ARLINGTON — An Arlington Police detective teamed up with a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent to take custody of a suspected child rapist, who was then booked into the Snohomish County Jail.
Destor Cabasada Gatchalian, 33, was transported from the Philippines to the United States by NCIS agents, along with Philippine law enforcement authorities, on March 23, before the Arlington Police detective and the local NCIS agent took custody of him in San Francisco and transported him back to Snohomish County.

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Jody Davis was not only reunited with his wife Katie when his ship pulled into port after seven months out at sea, but he also met a new member of his family for the first time.
“I’m just kind of in shock right now,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jody Davis on March 24, as he held his five-month-old son Colby, who was born while his father was still deployed with his shipmates on board the USS Abraham Lincoln. “I’m gonna hang out with this little guy for a long time.”

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How do firefighters practice fighting fires?
By starting fires, studying them and then fighting them.
That’s just what 40 firefighters from Arlington, Arlington Heights, Oso, Silvana and Getchell did on Feb. 27, when they conducted a training fire in an empty building to keep their skills sharp and to help educate Arlington City Council members on the scene who were there as observers.

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ARLINGTON — Post Middle School’s annual eighth-grade Social Studies Fair is set for March 26 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Post gymnasium, located at 1220 E. Fifth St. in Arlington.

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ARLINGTON — The community is invited to attend an open house at Highland Christian School on March 24.
The open house will run from 5-7:30 p.m. and no reservations are required.
Contact Linda Wallitner at 360-403-8351 or log onto hcswa.org for more information.

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ARLINGTON — As the scenes from Japan continue to unfold, people living along the West Coast have awakened to the fact that this could and probably will happen in this area one day. Therefore, to help answer questions about how this area may be severely impacted due to a catastrophic earthquake, the Arlington Emergency Management Office is offering a 90-minute Earthquake Awareness and Preparedness Workshop on March 24, starting at 6:30 p.m. in the Arlington City Council Chambers.

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SMOKEY POINT — Their reasons for giving varied from thoughtful to tongue-in-cheek, but they all rolled up their sleeves to give of themselves, literally.
The Puget Sound Blood Center once again teamed up with the Snohomish County Republican Party in Marysville, this time with Snohomish County Council member John Koster as well, to offer a spring blood drive in the Medallion Hotel on March 16, and Hannah Gustafson estimated that the six-hour event had attracted close to 40 donors by the time it was done.
“It’s our first time in this location, but our third year of doing these donation drives,” said Gustafson, of the membership committee of the Snohomish County Republican Party in Marysville, whose offices have served as a site for the Puget Sound Blood Center’s collection vehicles during previous donation drives. “We wanted to attract folks from both Marysville and Arlington.”

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SEATTLE — An Arlington woman has pled guilty to keeping more than $375,000 in taxes that she withheld from her employees’ wages.
Deborah Ann Guenthner of Arlington pled guilty on U.S. District Court in Seattle on March 18 to a willful failure to pay over tax on the three corporations she owned — WRG Electric, Inc., West Electric, LLC, and Electrical Construction, Inc.
According to here plea agreement, between 2004 and 2008, Guenthner withheld $377,687 from employee wages for employment, social security and income taxes, and then failed to pay it over to the federal government, instead keeping the money for her own benefit. When she’s sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez on June 17, Guenthner will face potential penalties of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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SMOKEY POINT — Area firefighters touted the importance of working smoke detectors in the wake of a fire that wrought an estimated $30,000 in damages to a mobile home.
Units from the Arlington Fire Department were dispatched at approximately 6:30 a.m. on March 17 to respond to a reported mobile home fire in the 19600 block of Smokey Point Boulevard. After arriving on the scene to find the mobile home partially involved with fire, they were joined by Marysville Fire District 12 and Snohomish County Fire Protection District 19 in Silvana in extinguishing the fire quickly.

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SMOKEY POINT — Village Community Services are aiming to offer a taste of “Wonderland” to those who join them in helping out community members with disabilities, but they could use some support behind the scenes to do it.
VCS’s ninth annual “Taste of Decadence” fundraiser on April 9 has adopted “Alice in Wonderland” as its theme, and they’re looking for volunteers and donors to help them make it a wonderful experience for everyone involved.

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ARLINGTON — No one was more surprised than Arlington Mayor Margaret Larson by her own recent honor.
Larson was named the 2010 Citizen of the Year by members of the Arlington-Smokey Point Chamber of Commerce at the March 7 Arlington City Council meeting.
“For once, I am speechless,” Larson said, after Chamber Executive Director Michael Prihoda announced that she would receive the Citizen of the Year Award.

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ARLINGTON — Heavy rain and cloud-covered skies limited their flying hours, but it didn’t keep more than 150 women and…

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Helping Hands could use a helping hand of its own.
The Arlington thrift store that donates its proceeds back to the community is looking for a new home as the city of Arlington plans to reclaim the property used by both Helping Hands and the Arlington Food Bank for public works offices and improvements to Haller Park.

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