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Dozens dead, missing after Oso mudslide BY KIRK BOXLEITNER
kboxleitner@marysvilleglobe.com
OSO — The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed late Thursday, March 27, that it has received 17 casualties since the Oso mudslide that swept across both State Route 530 and the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River on March 22. The names of five victims have been released by the Medical Examiner’s Office. They are Christina A. Jefferds, 45; Stephen A. Neal, 55; Linda L. McPherson, 69; Kaylee B. Spillers, 5; and William E. Welsh, 66. Officials also report that another 90 people were listed as missing or unaccounted for as of March 26. Three Snohomish County Sheriff ’s officers, who are experts in missing persons, took on the task of consolidating the Department of Emergency Management’s multiple lists of reportedly missing and unaccounted for people on March 25, after a day of wild fluctuations in numbers of reports that Pennington attributed to Darrington getting its power and communications lines, including the Internet, restored that same day. “We had let you know there were approximately 176 reports that had been made
COMMUNITY:
Mourners turn to faith in time of tragedy. Page 3
SEE OSO, PAGE 12
Kirk Boxleitner/Staff Photo
From left, Steve Westlake and John Pennington, of the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management, listen as Arlington Mayor Barbara Tolbert addresses the press on March 26, to report how her community continues to react to the Oso mudslide on March 22.
Tribes donate to disaster relief efforts
SPORTS: Chargers compete at Chuck Randall Invite. Page 10
BY KIRK BOXLEITNER kboxleitner@marysvilleglobe.com
INDEX CLASSIFIED ADS 15-18 LEGAL NOTICES
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OPINION
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SPORTS
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WORSHIP
Vol. 124, No. 36
5 Kirk Boxleitner/Staff Photo
From left, Jennifer Egger and Heather Logan, of the Cascade Valley Hospital Foundation, receive a check for $50,000 from Tulalip Tribal Vice Chair Deborah Parker on March 26.
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TULALIP — As Tulalip Tribal Board Chair Mel Sheldon Jr. and Vice Chair Deborah Parker extended their thoughts and prayers to those who have been hit by the impact of the Oso mudslide on March 22, they recalled how their own Native American ancestors suffered similar disasters in that same Camano Head area, as recently as the 1800s. “Our people’s lives
were taken away as well, and we remember that history,” said Sheldon, who had just recently caught back up with an old friend who had lived in that area, and who is now among the fatalities incurred by the slide. “We’d planned to go get a cup of coffee together sometime, but that’s obviously not going to happen now. This tragedy has affected everyone.” To that end, on March 26, not only did Sheldon
hand a $100,000 check from the Tribes over to representatives of the American Red Cross of Snohomish County, to assist with food, shelter and other basic needs for the slide survivors and their families, but Parker followed suit by presenting a $50,000 check to representatives of the Cascade Valley Hospital Foundation, which is administering a mudslide relief fund. “The Tulalip peoples SEE TRIBES, PAGE 2