10 Years Ago 1997

The Arlington Fire Department will soon add to its list of community service projects. New Deputy Chief of Operations Michael Koontz has increased health care service in mind for the departments future. Koontz signed a four-year contract with the city of Arlington. His main responsibility will be managing the paramedics once the final agreements are made between Cascade Valley Hospital and the city of Arlington to transfer Emergency Medical Services to the fire department. He also intends to serve as long-term support for Arlington Fire Chief Dean Olsen. People management, organization and leadership are among Koontzs top qualifications, he said. If I had a banner it would say competency, courage and compassion. Koontz spent the past 21 years working for the Shoreline Fire District No. 5. The first 10 years he worked as a firefighter and paramedic. The remaining 11 years he moved into management. Im really excited to be here. Arlington is attractive to me, said Koontz. Ive been looking for something like this for a couple of years. Koontz left the Shoreline district because he didnt feel there was room enough to get involved in the community like he wanted. I have a strong love for the fire service and am very community oriented, he explained. After putting out fires, one of Koontzs visions is to have the fire department serve as a resource for community members in capacities such as helping them make informed decisions on health care issues. This would include public education on how people should use the health care system to their benefit and how EMS is different than managed health care. Koontz feels managed health care, for example, has made it difficult for EMS to efficiently carry out its duties. He said the problem lies in the regimented plans containing lists of specific doctors a patient can see and when he or she can see them. As a result, EMS has sometimes has a hard time discovering which hospital it can deliver a patient to. Koontz believes that both institutions need to learn more about each other in order to work together effectively. As it is, managed health care would rather patents go to specified doctors and not turn to emergency assistance as often. EMSs role is just the opposite responding to patients, going into homes and taking them to the nearest emergency room facility. Although Koontz is unsure if the conflict that sometimes arises between managed health care and EMS has been a problem in Arlington, there were problems such as these in Shoreline district. Koontz said having the fire department take on another, more health care oriented role such as this would take increased paramedic training. He maintains this is just a vision for what he would like the fire department to be in the future not something that will take place any time soon. Right now the departments main focus will continue to be fires.

25 Years Ago 1982

Friday night when Julie Benson gets up on the small stage to sing there wont be any record company talent scouts or big city reviewers in the audience. Just friends, family and regular customers will be on hand at the East/West Deli to welcome and encourage the young woman on her first professional step toward the bright lights of stardom. It should be comforting to the 16-year-old that her premiere performance will come within the friendly borders of her hometown. The daughter of Judy Lindal and Richard Benson, she started playing the guitar and composing her own songs at age 8. Her career, to date, has consisted of singing at weddings and receptions and taking an active role in the Arlington High Schools Jazzimine singing group. Recently, she also performed at the Frontier Days Queens coronation ceremonies the usual outlets for talent in a small town. The public performance of music is a very individual, sometimes painful way to make a living and the first steps are the hardest. Julie is fortunate in having a restaurant like the East/West Deli in Stillaguamish Square where, close to home, she can afford to experiment surrounded by an encouraging audience. The Delis owners, Ginny and Mark Steiger, have for some time been offering their customers and local performers the chance to hear and play palatable music not the usual fare found in a community restaurant. A little bit of everything for everyone, Mark Steiger calls their experiment. A quite evening of entertainment and conversation. Julie Benson should fit nicely into the format. She plans to sing a selection of country, popular and folk songs. Two of her own compositions will also be included. Some day, with luck and hard work, she may look back on this performance and say to herself, Ive come a long way, But she could say the same now looking back to elementary school and the annual talent show when, the guitar was bigger than me and principal had to come out, pick me up and put me on the stool. Now, a senior in high school, she has been selected for Whos Who in Music among American high school students. This summer she was chosen to attend a two-day Summer Festival workshop at Seattles prestigious Cornish Institute where she took classes in music theory and ear training, among others. She has also been asked to apply for the Arts Recognition and Talent Search Program, where, if selected as a finalist, the opportunity for extensive music scholarships will be open to her. Otherwise, not letting her ambitions run ahead of her years, she plans to attend Everett Community College next year while finishing high school, to, among other things, learn how to read music! Looking ahead, her goals are straightforward. Either college or go professional, she said. I want to perform.

50 Years Ago 1957

Ten Mystery Farm sleuths correctly identified last weeks Mystery Farm as the Nicks Brothers Farm on Route 2, Arlington, with Una Carlson winning the drawing for a prize from the Arlington Sand & Gravel Co. The Nicks Brothers ranch is one of the show places of the county, with its 80 acres nearly all cleared and lying all in one level piece. Eighty-five head of Hereford beef stock grace peacefully on this plain, which lies on this highland between Jim Creek and the south fork of the Stillaguamish, east of Arlington. Jay Nicks, his wife Mary and brother Archie Nicks are living in semi-retirement on their ranch, having switched from a life-time of dairying to beef raising, which is less demanding of their time. Archie is employed in the firing and heating department at the Jim Creek Naval Station, where he has worked for some five years. One of the features of the farm is a 5,000-gallon concrete water storage tank, which was installed some six years ago as a fire prevention measure. This tank is kept full of water, so that in the event of a fire, the fire trucks will have an adequate supply of water available. Many times the local firemen find little or no ready water supply available on farms threatened by fire and the installation such as the Nicks have provided have long been advocated by fire department people.