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FRIDAY, 08.08.2014
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EVERETT, WASHINGTON
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Thieves target large items
Odor complaints return
Machinery worth more than $270,000 has been stolen countywide over the past 3 months, costing much more in delayed construction.
Revisiting the ghosts of war
By Eric Stevick
Man who survived WWII bombing raids meets pilot who flew them
Although people blame Cedar Grove Composting, pinpointing the source is complicated by several factors. By Chris Winters Herald Writer
EVERETT — When the dog days of summer set in, there’s one thing residents in north Everett and Marysville have
Herald Writer
EVERETT — For some crooks, size doesn’t seem to matter. Over the past three months, nine pieces of heavy equipment have been stolen from across Snohomish County. All told, the thefts yielded more than $270,000 worth of equipment. Over the same period, there have been 89 reports of heavy equipment being stolen across Washington and Oregon. The last local piece of machinery stolen was a 2014 John Deere mini-excavator. It disappeared between 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Monday from a locked job site near Lynnwood. It’s worth $65,000. Thieves cut a lock and backed the excavator out on a trailer before closing the gate, officials said. Like many such thefts, the cost is far greater than the equipment itself. It brought construction to a halt. Workers have scrambled to try to find another piece of equipment during the peak building time when the machines are in short supply. In any given year, the value of stolen heavy equipment across the country reaches $400 million. Loaders and tractors are particularly popular with thieves. Roughly 20 percent of stolen heavy equipment is recovered, according the National Insurance Crime Bureau and the National Equipment Register. That sticks insurance companies, rental businesses and equipment owners with the bill. Of the nine pieces of equipment stolen from Snohomish County during the past three months, two have been recovered. Snohomish County detective Terry Haldeman works with the Snohomish County Auto Theft Task Force, which investigates heavy equipment theft. Last year, the task force recovered more than $500,000 in stolen heavy equipment.
the buzz
Herald Writer
VOL. 114, NO. 179 © 2014 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
INSIDE
Business . . . .A11 Classified . . . . B1
Comics . . . . . .D4 Crossword . . .D4
Gear up Tech trek: In order to enjoy nature, some outdoor enthusiasts are finding it necessary to spend up to $10,000 on luxury equipment like cook stoves that double as cellphone chargers (Page A11). If this keeps up, the hikers Dear Abby. . . .D5 Horoscope . . . B5
will be better equipped than the search and rescue teams they’ll call with those charged cellphones when they get themselves in trouble. Take off, eh: Speaking of luxury goods, America’s high-end retailers are opening stores up north in Canada (Page A11).
Lottery . . . . . .A2 Obituaries. . . .A8
Opinion. . . . .A13 Sports . . . . . . . C1
flesh and bone become national commodities as much as boots and bullets. Spencer saw friends die as their bombers fell to the ground. He felt his bomber shake from antiaircraft fire. And he wondered if he would make it back to Everett alive. But the men didn’t meet to lay blame for what happened. They met to connect.
Nordstrom plans to open six Canadian stores this year through 2017, and Saks Fifth Avenue plans to add as many as seven stores. The Canadian Nordies will be the only stores in the company with special departments devoted to wool tuques, bulky winter coats and snow tires. Stocks . . . . . .A12 Short Takes . . .D6
See GHOSTS, Page A2
Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1974, Richard Nixon became the first president to resign (Today in History, Page D6). Noting that Nixon failed to give the standard two weeks’ notice, America’s HR department listed him as “not eligible for rehire.”
— Mark Carlson, Herald staff
Dandy 73/56, C6
DAILY
fortress. The other man, Ken Gunji, was a teenager at the time, EVERETT — The two men came watching the American warplanes overhead turn much of Tokyo to face to face and paused, unsure of ash. what exactly to say. One saluted, Gunji felt the heat of the firethe other waved. They shook hands storms created by American incenand sat down beside each other. diary bombs that raged through Their paths had crossed some the city’s predominantly wood 70 years before in wartime Tokyo. buildings. The flames scarred his Harry Spencer had seen the city sister and burnt their home. He through the crosshairs of the learned to live in wartime, when bombsight on a U.S. B-29 SuperBy Dan Catchpole
ucts, Prod ment ocal in On L, Enterta es! Food nd Servic a
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See ODOR, Page A7
IAN TERRY / THE HERALD
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141 complaints concerning the Smith Island site, spokeswoman Joanne Todd said, although that number comes with an asterisk because it does not reflect 141 separate incidents. Some people call in many more complaints than others, she said. In July, as summer weather
Ken Kazuyoshi Gunji (left), who lived through the American bombings of Japan during World War II, speaks with former B-29 bombardier Harry Spencer at Anthony’s HomePort in Everett on July 31. “I’ve been many places in the world and my conclusion is that there are no differences between people,” said Gunji, who contacted Spencer to set up a meeting. “We are all one human race.”
See THIEVES, Page A2
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learned to anticipate: the stink. The smell, they say, originates from Cedar Grove Composting on Smith Island. Neighbors have complained for years about the smell, and filed their objections with the
Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. The company has long insisted that it has been successful in containing any noxious odors. It uses a state-of-theart odor monitoring system called OdoWatch to verify that it is keeping its emissions under control. Nevertheless, in the first half of the year, the agency received
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