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Quilceda carvers share their expertise. Page 5.
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Family held out hope for years By STEVE POWELL spowell@marysvilleglobe.com
Community: Girl’s stand aids fire victims. Page 2.
For 9 1/2 years, Byron Wright’s family held out hope that he was still alive. “We all hoped by some miracle that he was sitting on a beach in Mexico having a good time,” his youngest sister, Sharon Diehl, says in court papers. He wasn’t. He was killed almost 10 years ago by his wife, Michele Donohue, in their rural home in the hills between Arlington and Marysville. He was stabbed in the back of the head about a dozen times in September of 2004. Donohue pleaded guilty to second-degree murder July 11. She was sentenced to 16 years in prison July 29. Humble beginnings Wright’s father left the family when Wright was 4 or 5, so he and his three siblings were raised on welfare by their mother, who had
Sports: Turf being installed. Page 10
CLASSIFIED ADS 15-18 LEGAL NOTICES
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OPINION
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Vol. 120, No. 55
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SEE MURDER, PAGE 11
M’ville council talks of possible fireworks ban By STEVE POWELL spowell@marysvilleglobe.com
INDEX
Kirk Boxleitner/Staff Photo
Michele Donohue was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
multiple sclerosis. Being the oldest, Wright was the main caretaker. Wright’s younger brother, Norman, says it was a close-knit family. “My mother raised us in a loving home before she became ill,” he says in court papers. When their mother could no longer care for them, they went to live with their aunt and uncle in Ballard in 1967. Wright was 15. Larry Ringstad, a neighbor, became Wright’s best friend. They both loved cars and working on them. They would cruise the Renton Loop and Colby Avenue in Everett. Wright even raced some at Seattle International Raceway. Wright joined the Coast Guard for four years and enjoyed some adventures. “Even though he got motion sickness it was a means for him to get ahead,” family friend Joan O’Malley says in court papers.
MARYSVILLE – The Marysville City Council exploded with ideas on how to deal with problems associated with Fourth of July fireworks — ranging from an all-out ban to putting on its own community event — at its meeting July 28. (What do you think should happen? Please email ideas to spowell@ marysvilleglobe.com) City Councilman Jeff Seibert said he is ready for a ban, but is willing to get more information from the public. “Most of the people who talk to me don’t like it,” he said of the fireworks. “So I have a bias, but I’m open to other ideas,” he said, adding he did not want a public hearing on the issue.
What do you think should happen? Email ideas to spowell@marysvilleglobe. com Council President Jeff Vaughan was a firecracker on the other side of the issue. “My sons would be disappointed if I led the ban on fireworks,” he said. Vaughan pushed for more openness on the issue. “Public input is important to the process,” he said. Vaughan said he wants to look at all aspects of the issue. He wants to know what the economic benefit is to the city. He said he knows people who come here to shoot off fireworks because they can’t elsewhere.
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Marysville could ban fireworks. He compared it at some level to the Harley Davidsons going to Sturgis, S.D., or the Running of the Bulls in Spain. “Some areas put up with things because there’s some benefit to it,”
Vaughan said, adding he wouldn’t mind looking at an advisory vote of the public on fireworks. Councilwoman Donna Wright said she was concerned about the service clubs and churches that would lose money from selling legal fireworks. Those events are often their biggest fund-raisers of the year. “It’s the illegal stuff people get mad about,” she said of fireworks sold on reservations. Police Chief Rick Smith agreed. “I like fireworks,” he said. “But I don’t like illegal fireworks and the crazy people who shoot them off.” Smith said a ban would help police. SEE FIREWORKS, PAGE 2