Everett Daily Herald, August 01, 2014

Page 1

Lynch ends holdout with return to camp, C1

Leave pups in peace Spooking mom puts them in danger, A3

FRIDAY, 08.01.2014

EVERETT, WASHINGTON

WWW.HERALDNET.COM

75¢ (HIGHER IN OUTLYING AREAS)

A necessary warning

Otter attacks, injures pair

A plaque to share Grace Tam’s story reminds others to be careful

A boy was swimming in the Pilchuck River with his grandmother Thursday when the animal, whose den has not yet been located, struck. By Kari Bray Herald Writer

LAKE STEVENS — A boy and his grandmother were taken to a hospital with serious injuries Thursday morning after a river otter attacked them near Lake Connor Park in Lake Stevens. The boy was swimming in the Pilchuck River with his grandmother around 11 a.m. when the otter attacked, said Capt. Alan Myers with the state Department of Fish & Wildlife. When the grandmother attempted to fend off the otter, the animal attacked her, as well. Based on initial reports, the boy likely needs stitches and his grandmother has a severe eye injury, Myers said. Names, ages and current conditions of the boy and grandmother were not immediately available. The otter had not been caught as of Thursday evening. A trapper was unable to locate a den in the area where the attack happened. If caught, the otter may be euthanized or relocated, Myers said. Officials are waiting to hear from doctors about whether a rabies test is needed. “When an animal has attacked a human, it becomes hard to justify setting it free again,” Myers said. Ruth Milner, a wildlife biologist with the Department of Fish & Wildlife, said this is the first time she’s dealt with an otter attack in Snohomish or Island counties. However, she’s heard of them elsewhere in the state and country. “Otter attacks are uncommon, but they have happened,” Milner

MARK MULLIGAN / THE HERALD

John Tam carries a cross bearing the name of his daughter, Grace, as he hikes to the Big Four Ice Caves on Thursday morning. Grace Tam, 11, died July 31, 2010, from internal injuries after she was struck by a piece of ice while visiting the site with her family. John, his wife, Tamami, and son, William, were joined by U.S. Forest Service staff to install a plaque informing visitors about Grace’s story and reminding them to be careful.

By Eric Stevick Herald Writer

SILVERTON — Her face, so friendly and innocent, looks out from a boulder beneath the sheer 4,000-foot wall, well beyond the snowfield’s edge at the Big Four Ice Caves. She shares a smile that is neither mechanical nor obligatory. The image, taken from a family photo and etched in metal, is of an 11-year-old Marysville girl on her first day of school entering the fifth grade. Her parents chose this particular snapshot from hundreds of others. It conveys to them a daughter who is a little bit nervous to start another year, but quite self-assured. Beside the picture are four paragraphs describing the tragic end to Grace Tam’s life,

See OTTER, Page A2

Grace’s brother and mom leave blueberries and popcorn for her.

and warning others of the dangers the postcard-worthy ice fields can inflict. In the summer,

water cascades into avalanchedumped snow to hollow out the caves, a popular hiking

destination about 20 miles east of Granite Falls. On the fourth anniversary of her death Thursday, Grace’s family returned to a site not far from where a large chunk of ice broke free and crushed her. Grace died that afternoon. Joining her parents and brother were workers from the U.S. Forest Service, an agency the family at one point sued in pursuit of safety reforms around the ice caves. They abandoned the case and chose a different path. On Thursday, the family worked side by side with a Forest Service crew, mixing epoxy to install the plaque and sharing hopes that it will make a difference. As John Tam took a rag to polish his daughter’s likeness See GRACE, back page, this section

Man admits to brutally stabbing wife to death EVERETT — Oscar GarciaPacheco on Thursday quietly admitted that he murdered his wife, stabbing her 19 times as she tried to hand him a court

document that ordered him to stay away from her. Garcia-Pacheco, shackled and handcuffed, kept his head bowed as a Spanish interpreter told a Snohomish County Superior Court judge that the Monroe man, 33, was pleading guilty to

50% OFF

Go to HeraldNetDailyDeal.com to purchase today’s deal from

Elite Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu! VOL. 114, NO. 172 © 2014 THE DAILY HERALD CO.

INSIDE

Business . . . .A11 Classified . . . . B1

Comics . . . . . .D4 Crossword . . .D4

first-degree murder. Garcia-Pacheco faces up to 28 years in prison when he is sentenced in mid-September. Lawyers plan to recommend a 22-year sentence as part of the plea agreement. Garcia-Pacheco brutally

Tony goes Gaga This a Great! Great! album: After recording a duet with Tony Bennett in 2011 for his Grammy-winning “Duets II” album, art-pop singer and meat dress model Lady Gaga returned to the studio for a full album of duets with the 87-year-old crooner. The album of jazz Dear Abby. . . .D5 Horoscope . . . B5

attacked his wife May 24, 2013, moments after she retrieved a protection order out of her car near the couple’s business in downtown Monroe. Standing on the sidewalk, Jacoba Ramirez-Rodriguez was stabbed multiple times in the

standards, “Cheek to Cheek,” will be released Sept. 23 (Page D6). Anybody else a little concerned about the cover art for a Bennett-Gaga album called “Cheek to Cheek”? The Visible Mouse: In order to study their anatomy, scientists are skinning dead mice and treating them

Lottery . . . . . .A2 Obituaries. . . .A9

Opinion. . . . .A13 Short Takes . . .D6

with chemicals to make them transparent. The see-through mice resemble rodent-shaped blocks of gelatin (Page A2). The scientists said they got the idea from a Jell-O salad at their last potluck. Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1981, the rock music video Sports . . . . . . . C1 Stocks . . . . . .A12

chest and abdomen with an eight-inch knife. Her husband said he had bought a knife set that day with the intention of killing his wife and then committing suicide. See DEATH, Page A2

channel MTV made its debut, playing the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” (Today in History, Page D6). The band would go decades before recording another hit, which ironically never played on MTV, “Reality Shows Killed the Music Video Star.”

—Jon Bauer, Herald staff

Nice 78/57, C6

DAILY

Herald Writer

the buzz

By Diana Hefley

6

42963 33333

9


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.