Raise your spirits with summer cocktails, D1
Compassion repaid Darrington High team invited to attend camp at no charge, C1 WEDNESDAY, 07.09.2014
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EVERETT, WASHINGTON
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Public records training now law
OSO MUDSLIDE
Hard bargain after slide By Scott North and Eric Stevick Herald Writers
OSO — With Darrington cut off after the Oso mudslide and the state desperate to help, a pair of business partners successfully demanded more than $80,000
to allow cars and trucks to drive along a power-line access road on their undeveloped land, records show. One of the men figured that charging the state Department of Transportation was the only shot at recovering losses he expected from the March 22 mudslide.
He initially demanded $180,000 just for access to the land. Most property owners along the route were paid $500. The state ultimately cut an $85,000 check to Robert Tager, of Lynnwood. His business partner, Grant Walsh, of Stanwood, negotiated the deal.
“Even though none of us feel good about this parcel, we need to honor our commitment,” one transportation official wrote in a May email as the check was being prepared. In another email, a top state See SLIDE, Page A4
By Jerry Cornfield Herald Writer
Having a blast
OLYMPIA — Understanding how the state’s public records and open meeting laws work is no longer an option for elected local officials in Washington. It’s a requirement. Under a new law, winners in this year’s elections must undergo training on the two statutes that are the bedrock of Washington’s open government regulations within 90 days of assuming their duties. The law, which took effect July 1, covers members of city and county councils, school boards, fire commissions and special districts as well as statewide elected officials, including Gov. Jay Inslee. It also applies to appointees to local and statewide office. State lawmakers — the majority of whom approved the law earlier this year — are exempt. So are judges. And incumbents at all levels of government are not required to take the training until after their next election “but we strongly recommend” they do it sooner, said Nancy Krier, the assistant attorney general who handles open government issues. There are different ways to fulfill the task and many in public service are taking advantage now. The Office of the Attorney General offers an online training course with lessons on principles behind open government and laws dealing with managing, disclosing and retaining of
DAN BATES / THE HERALD
Isaias Komok, 12, (center) and Zakary Wagner, 10, pool their efforts to aim a water cannon and spray other youngsters they are playing with Tuesday at Marysville’s brand new Spray Park in Comeford Park. With rising temperatures, the water features appeared a big hit.
See RECORDS, Page A4
Inslee to outline plan for safe fish consumption InvestigateWest
Ten minutes and four informational slides. That’s what a Washington Department of Health staffer responsible for
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warning the public about contaminants in fish was allotted to impress then-Health Secretary Mary Selecky about the importance of the issue. Lots of luck, warned former Department of Health toxicology chief Rob Duff — Selecky and her
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Horoscope . . . B6 Lottery . . . . . .A2 Obituaries. . . .A4
crew are “skeptics” who “are not very interested” in environmental health. And yet, wrote Duff : “If not DOH, who?” That was early 2008. In the months that followed, Health Department staffers would
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continue to raise contaminated fish as a public health issue, records and interviews show. Among their concerns: a longknown error in the state formula that controls how much toxic pollution can be dumped into waterways by factories,
THE BUZZ: Finally, great news we all can take advantage of. Page A2
sewage-treatment plants and other polluters. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has since repeatedly warned the state to fix the error. Now, a year and a half into the See FISH, Page A2
Cooler 74/56, C6
DAILY
By Robert McClure and Kim Drury
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VOL. 114, NO. 156 © 2014 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
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