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Marysville Community Food Bank hands out hundreds of holiday baskets to those in need BY KIRK BOXLEITNER kboxleitner@marysvilleglobe.com
HAPPY
THANKSGIVING
SPORTS: Marysville trainer takes on ‘Dare Dever.’ Page 10
MARYSVILLE — The Marysville Community Food Bank’s needs for this year’s holiday season have more than equaled those of previous years. Marysville Community Food Bank Director Dell Deierling estimated that as many as 300 families might have received Thanksgiving food baskets, which were distributed by close to 100 volunteer workers during the three hours that the food bank was open to serve them on Friday, Nov. 18. “Last year, we saw 40 percent of our Thanksgiving food basket customers on Friday,”
Deierling said on Nov. 18, as he prepared for the potential need for Monday, Nov. 21, and Tuesday, Nov. 22. “I thought that was just a fluke, due to last year’s snowstorm, since Tuesday is usually our biggest day. We’re open for five hours, rather than three, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. If Tuesday turns out to be our biggest day this year though,” he paused, before smiling and saying, “then wow. It’s going to be a real challenge to keep up.” Indeed, Deierling had only anticipated that the food bank would serve Thanksgiving food baskets SEE THANKS, PAGE 2
Kirk Boxleitner/Staff Photo
Karen Strand assists a Marysville Community Food Bank client in picking out items for a Thanksgiving food basket on Nov. 18.
Forum focuses on ‘Coal Hard Truth’ BY KIRK BOXLEITNER kboxleitner@marysvilleglobe.com
INDEX CLASSIFIED ADS 15, 17-18 LEGAL NOTICES 9 8 OBITUARIES 4 OPINION 10-11 SPORTS 13 WORSHIP
Vol. 119, No. 40 Kirk Boxleitner/Staff Photo
Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring argues the economic case against allowing more coal trains through Marysville.
MARYSVILLE — The Totem Middle School cafeteria was packed on the evening of Nov. 17, as area residents heard from representatives of the city of Marysville, the Snohomish County Health District and the Washington Environmental Council on “The Coal Hard Truth” about the potential coming of coal trains through Marysville. Nicole Keenan of the Washington Environmental Council opened by explaining that uncovered rail cars lose about 1 percent of their coal load in transit, due to the amount of coal that’s fine
particulate matter, which she pointed out can add up to millions of tons of coal that can get into people’s lungs. She added that the Gateway Pacific coal terminal proposed by SSA Marine, in partnership with Peabody Energy, for Cherry Point in Bellingham could export 48 million tons of coal per year, the largest load in North America. “It threatens quality of life, tourism and small business to have mounds of coal on the waterfront,” Keenan said. “It threatens the economy because the coal market is volatile. Portland and Los Angeles invested in coal ter-
minals that flopped with the market, and the price of coal has been dropping recently.” Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring objected to the potential addition of 18 coal trains a day to the train tracks that bisect Marysville from north to south, which he noted would further impede the east-west traffic within the city, as well as access to I-5. He and several other mayors throughout the region wrote letters to the governor asking the state Department of Ecology to get involved. As a result of DOE and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planning to review the process, all the
applicants’ paperwork must be resubmitted, which adds a couple of years to the timeline. “Economic impacts are where this battle will be played out,” said Nehring, who cited the burdens placed on workers, businesses, schools and emergency responders by making the city more difficult to traverse with extra trains. “Right now, it’s cheaper for the Chinese to import coal than to transport it from parts of their own country, but as their infrastructure gets built up, that’s not likely to last. A lot of state and SEE TRAINS, PAGE 2
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