miles, then by hiking 10 more miles, before camping out in the mountains on May 13. On May 14, Anderson parted company with the rest of his party to continue on to Holden Village.
“I screwed up,” said Anderson, whose military service has included stints in the Marines, the Special Forces and the National Guard. “I was confident in my training, but when you go off on your own like that, just one little thing can leave you so vulnerable.”
It was a trail he’d hiked before, and he’d brought two GPS units to keep himself on course, but the one stopped working and the other began leading him down a questionable path as he continued his hike on May 15. When he set up camp that evening, 800 meters past the wood line, he realized that he’d lost his tent in one of his falls.
“I knew it was an emergency situation,” Anderson said. “It was just a matter of time before hypothermia set in.”
John Decker never set out to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but his years of commitment to distance running yielded an unexpected dividend when he entered the Tacoma City Marathon for the first time this year.
ARLINGTON — At this year’s Arlington Airport Appreciation Day, Austin Guthrie got a chance to try out a seat that he hopes to fill as an adult.
“I wish I could fly this,” said Guthrie, a 16-year-old Arlington resident, as he got comfortable in the pilot’s seat of the Arlington Airlift helicopter on May 7. “Search and rescue can be dangerous, but it’d be thrilling to help out others.”
Plenty of prospective pilots even younger than Guthrie found their enthusiasm for flying awakened by the annual Airport Appreciation Day, even as a low storm ceiling kept the day’s planned flights on the ground through the morning.
Boeing engineer Tom Flandro wanted to get off the grid and wean himself from foreign oil dependency, so when he was able to convert his two-story home to solar power and purchase an electric car, he took advantage of the opportunity.
The Lakewood High School Drama Department will be bringing a taste of Southern-fried culture to their auditorium this month, when they stage two weekend showings of “Steel Magnolias” as a student play.
Most of the members of the new Lakewood High School Mountain Bike Club started without a cycling background, according to head coach Kristi Berg, but in two months’ time, they progressed from learning the basics of mountain biking to racing successfully enough to be recognized as among the best in the state.
ARLINGTON — Cascade Valley Hospital has treated 18 people who were exposed to tear gas in Darrington.
At 10:15 a.m. on April 28, the Arlington hospital received word that seven patients were en route via ambulance from Darrington, with symptoms consistent with hazardous material exposure. These symptoms consisted of burning of the eyes and mouth, tightness of the chest and respiratory distress. After receiving this information, the hospital’s Hazardous Material Response Team was dispatched to the Emergency Department to prepare for the patients’ arrivals. The Emergency Command Center was also initiated.
Aid and medic units from Arlington and surrounding fire districts began arriving with the patients at 10:45 a.m. The patients were first decontaminated in the hospital’s new state-of-the-art decontamination room, and then each patient was treated by medical personnel. In addition to treating the seven patients who were directly exposed, the hospital decontaminated and evaluated 11 EMS personnel. All patients are in stable condition and are awaiting discharge from the Emergency Department.
Ethan Dexter has prepared for this day for half of his life.
The 8-year-old Arlington native started attending the city of Arlington’s Easter egg hunts four years ago, and as hundreds of kids crowded around the taped-off area for egg hunters aged 7-12 on April 23, Dexter was doing leg stretches just under the tape before the Arlington Fire Department blew their engines’ horns to signal the shotgun start of the hunt.
It was a silly scene that made some serious money.
Post Middle School has conducted “Pennies for Patients” coin drives for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for the past half-dozen years, but on April 15, they raised funds for the first time by offering students a shot at their peers and teachers with pies to the face.
ARLINGTON — Although the released results of the April 26 special election remain unofficial, supporters of the city of Arlington’s proposed permanent emergency medical services levy are encouraged by what they’ve seen so far.
As of 8 p.m. on April 26, the city of Arlington’s Proposition 1 had received 2,683 “yes” votes, or 84.42 percent of the votes counted, and 495 “no” votes, or 15.58 percent of the votes counted. From Fire District 21, Proposition 1 had received 1,437 “yes” votes, or 79.44 percent of the votes counted, and 372 “no” votes, or 20.56 percent of the votes counted. This exceeds the minimum turnout numbers of 2,435 for the city and 1,504 for the fire district, as well as the 60 percent minimum for the “yes” vote, in order for the proposition to pass. The Snohomish County Elections Division had counted 4,987 ballots, or 34.78 percent of the 14,338 ballots that were mailed out, at that time.
The Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians is aiming to be a good neighbor to the rest of Snohomish County, according to Shawn Yanity.
Yanity, chair of the Stillaguamish Tribal Board of Directors, explained that the Tribe’s recent donation of $86,000 to the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office is just one of the contributions they’ve made to the surrounding community, with roughly $100,000 of Tribal funds also going toward an emergency training facility for Snohomish County Fire District 7 in Snohomish.
