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Raises for some at the top The increases for a handful of county managers came to light after a message was sent advising departments to look for ways to cut 6 percent from next year’s budget. By Noah Haglund Herald Writer
EVERETT — Top-level Snohomish County managers received 10 percent raises during
the past year, even as the administration that granted the increases is asking other departments to prepare for cuts. The county faces an uncertain financial future next year
as it copes with costs from the Oso mudslide, pressing needs to bulk up jail staffing and a recent downgrade of its bond rating. The raises apply to about a dozen people under the authority of County Executive John Lovick and total about $150,000. County Councilman Ken Klein said the pay hikes send a “terrible message” at a time when the council is urging all county
employees to be frugal. “How can we tell our unions that you’re getting 2 percent raises when upper management is getting 10 percent?” Klein said. “It puts the county council in a horrible position.” The pay increases were enacted through a See RAISES, back page, this section
Walmart workers protest Dozen from Lynnwood store among those seeking better conditions
GENNA MARTIN / THE HERALD
Patricia Scott, a 15-year employee at the Federal Way Walmart, protests alongside other Walmart employees and local union members outside the store on 164th Street in Lynnwood on Wednesday. Walmart workers across the country called for better pay, benefits and working conditions.
Herald Writer
LYNNWOOD — About a dozen Walmart workers and about 50 labor supporters marched outside the company’s store here Wednesday, demanding better pay, hours and benefits for hourly employees. The demonstration was one of several organized by the advocacy group OUR Walmart around the country ahead of the company’s annual shareholder meeting Friday. “I’m here for a better workplace, better conditions, better pay, better benefits,
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so we know we can take care of our families,” said Charles Wolford, 30. He has worked for the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company for 10 years, now at the Lynnwood store as an overnight stocker. “I’m not really a controversial guy, I like my quiet life,” Wolford said. But working conditions at Walmart — pay, employee policies and safety — have declined in recent years, he said. “I’m at a point now where I can no longer tolerate it.” See WALMART, back page, this section
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the buzz
By Dan Catchpole
VOL. 114, NO. 122 © 2014 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
INSIDE
Business . . . . .A9 Classified . . . . B2
Comics . . . . . .D4 Crossword . . .D4
BNSF balks over oil report The railroad company says information about trains carrying the highly flammable Bakken crude should be confidential. By Jerry Cornfield Herald Writer
OLYMPIA — Washington leaders hope to get a better idea this week how often trains loaded with oil extracted from Bakken Shale in North Dakota travel through Snohomish County and the rest of the state. Railroads face a Friday deadline to tell the state how many trains per week each carry at least 1 million gallons of the highly flammable variety of crude oil in Washington and on what routes. A million gallons works out to about 35 tank cars. But under the emergency order of the U.S. Department of Transportation, railroads don’t have to reveal what days and times the trains are coming or precisely how much crude is aboard. On Wednesday, Union Pacific, which doesn’t have a large presence in Western Washington, told the state it has nothing to report. That doesn’t mean the Union Pacific isn’t shipping Bakken crude to locations in Washington — only that it isn’t handling quantities large enough to be subject to disclosure, said Karina Shagren, a spokeswoman for the Emergency Management Division. BNSF Railway, meanwhile, which is the dominant carrier north of Seattle and to points east, is reluctant to hand over some of the required information. BNSF ships Bakken crude — likely through Snohomish County — to a refinery in Anacortes. BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said that the firm averages one and a half to two trains loaded with Bakken going to “facilities in the Pacific Northwest in a 24-hour period.” He didn’t say how much oil those trains carry, or which routes they travel — the information required by the federal order. BNSF will comply with the federal requirement by informing state officials but doesn’t want all the information made public, he said. “BNSF believes this type of See OIL, Page A2
The Anti-Fascist Marching Band also took part.
That’s Comtastic! I can’t get no satisfaction. Or service: The recently released American Customer Satisfaction Index of 236 companies ranks Time Warner Cable’s Internet Service at 236 and Comcast Xfinity Internet service at 234, at a time when the two cable giants have proposed Dear Abby. . . .D5 Horoscope . . . B4
a merger that would reduce the competition that could persuade either to improve (Page A9). Comcast claims perceptions about poor customer service are outdated. The Buzz attempted to contact Comcast customers for comment on their level of satisfaction, but our Internet was out.
Lottery . . . . . .A2 Northwest. . . . B1
Obituaries. . . .A6 Opinion. . . . .A11
Yeah, sounds like a great idea: The Secret Service is looking for software that would help it detect when sarcasm is being used in social media (Page A8). Let’s test it out: Media reports of Secret Service agents patronizing prostitutes are soooo unfair. (We’ll let you know when they show up to question us.) Sports . . . . . . . C1 TV . . . . . . . . . .D6
Vacuumed-packed salmon: Yakama Nation Fisheries is using a tube that gently sucks up spawning salmon, past a dam and into a tanker truck (Page B1). The only problem occurred when a team of bears moved the truck and used the tube like a straw to suck down salmon.
—Jon Bauer, Herald staff
Copycat 68/48, C6
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