GLOBE THE MARYSVILLE
Culture: Hibulb
Cultural Center celebrates third anniversary. Page 3.
WEEKEND EDITION 17, 2014 WWW.MARYSVILLEGLOBE.COM 75¢ WEEKEND EDITION AUGUST JUNE 8TH, 2014 WWW.MARYSVILLEGLOBE.COM 75¢
Herald THE SUNDAY
An Edition of
Oso heroes receive thanks
BY KIRK BOXLEITNER kboxleitner@marysvilleglobe.com
and it still bothers her that she wasn’t baptized until age 22. “Church life was put behind political life,” she said. Her dad was a steel mill supervisor, and the family was provided an 8th floor apartment. “He was always under a lot of stress, uptight,” Tori said. “He was the one they blamed everything on.” She remembers wages being an issue because workers hadn’t received raises for 10-15 years. She said her family didn’t get its first TV until she was in about the second grade, and its first car until she was 15. “It was a humble, primitive life,” she said. Tori’s life changed at age 10 when some coaches came to visit. She told them she liked basketball over volleyball, and that was it. Tori said it wasn’t like the government just came and took her away from her family, but at times it felt like it. “It was with the blessing of the parents, who wanted a better life for their kid,” she said. Tori was constantly training. She said it was much more involved than “select” teams today. They would practice three times a
DARRINGTON — Months after their initial efforts in response to the Highway 530 slide, Darrington and Oso firefighters received a show of support from visiting employees of Rairdon Dodge Chrysler Jeep of Marysville. Both fire stations had scheduled training Aug. 12, so the Rairdon employees spent nearly $200 on 20 pizza, 10 breadsticks and six 2-liter bottles of soda from Little Caesar’s, which they delivered in a 2014 Jeep Wrangler that had been customized in remembrance of the March 22 slide. Rairdon parts adviser James Biddle had spent two months customizing the jeep, whose back windows bear “Oso Strong” labels, and whose front hood is covered with a topographical map of the slide area, with a red dot marking the epicenter. “We’re calling it the tribute edition,” Biddle said of the custom Jeep, which the dealership plans to sell at cost for nearly $27,000. “These firefighters helped out those who lost so much. My cousin came from Eastern Washington to help out as part of the National Guard, so I could connect to that.” Les Hays, the dealership’s recon manager, not only helped a close friend recover from losing his parents and grandparents in the slide, but also saw a number of customers after the slide who’d been impacted by it. “One lady came in, escorted by military people,” Hays said. “She’d lost her entire family, so she
SEE STAR, PAGE 2
SEE HEROES, PAGE 2
Shopping:
Homegrown draws hundreds to 3rd St. Page 5. Steve Powell/Staff Photo
Tulalip athletic director Tori Torolova talks with Gorgetta, 8, and Georgette Reeves, 10, in her office.
Bulgarian star Tulalip A.D. BY STEVE POWELL spowell@marysvilleglobe.com
Community:
Festival of the River heats up. Page 11
INDEX CLASSIFIED ADS 15-18 LEGAL NOTICES
9
OPINION
4-5
SPORTS
10
WORSHIP
6
Vol. 120, No. 57
TULALIP – Tori Torolova loves her family, even though she’s seen little of them since she defected to the U.S. from Communist Bulgaria 24 years ago. She hasn’t seen her sister since 2001, her mom since 2000 and her brother since 1994. She saw little of them before that, as she was taken from her home at age 10 and placed in a Sports School so she could focus on playing basketball for that country’s national team. So she gets a little teary-eyed when talking about family. But she gets a huge smile when she talks about her adopted family on the Tulalip Reservation. She was hired there 4 1/2 years ago and is now the athletic director at the Boys and Girls Club. She loves the kids, and they love her. Bulgaria as a child Tori grew up in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. In the summers she would go to the countryside with her sister, mom and dad. “I was the baby,” she said. At about age 3 she
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“We were not allowed to talk about people in government.” Tori Torolova, Tulalip athletic director had to get up with the rest of them at 5 a.m. to feed the donkeys, pigs, chickens, rabbits and goats. “It was no vacation. It was hard work,” she said in her still-thick Balken accent. Her grandfather was the unofficial chef of the village so they hosted gatherings, such as marriages or when someone went into the military. “They were huge celebrations,” she said. Tori did not find out she had a brother until she was 13 because he was born in a previous marriage. “We did not discuss divorce” there. “It was old school, hush, hush. People would judge,” Tori said. Two other secret issues were government and religion. “We were not allowed to talk about people in government,” she said. As for religion, she said Christianity was underground. They didn’t get to celebrate Christmas,