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Boeing begins to clear site for future 777X wing center
See 2,000 prize blooms at dahlia show page d1
PAGE A3 THURSDAY, 08.14.2014
By Eric Stevick Herald Writer
LAKE STEVENS — Twentyeight days after she went missing, Ethel O’Neil was found in her car in some blackberry bushes off a private road near
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75¢ (HIGHER IN OUTLYING AREAS)
Lake Stevens. The blue 1987 Chevy Nova was wedged in brambles on three sides off of 12th Street NE. The car couldn’t be seen from the road. Nor could the property owners spot it from their house. It took the eyes of a Snohomish
County Search and Rescue helicopter pilot on Tuesday to find it. “It appeared the car was backed in,” said Shari Ireton, a Ethel O’Neil sheriff ’s office spokeswoman. Her family on Wednesday expressed relief that she had
been found. O’Neil was 89 and was in the early stages of dementia. Her ordeal represents the worst fears for many families with an aging parent with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, which affects more than 5 million Americans. Research shows that 60 percent will See TRACKING, Page A5
The 5-year-old, born with a rare disease, will be sheriff’s ‘Chief for a Day’
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Worried about next year’s budget, some Snohomish County leaders want to start pinching pennies — now. County Council members talked Tuesday about imposing a hiring freeze that would apply to most of the county’s open positions, with the exception of sheriff ’s deputies. They also want to look over County Executive John Lovick’s shoulder to review some of his administration’s personnel decisions. Adding to budget worries this year are the enormous costs of responding to the March 22 Oso mudslide. “Our objective is to be proactive on the budget and rein in expenditures,” Councilman Terry Ryan said. “By starting early, it will lessen the impact on the 2015 budget. I don’t know why anybody would not be in favor of this.” The county’s 2,700 employees take up the largest share of the budget, making personnel decisions a tempting place to cut. A hiring freeze could be one step in that direction. Ryan called the proposal a “soft” freeze, because it would exempt patrol deputies and some other public safety employees. Otherwise, managers would need council approval to fill vacant jobs. “We don’t want to hire positions that may not be in the 2015 budget,” Ryan said. A second proposal would put a temporary halt to job reclassifications in the executive’s office. That’s a response to 10 percent raises some of Lovick’s top managers have received during the past year, even as signs started to appear of possible budget trouble. A third proposal would look to eliminate redundant jobs among appointed, non-union employees who work in departments under Lovick’s authority. A fourth idea would look at the best way to replace
IAN TERRY / THE HERALD
Sarah Kraft, 5, plays under a striped umbrella in the back yard of her home in Marysville on Aug. 7. Craft was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a rare liver disease, when she was an infant and underwent a liver transplant at 7 months old.
Herald Writer
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Patty Kraft shares a laugh with her daughter. Patty must take special precautions with Sarah because of her condition.
VOL. 114, NO. 185 © 2014 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
Comics . . . . . .D4 Crossword . . .D4
Dog’s life Fido, go to your room: Luxury home builders in California and Florida now offer pet suites as large as 170 square feet, about the size of a large bedroom. They’re equipped with walk-in bathing tubs, dog hair dryers, automated feeding stations and much more (Page D2). Dear Abby. . . .D5 Horoscope . . . B6
MARYSVILLE — They call it her gift of life. The seven-inch scar from the surgeries crosses her small abdomen. Sarah, 5, is the youngest of Patty and Kirk Kraft’s four children. She was born with a rare liver disease and received a transplant as an infant. This year, Sarah is the Snohomish County sheriff ’s “Chief for a Day.” For the Aug. 21 event, police sponsor a local child who has a chronic disease or terminal illness. They take the child for a day of fun
Even so, the truly pampered pooch won’t be happy until his masters spring for the optional fire hydrant comfort station, chewable $200 Italian leather loafers, and jumbosize hole in the fence between him and the French poodle next door Happiness is a hot
Lottery . . . . . .A2 Northwest. . . . B1
Obituaries. . . .A5 Opinion. . . . . .A9
at the state criminal justice training headquarters in Burien. “Seeing the kids’ faces on that day when they forget to think about all the troubles they’re going though is an amazing thing,” sheriff ’s deputy Jon Barnett said. “Chief for a Day” is just one of many ways that friends and family have supported the Krafts throughout Sarah’s health problems, Patty Kraft said. Sarah was 9 weeks old when she was diagnosed with biliary atresia. Her failing liver swelled with poison instead of releasing
Fryolator: Burger King is getting rid of “Satisfries,” a lower-calorie take on french fries that some mocked as “Saddest Fries” (Page A7). Whoever called them that must have never eaten lunch in a school cafeteria. What is this, a sidewalk in Paris? A golf course in a Portland, Oregon, suburb Sports . . . . . . . C1 Short Takes . . .D6
See SARAH, Page A2
hired a pack of border collies to drive off thousands of Canada geese that were fouling the links with their prolific pooping (Page B1). When they’re done chasing the geese, maybe the pooches can nip at the heels of Everett dog owners who don’t pick up after their pets in Grand Avenue Park.
— Mark Carlson, Herald staff
Discontent 73/60, C6
DAILY
By Rikki King
See BUDGET, Page A2
Business . . . . .A7 Classified . . . . B3
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Sarah gets to be in charge
By Noah Haglund
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Project Care Track provides traceable bracelets that can, within minutes, lead searchers to someone who is lost.
County Council members, feeling the pressure from Oso response costs, have talked about a hiring freeze for open positions except deputies.
Historic Everett Theatre
EVERETT, WASHINGTON
Tracking the vulnerable
Budget worries already surface
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