Everett Daily Herald, August 18, 2014

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This week’s watchwords Mudslide

Football

Fair

A commission studying the emergency response and land-use decisions related to the Oso mudslide has its first meeting Friday.

In a sign that fall — and school — aren’t far off, high school football teams begin practicing Thursday.

Ready for funnel cakes, rides and pig races? The Evergreen State Fair in Monroe kicks off Thursday.

MONDAY, 08.18.2014

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OSO MUDSLIDE

Being there; providing comfort The Oso community works to keep fire chaplain Joel Johnson on the job

Water park eyed for Lake Tye A Sammamish developer says the planned waterski and wakeboarding park in Monroe is “like a skateboard park on the water.” By Amy Nile Herald Writer

the scale of the disaster, he asked the firefighters for permission to stay that night. That grew into a full-time job that’s been funded through September. Now, Johnson’s chaplains group hopes to find a way to keep him there the rest of the year. Johnson, 29, grew up on a farm in Illinois, where he attended an Assemblies of God church. As a teen, his path

MONROE — Plans to build a cable wakeboarding and waterskiing park on Lake Tye are moving forward. Sammamish-based H3o Development expects to break ground this fall. The company plans to erect seven towers, which will carry a moving cable loop, in the south end of Lake Tye. Riders will hold lines extending down from the moving cable as they travel at about 18 mph on the water on skis, boards or skates. “It’s like a skateboard park on the water,” said Greg Dick of H3o. The riders are expected to have about 30 feet to carve on either side of the moving line. The cable system eliminates the need for a boat. “It brings the sport to so many people who never had it before,” said H3o’s Brad Smith. The cable park would be the first-of-its-kind in the state. It is expected to take up about 30 percent of the lake with a route that includes jumps and rails for advanced riders and a smaller loop for beginners. The company plans to build business by catering to people starting out in the sport. Dick said he was so intimidated the first time he tried to go to a cable

See CHAPLAIN, Page A2

See LAKE, Page A2

GENNA MARTIN / THE HERALD

Chaplain Joel Johnson first came to the Oso fire station when he was asked to shadow another chaplain after the March 22nd mudslide. He never left. Johnson has become a full-time chaplain assigned to the Oso fire station for six months. The community hopes to extend his position another six months.

By Rikki King Herald Writer

OSO — Fire Chief Willy Harper and chaplain Joel Johnson sat down in the fire hall kitchen Wednesday morning for a quiet breakfast of eggs and bacon. The all-volunteer fire station, just four miles from the fatal March 22 mudslide, has become their full-time workplace. It bustled for weeks.

On Wednesday morning, though, it was just the two of them there. The pace of day-today operations after the disaster has slowed, but it has not stopped. Johnson’s job is to provide a comforting presence and spiritual guidance to the emergency responders and to the families who lost 43 loved ones. He joined families during the recoveries from the mud, and he led services for the dead. He

also helps around the fire station with whatever needs doing. Back home, his wife, Brianna, has been caring for their first child, Jaelyn, who was born March 14 with a heart defect. The family had been home from the hospital just two nights when Johnson was asked to respond to Oso. He was told there was flooding, and a barn roof had been pushed onto Highway 530. After he got there and realized

Housing project for Everett college could be delayed

EVERETT — A six-story building downtown for Trinity Lutheran College student housing will likely be built as planned

after the developer passed away unexpectedly — although there may be a few months of delay in construction. The small Christian college plans to lease the new 100-unit residence hall at the southwest

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corner of California Street and Oakes Avenue. The college had partnered with the property’s owner, Footprint Investments, a developer specializing in “microhousing” projects that enable people to live affordably in urban settings. But Jim Potter, the company’s founder, died May 6 of cancer. The college serves about 250 students in downtown Everett. Providing low-cost housing close

Vacation interruptus: President Barack Obama is interrupting his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard on Monday for meetings in D.C. with Vice President Joe Biden (Page A5). The White House won’t say why Obama needed to fly back to D.C., but The Buzz fig-

to classes is an important part of the college’s plans to double its enrollment in the next few years, said Trinity Lutheran College president John Reed. “Cost is an issue for students,” he said. “We are trying to develop an approach where room and board is more affordable.” Reed said he didn’t learn of the developer’s illness until a few weeks before his death. The developer had already hired

ures first lady Michelle Obama must have objected to seeing a Bermuda shorts-clad Biden on the Vineyard beaches. “Sopranos,” with horse and buggy: Pennsylvania’s governor is asking the Discovery Channel to drop its series, “Amish Mafia,” because of its “bigoted portrayal” of the religious sect. Discovery de-

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fends the show as an honest look at Amish men enforcing the laws of their community (Short Takes, Page B4). And besides, Discovery said, “dat’s a nice Amish quilt youse got there. It’d be a shame if something was to happen to it.” Potty pooh-pooh: Parents these days are way too Sports . . . . . . . C1 Your Photos . . B1

a CEO for his company, and it seems plans will carry forward. At worst, Trinity expects construction could be delayed by a few months. Right now, the college leases two buildings on Hoyt Avenue near the Everett Public Library’s main branch. Students live in one building and the other is sublet to other tenants. See TRINITY, Page A2

nervous about potty training, something their greatgrandmothers approached with calm confidence, child psychologist John Rosemond says (Page B2). Right. Great-grandma had more serious things to worry about: lead paint chips, flammable pajamas, polio …

— Mark Carlson and Jon Bauer, Herald staff

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Work on a 100-unit residence hall for Trinity College students may face a two-month delay following the death of the founder of a partner company on the development.

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