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TUESDAY, 12.30.2014
Snohomish County’s sheriff has created partnerships to change how the facility handles mentally ill inmates. By Diana Hefley Herald Writer
EVERETT — Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary spends a lot of time talking about the mental health care system. As sheriff, Trenary oversees the Snohomish County Jail in
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do,” Trenary said. “The jail isn’t going to fix the problem.” Roughly 40 percent of people booked into the county jail have histories of addiction, mental illness or both, officials say. Trenary has initiated a series of reforms at the jail in an effort to prevent inmate deaths and address overcrowding and safety concerns. See JAIL, Page A2
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By Rikki King Herald Writer
While on a holiday trip to visit her aunt in Leavenworth, Elsie Gardiner, 11, of Tucson, Arizona, skis for the first time at the Stevens Pass Nordic Center. “It’s like a winter wonderland,” Gardiner said. “My favorite part is the downhill.”
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Everett. That makes him the leader of the county’s de facto mental health hospital. “In Snohomish County we run the largest mental health facility. We have used the jail to address mental illness more frequently than any other solution,” Trenary said. “The sheriffs who want
to fix the problems have to get involved in mental health.” For Trenary that has meant having conversations and making partnerships with people outside of law enforcement. It means trying to change how the county lockup is being used and recognizing what can be done to treat inmates and to help them from cycling in and out. “We are partnering with others because it’s the right thing to
Kevin Farrell (left), of the Leavenworth Winter Sports Club, leads a skate ski clinic for the Leavenworth Junior Nordic Team at the Stevens Pass Nordic Center on Saturday,
ucts, Prod ment ocal in On L, Enterta es! Food nd Servic a
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Reforms initiated at jail
By Andrew Gobin EVERETT — People dialing 911 by mistake, particularly using cellphones, are creating big headaches for Snohomish County emergency dispatchers. “They clog up our emergency lines and take emergency operators away from being able to respond to real emergencies,” said Karl Christian, SNOPAC operations manager. The problems are particularly acute when people hang up without acknowledging they’ve misdialed. SNOPAC is a public safety dispatch center serving much of Snohomish County. They receive an average of 1,500 calls a day for medical, fire, and police assistance. About 100 calls to SNOPAC each day are unintentional or hangups, officially classified as “abandoned calls.” Dispatchers have to investigate whether there is an emergency linked to that call. “An emergency operator will be tied up anywhere between 30 seconds and two minutes determining how to respond,” Christian said. The level of difficulty depends in large part on what type of phone was used. When available for the phone service, the Automatic Number Identification, or ANI, is used to call back, checking to see if the call was intentional and that everything is OK. If there is no answer, and the Automatic Location Identification, or ALI, is available, an officer might be dispatched to check in person. Police dispatchers often can be heard asking officers to check the circumstances surrounding “Annie Alley” calls. When the caller doesn’t hang up and there is an open line, dispatchers listen to what is going on to determine if there is an emergency. There often is not, Christian said. “Pocket dials and calls made by kids playing with their parent’s cellphone are common,” he said.
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Fore! Mind if I play through: A couple getting married at a golf course in Hawaii were forced to relocate the ceremony because President Barack Obama planned to play golf there (Page A6). The Associated Press was told that Obama was not aware of the wedding Dear Abby. . . . B3 Good Life . . . . B4
EVERETT — For Snohomish County, 2014 was one of the wettest, warmest years on record, according to the National Weather Service. Paine Field is on track for its fourth wettest year since the 1940s, said meteorologist Johnny Burg, noting that December rainfall can’t be tallied yet. By the end of November, Darrington recorded nearly 94.6 inches of rain — nearly eight feet. That puts it on track for its 17th wettest year on record, Burg said. Only two measurable snowfalls were reported in the lowlands of the county in 2014, in February and
beforehand. Had he known about it, he could have offered to officiate: “I now pronounce you husband and wife. Now watch this drive.” You’ve got no mail: China’s government has greatly curtailed access to Google’s Gmail system (Page A7). Chinese officials want to clamp down on subjects
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again on Thanksgiving weekend. Up to seven inches of snow were seen in some places in the February event, Burg said. In Oso, heavy rains were believed to have contributed to the March 22 mudslide that took 43 lives, with smaller slides reported in Index, Mukilteo and Everett. A number of those slides halted passenger travel along railroad tracks bordering Puget Sound, a recurring concern here. Meanwhile, additional monitoring gauges remain in service on the North Fork Stillaguamish River in the area of the Oso slide. The debris from the slide changed the river’s
who use Google services to avoid government monitoring. Either that, or they just don’t get that odd Gmail interface and want to stick with Outlook. A pair of dimes shift: The fuss and folderol over “The Interview” could wind up changing the way Hollywood does business, if Short Takes . . . B4 Sports . . . . . . . C1
See WEATHER, Page A2
movie moguls decide to make first-run films viewable at home on the Internet as well as at the multiplexes (Page A7). But without $12.50 soda-and-popcorn combos and kids fiddling with their phones, the average living room just isn’t going to feel like a movie theater.
— Mark Carlson, Herald staff
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DAILY
People who accidentally dial and then hang up, especially those who use cellphones, tie up resources needed in real emergencies.
EVERETT, WASHINGTON
the buzz
Mistake 911 calls a major concern
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