THURSDAY, 06.18.2015
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OSO MUDSLIDE
Work continues on rules The County Council is likely to extend the slide-zone building moratorium as it figures out permanent solutions. By Noah Haglund Herald Writer
EVERETT — When elected leaders passed an emergency building ban in areas around the Oso mudslide, they bought
time to draft new rules for construction near steep, potentially dangerous slopes anywhere in Snohomish County. A year later, those regulations remain a work in progress. The County Council is likely
to extend the slide-zone building moratorium through the end of the year as work continues on rules for the whole county. “I intend to continue to keep trying to get the county to improve the regulations,” said County Council Chairman Dave Somers, who has pushed for more aggressive building restrictions since the disaster. “We still
have what I consider crude and rudimentary information and warning systems for geologically hazardous areas.” The Oso mudslide struck the Steelhead Haven neighborhood and Highway 530 on the morning of March 22, 2014. See OSO, back page, this section
Students, parents make a big flap for retiring Chase Lake principal
Time for her to cross the road
DAN BATES / THE HERALD
Chase Lake Community School Principal Karen Nilson (in green) reacts to a little bigger surprise party than she suspected Tuesday as she’s escorted on the wing of a chicken (aka office manager Pam Peters) to the multipurpose room for an end of the year assembly. Nilson, a much loved figure at the school for 13 years, is retiring this year, and students treated her to a big chicken thank you and special cards they made.
Herald Writer
EDMONDS — The end of a school year can be bittersweet. Students at Chase Lake Community School were determined to mix smiles and laughs with the sadness of saying goodbye to Karen Nilson, the leader of their school for the past 13 years. During a school assembly, they lifted their feet and flapped their arms as they did a chicken dance. Some students and staff wore yellow and red chicken hats. And each class prepared large cards decorated in chicken themes to hand to
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their departing principal. Students inscribed the cards with messages about what she had meant in their lives. Others stepped to the microphone. Sixth-grader Nick Anderson told Nilson, “You gave me your time, the most awesome gift of all. On behalf of our school, we’ll all miss you.” Some students couldn’t resist the urge to frame their goodbyes in a chicken theme, such as: “We heard you were flying the coop. Don’t worry about us chicks. You made a good nest.”
VOL. 115, NO. 126 © 2015 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
INSIDE
Business . . . . .A9 Classified . . . . B2
School’s out The last days of school at districts throughout Snohomish County were a bit jumbled. Rolling teacher walkouts, intended as a signal to legislators about state school funding, postponed the last day for many. The Arlington, Darrington, Granite Falls, Lakewood, Mukilteo and Sultan school districts dismissed students Friday. Monday was the last day of school for the Stanwood-Camano, Lake Stevens and Snohomish school districts. The Monroe School District ended classes Tuesday . Wednesday was the last day of school in the Edmonds School District, which didn’t have a teacher walkout, and in Everett, which did.
About 35 people who picked blueberries say a grower hired an unlicensed, unbonded contractor who ripped them off and left. By Amy Nile and Harold Avelar Herald Writers
SNOHOMISH — Lourdes Margarito and dozens of people who planted blueberries on a farm here last fall say they haven’t been paid for their work. A class-action complaint has been filed on behalf of about 35 immigrant farm workers in King County Superior Court against Golden Eagle Farms. The Canadian berry-grower owns hundreds of acres in the Snohomish River valley. The complaint alleges Golden Eagle hired an unlicensed, unbonded labor contractor who failed to pay workers wages they were owed in 2014 or follow labor laws, such as keeping employment records. The contractor, Father Like Son Farm Labor Supply, and owner Alfredo Garcia Jr. did not have the proper license or surety bonds to hire workers, a state Department of Labor & Industries official said. Golden Eagle’s attorney, Adam Belzberg, of the Seattle law firm Stoel Rives, said the farm gave Garcia money to pay the workers. He wasn’t sure if the farm checked the contractor’s credentials. “This guy ripped everybody off and split,” Belzberg said. “The farm and the workers are pretty much the victim of a dishonest contractor.” Now the farm can’t find the contractor, Belzberg said. And Margarito, 26, of Everett, and her coworkers still haven’t been paid. Their Wenatchee-based attorney, Joe Morrison, of Columbia Legal Services, said Golden Eagle is liable for paying the wages because it failed to check the contractor’s credentials before the workers were hired. The class-action complaint describes the majority of the employees as immigrants with limited income, education, understanding of the U.S. court system and English-language proficiency. Many communicate primarily in Spanish or Mixtec, a dialect.
Herald staff
See WORKERS, back page, this section
See RETIRING, Page A2
the buzz
By Sharon Salyer
Farm workers file pay claim
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Air and space If it fits you can fly: Citing complaints from U.S. passengers, an airline association said it was suspending plans to enforce new size limits for carry-on bags. Some suspected the airlines were looking to force more passengers to pay fees for checked bags (Page A9). Dear Abby. . . .D5 Horoscope . . . B6
Rebuffed on the size limits for bags, the airline association said it would now consider new size limits for American butts. Channel-surfing the vast cultural wasteland: New on TV is ABC’s “Astronaut Wives Club,” a drama that follows the lives of seven women whose husbands are
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Obituaries. . . .A6 Opinion. . . . .A11
launched into space (The Clicker, Page D6). One of the questions the latest period drama to be set in the ’60s will answer: Did astronauts’ wives drink and smoke more than Madison Avenue ad executives? Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1983, U.S. astronaut Short Takes . . .D6 Sports . . . . . . . C1
Sally Ride became the first American woman in space as she and four colleagues blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger (Today in History, Page D6). Ride’s spouse called the inaugural meeting of the Astronaut Husband’s Club to order, but the motion died for lack of a second. —Jon Bauer, Herald staff
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