Inner strength of a powerlifter
The secret to the sides (hint: bacon)
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Food D1 WEDNESDAY, 12.24.2014
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By Kari Bray Herald Writer
STANWOOD — The YMCA has purchased a site for its sixth center in Snohomish County, cementing the future of a Stanwood-Camano facility that has been in the works for four years.
If the county succeeds in buying rights-of-way, work on improving congestion and safety concerns on Seattle Hill Road could begin in 2017.
267th St. NW
7213 267th St. NW
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Port Susan Middle School 500 feet
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is expected to open in late 2016. The organization plans to tear down the existing structure and See LAND, Page A2
If you’ve had too much to drink, Everett company offers free tow
Herald Writer
By Andrew Gobin Herald Writer
EVERETT — As the owner of a local tow truck company, John Guihan sees the devastation caused by drunken driving. This year, he’s trying to do something about it before he’s called to clean it up. “Our goal is to prevent tragedy,” said Guihan, who owns American Towing in Everett. A little more than a year ago Guihan started the Home Safe program, using his towing
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American Towing 425-355-7212 company to offer would-be drunken drivers an option for getting themselves and their vehicles home in one piece. He usually charges a flat $50 fee. This year, the service is free Christmas Eve and the following Friday and Saturday nights, from 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. On New Year’s Eve, Home Safe
will operate on extended hours, running until about noon New Year’s Day. “If it’s 5 a.m. and you need to get home, please, call us,” Guihan said. Tow trucks will be running to locations throughout Everett and from north Marysville to 212th Street in Lynnwood. Teams of drivers also are offering to get people and their cars home. A pilot car will follow volunteer drivers to each location. Guihan and his employees
Dude, where’s my Glock?
guns under the sofa cushions anyway.
Colorado, the first state to legalize recreational marijuana sales, now is considering a ballot measure to allow pot smokers to carry concealed firearms (Page A4). Sounds OK, since weed users are likely to lose their
Coming soon to a theater near you: Bowing to pressure from President Barack Obama, Sony Entertainment announced Tuesday that “The Interview,” the comic lark about assassinating North Korean dictator Kim
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Jong-un, will be released to theaters on Christmas Day after all (Page A4). In a case of life imitating movie art, the announcement made the vertically (but not horizontally) challenged despot’s head explode. What a trip it’s been: Dick Van Dyke, who turned 89 Short Takes . . .D6 Sports . . . . . . . C1
have all lost people to drunken driving. That, coupled with bearing witness to repeated tragedy, is what drives this program. “People that see the crashes or read about them, they experience that for a day. We have to live it for months, for as long as we have the car here,” he said. “We see the widows or the sons. We have to deal with the lawyer. We have to figure out what to do with the car, and where the belongings go.” See RIDE, Page A2
Dec. 13, plans to publish a book on living well in your golden years (Short Takes, Page D6). His secret? Keep moving. Oh, and also watch out for the ottoman in the middle of the living room. That’s a broken hip waiting to happen.
— Mark Carlson, Herald staff
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IAN TERRY / THE HERALD
John Guihan, who owns American Towing, is reflected in his rearview mirror as he drives down Evergreen Way in Everett in the early morning hours of Saturday. After bearing witness to the destruction caused by drunken drivers during the holidays, Guihan started offering free tows home for those patronizing local bars.
the buzz
MILL CREEK — From wagon track, to rural crossroads, to fullfledged suburbia, the area once known as Osborn’s Corner only promises to get busier. Morning and afternoon commutes along Seattle Hill Road have slowed, even as buildings sprout on all sides. An $8 million grant infusion aims to help Snohomish County ease traffic problems through this corridor on the eastern edge of Mill Creek. The state and federal money materialized this fall. If the county succeeds in buying rights of way, work to widen the two-lane arterial could get going in 2017, county engineer Owen Carter said. “You have traffic congestion. You also have safety problems for both bicycles and pedestrians,” Carter said. “Until these grants came through, we would not have been able to follow through with construction.” The work is planned for 1.6 miles of Seattle Hill Road, from 132nd Street SE to 35th Avenue SE. The improvements would add a continuous center lane as well as bike lanes, curbs and sidewalks on both sides of the road. Work is expected to take place over two summers, Carter said. State traffic data for 2013 show an average of 27,000 daily car trips through the area. Seattle Hill Road is important to Mill Creek because it skirts the city’s East Gateway Urban Village, south of 132nd Street. New apartments and townhomes there now cover the former Henry’s Plant Farm. A recently built medical office building stands nearby. The city’s vision for the area was to encourage development along the lines of Mill Creek Town Center, but with more homes mixed in with stores and office space. For city leaders, the work on Seattle Hill Road should make the area more pleasant to travel by foot or bike, as well as by car. “We’re a real walkable community and that is one place where we don’t have continuous
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of the schools and pretty close to one of the elder care centers,” said Ken Kettler, chair of the Stanwood-Camano YMCA Organizing Committee. “It’s a good location in Stanwood.” A committee of YMCA trustees finalized the $1.75 million purchase last week. A new center
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Need a ride home? Just call
By Noah Haglund
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The property is a former fitness club in Stanwood Village near Port Susan Middle School. A committee of eight volunteers reviewed about 30 locations before selecting 7213 267th St. NW, previously Resilience Fitness. “One of the big things for us is it’s walking distance from three
Facility would have a pool, fitness center and activity and meeting spaces
Lindstrom Rd
Grants YMCA purchases land meant for center in Stanwood to ease traffic
Proposed Stanwood YMCA
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