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Strawberry Festival names senior, junior royalty. Page 11.
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M’ville fire chief retires after 42 years with agency BY KIRK BOXLEITNER kboxleitner@marysvilleglobe.com
MARYSVILLE — Despite 42 years in the fire service, and 21 years as the fire chief of Marysville, Greg Corn has no real reason for retiring, other than just feeling like it’s time for a change. “I’d hoped we could get the
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regional fire authority done before I left, but there have been delays, and I’d already set the date for my retirement,” Corn said. “What I’ll miss most is all the people I’ve worked with over the years. I loved coming into work every day.” Corn has loved his job even though he wasn’t inspired to
become a volunteer firefighter out of any sort of lifelong passion for the fire service. Instead, he simply responded to a call for volunteers when he was 20. But he quickly came to love the profession. “There haven’t been too many negatives,” Corn said. “Of course, there have been hard times, espe-
cially when we’ve responded to critical incidents or lost firefighters, but we know that a component of responding to trauma calls is tragedy.” Fortunately, only three Marysville fire personnel have died under SEE CHIEF, PAGE 2
wins early season baseball contest behind strong pitching. Page 12.
bar opens in busy Smokey Point location. Page 22.
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OPINION
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SPORTS WORSHIP
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Vol. 121, No. 37
A tribute to Oso BY STEVE POWELL spowell@arlingtontimes.com
ARLINGTON – There is no mayor school, but even if there was it wouldn’t teach how to handle something as huge as the Oso slide. Those things just don’t happen. But it did, here, a year ago. Arlington Mayor Barbara Tolbert was thrust into that position. The natural disaster that killed 43 people put her in the unnatural position of dealing with death and destruction, along with pressure from the media, government and social service agencies.
Steve Powell/Staff Photo
Arlington Mayor Barbara Tolbert stands next to one of the 43 trees planted by family members of each of the victims who died in the Oso slide.
From the start, she was impressed with all the people who wanted to help – “not to be recognized, but out of human kindness. That made me more emotional. We don’t express ourselves enough for the greater good.” Her experience as the leader of the Arlington Fly-In kept the task from overwhelming her. With the fly-in she has had to deal with fatal accidents, death notifications, quickly coming up with decisions on multiple problems and dealing with up to 500 volunteers a year. She would be asked to draw from
that experience and do even more. What’s ahead? Instead of looking back, Tolbert is focused on what’s going on now, and looking ahead. There’s a lot still to be done for the families of victims. Even though the landslide was designated a natural disaster, the amount of money families can receive is $30,000, Tolbert said. When you’ve lost everything, that doesn’t cover much in moving expenses and starting over again. Plus, many of the families are still having to pay for their old homes,
even though they are buried under mounds of dirt. Social services groups have been meeting weekly from the start to make sure they are not duplicating efforts. And people are still coming out of the woodwork, finally able to seek help. “There are unmet needs spiritually and in mental health,” Tolbert said. Other efforts also are under way. An attempt is being made to come up with higher education money for children of victims, for example. SEE OSO, PAGE 3
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