New album inspired by Rucker’s scrapbook A&E
FRIDAY, 12.12.2014
●
EVERETT, WASHINGTON
●
WWW.HERALDNET.COM
●
75¢ (HIGHER IN OUTLYING AREAS)
Hospital’s name to change Trial to The final step in a partnership between tax-supported Valley General and EvergreenHealth is effective March 1. By Sharon Salyer Herald Writer
MONROE — Valley General Hospital, whose history dates to the 1890s, will change its name to EvergreenHealth
Monroe in March, the final step in consummating an alliance with Kirkland-based EvergreenHealth. The two organizations first approved a partnership in 2012. The formal alliance between the
two tax-supported, public hospital districts is effective March 1. Bob Malte, chief executive of EvergreenHealth, said one of the reasons his organization was interested in an alliance with the Monroe hospital is that the community is projected to be one of the fastest-growing in the Puget Sound region. Ties between Monroe and
Kirkland have strengthened, he said, and not just due to their physical proximity. Thirty percent of EvergreenHealth’s workforce lives in Snohomish County. In the two years since the two organizations began the partnership, Evergreen has added two primary care physicians to See NAME, Page A8
Pressure on pot growers Producer who spent life savings worries permits could be pulled
start in wife’s killing The case against Alan Smith drew widespread attention in part because of the odd behavior of his then-girlfriend, Love Thai. By Diana Hefley Herald Writer
hopes to be able to recover startup costs and retire from his day job in June, allowing him to operate his home-based business full time. He operates a “Tier 1” facility, the smallest as defined by the state, which caps his operation at 2,000 square feet. He converted a 2,160-square-foot building on his property to grow 1,440 square feet of plants in three rooms. Expanding to 2,000 square feet would require adding to his facility, which he can’t do under
EVERETT — Jurors won’t hear that a Bothell man accused of killing his estranged wife was called “Creepy Alan” by some of his coworkers at Boeing. Lawyers for Alan Smith, 39, asked a judge Thursday to prohibit any witness from testifying that they considered Smith a strange or socially awkward person. Prosecutors said they weren’t planning to elicit those kinds of descriptions from witnesses. Smith is scheduled to go on trial next month. He is accused of beating his estranged wife, Susann Smith, 37, and drowning her in a bathtub inside her Bothell house in February 2013. Prosecutors allege that Alan Smith meticulously planned the killing and took steps to cover up his involvement. He is charged with first-degree murder. Smith allegedly admitted to an acquaintance that he killed his wife. Prosecutors say Smith’s DNA was found on a washcloth under his wife’s body in the bathtub. Bloody footprints at the scene also allegedly matched the defendant. The Smiths were getting divorced and battling for custody of their two young children. Susann Smith’s body was discovered after she didn’t show up for work. Alan Smith was arrested four months later. The case drew widespread attention in part because of some odd behavior by Smith’s thengirlfriend, Love Thai. She posted photographs and videos to Facebook, documenting developments in the case, including Smith’s arrest. She and Smith did an interview with a Seattle television station prior to the arrest. Thai said in the interview that her boyfriend might be capable of killing his wife. She later posted that she was pregnant with Smith’s child. The pair moved into Smith’s former home about a month after
See POT, Page A8
See TRIAL, Page A8
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Out near rural Lake Bosworth, on a wooded lot, a business was launched this year that its owner hopes will gross $1 million per year. If Snohomish County doesn’t shut it down, that is. GreenRush is one of just four legal marijuana growing and processing companies operating in Snohomish County. While more than 80 producer and processor applicants have been approved by the state Liquor Control Board, the
Your trusted source for local deals brings you...
tortuous and bureaucratic path from application to selling product means that only a handful have been able to get up and running under the law created by Initiative 502, approved by voters in 2012. Meantime, political pressure from some neighbors of marijuana businesses prompted the once-welcoming Snohomish County Council to impose a temporary moratorium on new marijuana businesses as of Oct. 1 — so it can “consider these issues thoughtfully,” council Chairman Dave Somers said at the time.
o Up T
50% OFF
ucts, Prod ment ocal in On L, Enterta es! ic d Foo nd Serv a
Go to HeraldNetDailyDeal.com to see today’s deal.
the buzz
By Chris Winters
VOL. 114, NO. 305 © 2014 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
INSIDE
Business . . . .A13 Classified . . . . B1
Comics . . . . . .D4 Crossword . . .D4
GreenRush opened its doors in September, just in time to avoid the moratorium. Among growers, the worry now is that continued public pressure might lead to revocation of the businesses’ permits, said GreenRush’s owner, a man named Mark. The Herald agreed not to use Mark’s last name out of concern that he could lose his day job if it were known he was a marijuana producer, albeit a legal one. Mark said he sank $220,000 — practically his entire savings — into opening GreenRush. If he can keep it open, the 55-year-old
Top 10 joke tips No. 6: Pantless Regis always funny: David Letterman’s people say the gap-toothed host’s final “Late Show” will air May 20 (Short Takes, Page D6). The Buzz predicts that Dave’s “How to do my job” memo to replacement Stephen Colbert will consist Dear Abby. . . .D5 Horoscope . .B10
of instructions on working a reference to Regis Philbin into nearly every joke. Blowin’ in the wind: Snohomish County hunkered down Thursday evening as a strong windstorm slammed into the area (Page A3). But the real weather action was in California, where heavy rains caused widespread
Lottery . . . . . .A2 Obituaries. . .A20
Opinion. . . . .A15 Short Takes . . .D6
flooding (Page A12). The rains will recharge the drought-stricken state’s depleted water supply, which means California lawns no longer will need to be |irrigated by tears shed by San Francisco 49ers fans after yet another loss to the Seahawks. Your tax dollars at work: Two psychologists in SpoSports . . . . . . . C1 Stocks . . . . . .A14
kane were paid a whopping $81 million by the CIA to help design a torture program for captured terrorists (Page A12). The consultants provided the CIA with a list of tactics ranging from waterboarding to raps on the knuckles with one of those $800 Pentagon hammers.
—Mark Carlson, Herald staff
Motley 50/46, C8
DAILY
GENNA MARTIN / THE HERALD
Mark, who owns Green Rush and asked not to have his last name used, pours out a bag of “9 Pound Hammer” inside the warehouse of the recreational marijuana production company last week.
6
42963 33333
9