This week in history – from The Arlington Times archives

10 years ago 1998

10 years ago 1998
n On Wall Street near downtown Everett, the gray seven-story Snohomish County Jail sits like an unfinished slab of sculpting clay, the only decoration a small section of glass along the street entrance. Inside the drab reception area, lawyers bark orders into cell phones while waiting to see their clients. Correction officials whisk in and out of doors locked with numbered keypads. All visitors must pass through a metal detector planted on the plain white floor before reaching the elevators which take them to inmates in the sky. Those staying in the prison, currently about 477, stay locked behind bars in five of the seven stories. The jail has been at capacity since 1988. While the Snohomish County Correction Siting Committee doesnt yet know where the new jail will be, the three-year process has narrowed possible sites down to three two in Smokey Point and one in Arlington they do know how it will be different from the Everett jail. Most noticeable and most important to the siting process: the jail will not be a high-rise building. This required possible sites to be at least six acres for the building to spread out, not up. A parcel of 12 acres or more was better because it allowed for jail expansion in the future. If you dont have a lot of elevators, its easier for staff to work in the facility, said Kathie Deviny, corrections manager. In 1995 the Snohomish County Corrections Siting Committee, made up of county officials and citizen representatives from all five county districts, began the three-year process of finding a site for a new county 500-bed jail. The original 14 sites were rated on technical and community requirements. Technical issues included land size, shape of land, zoning, availability and adequacy of water and sewer, access to telecommunication system and roads, availability of emergency services and public transportation. Those that didnt meet the basic need of at least six acres were dropped; the remaining were rated. Community concerns included nearness to schools (ranked as less than one-quarter of a mile, less than one-half mile and more than one-half mile), daycare centers, homes and other sensitive uses including churches, medical buildings and senior centers. The committee also considered if physical barriers, such as freeway, overpass or cliff, separated the site from sensitive uses. A sensitive use located at or less than one-quarter of a mile was considered a fatal flaw, resulting in removal from the list. The next stage in the process is to prepare a draft environmental impact statement as required by the Washington State Environmental Policy Act. Citizens can certainly give input at the EIS stage, Deviny said. But what we are looking for is comments on what is in the EIS itself. The EIS will include not only the publics concerns on safety, but physical uses such as soil erosion water runoff and air quality. After the final EIS is prepared, County Executive Bob Drewel will review and make a final decision.

50 years ago 1958
n Darrington Timber Bowl Tribune publisher Ace Comstock announced suspension this week of Tribune publication. Subscribers to the Tribune will henceforth receive the Arlington Times which will carry an expanded Darrington section. The Darrington section of The Times will carry news and advertisements from that area as gathered by the Tribunes ex-publisher. A letter was sent early this week to all Tribune subscribers, telling of the change. The letter asked that subscribers take The Times for one month, at which time all those dissatisfied with the arrangement may receive the money due them from their unexpired subscriptions to the Tribune. Started by Cliff Danielson in the June of 1955, the Tribune began publication in Darrington with its own shop in August of 1956 with Ace as publisher after being published in Anacortes and then in Concrete. It was in its 43rd week of the third year when the decision was made to suspend publication. Explaining his decision, Ace said that the major trouble with the Tribune of recent months has stemmed from mechanical difficulties, which in turn resulted from antique equipment. The Tribunes linotype, dubbed Dirty Gerty, was the major source of trouble. Built some time before 1912, it was a continual source of irritation and since 75 percent of the Tribunes mechanical work had to do with the linotype, many work hours were lost in repairing and adjustment. Ace said that had the linotype run decently, it would have freed him to do more selling of advertisements and for news gathering, thus making a better paper of the Tribune.