What happened?
In tune with St. Pat’s festivities
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FRIDAY, 03.13.2015
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OSO MUDSLIDE
Each day, a new boundary With her son and fiancé, survivor Amanda Skorjanc pushes through
Bill ties tax breaks to jobs Arlington and Marysville leaders believe the effort would help attract aerospace and other industries to areas designated for development. By Jerry Cornfield Herald Writer
international media outlets. People sent cards and said they were praying for her recovery. Schoolchildren drew get-well cards and posters, some of which are displayed in the Granite Falls-area home where Skorjanc and her fiancé, Ty Suddarth, moved last fall. Next weekend will mark one year since the March 22, 2014, mudslide and Skorjanc said she is still surprised to see her name, as well as those of Duke and Suddarth, mentioned in followup news accounts from as far away as Britain and Australia. “It’s still unreal to me, it’s very
OLYMPIA — A bill enabling Marysville and Arlington to offer new manufacturing businesses a tax break if they create high-paying jobs has cleared a big hurdle. Passed by the state Senate, the bill allows the cities to exempt companies from paying a portion of property taxes if they create at least 25 jobs that pay at least $18 an hour. Marysville and Arlington leaders think it would help attract aerospace, high-tech and manufacturing companies to an area the cities have designated for industrial development. “We’re hoping to be businessfriendly,” said Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring, who first proposed the idea in 2013. “It doesn’t mean it will be a panacea, but it will make us competitive.” Other states already offer the same or similar incentives to the very companies the two cities are trying to land, said Arlington Mayor Barbara Tolbert “We don’t have the economic development tools other states are utilizing. We want to be able to compete with them,” she said. Senate Bill 5761 cleared the Senate on a 48-0 vote March 5. It is set for a public hearing Wednesday in the House Technology and Economic Development Committee. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, targets prospective development on land zoned industrial and manufacturing.
See SLIDE, Page A2
See BREAKS, Page A8
GENNA MARTIN / THE HERALD
Amanda Skorjanc holds her son, Duke Suddarth, 17 months, during a music class March 3 at the Marysville Public Library. Skorjanc and Duke were at their home in Oso a year ago when the mudslide hit and swept them hundreds of feet away. Skorjanc suffered major injuries, including a fractured ankle, two broken legs, a broken arm and a fracture near her eye. Despite her injuries, she was able to hold onto Duke, who suffered a skull fracture. Skorjanc just completed her 10th and, she hopes, final surgery.
By Sharon Salyer Herald Writer
GRANITE FALLS — For Amanda Skorjanc, all it takes is an unexpected noise — a strong gust of wind, the buzz of a low-flying plane — to trigger memories of the Oso mudslide. That day last spring, the sound was like a truck hitting a rumble strip, and what followed changed her life forever. She saw nearby houses explode, a neighbor’s chimney come through her front door, lights in her home shake and flicker. Then everything went dark. The tsunami of mud and debris flung both her and her
Once I see him smiling, there really is no pain. My heart is so full of love. — Amanda Skorjanc, about how her son helps her cope
5-month-old son, Duke Suddarth, hundreds of feet from their home. Skorjanc somehow was able to hold on to her infant
son. “I did not let that baby go for one second,” she said. They were trapped in debris, unable to move. Rescuers used chain saws to free her while her baby turned blue in her arms. At Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, Skorjanc was swaddled in bandages and casts, her left eye bruised and swollen. Her injuries were similar to those of someone in a highspeed car crash: a fractured ankle, two broken legs, broken bones in her left arm and a fracture near her eye. After an interview a few weeks after the mudslide, Skorjanc’s photo and her descriptions were picked up by national and
70 years ago, a balloon bomb landed in Everett Herald Writer
EVERETT — Today marks the 70th anniversary of the littleknown World War II Japanese attack on Everett. It came in the form of a large
hydrogen balloon rigged with explosives that landed about a quarter mile west of the Glenwood Avenue Fire Station. Some military men from nearby Paine Field quickly and quietly disposed of the mysterious object that had floated over
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the Pacific Ocean. The balloon itself, 33 feet in diameter, was composed of paper made from mulberry root. There was no mention in any newspapers. It was wartime and an era when information was suppressed to keep the enemy in the dark. “They very effectively muffled the whole thing,” said David Dilgard, a historian with Everett
Breakdown lane A quart of oil added in every county: A Michigan couple completed a quest to visit all 3,108 counties in the Lower 48 with a trip to Nantucket this week (Page A2). They made the trip in the same vehicle — a 1999 Dodge Intrepid with more than 540,000 miles. Dear Abby. . . .D5 Horoscope . . . B4
Public Libraries. Beginning in November 1944, the Imperial Japanese Army launched more than 9,000 balloon bombs toward North America. “We know of a few hundred that were identified as having reached the U.S. or western Canada,” said Tom Crouch, senior curator of aeronautics at the Smithsonian National Air and
The project took nine years, but would have taken just 4½ years had the couple listened to friends who advised them to buy a Toyota Corolla for the journey. Pirates keep on ticking: Apple’s new smartwatch won’t hit the market for another month, but
Lottery . . . . . .A2 Obituaries. . . .A8
Opinion. . . . .A13 Short Takes . . .D6
ever-diligent Chinese counterfeiters already have rushed out cheap copycat gadgets (Page A11). The watches are said to be just like the Apple devices — except for that tiny knob on the side that you have to remember to wind every morning to keep the things running. Sports . . . . . . . C1 Stocks . . . . . .A12
Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The balloon bombs, often called Fugo, landed as far away as Alaska, Michigan and Mexico. Much of the paper used for the balloons was put together by Japanese schoolchildren. “There was enough explosives on those things that it could have See BOMB, Page A8
Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1781, the planet Uranus was discovered by Sir William Herschel (Today in History, Page D6). Also on this day in 1781, Sir William’s son, John, became the first adolescent boy to snicker when somebody said “Uranus.”
— Mark Carlson, Herald staff
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Starting in 1944, the Imperial Japanese Army launched more than 9,000 of the explosives toward North America.
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