Everett Daily Herald, February 07, 2015

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BOYS

GIRLS

Xyxyxy Peak Glacier

Xyxyxy Jackson

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Xyxyxy Kamiak

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TO DO

LIST The Stillaguamish Eagle Festival is today in Arlington and Darrington. Highlights include bird-watching tours, live music, art shows and a scavenger hunt.

More in Sports, C1

Head to these great winter beaches A11

More things to do in Venture, Page A11

SATURDAY, 02.07.2015

EVERETT, WASHINGTON

WWW.HERALDNET.COM

75¢ (HIGHER IN OUTLYING AREAS)

See BREAKS, Page A9

FBI looking into pranks

The neighborly thing to do

Twice last year, someone made a false 911 call in a crime known as “SWAT-ing,” in which violence is implied to generate a police response.

Tax breaks with conditions Aerospace companies given financial incentives could face new rules about workers’ pay, size of workforce. Herald Writer

OLYMPIA — Aerospace companies that save millions of dollars through tax breaks — or billions in the case of the Boeing Co. — could face new rules if

they want to keep them. A group of House Democrats are pushing to set a minimum wage of more than $20 an hour for veteran employees of those firms and to shrink the tax break for the Boeing Co. if the firm cuts its job force too much.

for less than $15 an hour. A second bill, which could become public this week, will target Boeing. As drawn up, the company would have its tax break reduced if it trims its workforce in the state by a certain number of jobs. Rep. June Robinson, D-Everett, is expected to be the prime sponsor.

When firefighter Matt Keller spotted Larry Jackson struggling in Lake Ki, he pulled him out, helped him home and stuck him in the shower.

By Rikki King Herald Writer

By Rikki King Herald Writer

LAKEWOOD — Matt Keller and Larry Jackson live just a few doors down from each other on Lake Ki. From Keller’s house, he can see his neighbors’ border collies play with tennis balls in the water. Still, the men had never met, never shaken hands, before Jan. 20. That was when Keller saved Jackson’s life. It was one of those days when the water is flat and shadows fall, creating a double-image reflection on the 97-acre lake. Jackson was in a 12-foot aluminum boat, looking for a missing dock. The day before, his family noticed it had floated off. Larry Jackson, 68, and daughter Shelbey, 23, went looking. It grew dark, so he went out alone the next day. His wife, Sheryl, doesn’t hesitate to remind him she’d warned against that. The boat battery was draining, so Jackson started to row. About that time, Keller, 48, arrived home from a bicycle ride. From his downstairs window, Keller saw his neighbor in the boat. He headed upstairs to change out of his cycling clothes. Meanwhile, Jackson stood up in the boat to move seats. When he started to sit again, “the front end went straight up and the corner went down in the water and that was the point of no return,” he said. He clung to the capsized vessel, debating whether to try to swim 100 feet to shore. Keller looked out his bedroom window. “I looked down and the boat was under water, essentially,” he later told Jackson. “I could just see your head.” Keller is a battalion chief for the Everett Fire Department, a

the buzz

See RESCUE, Page A2

IAN TERRY / THE HERALD

On Jan. 20, Larry Jackson (right) was pulled out of a frigid Lake Ki in Arlington by his neighbor, Matt Keller, a battalion fire chief with the Everett Fire Department, who heard him yelling for help after the aluminum 12foot boat Jackson was on capsized and left him stranded. “I didn’t panic and I wasn’t flailing,” Jackson said, who spent upward of 20 minutes in the water before being saved by Keller.

Brian’s song Chopper ride to career oblivion? NBC will launch a formal investigation into false statements made by Brian Williams about his reporting in Iraq in 2003. The mess has become a career-threatening scandal for the star anchorman, whose only previous black mark was

his actress daughter’s performance as “Peter Pan” (Page A6). In Williams’ defense, the most trusted name in TV news these days is a guy who does fake news: Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show.” Ipso facto idiocy: A Vermont ninth-grader’s proposal to add the Latin term Stella quarta decima

fulgeat (translation: “The 14th Star Shines Bright”) to the Green Mountain State’s official motto drew fire on Internet comment boards from people who assumed it had something to do with immigration from Latin America (Page A6). The imbroglio inspired The Buzz to compose a motto in pig Latin: atWhay ayay unchbay ofyay oronsmay.

Dead anchor walking: “The Walking Dead” returns on AMC on Sunday after a two-month hiatus (Page C8). In the new episode, Rick Grimes and crew escape the hospital, only to encounter talespinning NBC anchor Brian Williams’ reputation and career amid a herd of walkers.

— Mark Carlson, Herald staff

LAKE STEVENS — Curtis Henke was immersed in a “Call of Duty” video game competition that day in June. Viewers logged online to watch him play. While that was happening, Lake Stevens police were surrounding his parents’ house, with real guns drawn. Officers quickly determined that the Henkes were targeted in a cruel prank known as SWATing. Now the FBI is involved, investigating that incident and another from Snohomish County in 2014. “SWAT-ing” is when someone makes a false 911 call, usually implying violence is under way, to generate a massive police response to the victim’s house. It has happened several times in Snohomish County over the past decade, including a Mukilteo case that led to prison time. Lake Stevens and Everett detectives quietly made progress working together on two cases, which happened the same month. Court papers indicate they might have been looking at the same suspects. In both cases, the 911 callers took steps to cover their tracks. This week, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Seattle office declined to discuss the investigation. Unless SWAT-ing cases go federal, they usually are prosecuted in Washington as false reporting, a misdemeanor. They can be difficult to investigate as they often cross state and international borders. In the Lake Stevens case, the 911 call came through Skype, an Internet video chat service, on June 9. The suspect pretended to be the victim, Curtis Henke, then 20, and said he had killed his father and was going after his mother next. Police suspected something fishy but as a precaution surrounded the Henke house with guns drawn. See FBI, Page A2

INSIDE Business . . . . .A7 Classified . . . . B1 Comics . . . . . . C8 Crossword . . . C8 Dear Abby. . . . C9 Horoscope . . . B6 Blustery 54/49, C12 VOL. 114, NO. 362 © 2015 THE DAILY HERALD CO.

Lottery . . . . . .A2 Obituaries. . . .A5 Opinion. . . . .A11 Sports . . . . . . . C1 Stocks . . . . . . .A8 Venture. . . . .A13

DAILY

By Jerry Cornfield

On Monday, a public hearing is planned on House Bill 1786 that would require firms receiving a tax incentive to pay their veteran employees roughly $53,000 a year — nearly $25 an hour — or lose their state tax breaks. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mia Gregerson, D-SeaTac, could cause havoc for aerospace suppliers that employ many people

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