More than 170 dairy farmers and their friends and families gathered April 19 to find out who would be their ambassador for the upcoming year.
SMOKEY POINT — Kathy Tri found out how many friends she had April 30, when members of the Smokey Point Community Church presented her with a completely remade house.
ARLINGTON — On April 28, the Arlington High School culinary class students reported to the Arlington School District Board of Directors that they’d placed first overall at the 2008 Washington Restaurant Association Education Foundation ProStart Invitational Culinary Competition in Spokane, March 6-8.
SMOKEY POINT — Kathy Tri found out how many friends she had April 30, when members of the Smokey Point Community Church presented her with a completely remade house.
n Marysville Schools stand to benefit from more money in their budget after the Marysville Planning Commission agreed to increase the amount developers pay for school mitigation by as much as 400 percent. The issue is money to pay for the price of educating students who move into new homes. Currently, builders pay the school district $925 for each single-family home built. Under estimates of the new formula that figure could be almost $4,000. School District officials have often said that education suffers with the explosive growth in the Marysville area. As families move into new homes, school facilities are not able to keep up with the growth. The district uses the impact money almost exclusively to buy portable classrooms, according to Finance Director Larry Clement — a portion paid for the new buildings at the high school. Few people argue that the current amount is enough, so at last week’s planning commission meeting City Planner Gloria Hirashima proposed a new fee ordinance modeled on one passed by the Snohomish County Council last November. School mitigation fees charged in the city of Marysville are among the lowest in the county, according to Marysville Planning Commissioner George Wilcox. The proposed ordinance includes a complicated formula designed to approximate the cost of teaching a new student. That formula wasn’t reviewed, although Wilcox said the district used conservative numbers. “If anything they were probably underestimating their costs.” What was reviewed was a provision in the county law that cuts results from that formula in half and then sets a maximum fee at $2,000, both the maximum and cutting in half are a compromise from a committee of builders and superintendents, according to Hirashima. Marysville School Superintendent Richard Eisenhauer told the planning commission at last week’s meeting that the compromise — cutting the fee in half and capping it at $2,000 — was purely political and had nothing to do with the price of educating new students. The commission agreed. They voted unanimously to approve an ordinance that removed the cap and took out the provision halving the fee. Commissioner Bill Roberts, a developer, was not at the meeting and doesn’t agree with the action, he said later. The commissioners also removed a provision that would have exempted developers from paying the fee for low income homes. The proposed ordinance faces several tests before it is on the city’s books. The planning commission will hold a public hearing later this spring, then the proposal needs a majority vote by the Marysville City Council.
How far is it to Seattle? That depends. Among other things, it depends on the time of day, the season, weather and the particular day of the week. Add the price of gas. According to the on-the-ground measure, Seattle is 38 miles away. My car’s odometer agrees with maps that 38 miles is close to accurate. Though the road still measures 38 miles, I can feel the distance growing every year.
Jazz musicians of Arlington High School had an exciting weekend last week at the Reno Jazz Festival, complete with earthquake.
Grace Academy students recently performed “Arsenic and Old Lace,” which was directed by Phyllis Rice. Some of the students who performed included, left to right, Kaitlyn Schuler as Elaine; Nathaniel Lugg as Mortimer; Megan Timmerman as Aunt Martha; and Andi McAuliffe as Aunt Abby.
MARYSVILLE — No one seemed positive, but the best guess from those on hand was that this weekend’s Kiwanis Fishing Derby constituted the 19th annual event.
Offering copper sculptures, pen and ink drawings and sculpted ceramic fish by Arlington artists Rodney Patzer, Rocky Barrick and Marguerite Goff, among many other artists from around Puget Sound, the 10th annual Camano Island Studio Tour has become a popular Mother’s Day tradition among the art community of north Snohomish County.
MARYSVILLE — On this day, which just happens to be a few days shy of his first birthday, Dax Gilbertson toddles across the carpeted floor of his family’s living room and, as infants sometimes do, abruptly falls down.
U-18 ASA Softball Girls, coached by Jeff Perrine, would like to give a huge thanks to all the many businesses that donated for the April 26 auction. There are too many to print, and we deeply appreciate each one of you.
I wonder what motivates the 25 or more people who are working so tirelessly on the Committee for a New Arlington Library. They obviously realize how important a new and expanded library is for the Arlington community. I am thankful for their dedication to this very worthwhile cause. Our time at committee meetings, work parties, telephoning, various community organization presentations and distributing information to the voters is time well spent and shared by many on the committee.
