Plunge into the season with a ski film tradition, D6
11.16.2014
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Everett, Wash.
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$1.50 (higher in outlying areas)
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HeraldNet.com
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PROJECT99
County paying more to settle
THIS IS NOT A LAW ENFORCEMENT ISSUE. THIS IS A SOCIETY ISSUE.
Litigation is costing Snohomish County more in settlements this year, but officials say it’s cheaper than fighting in court. By Noah Haglund Herald Writer
Sgt. David Chitwood leads a homeowner inside to collect drug paraphernalia during a surprise visit in October to a house south of Everett where officials believed they were making progress. In top photo, syringes litter the ground at a homeless camp near Lynnwood in March.
It’s more than a highway — and its problems are more than law enforcement alone can handle LYNNWOOD — The two-story home that bumps up against an elementary school playground appears innocuous enough as the police cars roll up. No need for lights or sirens. Just a long, loud, unrelenting knock on the front door of the house that, at first glance, blends into the suburban landscape. The visit, like others before it, comes unannounced. It’s a spot inspection from an unusual and little-known team of cops, code enforcers and social workers trying a different approach to reining in crime. It takes a few minutes before a gaunt, middle-aged man in a baseball cap
Story by ERIC STEVICK, Herald writer Photos by MARK MULLIGAN, Herald photographer
opens the door. He knows the drill and rounds up the five people inside. The home, years into foreclosure, has been a haven for drug users and the bane of the neighborhood. Over the summer, several tons of garbage were removed from the back
yard. A shed was infested with rats that roamed onto the fringes of the Olivia Park Elementary School grounds. Used syringes littered the yard. Five-gallon containers were filled with urine. Inside, the home was equally squalid. “A wood tent” is how one veteran Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy describes it. The walk up the stained carpet on the staircase reveals the shell of what once was a stable home. The floors are stripped down to the plywood. Copper pipes have been cut See PROJECT 99, Page A8
EVERETT — Snohomish County’s legal payouts have shot up this year, with big settlements over a jail death, car crashes and disputes over public records. To date, county government has paid nearly $3.9 million. That’s about triple what they spent on settlements last year and more than nine times the amount in 2012. County attorneys contend that nothing has changed in the legal landscape. Each settlement, they argue, involved a calculated move to avoid a costlier fight in court. “Obviously, with any litigation, there are risks involved,” said Jason Cummings, the county’s chief civil deputy prosecutor. “The county sat down, without admitting liability, and resolved the lawsuits.” It’s mainly chance, Cummings said, that so many cases originating at various times over a decade, ended See SETTLEMENTS, back page, this section
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MAKING A BIG SPLASH
HOW THEY FLEW
FOR THE FARM
Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . .B7
Numbing 44/27, C10
1165235
Calendar takes a look at Everett’s rich aviation history. Local, B1
Conference workshops explore the latest in agriculture. Good Life, D1
SUNDAY
Marysville Getchell’s first state champ: Diver Brooke Wherley. Sports, C1
VOL. 114, NO. 279 © 2014 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
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