Everett Daily Herald, July 21, 2015

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Remembering Judge Robert Bibb A3

Snohomish Countybased soccer team wins national title C4

TUESDAY, 07.21.2015

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Drama on Dome Peak

ELECTION 2015 | Snohomish County executive

Five scrap for top post By Noah Haglund Herald Writer

PHOTO COURTESY MARK BALDWIN

Dave Zulinke, a volunteer rescue technician with the Snohomish County sheriff’s helicopter rescue team, starts to hoist a 38-year-old man with suspected broken ribs from Dome Peak in the Glacier Peak Wilderness on June 21. The rescue at an elevation of 8,200 feet is one of just two or three a year that the helicopter team handles on a glacier.

Search & Rescue team describes operation on glacier Herald Writer

DARRINGTON — The man was in bad shape. He’d slid 300 feet down a glacier, landing at the mouth of a crevasse. Medics believed he had broken ribs. In theory, the injured 38-yearold could have made the descent from Dome Peak in the Glacier Peak Wilderness and then the full day’s hike back to the trailhead. “It would have been miserable,” said Sean Edwards, a volunteer flight medic with the Snohomish County sheriff ’s Search and Rescue team.

The injured man and a woman had been on a multi-day climbing trip on the southwest side of the mountain. They carried with them a personal locator beacon borrowed from a friend in Seattle. One of them activated the beacon June 21 after the fall. That alerted Search and Rescue. The alert provided little more than coordinates. Sheriff ’s helicopter pilot Steve Klett likened it to a 911 hang-up call. It meant, in essence, “I need help.” “We fly to them and start looking,” Klett said. Search and Rescue got in touch with the device’s manufacturer and that led to its owner. He gave them information on the

two climbers and their intended route. Crews deployed from Taylor’s Landing near Snohomish, about a 50-mile helicopter trip to Dome Peak. They stationed a refueling trailer in Darrington in case it became a lengthy mission. The team included Klett, copilot and local fire chief Travis Hots, crew chief Beau Beckner, Edwards and rescue technician Dave Zulinke. They searched for several hundred yards around the coordinates without finding anybody. Then they came upon a group from the Mountaineers club on the glacier.

“They were waving emphatically so we were pretty certain we had the people we were looking for,” Klett said. It wasn’t safe to land the helicopter there, though. Its power was limited by the heaviness of fuel and gear on board and the altitude of about 8,200 feet. They flew to a ridge a few miles away and dropped off some of the extra gear for later retrieval. Then they hovered over a spot about 100 yards below the injured man, where the ground was more level, so Edwards and Zulinke could step from the skids onto the soft snow.

according to the PUD’s estimates. This past December, the district’s three elected commissioners passed a resolution classifying the projects as “special facilities,” a designation that exempts the PUD from following regular competitive bid requirements. The district then requested bids from turbine system installers

John Lovick points to the county’s robust jobs climate and packed parks as signs he’s been leading the county in the right direction. Statewide, Snohomish County’s 4 percent unemployment rate trails only King County’s. “Why is it that our jobless rate is lower than other areas?” Lovick asked rhetorically last week. “I would say the number-one issue facing the county is quality of life, maintaining the quality of life that citizens want,” Lovick added. The incumbent identifies safe schools and transportation as other key issues. On the latter front, he points to the county’s success in securing $670 million in state funds during the recently ended legislative session for road, transit and ferry projects over the next 16 years. Lovick was appointed executive

See DAM, Page A2

See EXEC, Page A8

See RESCUE, Page A2

Bidder cries foul on PUD turbine contract Herald Writer

EVERETT — A hydroelectric systems company near Bellingham says the Snohomish County Public Utility District improperly skewed its bid to build two turbines, which tipped the contract to a British competitor. The district manipulated Canyon Hydro’s bid, adding $1 million in cost, for reasons

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that don’t hold up to engineering scrutiny, says the company’s president and owner, Richard New. “This is right on the edge of fraud,” he said. The company, which is based in Deming, has asked the district to reevaluate the bids. The PUD rejects New’s allegations, saying that it acted appropriately and within industry standards in awarding the

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VOL. 115, NO. 159 © 2015 THE DAILY HERALD CO.

INSIDE

Business . . . . .A7 Classified . . . . B4

Comics . . . . . . B2 Crossword . . . B2

nearly $10 million contract for turbine systems on its Hancock Creek and Calligan Creek hydroelectric projects. Federal regulators approved the projects on tributaries of the North Fork Snoqualmie River earlier this summer. Site work could start this year. When finished, the facilities will each generate as much as 6 megawatts of energy during the peak months in the fall and winter,

Shark jumped Surfing the vast cultural wasteland: The “Sharknado” movies have worn out their (exceedingly limited) welcome, says Associated Press TV critic Frazier Moore (Short Takes, Page B4). The third in the series, premiering Wednesday Dear Abby. . . . B3 Good Life . . . . B1

on Syfy, is subtitled “Oh Hell No!” — an exclamation that also applies to the casting of conservative firebrand Ann Coulter as the vice president. Boob tube brain drain: Too much TV might raise the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. What’s more, the effects could

Horoscope . . . B6 Lottery . . . . . .A2

Obituaries. . . .A5 Opinion. . . . . .A9

show up much sooner than previously believed, a new study suggests (Page A6). If the research holds up, a surgeon general’s warning should be affixed to every airing of the “Sharknado” movies. Higher learning: An eighthour class on Washington’s emerging marijuana indusShort Takes . . . B4 Sports . . . . . . . C1

try, taught by an Everett attorney, is scheduled for August at Edmonds Community College (Page A7). The class will be good for one college credit, which is roughly the number of college credits earned by guys who sold weed out of their dorm rooms at Evergreen back in the early 1980s.

— Mark Carlson, Herald staff

Gentle 70/58, C6

DAILY

By Rikki King

EVERETT — John Lovick will tell you he’s worked hard to increase trust in Snohomish County government during the two years since taking office. Yet as Lovick seeks his first full term as county executive, the former sheriff has weathered growing criticism over his management, particularly of the county’s finances. His opponents in the Aug. 4 primary are generally united in assailing Lovick on that score. County Council Chairman Dave Somers has clashed with Lovick’s administration for more than a year. He entered the race in May, to the disappointment of many local Democrats, who were loathe to see an intra-party struggle for the county’s highest elected office. Republicans Robert Sutherland, of Granite Falls, and Norm Nunnally, of Marysville, cite their separation from the county’s current cast of elected leaders as an asset. Lynnwood attorney James Robert Deal has run a nonpartisan campaign promising unconventional approaches to mass transit, the environment and other issues. They’re competing for a fouryear term in office. The top two vote-getters will compete in the Nov. 3 general election. Primary ballots were mailed Thursday.

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